There are various ways to increase your knowledge levels: through use of the skill or spell, with a teacher that can teach you that spell, purchasing it with combat points, or by memorizing a spellbook. Despite the moniker, spellbooks can also teach skills. Examining the skill and spell list, note that many have dependencies, or a skill or spell that you must have learned (at least 50%) first in order to attempt to learn the desired skill or spell.

If you use a skill or spell, there is a small chance that its knowledge level will increase, regardless of whether you succeed or fail at using/casting it. You can improve it a little (+1%) or a lot (+2%), and will gain experience for doing so. You cannot cast "not learned" spells without the use of +cast_ability eq (see Spell Success section), and most skills cannot be attempted unless you have learned them; however, there are a few skills you can attempt untrained, and, if you are very patient, you can learn and improve the skills through use without ever spending practices or combat points. Examples of these kind of skills are search and taunt.

In order to use a teacher or spellbook, you will need to spend practices. Teachers are usually easy to find. In most cities, the 'where' command will show you where the teachers are. When you have located a teacher, use the 'slist' command to see what he teaches. Slist only displays the things you can learn, and it won't show other spell/skill tree dependencies unless you use 'slist all'. High-level skills and spells may require finding a special teacher or spellbook. The 'skill find' and 'spell find' commands can help you locate such teachers or spellbooks. When learning a skill or spell from a teacher or spellbook, the exact amount that your knowledge level of that skill or spell will be indicated, such as: "(35 percent gained)". It is possible to train a spell up to 85% (very good) with a teacher or spellbook.

If you already know a skill or spell pretty well but less than very good, you may see a percentage at the end of its listing in a teacher's slist. This percentage shows how much more knowledge you will gain if you spend a practice to learn it; if the percentage is low, you may find it more worthwhile to try and improve it through use instead of spending a practice. The skill and spell lists show under the 'Pracs' heading how practices are required to bring a skill or spell from "not learned" to "very good". (Hint: these are good tools to use to plan out how to spend practices when you level ahead of time.)

In order to increase your knowledge level of that particular skill or spell beyond "very good", you will have to improve it through use or by spending combat points. Note that some skills do not improve with use, and there is no way to improve it without spending practices or combat points. Examples include 'armored skin' and 'increased stamina.'

Use of combat points is described concisely here.

Regardless of how you try to obtain the skill or spell, you must meet its level and attribute requirements before you can learn it. These requirements are shown in the skill and spell lists, and also the help page for each skill and spell.

There are two circumstances where your skill or spell knowledge can actually worsen that you should be aware of.

1. Death - When your character dies, your knowledge of one random skill or spell will decrease by 1%. 'Prayer for the dying' does not guard against this, and a 'resurrect' spell will not restore the lost knowledge.


2. Eternal Youth - When your character is subjected to an 'eternal youth' spell (most commonly by drinking from the Fountain of Youth), your knowledge of several random skills and spells will decrease by a small amount if you survive the effects of the spell.

You can restore any lost skill or spell knowledge through use or combat points, in which case you will gain the knowledge level back as normal; however, you can regain lost knowledge immediately by spending a practice. All cumulative knowledge levels lost for any one skill or spell will be restored. You can even relearn a skill or spell beyond the usual "very good" limit. This is usually the best way to relearn skills or spells that you have invested a lot of time and combat points into training.

Note that when you relearn lost skill or spell knowledge, you need not meet the attribute or level requirements as if you were learning it for the first time; however, you will only be able to train the skill or spell up to the knowledge level you possessed previous to losing it.