Talismans provide both an alternate means to gaining access to the skill and a potential source of character attributes.

If a character has access to the skill already such as praying skill in the case of a holy symbol. The Holy Symbol in their inventory (even if it is _not_ applied) will automatically be applied when casting a prayer. This is to ensure that all characters can take advantage of the bonuses to character attributes of certain holy symbols like attuned: summoning, etc. Any new talismans picked up will be used when casting spells. This means the last talisman picked up will be the one that is used. If the character has multiple talismans in their inventory, the talisman used after saving then rejoining the game will not be the same talisman used prior to the save.