Skills

There are two ways to get skills in Phantasm. The first, and least important way is via Demonstrated Competence. This is when you demonstrate that you have a skill at a level that is beyond what is listed on your Status page. It's not so much a normal part of the System, as the System noting that your page is incorrect and updating.

For most skills, this requires more than a simple success. Most skills succeed on effect level 10, which you can manage 1/10th of the time without the skill. So a simple success isn't enough to make the System think it needs to modify your page. Nor can you demonstrate competence with a skill bonus, because that is on your Status page.

Kandis has profited handily from this method. It's available to all, but it's very rarely used because the other (main) method is much easier. This is spending a Skill Point on an unlocked skill.

You unlock skills either through Professions, or succeeding in a skill roll. The exception here is Academic and Magic skills, which cannot be attempted unskilled. I'm not entirely happy with how this works out - there's no intermediate step between 'numbers hard' and '12+24=36'

Getting back to Demonstrated Competence, this is why, if you write something, you get the skill for free. Because you couldn't have written something if you did not, in fact, have the skill. This would be true for magic as well, but no one can cast spells unaided. Maybe if they were isekai-ed from a magic world?

So for most skills, starting to practice is enough to unlock the skill, and you can then spend a skill point and be on your way. If you don't spend a skill point, you can keep practicing until you are good enough to qualify for the skill, but that takes time. The first couple of skill levels are very easy to get, so it's only those without skill points that try it that way.

Oh, and finally, the exception to the exception is that Theurgy can be attempted unskilled, even though it's a magic skill. We'll be learning more about Theurgy in future updates. It's an exception because its sort of the prime magic skill, from before magic was developed.