Ah, well the skills are really varied on the impact they provide. They all matter though, and they all provide the benefits as described when you hover over them. Most of that basic information is revealed here too:
http://www.unlok.ca/wiki/wayward/skills/
Although, more specifically, it would be far too much work for me to put each exact percentage and number they provide as impact to various interactions. It would be easier to look in the source code for “mining” and see each time it’s brought up and why. Of course, you need to have an understanding of JavaScript to do this.
Here’s the current talent table for monster spawning (in 1.4):
//Night time
vampirebat, zombie, giantspider, giantrat
//Caves
livingrock, zombie, imp, giantspider, vampirebat, rat, giantrat, skeleton, pirateghost
//80000 talent
giantspider, giantrat, trapdoorspider, bear, greywolf, bogling, livingrock, jellycube, imp, fireelemental, hobgoblin, timeskitter, pirateghost
//40000 talent
slime, giantspider, rabbit, snake, giantrat, rat, chicken, trapdoorspider, bear, greywolf, bogling, livingrock, jellycube, imp, fireelemental, hobgoblin, timeskitter, pirateghost, bear, greywolf, bogling, livingrock, jellycube, imp, fireelemental, hobgoblin, timeskitter, pirateghost
//20000 talent
slime, giantspider, rabbit, snake, giantrat, rat, chicken, trapdoorspider, bear, greywolf, bogling, livingrock, jellycube, imp, fireelemental, hobgoblin, bear, greywolf, bogling, livingrock, jellycube, imp, fireelemental, hobgoblin
//10000 talent
slime, giantspider, rabbit, snake, giantrat, rat, chicken, trapdoorspider, bear, greywolf, bogling, livingrock, bear, greywolf, bogling, livingrock
//5000 talent
slime, giantspider, rabbit, snake, giantrat, rat, chicken, trapdoorspider, bear, greywolf, bear, greywolf
//Below 5000 talent
slime, giantspider, rabbit, snake, giantrat, rat, chicken, trapdoorspider
//Treasure guardians
slime, giantspider, giantrat, bear, greywolf, jellycube, imp, fireelemental, timeskitter, pirateghost, hobgoblin
//Water
trout, shark
A modding guide would sure be handy, but I haven’t had the time as of yet, and since the game changes so much in this beta state, it probably won’t happen until near to the actual release. Suffice to say though, you can edit/manipulate every aspect of the game via modding and console commands. It’s completely open… just not friendly to do so as of yet.