Training

Once you are 14 years old, you can train in the physical skills, such as Attack and Protection, as well as in the bottom line skills like Siegecraft, Command, etc., as long as you can find a trainer who possesses the same skill as you and is better at it than you are. Unfortunately, Management, Guile and Leadership will only increase as your PC gets older, and becomes more experienced. You cannot add a skill by training, only improve existing ones. You can also train in second line skills (endurance, attack and defense).

Only NPCs can train (not family members), they must be in the same fief. Choose the trainer from the household menu. he can either do combat training (2nd line), or skill training. Both people must have the skill, the trainer has to have a higher skill than the trainee for it to do any good, and it will subtract 30 days from your day total if the victim is your PC.

If someone else's NPC is training your victim, you have to have set their organization as the training organization from your household menu, then have the second fellow train your victim when he's on. (Ie the Trainer, not the trainee does the training.) Training organizations only need to be set once. An NPC may only train someone once a season. Rates of gain vary between 0 (for someone with the same level, for instance) as high as .5. The gain is a percentage raise: a family member with a 5 skill learns much faster than one with a 1 skill.

You can only train male PCs and family members 14 or older. NPCs cannot be trained. To train yourself takes 30 days. To train a male family member 14 or older takes no days. The effect of training depends of the present skill level (you get a bigger skill increase if you are training a 7 level skill than a 1 level skill). To see what skill effect various items check out #19 from the main menu. Only train good skills. Max of any skill is 9. For example, if you wanted to train siege, you would need to have that skill and have a NPC with the siege skill with a higher rating than you have. Select the NPC, then menu item 11. You will get a listing of all skills you and the NPC have. Select the number shown on the trainer (NPC) listing for siege and the system will tell you what the old and new siege rating was. If you don't have a NPC with the skill you need, you can have another player train you or a family member. If someone needs a NPC with a skill they don't have, that they post here so another noble who has a retainer with the skill can provide training.

It's a good practice to train all your sons as often as possible. Once they move into your PC slot, training costs a lot of a limited asset, i.e. game days. You will find that a few seconds spent each season dedicated to the training routine can make a marginal family member into a good heir when the time comes for him to come into his own.