Back on topic, I believe the separation of Profession skills from the more traditional "adventure" skills could go in reverse in a more "high action" kind of game. If someone playing a court entertainer with the skill Profession: Juggling (flaming objects) wanted to use the skill to catch a woman jumping out of a burning building, I would totally allow that. If they wanted to use the same skill as a bonus to resist being disarmed by quickly tossing their dagger to their off-hand, I'd allow it too- but the specialization in flaming objects would obviously not apply. If an Ars Magica campaign's troupe agrees for a more action-y feel, then yes, no skill should be a waste.
Linking to that game, why? To have people come and harass there as well as here?
No need for juggling, you have legerdemain you have Athletics. That's my point, a third unnecessary ability is added for everything.
Which of your players, and when, please?
Hey, now, no need to divert the conversation with angry.
Deep breaths, remember there's no inflection in text, and we all enjoy the same game here. 
The skill system is definitely abstracted, it pushes a lot into various skills, and I'm going to bet almost all of us house rule a little bit of something somewhere. That's why we're supposed to converse with our troupe, reach consensus and carry on with the game. 
As much or as little history as we want, right? That's the suggestion on page 199, right?
Let's be cool. Remember the bit on anachronisms...
Deep breaths.
I do remember getting crapped on mentioning Story > Rules here when making suggestions for introducing new players. My impression of the game community is RAW > Story and fun.
I recognize you feel upset about previous discussions.
I don't think I can really affect that in any way except by having reasonable discussions which remain on topic, so in the interest of trying to improve the discourse, I'm just going to say I'm sorry you feel that way, I don't think the rules as written should overwhelm story considerations, and return the thread's focus. I'd urge you to do the same.
For an actor/thespian option, you might consider the Troubadour/Trobaritz minor Social Status virtue from Faith & Flame. If you were making a magus, I'd probably allow it to be taken along with Hermetic Magus, or turn it into "Troubadour/Trobaritz Trained" and allow it to cover what you were looking for here, probably with 50 xp to spend specifically for these elements. It also suggests some complementary virtues.
That seems like an easy way to cover what you'd want while also putting some good hooks into the character, possibly dealing with the fallout of the Albigensian Crusade.
EDIT: I'd say Troubadour/Trobaritz would be compatible with Hermetic Magus, if that magus had the Gentle Gift, that'd probably work for me.
I would disagree if you take the sign as one of "value". You may be right if you take the sign as one of "volume".
RAW get discussed a lot because part of the charm of Ars Magica is what you find in a well-developed puzzle, and because discussion on (mostly, relatively) clear-cut rules tends to be more fruitful than discussion on subjective taste, which is what fun is all about. This does not mean that people value "fun" and "improvisation" less then mechanics.
Hi,
There are many kinds of fun.
There's a time for RAW and a time for RAI and a time for NRAA.
There's a time to dissect game rules without anesthetic, and a time to complain that the spellchecking here doesn't think anesthetic is really a word.
There's a time to actually play, with or without a story.
There's a time for improvising everything and a time for rigid railroading.
Any of these can be a lot of fun or can totally suck.
I might note that this forum is about AM in particular, so when it's time to talk about the intricacies of AM, especially about RAW, this is a great place for that, far better than some more general gaming forum. Here, I think talking about RAW >= talking about story. This is a game forum, not a game. But when it comes time to play... Rule 0! (And Cheetos. We also don't talk much here about the importance of Cheetos and pizza, and I think that when it comes to gaming, pizza > story.)
FWIW, I also usually don't like booby hatch skills like Craft:X and Profession:Y, whether in AM or Champions. I think the problem is accentuated in AM because other game systems depend on this kind of skill, but whatever: Early in the release cycle of AM5, David Chart (iirc, though it might have been someone else) said that Ars Magica is a second generation rpg, and that AM5 would improve things but retain that DNA as an explicit design decision. That decision comes with benefits and drawbacks. I think this is one such drawback. But again, whatever:
As with any game system, what can you live with?
This is probably the best place to talk about the impact of RAW, and maybe even to talk about the kinds of changes you might want to make in your game rules, to better support the metaphrand that is your game.
Anyway,
Ken
How strange to be pegged as the RAW Guy.
I stand by my previously stated positions, which is that I prefer to play diceless, using the take 6 rule. I don't see the point of characteristics, or different stats for weapons, and so don't use them in my own games, and I believe canon is for authors, not troupes around a table. I know that last one is not a popular opinion, but YMMV.
I’m curious: what’s this “take 6 rule”? – thanks.
It's not my idea originally, but I love it. You may choose not to roll any simple die, and instead deem your roll to be a 6. It speeds things up tremendously.
Neat! Thanks.
We use a similar rule, though it is unspoken.
You're almost never asked to roll for something, unless it's worthy of a stress die.
Works pretty well.
It's true that rolls worth making should have a chance of great succes or -failure hence Stress Rolls.
I never noticed the take 6 thing. But that would make sense. I think normally I just gauge the effects based on raw skill level.
Arguing to argue.
Gang, vaguely related YouTube video I enjoyed. (T Rex, it's the West, so it's not what you are after.)