Skills determine a character's ability to perform vital actions such as attacking with a weapon, blocking blows with shields etc. Unlike hit points or mana, skills do not improve when a character advances in level. Instead, skill levels increase through use, i.e. a character will train sword fighting when using an edged weapon, while his club fighting skill will gradually improve if he uses a blunt weapon. If a skill has been used often enough to advance, a white message will be displayed in the game window, and the skill level will automatically increase by one. The progress to the next skill level is indicated by a little bar underneath each skill.
There are 8 different skills in Tibia. Most of them are related to the use of weapons:

• Fist Fighting
  This skill determines your character's ability to fight with bare hands. Needless to say, characters do not cause much damage when fighting unarmed, even if they have a considerable fist fighting skill.
• Club Fighting
  This is a weapon skill. It covers blunt weapons such as clubs, maces, staffs and hammers.
• Sword Fighting
  Another weapon skill. This skill is needed to use any kind of edged weapons, from puny knives to mighty giant swords.
• Axe Fighting
  Similar to other weapon skills, your character will need the corresponding skill to successfully wield any kinds of axe, from hatchets to the legendary Stonecutter Axe. Also, this skill covers pole weapons such as halberds and lances.
• Distance Fighting
  This weapon skill covers all distance weapons. This includes thrown weapons such as stones and spears as well as bows and crossbows.
• Shielding
  Shielding is the ability to successfully block enemy attacks with a shield. Of course, characters need to hold shields in their hands in order to use this skill. Note that it is not possible to block more than 2 opponents at a time.
• Fishing
  Fishing differs from other skills in that you must actively use it every single time you try to catch a fish. To use this skill characters need a fishing rod and some worms in their inventory. Worms can be found in some monsters or can be bought at shops that also sell fishing rods. Equipped with the fishing gear, you will have to find a place close to a river or some other body of water that contains fish. Once you have found a suitable place all you need to do is to <a href="http://www.tibia.com/gameguides/?subtopic=manual&section=controls#use">use</a> the fishing rod on the water. Do not worry if you do not catch a fish immediately - your chance to catch one will increase with your fishing skill. However, please note that not all bodies of water contain fish, so if you have tried many times without success, it is probably a good idea to try your luck somewhere else. A worm will vanish from your inventory every time you actually catch a fish, so make sure you have always enough baits left.
• Magic Level
  The magic level is similar to regular weapon skills in that it directly influences the power of a character's spells. Thus, a druid with a high magic level will restore more hit points when casting a healing spell than a druid of comparable experience who has a lower magic level. This way it is even possible for a low-level spellcaster to cast spells that are more powerful than those of some high-level characters. Please see the manual section on <a href="http://www.tibia.com/gameguides/?subtopic=manual&section=magic">magic</a> for details.