I expect governance to overlap with a few trade skills just by default - you're probably going to end up with good skills at calligraphy or contract-writing simply from having to write so many laws and treaties and such.

As well, nobles will have better access to education and training than most commoners simply because they have more money and resources, so it makes sense that a noble might also end up proficient in an unrelated trade skill simply because they took an interest in it.

A noble probably won't ever be the best at any given trade skill, but you don't need to be the best at something to do it anyway.

I do agree that most nobles will want to invest in some combat training, but as above they will likely have access to better trainers and sparring partners and so will likely have a slightly easier time honing their edge. A given noble likely won't be better in a fight than a legendary gladiator, but probably better than any average commoner.

As a final point... if you can't trust your body guards, you need better body guards. Get your OOC friends to do it if you're that paranoid.

Well, one could still pursue a trade profession, if they also become proficient in disguises and conceal their noble identity.... And it would be a good skill for a noble to have anyways, if they're traveling for whatever reason and want to lessen the target on their back.

Im curious how you mean trade. Mercantilism, or crafting type trades? Either way I see it as extremely doable.

I think nobles Need to dabble in mercantilism at a high level, and showing up personally for large trade deals is doable as long as you maintain control and are properly recieved. You take a private caravan, you stay in a guest house on the nobles property you are visiting. I think being unable to plan for these things will limit the scope of things you hope to accomplish. And being unable to accomodate visitors will do the same.

For crafting trades, all you need is a workshop on privately owned property and a resource supplier. Unless you want to go build towers everywhere :P

It should be a simple thing to bang metal or mix potions in your downtime.

I think the go to skill would be contract writing and I think there was a skill for making laws. But as long as people bring you materials you could do just about any crafting profession.

To’resk actually seem to combine nobility and mercantilism quite well.

Personally I will try to become known for specific exports (To’quila). Just like chinaware, or that region known for dyes, or for glasswares.

Lore, Misdirection and Combat.

So political intrigue, academic work, mercantile magnate, knight sort of thing.

Wont be much room for much else for Dukes and Kings. Counts might be able to get away with a little more.

Deviant Contract writing Architecture The martial arts of course Trade

Crafting as hobbies, but no gathering skills certainly.

Exception: Hrothi miners

We shouldn't be using the term trade skills, because it invites comparison to EQ and its follow-ons. CoE professions are not equivalent to trade skills, because all professions are on equal footing with respect to opportunity cost and caps, whereas EQ trade skills were independent of combat skills and had only grind time as an opportunity cost.

Now, to answer the question, combat professions and bardic professions are obvious candidates for preferred noble pursuits, not only because they were noble pursuits in real life. I think some deviant skills will also qualify, although in a secretive sort of way, as well as those mercantile skills associated with persuasion and diplomacy.

In addition to the professions people have mentioned: I believe, much like in real life, it wouldn't be too difficult for a Duke or King to dabble in scientific (alchemy, astronomy etc) or religious pursuits.

Ultimately, it would be a compromise though as there are so many other professions that would require your attention. Going beyond "dabbling" might be a challenge.

To be honest combat beyond a basic understanding that can be gained from books and practice with a tutor is likely not something a duke or monarch would learn. They would instead focus on scribing and likely the rumor style skills. In my case I will focus on the healing arts and dabble in daggers which I could hide in my clothing.

To advance beyond a certain point in combat you will have to seek out teachers out in the world, learn from other tribes and so on. Imagine the danger of a neighboring monarch has to walk into another kingdom to learn their fighting styles.

But I do agree basic fighting/combat will be a must but I would wager most assassins will strike in the middle of the RL night catching their target in OPC mode for an easier kill.

I intend on learning skills that will help me govern my county to the best of my ability, so writing, negotiating, gossip, dancing, etc. As a personal hobby I intend on working on astronomy though.

As for combat, I'll likely find a weapon I like the feel of then learn to use it up to the level that I can defend myself should I ever be engaged in combat.

It all depends on how you see your role as a noble.

If for you a noble is first a name carrier and will not actually do much on domain specifics and NPC management because other key characters will take care of that or/and because you see the noble play style as mainly an out of game thing (discord, clan/guild website, excel, ....), you can focus on combat and maybe a few other skills to pick up along the way.

