The subject line says it all, but here’s the longer version:
The game says six is the highest a starting skill can be. Can a skill at 6 be raised normally (six successes, five failures) once play begins?
No. Six is the limit for skills in Mouse Guard.
I have a house rule that when they fill out all of there successes and failures after 6, they get free tests with that skill and don’t have to spend a check for it. Haven’t been able to try it out yet though.
That’s a clever house rule, though if it were me I might want to cap it at one (maybe two) free tests per Player’s Turn, not unlimited. Let us know how that goes.
-B
Really unnecessary hack. Skills rated at 6 don’t need any additional perks. And granting free tests busts the trait currency.
Maybe so.
Like I said, I haven’t tried it out yet. I just thought it would make sense that, if a person was an expert at something, he would go around using it a lot. It’s not like I’d let someone slow the game down by going around with a 6 fighter skill and dueling every mouse in the players turn. I just thought if a player wanted to say, build a boat and he was an elite expert at boat building, I wouldn’t make him spend a precious check to do it. It just seems that after all that work, it would be nice for a player to get more of a reward than just maxing out. I could see how it might disrupt a few things though.
The reward is built into the game. It’s much easier to accomplish tasks with a higher rated skill, therefore you get fewer twists and conditions, which means you don’t have to spend as many checks compensating or recovering.
Trust me man, it’s all in there.
Yeah, that makes sense actually. The reward is peace of mind, knowing that there’s no risk when he practices that skill and his check was well spent because he’s an expert at said skill. I wouldn’t want to make that skill more powerful than it already is. Thanks Luke.
Does this apply to Circles, Resources, Will, Health and Nature as well?
Nature 7, page 235.
Will, page 236.
Health, page 236.
Resources, page 237.
Circles, page 239.
Dude, this is me. If I was at home with the books, I would not have to ask on the forums. 
Nature can advance to 7. If your permanent Nature is still 7 at the end of the session in which it advanced, you must retire the character.
Will and Health are limited to 6 just like skills.
Circles and Resources can go to 10.
Thanks!