[2020] Losing Skill Points After Death

You do not lose skill points or levels after death- It sounds like you had a Cigar equipped at one point which gives +1 to strength, and later unequipped it.

EG: Your actual strength was 5, and you had +1 from the Cigar, totaling 6. So you then bought rank '7' which was actually rank 6. Later you then unequipped the Cigar, perhaps to swap it for a bandana for the cold/heat resist, which dropped your Strength from 7 to 6 which is the actual rank you own.

Similarly, If you had the buff from..I think steroids? it gives a boost to strength.

Both the semi-permanent buff from Cigar and the temporary buff from steroids allow you to buy ranks in skills without actually having the primary stat raised to the right level- but when either is removed, you do lose access to any skill ranks which require the increased primary stat.

EG: If you have 6 str +1 from cigar, you can buy skills which require 7 strength- but if you remove the cigar, you'll lose access to those ranks which require 7 str until such a time as you buy Str 7 and/or equip the cigar again.

It's also possible i suppose that you tried to buy rank 7 but didnt have the SP available and it failed, and you just didnt notice.

Edit: Of note, in the second example, you never lose skill points- only temporarily lose access to the skill until such a time as the primary stat is raised to a level that allows you to use it again. All of the above applies to other temporary bonuses as well, such as fort bites, or nerdy glasses, etc.

Originally posted by Bones: The cigar! Of course that's what it was. I had totally forgotten about that. Thank you! This was driving me crazy.

Hmmm, I did have a cigar equipped when I purchased level 7 strength for two points (which was technically level 6 strength because the +1 was only a buff). Normally no big deal, but level 7 cost 2 skill points. So i just paid 2 skill points for what was essentially level 6 and now I have to pay another 2 skill points or permanently have a cigar equipped. Seems like a game design problem to me.

When buying levels of the primary stats it costs the appropriate amount of points. You bought level 6 at the time, not level 7. So now you either buy level 7, or keep the cigar equipped.

Rank 1 is a freebie
2: 1 skill point.
3: 1 skill point.
4: 1 skill point.
5: 1 skill point.
6: 2 skill points.
7: 2 skill points.
8: 2 skill points.
9: 3 skill points.
10: 3 skill points.

So you spent 2 points to buy rank 6 which with +1 from cigar totalled 7; You'd have spent those 2 points to buy rank 6 either way. Now you have the choice of either spending 2 more points to buy 7, or continuing to use the cigar for the free +1 str. But you have not 'wasted' any skill points or spent any skill points you should not have.