Skinning lets you harvest extra creature products from certain monster corpses. Carry an Obsidian Knife and use it on a fresh corpse after killing a creature. If that corpse can be skinned, the attempt consumes or decays the corpse and may reward materials such as leather, fur, claws, scales, wings, tusks, creature parts, or other crafting and quest items.
Your Skinning skill improves your chance of success. Successful skinning gives Skinning skill progress, can count toward daily mission progress, advances the Skin-Deep achievement, and may restore +1 Soul if you are below your maximum Soul.
Not every monster can be skinned, and failed attempts do not give a reward. Bestiary charms can improve the system further: Scavenge can increase your chance to successfully skin a creature, while Gut can occasionally grant extra creature products. Skinning also has milestone achievements at skill levels 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100.