List of some frequently used talents and cumulative ones along with their requirements and descriptions for easy reference. Notice the marking "->" implies a dependency or cumulative talent. See it used to mark Potent aura till Mighty aura.

Some are just "worth considering in theory", like Melee Weapon Master is talent-expensive and will only show up mid-late game, roughly at character level 15+ given how many previous talents it requires. Personally, I rarely use it but it's worth showing just how much you'll be investing.

Close combat:

• Melee Weapon Master
  +6 to hit and damage in melee combat. Melee attacks now cost but 900 energy points.
  prerequisites (7 total): at least 3 melee weapon affinities, Defensive Fighter (Careful, Quick), Strong of Will (Level 1)
  
• Hardy: +3 hit points (To 10) -> Tough Skin: +1 to PV (Hardy, To 12) -> Iron Skin: +1 to PV (Tough Skin, To 15) -> Immune to Pain: One point of damage is always negated for all attacks. At least one point of damage will be caused nonetheless. (Iron Skin, Will 15) -> Steel Skin: +2 to PV (Iron Skin, To 20) -> Mithril Skin: +3 to PV (Steel Skin, Dwarf)

Ranged combat:

• Missile Weapon Master
  +6 to hit and damage in missile combat. +6 to range.
  prerequisites (6 total): Alert (Level 1), at least 3 missile weapon affinities, Keen Shot (De 13, Good Shot).
  
• Good Shot: +1 to hit and damage with missile weapons -> Keen Shot: +2 to hit and damage with missile weapons (De 13, Good Shot) / Eagle-Eyed: +3 to hit and damage with missile weapons (De 18, Archery 80, Good Shot)
  
• Far Shot: Missile attack ranges are increased by 20% (Str 10, Keen Shot)
  
• Quick Shot: Missile attacks require 10% less energy (Quick, Keen Shot) -> Lightning Shot: Missile attacks require 10% less energy (Quick shot, Arch 60)

Magic:

• Potent aura: +3 power points (Ma 10) -> Strong aura: +6 power points (Ma 12) -> Mighty aura: +9 power points. (Ma 15)
  
• Extended magic: All spell ranges are increased by 2 (Ma 24, Mighty aura), Durable magic: All spell durations are increased (Will 16, Strong aura), Strong magic: +2 to all damage caused by spells (Ma 15, Potent aura), Charged: Regenerates power points at higher speed (Ma 16, Potent aura), Strong healer: +4 to all damage healed by spells (Will 15)
  
• Good book learner: PC is 10% more effective when learning spells from spell books (Good learner, Le 10, Potent aura) -> Great book learner: PC is 10% more effective when learning spells from spell books (Great learner, Le 16, Strong aura, Good book learner)
  
• Good book caster: Casting spells from books costs only double power points (Careful, Strong aura, De 14) -> Great book caster: Casting spells from books cost only 50% more power points (Good book caster: Mighty aura, De 18, Pe 15)

General:

• Good learner: Learns very fast. +8% to all experience gained. (Le 10) -> Great learner: Learns extremely fast. +15% to all experience gained. (Le 16, Good learner*).
  
• Quick: +2 to Speed -> Very Quick: +3 to Speed (Quick) -> Greased lightning: +4 to Speed (Very Quick, De 15)
  
• Silver Tongue: Shop prices reduced by 20%. Slightly higher chance for finding shops in dungeons. (Ch 10) -> Natural Trader: Prices reduced by 20%. Shop offers increased by 10%. Increase to chance of finding shops. (Ch 14, Silver Tongue).
  
• Treasure hunter: Finds more treasure.
  prerequisites: Alert (lvl 1), Miser

*The manual incorrectly states that Great learner only has the Learning attribute requirement. Try creating a character yourself. You'll see that it too is a cumulative talent which is available only after knowing Good learner first.

Special notes:

• A learning score of at least 10 is required to get the Literacy skill for free, provided you are neither a barbarian nor a beastfighter.
  
