skill gain and peacemaking attribute on jewelry

Rock

Generally for skill gain, one tries to have the lowest effective value possible.  For example, mages train with mage weapons to lower their effective skill, making skill gains occur more frequently (and using less mana/reagents).  I wonder if the opposite might be true for Peacemaking and the other bard skills besides Musicianship. I have noticed that beyond a certain point, 40 skill, say, you never gain in a bard skill unless it is successful.  This implies that skill gain rate would be improved by having a higher Peacemaking skill, ie, such as one can get from certain jewelry.  The effect could be a wash, though, because it is probably still true that the higher the effective value, the less likely a gain event is.

I excluded Musicianship because I have observed it can gain from successful or unsuccessful attempts.  Thus having a Music bonus probably would be no benefit in training the skill.

Merus

There is some truth to your line of thinking, though there really isn't a realistic way to lower your skill AND train... you could try the satyr trick and provoke Cu in the twisted weld, but good luck.

A couple tips... if you are training bard skills the old fashion way you should lock your music at 100 until you are done.  Over 100 music provides a success chance bonus that means you need to train on hard mobs to get gains. (same principle as lowering skill).  Over 90 skill you can train bard skills just like magery by casting and removing the bard songs over and over.  This is typically more efficient for power training the skill quickly, though it is exceptionally boring.

Chrille

You lower your skill to be able to use less mana and lower the casting time. Gains is always counted on real skill not the displayed.

For gains in peacemaking, yes you can use +skill jewelry or use exceptional instruments or just peace something easier it will give the same results.

Bilbo

Luna Bank