Or to put it another way, how many points of weapon skill can I skip on Gaulen and still have him be effective in combat?

On 1st difficulty setting it might not matter that much, but on others, even with investing in weapon skill each level up, you still miss quite a lot even with all buffs (blessings + maxed song of courage + aimed strike).

1-2 skipped weapon level ups are capable of rendering your character entirely useless in this aspect. I had it happen on my bard (didn't raise bows for couple levels), he couldn't shoot a thing even at what could be considered as point blank range, one of the reasons why I discarded last party.

There is nothing worse in combat than spending all of your PP by using Aimed Strike just to see it missing most if not all the time.

I'm wondering if I could get away with skipping the occasional level of Axes and use only one-handed axes to make up the difference in Attack. As I have mentioned, Gaulen just doesn't have enough skill points to level up everything.

Also, my bard (who I skilled a few levels on bows) seems to sometimes have more accuracy than my paladin and my arcane soldier. Then again, those characters *are* using harder to wield weapons. (Claymores are ideal for arcane soldiers because of their high base damage, making Flame/Frost Strike stronger.)

Just to make it clear, in my Lv.110 save (not the one on forums with impossibly high stats), all weapon skill maxed, and high AG, characters still didn't have 100% hit chance against most monsters (around 90% against hounds iirc). This is with "light" weapons (with bonus to Attack rather than penalty).

About Gaulen: hence why many people bash him for uselessness - having to level 3 pretty much mandatory skills leaves him without any real combat capabilities. If you can't afford buying more skill points, you will just have to deal with having flawed character.

I have a suspicion that there is diminishing returns with respect to Attack Rating. If it is high enough, there isn't much benefit to raising it further.

Did your level 110 save have anyone with the Barbarian/Soldier skill Weapon Mastery maxed out? If so, was the effect noticeable?

I think I actually *do* have enough money to get 4 skill points (partly because they are cheaper on easiest difficulty), but that isn't sustainable. There's a reason I used my targeted skill point bonus on Gaulen.

The one other character who has skill point issues is my Paladin. I may stop boosting Aura of Protection entirely for a while because it gets a little expensive and my Paladin also needs Divine Prayer (16 skill points to max) and Strike skills.

Perhaps if I had a Divine Summoner summoning Golot heralds, skill points might not be as much of an issue.

Also, after level 30, I expect skill points to be less scarce of a commodity. Weapon skills can't be raised past level 30, so that's 2 skill points per level (except for Soldiers). Barbarians max out Rage as well. Even if you max Learning as soon as possible (without skill books), you will not be able to level it past 30, so past level 37 you no longer have to spend skill points there.

Edit: At what level do Clerics actually learn Mass Heal? The strategy guide says level 38, but the online spreadsheet and a gameFAQs guide both say level 28. (28 would make more sense to me as it would give the spell more time to shine before Mass Regeneration shows up.)

I don't like term diminishing returns, and as such it might not have them (each point of Attack Rating an be of same value as previous). it simply seems that formula is something like: ChanceToHit,% = (1 - f(EnemyDefenseRating) / f(CharAttackRating)) * 100. It is questionable, which is more fun and efficient, getting bonus gold from Golot herald or by farming cereals. Less or more so, hence Learning is so much adviced to level up, you get much higher skill point returns + efficiency. It allows you to reach lv.55-60 with some efforts, where you max out most of useful skills. Without Learning however, situation is vastly different.

Edit: Mass Heal is learnt at Lv. 28 (info straight from game files).