Ultima VII: The Black Gate/Trainers

Trainers are Non-Player Characters that can boost the stats of the Avatar or the Avatar's companions. They can be found in most cities and towns. Each one varies in the specific stat boost he or she gives.

Terminology
Main attributes:
 * Dexterity: it increases speed (walking and attacking) and helps with lock picking.
 * Strength: it affects how much a player can hold and may increase damage; it also affects the number of Hit Points a character has.
 * Intelligence: it boosts the effectiveness of spells; it only applies to the Avatar.

Derived attributes:
 * Training points: as characters gain experience points and levels, they gain Training points. Trainers consume 1-3 of these during a given training session.
 * Combat: derived from Dexterity, but can be individually boosted. Improves the hit rate of characters.
 * Magic: derived from Intelligence, but can be individually boosted. Determines the number of mana points a character has. This statistic is only applicable to the Avatar; the companions can't build it at all.

Trainers
Note: These attribute gains are with an Avatar with a value of ten (10) for all statistics. Primary attributes (strength, dexterity, intelligence) always increase by a fixed amount. See the following section for an explanation of secondary statistics gain.

* Indicates the attribute is gained incidentally. Gaining one point in Dexterity causes a one point increase in Combat. However, the "rubber band" effect will never occur.

** Marks an incidental attribute gain and a normal gain. Example: Zella trains one point in Combat due to training, but the Dexterity training adds a second point. Thus, three points are gained for an expenditure of two Training Points.

*** Chad's training differs from others in that he seems to cause 2*(Dex gain) + 1 gain to Combat. Other trainers rarely go above three (3) points gained unless they are incidentals.

For anybody
Anybody can train with any of these trainers. In fact, none of them trains intelligence or magic.

If Sentri is in your party, he is the most convenient trainer (free of charge). Note that he is unable to train himself. Also note that with his training Combat raises exactly by 1, with no compensation bonus. Also note that all characters start with lower Combat than Dexterity.

For the Avatar only
The Avatar is the only party member who can use magic (based on intelligence). Any other character who trains with one of these trainers wastes at least some money on unused attributes.

Also remember that the Avatar can boost his or her attributes to maximum by completing the Forge of Virtue sidequest on the Island of Fire.

Secondary attribute Gain Explained
Secondary attributes such as Combat and Magic are affected by a "rubber band" formula that allows secondary attributes to catch up with primary attributes. For instance, Spark starts with ten (10) points in Combat and twenty-two (22) in Dexterity. If he trains with Markus, he will gain six (6) to Combat because (22 - 10) / 2 = 6. As the two values close together, the gain diminishes and becomes a much smaller value such as one (1) or two (2).

Likewise, the Avatar starts with eighteen (18) Intelligence and ten (10) Magic. If he trains with Denby, he will gain +1 to Intelligence and +5 to Magic. This will be due to (18 - 10) / 2 = 4, then 4 + 1.

Note that this may be somewhat incorrect, depending on the exact nature of the rubber band equation. For instance, the Denby example could work like this: (19 - 10) / 2 = 4.5 (roundup and add to Magic). Additionally, the rubber band effect still occurs when the secondary attribute is larger than the primary attribute, so a character with low Dexterity, but high Combat will gain Combat quickly. There is still a bit of unpredictability to determining attribute gain and firm numbers cannot be guaranteed.

Only trainers that actually teach the secondary skill activate the rubber band effect. Trainers such as Sentri, Denby, and Bradman only create Combat gains because Dexterity is linked to Combat. Intelligence is supposed to be linked to Magic as well, but, despite what the Ultima VII manual implies, raising Intelligence alone seems to have no impact on Magic.

Forge of Virtue
The Avatar can boost his or her attributes to maximum by completing the Forge of Virtue sidequest on the Island of Fire.