Every single armor piece has a unique spread of skill points attached to it. View your skills from the START menu, and press Y when on a skill to see a detail of what it does, and the points necessary. Most skills will need ten skill points, but some higher levels of skills will need fifteen or twenty points.

It is possible to dip below zero! Negative skill points will give you a very bad version of the skill. For example, Sharpness+10 gives the amazing skill Razor Sharp, which halves the rate your weapon will lose sharpness.

But Sharpness-10 gives the terrible Blunt Edge, which doubles the rate! If you have +9 skill points, you won’t have the skill, and if you have -9 skill points, you won’t have the bad skill either.

Wearing a complete set of monster armor will usually give you a small set of related skills, some that might relate to the monster it was made from, and one or two negative skills that you can use Decorations and Talismans to take away.