1. It should always be more advantageous and possible to actually
study the skill with a teacher than to use it.
2. Experience in using one skill should positively only count towards
gaining levels in that skill. Please no "I'll just go over there and
hit that troll over the head and then I get another level in magical
research" !
As for people running around beating up other people just for
experience, I don't think that that would be a terrible problem.
After all it is quite realistic that you learn combat by killing
people. You just have to make certain that a) this effect isn't too
large as anybody who wants to become a great fighter still should
have to spend a lot more time training than beating people up, b) the
effect of very one sided battles is small as a master fencer can't
learn much by skewering peasants or vice versa. Maybe the experience
gain from combat should be tied to the number of rounds fought ? One
day of combat training for every round spent fighting sounds
reasonable.
Carl Edman