The 24 skills in RuneScape enable players

The 24 skills in RuneScape enable players to perform various activities within the game, allowing for interaction with NPCs, the environment and other players. Players gain experience points in a skill when they utilize it. For example, mining an ore trains the mining skill, and when the player accumulates enough experience points in the skill, their character will 'level up'.As the skill level rises, the ability to retrieve better raw materials and produce better products increases, as does the experience awarded if the player utilizes the new abilities. The total skill level of a player partly symbolizes the player's status in the game and the official RuneScape high score tables can be viewed by anyone. Upon reaching the highest available level in a skill (99), members may buy a special cape known as a "Cape of Accomplishment" or a "Skill Cape", to symbolize their achievement.
Some skills, such as woodcutting and fishing, enable the player to collect raw materials that can be processed into usable items for other skills, such as fletching and cooking respectively. The items created can be used by the player or sold to other players in game for a profit. Other skills allow players to kill certain NPCs, build their own houses, move around the map with greater ease, steal from various NPCs, market stalls and chests located in-game, cook their own food, create their own potions, craft runestones and weapons, grow their own plants, hunt NPC animals, and summon familiars to assist in combat and training skills.