Wizardry VII always eluded me in the past (it didn't want to run on any PC I ever had), but thanks to GOG I can finally play this game. I have few questions:

1. When does Age penalty start to kick in? Are they avoidable (like random occurance which can be fixed by reloading)? How severe are Age penalties and are there any ways to lower Age by in-game means?
2. Which skills can be raised "on use" outside leveling? I know that e.g. weapon skills can be raised in combat. Can such skills be all raised to 100 "on use"?
3. Are there any spells which can be learned only from books? I know that learning spell from book denies you spell points, so don't want to lose on spell points.
4. Some in-game events are based on time (e.g. availability of maps). Can the game become completely unwinnable if I take a long time ignoring main quests?

Edit:
5. Some mobs have capability to steal important items from inventory. According to GameBanshee, game doesn't provide feedback about it (but they used Wiz 7 Gold which has accelerated text scrolling, I am using DOS version). So, does game indicate fact of theft in combat log, or it is GuideDangIt and you need to check your inventory each time after fight with such mobs?

1. I wouldn't worry about it. I can't remember anything that ages characters except resting.

2. Skills that don't increase by use: all magic skills (not Oratory, though) and kirijutsi. Maybe a few more.

4. I don't think so. When I played at least one quest became unobtainable because some NPCs died before giving you what you needed to enter an area. But the *maps* should always be available by killing their current owner if you are too late to find the chest holding it.

I actually found later on, after making this post, that Oratory can be raised by casting in combat (doesn't raise out of combat). Some FAQs also say that Swimming 10+ can be increased semi-reliably by swimming.

What concerns pt.1 - i wanted to test it empirically, but it looks like savegame stores age in some special manner, I could find positions for all stats except age.