PowerMud Professions
When a person reaches a certain level of expertise in his or her Guild, it can be time to branch out and train in other avenues of skill. Or even to enhance the already-aquired Guild skills. Learning a 'Profession' is such a method of doing this.
A Profession is sort of like a specialization. New skills may be aquired,
and old skills may be enhanced. However when you concentrate on one area of
expertise, certain other skills or abilities can suffer.
There are two 'Levels' of Professions, an Upper and a Lower. As the name
implies, a Lower Profession is easier to learn and does not normally benefit
as much as an Upper Profession.