Choosing not to get experience for a skill

[Lorion]

First, I am not sure if that is the right forum, or if it should maybe be better in General discussion.

Today I had an idea that at first may sound a bit ridiculous, but somehow i think it would be nice. I am not sure if it is being possible to be coded though.

Here it is: I'll take my char as an example. Lorion is a wizard, someone who is supposed to spend most of his time studying with books. Yet quite a lot of time he is out and adventures, or does other things. Now wizards get physical skills as well, like for example cook. If i would use cooking quite regularly, my char would sooner or later train it to Grandmaster. Now how reasonable is it for someone who does cooking as something rather done rarely to GM it? That is why I thought if there was a possibility to willingly turn it off to get experience in this skill, it might be a good idea. That way you can still cook if you find something cookable, but won't raise any farther than you actually intend to. This should be able to be turned on and off though. Say, after a year of RPing my wizard finds out that being a wizard is not the essence of life, and decides to become a chef instead, i could turn on getting experience again and later get that skill to Grandmaster.

Note: this idea is not planned to do anything forcefully for you, rather the player has to decide whether he wants to use it or not, according to his RP. it is not meant to stop twinking or anything, just to something that might enhance RP a bit if you sometimes fail in a skill. Right now you only have the possibility of not knowing a skill, or eventually get grandmaster in it(if you use it regularly).

Another example I had thought of: fighters training spellcraft(although there might also be fighters who are friends with wizards for example, and thus would GM spellcraft)

Please tell me your opinions, and it would also be nice if a coder could tell if that is even possible to code. I hope I have expressed what i meant clearly(which isn't always that easy for me).

[Glim]

Hmm, skills as they are already raise quite slow. If you merely went out on adventurers and cooked every once in a while, it would take a VERY long time for you to become grandmaster in that skill. You may improve a little but, that wouldnt that be alright? I mean, I cook every once in a while and ive been getting better, im no master chef but I am better than when I only knew how to make waffles.

Unless I just totally missed what you meant there, unless you actually focus on a skill, it takes a very long time through just casual use to GM a skill.

[Lorion]

You may be right..And I admit I never got a skillraise on cooking before. But what about spellcraft? If you would adventure a lot with wizards, it is quite easy to get it trained up(or so i heard), and even though your fighter *maybe* doesn't really want to know much about it, he will eventually improve

[Isolrem]

A better idea would be like a "fumble" toggle that lets you mess up all skill checks and spell castings, which may enhance RP.

[Glim]

You may be right..And I admit I never got a skillraise on cooking before. But what about spellcraft? If you would adventure a lot with wizards, it is quite easy to get it trained up(or so i heard), and even though your fighter *maybe* doesn't really want to know much about it, he will eventually improve

True, but even from experience can you feasably stop yourself from learning something? Unless he refused to travel with wizards or be around them (which you could already do) I dont you could stop yourself from learning from what you have seen, it would pretty much be considered an instinctive thing, to learn from your surroundings and experiences.

We can compare it to something like class, you ussually have two choices in school, stay there and learn, or fall asleep/dont attend (which would be the equivalent of staying away from wizards with this analogy), but if you stayed awake in class and was actually watching what the teacher did, could you stop yourself from learning from what your seeing?

Just my point of view on the matter.

[Kregor]

You may be right..And I admit I never got a skillraise on cooking before. But what about spellcraft? If you would adventure a lot with wizards, it is quite easy to get it trained up(or so i heard), and even though your fighter *maybe* doesn't really want to know much about it, he will eventually improve

If I were playing a fighter that was against wanting to know much about magic, I just wouldn't train spellcraft.

None of the skills on your list, even ones that are class skills, are ones that you HAVE to learn. My ranger, if I had to chosen to make him a vegan, could have opted never to train slice. If I RPed him as being distrustful of or indifferent to magic, then I would have not trained spellcraft. Just as a rogue does not HAVE to train steal, and I know of at least one that has not.

Otherwise, you are faced with a situation that is very much like reality, in that if you know SOMETHING about something, and you are in constant contact with that something, you are going to learn more. How many times can someone with spellcraft hear a word, and see an effect, before they just know what spell is being cast.

Skills learn slower or quicker, based on how mundane they are. Class skills tend to advance faster than side skills, like cooking. My ranger cooks constantly from hunting, I have never once improved in cooking on my own. Slicing, yes, but not cooking.

[Isolrem]

okay, not LEARNING a spell, that gets harder
obviously there is no problem if skills never increase assuming you don't train it... but I'm not sure if there are certain cases in the game where one might acquire a skill without ever having practiced it. I've seen it in other MUDs. (e.g. Enhanced Damage will suddenly increase in level after you've been fighting too much. Not that was have Enhanced Damage anymore)

[Glim]

Skills learn slower or quicker, based on how mundane they are. Class skills tend to advance faster than side skills, like cooking. My ranger cooks constantly from hunting, I have never once improved in cooking on my own. Slicing, yes, but not cooking.

My err...naturelyy character (yea...right...naturely )... has improved cooking twice in his fun times! *cackles*

But yes, I agree, if you dont really wish to learn in a skill, simply dont train it. If you havent trained a skill even once, then there is no way you can learn it.