This is why I think that the idea of a troop leader hanging back and commanding their forces is kind of silly. Sure, they certainly can hang back. They can even try and give orders and all that. Practically, however, once they have positioned their men and overseen the advance I doubt that they would be able to do much "leading". They can be their to provide a good example, shore up weak points, and even sound a retreat but I can not imagine much else.
As far as how realistic it is that nobles gain skill in swordfighting/jousting by being in battle, I am not sure it is really all that important. Though I feel it is historically feasibly, the truly important part is how it fit's into the game. I think that having a roughly 90% chance that a noble will gain a skill (swordfighting, jousting or leadershipp) just for having their unit engage another unit in battle would be a positive change and make for better game play.
I even think that the odds I proposed in a prior post (with a few adjustments listed below) would make for a good starting point. I went ahead and wrote them out again with said adjustments and would like to hear what others think of the system.
I personally think that it would make participating in battle a more attractive option that going to the academy is, especially at higher levels.
I think that it will make battles more important to characters as they would be a great way to develop your character.
I think that it will help ensure that the best warriors (in terms of weapon skill) and leaders are the nobles that participated most in battles.
I think it will decrease the likely hood of nobles sitting in the capital spending mountains of gold at the academy instead of joining the rest of the realm in war (not saying that this is a real problem but will admit that I have had the temptation to do so myself on occasion).
I think that the progression rate is good. The chances of skill increase would raise dramatically but is still low enough that the academy still retains some value and that it is unlikely that someone could "game" the system. In a scenario in which a player tries his best to optimize his characters skill gain in a single skill (hero, leading infantry, trying to up his swordsmanship), that it would take an average of 143+ battles to max out their swordsmanship assuming their unit engaged another unit in every battle (167+ battles for non Heroes). A character participating that many battles deserves a maxed out skill in my opinion.
I think that it also models the idea that training + experience leads to the best warriors as training at the academy would still be lucrative in the beginning while real world battles might prove more, or at least equally, profitable as skill levels become high.
- If a character's unit does not encounter another unit in battle, 30% chance of Leadership increase, 70% chance nothing increases.
- If a character leading cavalry manages a successfully charge but does not engage in any other non-charge combat, 60% change of Jousting increase and 30% chance of Leadership increase, 10% chance nothing increases.
- If a character leading cavalry manages a successfully charge AND engages in other non-charge combat, 30% change of Jousting increase, 30% chance of swordfighting increase and 30% chance of Leadership increase, 10% chance nothing increases.
- If a character's non-cavalry unit encounters another unit in a battle or if their cavalry unit engages in non-charge melee only, 60% change of Swordsmanship increase and 30% chance of Leadership increase, 10% chance nothing increases.
- By meeting another unit in battle, I mean that the two units engage in melee combat.
- If the character is a hero, increase the chance of a fighting skill increase by 10%. This means that the hero has a 100% chance of skill increase compared to other classes which only have a 90% chance. This also only applies if the Hero's unit meets another unit in battle.
- Any existing class rules that determine how a particular characters skills affect unit CS, willingness to stay and fight and all that should remain.
