Unfortunately they are a bit fiddly and they look a bit incomprehensible when you are creating them.
My advice for creating tables is to start out with them looking like this, with each row or distinct segment on its own line:
Code:
[corners=forumbg forumbg-table][table=tablebg table1]
[thead][tr=1][th=4]Savaxen Social Classes[/th][/tr][/thead]
[tbody]
[tr=bg1][td=1,]Class[/td][td=1,][/td][td=1,]Priority[/td][td=1,]Points[/td][/tr]
[tr=bg1][td=1,]Jarl[/td][td=1,]King[/td][td=1,]A[/td][td=1,]15[/td][/tr]
[tr=bg1][td=1,]Thane[/td][td=1,]Landed Nobility[/td][td=1,]B[/td][td=1,]12[/td][/tr]
[tr=bg1][td=1,]Huskarl[/td][td=1,]Landless Nobility[/td][td=1,]C[/td][td=1,]9[/td][/tr]
[tr=bg1][td=1,]Karl[/td][td=1,]High Freeman[/td][td=1,]D[/td][td=1,]6[/td][/tr]
[tr=bg1][td=1,]Freeman[/td][td=1,]Low Freeman[/td][td=1,]E[/td][td=1,]3[/td][/tr]
[tr=bg1][td=1,]Thrall[/td][td=1,]Slaves[/td][td=1,]F[/td][td=1,]0[/td][/tr]
[/tbody][/table][/corners]
This is relatively easy to read and lets you line up the columns visually. Once you are happy with your table remove all of the extra paragraphs, so that your table is on one long line:
Code:
[corners=forumbg forumbg-table][table=tablebg table1][thead][tr=1][th=4]Savaxen Social Classes[/th][/tr][/thead][tbody][tr=bg1][td=1,]Class[/td][td=1,][/td][td=1,]Priority[/td][td=1,]Points[/td][/tr][tr=bg1][td=1,]Jarl[/td][td=1,]King[/td][td=1,]A[/td][td=1,]15[/td][/tr][tr=bg1][td=1,]Thane[/td][td=1,]Landed Nobility[/td][td=1,]B[/td][td=1,]12[/td][/tr][tr=bg1][td=1,]Huskarl[/td][td=1,]Landless Nobility[/td][td=1,]C[/td][td=1,]9[/td][/tr][tr=bg1][td=1,]Karl[/td][td=1,]High Freeman[/td][td=1,]D[/td][td=1,]6[/td][/tr][tr=bg1][td=1,]Freeman[/td][td=1,]Low Freeman[/td][td=1,]E[/td][td=1,]3[/td][/tr][tr=bg1][td=1,]Thrall[/td][td=1,]Slaves[/td][td=1,]F[/td][td=1,]0[/td][/tr][/tbody][/table][/corners]
That'll ensure that it looks like you intended when it is displayed. Unfortunately leaving it nicely formatted sticks a whole lot of empty space in the header line.
Anyway, thanks for raising this issue -- I think it helps the site to have the capability to display nicely formatted tables.
Regards,