Settler Skills & Specialization Guide
Your settlers' skills are the engine that powers your entire colony. Every task — from mining stone to baking bread, from researching technology to fending off raiders — scales with the relevant skill level. Understanding the 14 core skills, how they level up, and how to specialize settlers into effective roles is the single most impactful strategic decision you can make. This guide covers every skill in detail, the passion and interest system, dual-specialization strategies, and how to prevent skill decay. Data below is based on community compilation and is for reference only.
All 14 Skills Explained
Going Medieval features 14 distinct skills, each governing a set of related jobs. A settler's skill level directly affects work speed, output quality, and success rate for the associated tasks. Skills range from 0 (incompetent) to 20 (master). Most settlers start with skills between 2-10 depending on their background.
| Skill | Jobs | Best Traits | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mining | Digging tunnels, mining stone/iron/coal, excavating rooms (Job: Mine) | Industrious, Strong | Critical |
| Construction | Building walls, floors, roofs, doors, stairs, furniture, brick-making, stone-cutting (Job: Construct) | Industrious, Perfectionist | Critical |
| Culinary | Preparing meals, baking bread, brewing beer, smoking meat, butchering animals (Job: Cooking) | Creative, Fast Learner | High |
| Botany | Planting crops, sowing seeds, growing, harvesting plants, cutting grass (Jobs: Grow, Harvest, Cut plants) | Industrious, Strong | High |
| Intellectual | Operating research table, alchemy, brewing, medicine-making (Jobs: Research, Alchemy) | Intellectual, Fast Learner | High |
| Smithing | Smelting ingots, crafting metal weapons, armor, and tools (Job: Smithing) | Perfectionist, Creative | High |
| Tailoring | Sewing clothing, leather/cloth armor, bandages (Job: Tailoring) | Creative, Fast Learner | Medium |
| Medicine | Treating wounds, healing settlers, performing surgery (Job: Tend) | Intellectual, Calm | Medium |
| Carpentry | Crafting wooden items, furniture, bows (Job: Carpentry) | Creative, Industrious | Medium |
| Speechcraft | Trading/bartering, recruiting prisoners, bard performances, prison warden (Jobs: Bartering, Gaoler, Bard, Prison Warden) | Charismatic, Optimistic | Medium |
| Art | Creating statues, paintings, tapestries for colony mood (Job: Artist) | Creative, Perfectionist | Low |
| Marksman | Ranged combat with bows and crossbows, hunting animals (Job: Hunt) | Calm, Fast Learner | Low |
| Melee | Melee combat: damage %, dodge, crit chance, precision (no specific job, pure combat) | Strong, Calm | Low |
| Animal Handling | Taming wild animals, feeding, training, fishing (Job: Fish) | Calm, Optimistic | Low |
Data source: Community compilation
Skill Leveling Mechanics
Skills improve through practice — every time a settler completes a task, they gain experience toward the associated skill. The amount of XP gained per task is influenced by the task's complexity (crafting a sword gives more XP than crafting a wooden club) and the settler's learning rate multiplier from traits. Skill leveling is logarithmic: advancing from level 0 to 5 is fast, from 5 to 10 is moderate, from 10 to 15 is slow, and from 15 to 20 is very slow.
Levels 0-5: Apprentice
Rapid leveling. Each task grants significant visible progress. A settler can reach level 5 in any skill within 2-3 days of dedicated work. Basic competency for all tasks.
Levels 5-10: Journeyman
Moderate leveling speed. Settlers at this range are solid contributors. Work speed is noticeably faster than apprentices. This is the minimum you want for critical roles (cook, smith).
Levels 10-15: Expert
Slow leveling but high efficiency. Expert settlers complete jobs 2-3x faster than apprentices and produce higher-quality output. Most colonies will have 2-3 settlers at this tier.
Levels 15-20: Master
Very slow leveling. Master settlers are exceptional — 4x faster work speed, near-perfect quality output. Only achievable with long-term dedication and favorable traits. A single master smith can supply an entire colony.
Passion & Interest System
Each settler has hidden "interests" (sometimes called passions) for certain skills. A settler with an interest in a skill gains XP at roughly 150% the normal rate and enjoys a mood boost when performing that type of work. Conversely, a settler may have a disliking for certain skills, gaining XP at only 50% the normal rate and suffering a mood penalty. You can identify passions by observing XP gain speed — interested settlers will visibly level faster when assigned to a particular task.
Strategy: when evaluating new settlers, assign them to various tasks for 1-2 days and monitor skill gain speed. A settler who rapidly advances in Mining probably has a passion for it. Prioritize assigning passions over raw starting skill — a level 3 settler with a passion will outperform a level 7 settler without one over the long term. The mood bonus from passionate work also helps maintain high colony morale.
Dual-Specialization Recommendations
Most settlers should be dual-specialized — one primary skill for their main role and one secondary skill for when their primary task is unavailable. This prevents idle time and maximizes total colony output. The following pairings are the most efficient combinations based on task synergy and complementary work rhythms.
| Specialization | Primary Skill | Secondary Skill | Why This Combo Works |
|---|---|---|---|
| Builder-Miner | Construction | Mining | Mine stone, then build walls — no idle time. Natural synergy: the materials you mine become the structures you build. |
| Botanist-Cook | Botany | Culinary | Grow food then cook it. Farm work is seasonal (intense planting/harvesting), cooking is daily — complementary rhythms. |
| Carpenter-Smith | Carpentry | Smithing | Both use workstation crafting. Make wooden items and bows when wood is abundant, smith metal gear when ingots are ready. |
| Researcher-Healer | Intellectual | Medicine | Both are intellectual indoor jobs. Researcher works the bench during peacetime, switches to tending wounded after battles. |
| Handler-Trader | Animal Handling | Speechcraft | Tame and tend animals between merchant visits, handle trades and prisoner recruitment when caravans arrive. |
Skill Decay Prevention
Skills above level 10 will slowly decay if the settler does not practice them regularly. The decay rate is approximately 0.5-1% of XP per day of inactivity. This means a specialized settler who is injured, imprisoned, or reassigned to other work for extended periods will lose hard-earned skill levels. Skill decay only affects levels above 10 — skills at level 10 or below do not decay.
Prevention strategy: ensure specialists practice their core skill at least once every 2-3 days. For a smith, this means crafting at least one item every few days even during quiet periods. For a researcher, keep the research table running continuously — even at slow speed, it prevents decay. If a specialist is recovering from injury, have them perform light versions of their skill (craft simple items, research slowly) as soon as they can walk. Never reassign a high-level specialist to entirely different work for more than a few days.
FAQ
What skill should I prioritize first for new colonies?
Mining and Construction are non-negotiable from Day 1. You need to dig out your base and build walls immediately. Aim for at least one settler with Mining 6+ and Construction 6+ in your starting group. Without these, you will spend days just on basic infrastructure while food spoils and raiders approach.
Is it better to specialize settlers or make everyone a generalist?
Specialization is vastly superior. A level 15 specialist works 3-4x faster than a level 5 generalist and produces higher quality output. Five specialists each doing one job well will outperform ten generalists doing everything poorly. The only exception is the first 3-5 days when you have too few settlers to fully specialize — in that case, everyone pitches in on critical tasks.
How do I recruit settlers with the specific skills I need?
When wanderers or prisoners become available, inspect their skills before committing. Prioritize candidates who fill gaps in your colony. If you lack a cook, accept a settler with Culinary 5+ even if their other stats are poor. If all skills are well-covered, accept settlers with high potential (multiple passions, good traits) who can grow into specialists over time.
Data verified against Going Medieval Wiki (goingmedieval.fandom.com) as of June 2026.