Cross-train

All weapon skills crosstrain with at least one other weapon skill - that is to say, that experience invested in one skill improves the rate at which your character learns the other skill, as long as the other skill is of a lower level. The following weapon skills crosstrain with each other:

• Short Blades and Long Blades
• Maces & Flails and Axes
• Polearms and Axes
• Staves and Polearms
• Staves and Maces & Flails

In addition, the ranged combat skills Throwing and Slings also crosstrain.

Effect

Having a crosstraining bonus on a skill gives a +4 boost to your character's aptitude with that skill. For example, if a Hill Orc who's been focusing on his Axes skill (+2 aptitude) decides to pick up a mace, which is governed by the Maces & Flails skill (+1 aptitude), the latter will receive a crosstraining bonus for a final aptitude of +5 as long as our character has a higher Axes skill.

In practice, this allows characters who specialize in a weapon type early on to diversify their arsenal by the mid- or late-game, should they come across an attractive weapon.