If you consider your play style as mainly an in-game thing, involving heavy NPC interactions and if you want to take a more hands on approach to the domain internal affairs, scribing is a requisite and along with it anything that helps management and accounting. On the side you can take a few crafting skills or specialize in the literate aspects.

On thing is for sure, as Malais pointed it, Nobles have one thing in common, they can not travel too far from their seat of power, which in regard to training will impose contraints, no matter what the skills you're aiming for.

I think there can be a lot of different kind of lord and ladies, it all really depends on what kind of nobility you want to be, but if I were to rank skills that would be a must, I would rank them as such (only for nobility that wants to be very "active" in the running of their domain):

1 Calligraphy - Writing is important because of contracts, if you want to set up some taxation, having the ability to write those explicit contracts can be important. (Not as much laws and such, since that's more the domain of the king, depending if SBS makes some changes, but we'll see)

2 Document Replication - This all depends on if documents will be worth replicating, but I imagine if you want to write a contract, being able to replicate it can come in handy quite a lot, also if there're laws you want to copy so you have them by hand etc.

3 Misinformation or Inquiry - Depending if Inquiry ties into the gossip system or not, but being able to dismiss gossip and create gossip could be incredibly useful to characters, not just that but being able to trade information that increases or decreases your reputation or the reputation of the nobility around you can, in my eyes, be important.

4 Increasing your own prestige/like-ability. There are a few ways to do this, but it all depends on how you wanna go about this, the few ways I would say is.

• Performing arts (dancing) as you can then participate when invited by other nobility, and increase your reputation by your skill in dance, as balls etc. are said to increase your reputation, so I imagine a few lords might want to keep their prestige up by holding a few now and then.

• Combat - Surprised, perhaps, but combat is another way to increase your prestige/reputation, it's not necessarily the most peaceful route, but you go it if you want to set yourself apart from others on the battlefield. (Or if you want to take over more land, increasing your power that way.)

• Musical Arts and Song - I put this in here as it, like combat, as it will most likely help your reputation/prestige, it can help making npcs etc. like you more.

The last skills would be:

5 Acts of good. I put acts of good on the last point, this basically encompasses most of the crafting/farming/helping your community. Farming might not give you as much appreciation, but you'll help a little here and there, same with crafting or medicine, closing wounds etc. might help a few people, but we don't really know how much of an impact it will have on your reputation/prestige.

There are a few other honorable mentions I think could come in handy:

• Makeup - Important if it can increase your rep/prestige, if it's only used for disguise then it might not be as good.

• Camouflage - If you want to disguise yourself during some very specific situations.

• Engraving - If engraving your seal/etc. increases your rep/prestige etc.

• Waterfinding, Surveying and Horticulture if you're the kind of nobility that wants to work in close relations with your community, in mapping out and making your domain as optimal as possible.

Posted By markof at 09:03 AM - Mon Apr 22 2019

It all depends on how you see your role as a noble.

If for you a noble is first a name carrier and will not actually do much on domain specifics and NPC management because other key characters will take care of that or/and because you see the noble play style as mainly an out of game thing (discord, clan/guild website, excel, ....), you can focus on combat and maybe a few other skills to pick up along the way.

If you consider your play style as mainly an in-game thing, involving heavy NPC interactions and if you want to take a more hands on approach to the domain internal affairs, scribing is a requisite and along with it anything that helps management and accounting. On the side you can take a few crafting skills or specialize in the literate aspects.

On thing is for sure, as Malais pointed it, Nobles have one thing in common, they can not travel too far from their seat of power, which in regard to training will impose contraints, no matter what the skills you're aiming for.

Pretty sure the only time you will see nobles leaving their holdings for any significant amount of time will be for the occassional major gatherings at the Kingdom and Duchy level. I would say this might happen once or twice a year at the Kingdom level, and every few months at the Duchy level. What you will more commonly see are counts, barons, and their entourages going to a smaller such gathering/festival in a neighboring county. Now any time any of these gatherings happen, they will be bringing along their normal guards and soldiers plus some of their trusted reserves.

But one thing all nobles need to remember, their last line of defense is themselves.