Mount&Blade/Skills

Personal Skills
These are skills you or another hero can possess. They don't affect the party.

Ironflesh
Ironflesh has no use beyond increasing hit points. At early levels it isn't always very important, but as you fight tougher enemies every bit of protection helps.
 * Governing Attribute: Strength
 * Maximum Level: 8
 * Effect: +2 HP per level

Power Strike

 * Governing Attribute: Strength
 * Maximum Level: 8
 * Effect: +5% melee damage per level

Power Throw
This skill is needed in order to use more powerful throwing weapons, so don't ignore this skill solely based on its meagre damage increase.
 * Governing Attribute: Strength
 * Maximum Level: 8
 * Effect: +7% thrown weapon damage per level

Power Draw
This is required for the more powerful bows, and is overall a valuable skill for making archery less difficult. You can put up to four points in this beyond the power draw requirement of the bow (if any).
 * Governing Attribute: Strength
 * Maximum Level: 8
 * Effect: +12% bow damage each level

Weapon Master
This skill allows you to continue using weapon proficiency points after you have passed the normal cap.
 * Governing Attribute: Agility
 * Maximum Level: 9
 * Effect: raises the proficiency points cap

Note that this cap is only for the purpose of spending additional proficiency points; using weapons in combat will continue to raise your skill regardless of what the proficiency cap is set at, but it will do so faster at higher levels of Weapon Master.

This skill is useful if you like boosting your weapon skill each time you level up; if you're content to earn your skill the hard way by fighting you won't need this.

Shield
The description indicates it decreases by 25% per level, but this would result in indestructible shields by level 4! Therefore it is assumed the reduction is like this:
 * Governing Attribute: Agility
 * Maximum Level: 8
 * Effect: reduces damage to shields

Athletics
This isn't very obvious early on, but with a few levels it will start to really take effect. This skill is made almost useless by having a horse, but it's still a useful backup if you lose your horse or if you want to fight on foot. Note that the combined weight of your armor and equipment will reduce the speed bonus your Athletics skill grants.
 * Governing Attribute: Agility
 * Maximum Level: 8
 * Effect: Increases running speed.

Riding

 * Governing Attribute: Agility
 * Maximum Level: 8
 * Effect: Increases riding speed and maneuver, allows riding of more difficult horses.

Horse Archery

 * Governing Attribute: Agility
 * Maximum Level: 8
 * Effect: reduces penalties for using ranged weapons on a moving horse by 10% per level.

This works by widening the aiming reticule less significantly when moving. This is a very useful skill for archers, but useless if you are melee-only.

Trainer
Experience points are not given to party members that are fully upgraded. If multiple heroes have this skill they will also help train party members.
 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Maximum Level: 11
 * Effect: Every day at midnight lower-level party members gain experience

Experience gains per level are as follows:

Inventory Management

 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Maximum Rank: ?
 * Effect: Increases inventory size by 6 squares

Party Skills
These are skills that each hero individually possesses, but they are applied to the party as a whole.

Tracking
At level 1 the tracks indicate party movement, but little else. As levels progress the accuracy of party size predictions and hours the tracks remain visible for increases. Tracks will also gain colors, allowing you to easily follow a particular path regardless of what other paths it crosses.
 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Maximum Rank: 8
 * Effect: makes onscreen tracks appear and gradually become more informative

Tactics
Before each battle your Tactics score is compared to that of the enemy leader, and this determines how many men each side has at the beginning of the battle.
 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Effect: Every 2 points to this raises the battle odds advantage by 1.

Additionally, if you choose to send your men in while you stay back or are knocked out during battle this skill will have an effect on the aftermath losses.

Pathfinding

 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Effect: Increases party map speed by 3% per level.

Spotting

 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Effect: Increases party sight range by 10% per level.

Wound Treatment

 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Effect: Increases party healing speed 30% per level

Surgery

 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Effect: Each point adds a 5% chance that mortally-wounded troops will be knocked out rather than killed.

This skill is quite useful for giving your troops the best chance you can to reach higher levels and become effective fighters. It also lessens the annoyance factor of spending top dollar on some new, high tier troops (eg: Hired Blades) only to have a significant fraction of them be killed in their first battle.

First Aid
This skill is very useful. Heroes will heal a little between battle waves. Note that you can only heal up to the level you had before you entered battle, so if you go into battle with 60% health you can only heal back up to that level and no further.
 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Effect: Heroes regain 7% hit-points per level

Engineer
This skill is very useful if you want to besiege castles and/or improve fiefs, but it has no other effects on the game,
 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Effect: build siege equipment and village improvements more quickly (-5% on time and price to build improvements)

Trade

 * Governing Attribute: Charisma
 * Effect: reduces trading penalty by 10%

Leader Skills
These skills affect the party, but only if the hero with these skills is the party leader.

Persuasion

 * Governing Attribute: Intelligence
 * Effect: Helps you make other people accept your point of view. There is a random factor involved in determining how successful you are.

Prisoner Management
Useful if you want to take prisoners, useless if you don't.
 * Governing Attribute: Charisma
 * Effect: increases prisoner capacity by 5

Leadership
A very useful skill to have! The higher your Leadership the more men you can lead into battle. You'll probably want to put a point towards Charisma every other level or so, and a point towards Leadership every chance you get. Increasing your Renown will also raise the party cap.
 * Governing Attribute: Charisma
 * Effect: increases party capacity by 5, reduces troop costs and wages by 10%.