Regarding leveling of spells, I've quickly raised my Magic to level 4 by casting Heal on the moss on the floor right next to the first magic circle :)
Page Up / Page Down keys don't work for me though.... I wonder if it could be my version of DOSBox (a CVS version I use for the openglhq surface rendering).
Edit: Nevermind, it was a NumLock issue. Has to be off before launching the game, toggling afterwards does nothing.

Hey, I used to play this game a lot back in the day: owned the strategy guide, and recently replayed it in DosBox. Some helpful tips for beginners or those new to the game:
1) Poke everything. Many barrels/moss/etc. can be hit once or twice, and each hit adds to your weapon skill.
2) The earliest place to "power level" is actually very early in the game, on the first large area (after finding the stairs leading down), there is a forge (basically a stone disc-looking thing, with a lever behind it to start the fire. If you attack the forge while it is lit, you will gain weapon experience (even with fists). So if you're so inclined, you can max out all your weapon skills here (save for magic, shield, and missile).
3) To max out shield, the best technique is to get at least the leather shirt, leather leggings, and wooden shield. However, it will be a lot faster if you also get the first helmet, and/or the metal shield. Once you acquire these items, head back upstairs to "Drake's room", there's a pipe in the back that will produce *many* ants. Let them attack you while you have your shield/s equipped. It will take a little while, but this is the safest place to improve shield skill. If you never hear shield hitting sounds, then your agility is too high to gain shield here, sorry.
4) Maxing out magic is very easy, after getting your first wand, just cast fireballs off in the distance while walking repeatedly over the mana circle to recharge.
5) This just leaves missile skill as the hardest skill to level. In being the hardest, if you're a Perfectionist-player, I recommend throwing rocks/arrows/daggers/etc. at all the barrels/moss/etc., otherwise you'll be deep into the game before getting it close to maxed out. Likewise, if you need more missile skills, then be sure to use missile attacks on the dwarf stone that is in the dwarven fortress (the first couple hits will give levels to weapon skills immediately).
Honestly, this exploitation makes the game unnecessarily easy, but, if it's your style to be really powerful, go for it. I think getting the dagger of penetration at the beginning is even more of an exploit for the vast majority of the game, so unless you're just dying ALL the time, or you're just not good at this kind of game, I recommend skipping the very sharp dagger.

Dymlos, nice post and great advice. Thanks, I will apply some of these ides into my playing.

Hello folks,
I remember playing this back in 95, i can't wait for the download to finish.... anyway i recall getting strength on the very first level with the spiders, in one of the rooms spiders come out of the pipe constantly if you wait for them they come out, just use them as target practice, if you change your weapons while you do this, then you will get skilled on those you use too, remember too this happens throught the game, i can only recall those greens slimy snakes do the same thing in a room...
once im up and running again, im sure i will remember more tips...
Someone posted about not killing the bees... thats correct, unless of course you want even more target practice!! and boy they take some killing i recall so save often, by then you will have a good array of weapons to hone your skills on.
cheers all
fivepints

Inventory management tip:
Say you have a stack of 10 Sharga swords in the top slot of your inventory and you want to move them to the bottom slot, except you have 30 slots in between. Move just one sword from top slot to bottom slot. Drop the remaining 9 on the floor and then pick them up with a right click. They'll stack whit the one you placed on the bottom slot, thus saving loads of inventory scrolling.
Herbology tip:
Red mushrooms boost strenght and agility.
Green mushrooms cure poison.
Sanitary tip:
Always check your journal to see what it is you just picked up, otherwise you'll probably end up with at least one very disgusting item in your inventory after finding a secret room in Sharga Mines lvl1 ;)

Some enemies are weak or resistant to certain types of damage, as you've said, but there are also cases where enemies have specific weak points you should aim for when attacking. I was only able to fully verify this in a specific case though:
SPOILERS:
There is an enemy that first appears in the sewers, where it really matters where you aim.
OK REAL SPOILERS NOW:
The tentacle monster, first encountered in the sewers, has different parts you can target. Attacking the tentacles will eventually chop them off, which means it can attack fewer times but does not actually damage the monster much. If you have drained the water from the sewers, you will see an soft-looking eyeball thing near the base of the creature; attacking that does a lot more damage and makes the creature much easier to kill. Trying to kill it without draining the sewers is VERY hard for this reason.

My first encounter was with water in the sewer, and the way I cut off the tentacles without taking too much damage was to constantly move in a circle while attacking. It seemed it hit me much less often with this method.

hy,
is there a reason to keep all the stuff you find?for example the cheap daggers and broadsword,can i sell my stuff at one point or just throw it away so my inventory isn't so full.
also, where can i see which weapon does more damage etc.?

I'm currently playing the game and discovered a little weapon trick.,
Using Azreal's orb (red orb from Throggi statue) on yourself will cast a spell of quickness. With that effect on, the useage of the bow (and propably other missile weapons) becomes in essence a machinegun. The enemies can't even attack since they're taking damage constantly.
I just fought the monster in the dwarf hall and I don't know if he's supposed to be tough but for me, two seconds, down.