With one skill point in Sword Expertise or Augment Damage, saving and reloading the game will automatically boost the skills up to level 2. These are the starting skills of the male warrior, but this will also work for any other character, they just have to put the first skill point in themselves.
The most plentiful and powerful weapons in the game tend to be swords. There are lots of axes in the beginning catacombs, but few after that, so stash any you might want to use later (you'll have to stash them anyway, until you find merchants with enough gold to buy them).
As of the latest
patch, True Shot and the damage portion of Crossbow Expertise are broke. However, archery is still very effective, especially combined with the Poison Weapon skill.
differences between classes (minor spoilers)
Early Starter Tips (NON-Spoiler Version) (contains much of the information in the above topic)
Free skills, and spell books you can buy (Spoilers)
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