Hi gang -

My level 3 Rogue is patiently inspecting the trapped chest in the basement of the Lower Monastery to build up his skills. Currently, his Lock & Trap skill is at level 13 and I've been inspecting, inspecting, inspecting this chest for over 25 minutes without his skill increasing even one point. I understand it will take a looooooong time to train him this way, and I'm not against putting in the effort, I just want to make sure it's not wasted effort. Is this type of advancement (or non-advancement) normal? I'll keep going for a while to see if it finally goes up ONE stinking point, but can someone please let me know If I'm doing something wrong? Maybe I need more than 13 points before I start training this way?

Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I usually don't bother doing this because I find it easier to train up the Mage/Alchemist spell knock knock in Arnika later in the game. A lock and trap skill of about 15 should get you through everything until then, especially if you have some knock knock picks to make things even eaiser. Beyond that I find that my rogues progress well enough naturally. Nonetheless, there are some good training tips at Flamestryke's site if you haven't seen them already:
http://www.flamestryke.com/wizardry8...ow8/tt-lt.html

I'm sure Scatter will have something more to add!

Good luck!

There is a noticable learning curve for most skills in the game; for L&T it is slow going up to about 25-30 (depending on your Int and Dex).
Then it's pretty fast up to the 70's, where it starts to slow down gain.
As i said in the article Sinteuil linked to, i read a book while i do this training--the sound effects will tell you when to click the mouse again.

Thanks to you both! I'll get back to it now that I know I'm not doing it wrong.