More RtL questions from a fairly new player.
First, just a general open-sandbox question: Are there any skills that you consider to be must-haves for at least one member of the hero group? The OL in my game just razed Riverwatch before we could get Boggs the Rat; I know he's popular, so I might put that on the list to try to recover at Fool's Rapids.
Second, I had a slightly more specific question about skills that don't increase combat lethality or survivability directly in dungeons. We recently trained in Dawnsmoor and one of my group took Pickpocket and another took Appraiser. No one took Acrobat, which I was nervous about because of what people have noted elsewhere about movement skills generally being very useful; the others in the group took Battle Cry (for the warrior, Karnon) and Taunt (for the tank, Trenloe). I'm fairly certain Taunt was a good pick for the tank, but I'm nervous about the others. We basically ended the session not long afterward, so we may be allowed to retcon those selections.
I think my main worry about taking those utility skills is the opportunity cost, since we're a ways behind the OL in CT count about 3/4 of the way through Copper (behind 59-92). For example, Pickpocket pays for itself in gold terms in 16 kills (assuming spending 1000 for it), but the xp is spent and it bumps the cost of the next skill up to 1,500 gold and 30xp. Taking Pickpocket at Dawnsmoor could cost our mage the ability to take Quick Casting at Olmric's Hut, for example. (Appraiser looks like it could come in handy in gearing up because of the ability to get rid of Treasure Caches, though.)
Thoughts on hero skill selection generally, or on the skills we actually took specifically?