Is it worth it? Some FAQs say it can pay off big time but I would gather there are other ways to make money without spending valuable skill points.

If these constant noob questions get overly annoying let me know and I'll tone it down. :)

Hunting skills require very few skill points in the overall scheme of things, and they do bring in quite a bit of money. Also, unlike many RPGs where by even the middle of the game you have more money than you know what to do with, money tends to always be in short supply in Gothic (good armors are really expensive), so the extra funds from selling animal bits tend to be very useful. If memory serves there are also a couple of quests that require you to gather items that certain hunting skills provide, so you'll also want some of the skills for those quests.

The constant noob questions aren't an issue at all. They stop me from having to ask the same things! :)

I did some looking around and evidently some hunting is better than others. A lot of animals have skins/furs while only a few have claws so I dumped some into skinning and I'm happy with that for now. I fear I may never sleep again. :P

Very true. Some skills only help you with one specific creature... all the main quest related hunting skills (ulu mulu) are tought by quest givers at no costs iirc

Money is NEVER an issue in RPGs, don't listen to the others :) There is so much stuff lying around, you really don't need those hunting skills. I'd rather rob every npc I can lay my hands on... also blacksmithing is VERY profitable. Especially since 20 bars of steel create about 22-24 sword... mysteriously.

Well... You do not need the hunting skills. That much is obvious. And learning them for the money will only help you early on. Later in the game you can just knock out the merchants and take all their stuff. That might not be the nice way. But you are in a prison colony after all... You are not supposed to be polite.

On the other hand: The skills only cost 1 point each. So... The cost is absolutely irrelevant. Almost for free. Won't make you the tiniest bit weaker in the long run.

EDIT: Oops. I was talking about G1 here. In G2 there are a lot more hunting skills and they are more expensive and you cannot knock out the merchants and take all the stuff... But you still won't need the skills to get enough money. Although some of the hunting skills are very usefull in G2 ("Furs", if you chose to be Bosper's aprentice. "Horns" if you are a mercenary. Probably some of the others if you want to make a lot of runes as a mage. I think otherwise obtainable hearts are to rare in the game to make every summoning rune. But they are not neccesary.)
And in G3 you should just learn all the hunting skills early on. For the money and a lot of stupid "bring me a gazzilion of this thing" quests. But then again... You should probably not play G3 anyway... ;-)

I feel like an idiot for starting this thread. I'm almost through CH 3 and I have more ore than I could possibly ever spend yet I don't hunt and I don't steal (minus frisking people I kill or take down). Just looking through caves and looting corpses will make you a rich man and you can save those skill points for other things like strength and dexterity.

I use hunting skills in all three but, then again, I only need money in the early games so it may not be needed. I find the pick pocketing skills overpriced so rarely learn them. One thing that really makes a lot of money in all three is orc weapons which doesn't require any exclusive training (even though selling them implements you).