So, when you’re spending time practicing can you practice skills that you don’t have? The book doesn’t seem very clear on the subject. I’m inclined to let people keep doing it in my games. It seems to allow for greater character development. But for the record: is it possible by the rules?
I remember having come across a related thread while looking through the older subforums recently. Let me see …
Here it is: http://www.burningwheel.org/forum/showthread.php?10671-Practice-Cycle-for-opening-a-new-skill
So, the answer is yes.
Yes-ish. You can practice routine tests for stats to earn beginners luck tests. That’s why stats have a routine practice time shown on page 48 even though routine tests are otherwise useless for stats.
EDIT: Ninja’ed. Do note however that that thread is four years old and for a different version of Burning Wheel.
Alright, thanks so much guys!
Huh. My understanding was that you use the routine practice time for the skill regardless of whether it’s trained or not.
It’s not stated anywhere in the text that it works one way or the other. I’m making this assumption for two reasons. Firstly, beginners luck tests are handled as stat tests everywhere else within the rules. Secondly, routine tests for stats are useless for any purpose other than beginners luck, which means the routine practice time line for stats makes no sense unless they were expected to be used for generating beginners luck tests.
I do know that Luke said otherwise four years ago vis-a-vis Blossoms, but I’d have expected this to make it into BWG had it been intended to become intended for main-line Burning Wheel.
EDIT: the blossoms answer is right since otherwise social skills take forever to learn.