“Oh yes.”

“I am going to ask for something I can’t just spot. Is there anyone here who has focused on a single skill to get it to skill level 100?”

A few people indicated they had.

One was an archer, so you picked him.

“What skill did you focus on?”

“Archery, of course.”

Smiling, “Just going through the motions. So, with a level 100 in archery you must be pretty good. Would you say you can’t improve it?”

Despite the fact everyone, even him had to know you were setting him up, he was flattered and replied “Of course not! I have the max level there.”

“So there is no way to be a more dangerous archer, except by gaining levels?”

“No way at all!”

Frowning you asked him “How are some of your other skill, including stealth, forestry, Fletcher levels, Horse ridding, enchanting, night vision and poison skills?”

He was taken aback. “What the heck?”

Looking him right in the eyes “Every single one of them could make you a more dangerous archer. When combined with Archery. Stealth lets you sneak closer to a target, as does forestry. Fletchers are the people who make arrows, so you would be able to make more arrows instead of running out. Horse ridding when combined with archery would include shooting while ridding. Poisoned or enchanted arrows are more dangerous. Night vision would mean being able to better locate targets.”

Looking over the crowd you tell them “There are 5 ways to improve your Skills.

1) Get more levels in it.

2) Get a feat that boosts it

3) Improve the attributes that support it

4) Get supporting skills

5) Get items that boost your ability to use the skill, like a bow that increases the distance an archer can shoot.

“The skill levels increase depending on how much effort you put into them since the last level. I don’t know the formula they use these days. However, this means that those who overly focused on a main skill now have to work much harder to make up the levels for the supporting skills!”

You give that time to sink in, and see the realization that some of them had spent years, possibly even decades (you had no idea how long they had been coming into the world) to get a sub-standard results settling in.