Some way to save skills when nobles die?

- How about saving some (more) skills when nobles die? Right now I've only gotten about +3 of any one skill from equipment, which isn't much at all. But the kingdoms at war with me are killing my nobles easily! It's very difficult (and long) to get to 6 building so you can build curved stairs, and then the builder dies, setting you back to a skill level of 1 or 2. And with the current raids being unbalanced, there is no way to avoid sending *ALL* of your nobles in to battle. You can't live with just one or two of them Guarding and the rest doing other jobs. Those two on guard will die in seconds, and the rest of your kingdom has to step in anyway.