Hi MikeB, The skill cap is 700 of "real skill" Your skills are influenced by your stats Str/Dex/Int, depending of your current "real skill value" (factor lowers with higher skill level) To show your "real skill level" you have an option in the skill overview. The sum of real skill value can not be higher than the skill cap.
Your success chance of using a skill always is based on the shown skill value. Only on few occations the real skill value is used - cant tell you on which exactly - maybe e.g. the minimum level of stealing to join thiefs guild? Was 60 (or 80?) - so you need 60 real skill value instead of the shown value Still, important: Success chances of direct skill use always based on shown skill value. Also: A single skill can never be over 100. This is the skill cap for a skill. What I wanted to say with the "stat factor". On very low real skill values your stats influence the shown value more. E.g. my dexxer char has not trained any magery, real skill is 0 shown skill is 5,5 -> stats give a +5,5 on real skill 0 On higher skills the stats bonus drops. So on real skill 99,9 your shown skill will also only be 99,9 (stat will not influence it anymore) On real skill 50, your shown skill may only be 2,7 more like 52,7, and so on.
It's a mechanic most useful for characters with sub-GM skills. You get free points, and those free points are nice for hitting 'sweet spots' in particular skills. Poisoning is a decent example. Same goes for Magery.
