Skill Overview
Entry Last Update: January 04, 2026
Description: Swimming is the ability to survive in water.
Who Can Learn It: Swimming is the ability to survive in water.
What It is Supposed to Do: Keep your head above water
What it Does: A swim check occurs every 15 seconds. At this time, depending on water depth and your encumbrance, you will lose fatigue. A success on this swim check reduces the amount of fatigue lost. You will always lose some fatigue.
Activation: Automatic when in water. You will get a skill use every 15 seconds even if you fail a check.
Usefulness (Low Levels): Low. Expect most of your swim checks to fail anyway. You might attempt dropping some of your heaviest items if you are begining to drown. Drowning can take a long time. Once your fatigue reaches zero, your health will start to drop. However, you will still regain health and fatigue points, so you might be able to time it just right and escape. Drink a vigor bottle, or pray to your god (Pray Strengthen Me) to get some fatigue.
Usefulness (Mid Levels): Moderate. Frequent sucessfull swim checks means your fatigue loss is reduced. However, without vigor bottles, prayers or a vigor spell, you will still drown.
Usefulness (High Levels): No entry
How to Practice: Find the most shallow water you can (the smaller the delay, the better). Sit there. If you are in water with a delay of 2 seconds or less, you might even try long delay skills, such as disguise or ID...but only once you are certain you are regaining as fast as you are losing fatigue. If you have a vigor spell, you can practice in any depth of water (except perhaps underwater). You might ask a vigor casting friend to go with you as a life guard. Everyone should always have a backup plan in case you run out of runes. **Note AFK scripting is against TOS.
Tips: The Ork Cave southwest of Spur has a swimming hole with cave trout that are often encouraged to attack, so that you can get spellcasting uses and shield parry uses while swimming. Outside the Shadow Cave north of Treehaven is a shallow water pool.
Unconfirmed Rumors (May or May Not Be True): Those with a vigor spell don't need to reach double digits in this skill. Water isn't that common. The writer of this discription has never gotten double digits in this skill with any character, and see no need to do so.
Notes: (May or May Not Be True): Even a little weight hurts. If you are going swimming, go in your swim trunks, not your heavy iron plate mail, and not with the loot from that three hour long hunt. Think 1/10 of your maximum encumbrance. "INFO" will show your your Maximum Encumberance.
Notes: SWIMMING
Notes: It's a good idea to begin at the bottom in everything except in learning to swim
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