• Characters with a Mana score of 18 or more receive one free talent.
  
• Characters whose sum of attributes is divisible by 7 receive one free talent. Said to represent inborn magical luck or talent, make sure you avail of this benefit at the attribute point distribution screen!

*Methodology: Selected male, Candle-born Bard of each race for attribute reference.

• Alchemy (Alch)
  
• Alertness (Alrt)
  
• Appraising (Appr)
  
• Archery (Arch)
  
• Athletics (Athl)
  
• Backstabbing (Back)
  
• Climbing (Clim)
  
• Concentration (Conc)
  
• Detect Item Status (DItm)
  
• Detect Traps (DTra)
  
• Disarm Traps (DisT)
  
• Dodge (Dodg)
  
• Find weakness (FinW)
  
• First aid (FAid)
  
• Fletchery (Flec)
  
• Food preservation (FPre)
  
• Healing (Heal)
  
• Herbalism (Herb)
  
• Literacy (Litr)
  
• Stealth (Stlh)
  
• Survival (Surv)
  
• Swimming (Swim)

Large tables don't render well in mobile view so abbreviated:

Human (Hu), Troll (Tr), High Elf (HE), Grey Elf (GE), Dark Elf (DE), Mist Elf (ME), Dwarf (Dw), Gnome (Gn), Hurthling (Hr), Orc (Or), Drakeling (Dr), Ratling (Ra)


*Incomplete or ignored skills: Bridge Building, Cooking, Courage, Disarm Traps, First aid, Fletchery, Gardening, Gemology, Haggling, Healing, Herbalism, Law. Listening, Metallurgy, Mining, Music, Necromancy, Pick locks, Pick pockets, Smithing, Tactics, Two weapon combat, Ventriloquism and Woodcraft.
**After more than a decade playing, I learnt that rather unconventionally, Hurthlings, and not any elf, are the only race that start with archery while writing this.

Large tables don't render well in mobile view so abbreviated:

Archer (Ar), Assassin (As), Barbarian (Ba), Druid (Dr), Fighter (Fi), Paladin (Pa), Priest (Pr), Ranger (Ra), Wizard (Wz)


*Incomplete: The "less popular" or "weird" classes yet to be added.
**Incomplete or ignored skills: Appraising, Bridge Building, Cooking, Courage, Gardening, Gemology, Haggling, Law, Listening, Metallurgy, Mining, Music, Necromancy, Pick locks, Pick pockets, Smithing, Tactics, Two weapon combat, Ventriloquism and Woodcraft.

I found it inconvenient to repeatedly refer to various sections of the Manual for basic information. There is some frequently looked-up information that could be organised better. Accessing this guide would be easier than opening the Manual or my own written notes.

Having said that, keeping personalised notes of spoilers and information I found myself helped me a lot. This game is just too complex and I can't imagine getting so far without them.

I'll be updating this as I spend more time playing this game -- which is to say -- it will be sporadic. Everything is from the Manual unless otherwise stated. I'll mark anything that can be potentially viewed as a spoiler.

This is a work in progress, and you may notice missing information. Keep in mind that I myself haven't completed the game; my best is barely having a few characters reach level 25. If you find any errors, have suggestions or just plain feedback, please feel free to leave a comment.

2025 update: I'm happy to see that this has helped others. If you posted just kind words, know that I've seen them. Steam does not have a way of reacting to comments besides manual replies. I would prefer to stick to responding just to queries as I don't want to clutter the comments with my replies to each of them. So rest assured, I, like most human beings, like seeing the validation even if I haven't responded to it personally.

• Dec 2023 - First published with Race-Attribute distribution table and Frequently used talents
  
• May 2025 - Revised, copy-edited, added Profession-Attribute and two sections for Skills distribution

The in-game Manual hosted online that I mainly used for reference: http://igb.epizy.com/adomman-toc.html