I just noticed that if you are a Bonisagus, there's no way to get House Acclaim (from HoH:TL) for writing books that are not on the Hermetic Arts. So no Acclaim for the best Summa ever on Magic Theory ... Is this intentional, or should the list of House Acclaim bonuses be considered non-exhaustive, but merely a list of examples?
It's non-exaustive. If you can think of something that in your saga you think should earn House Acclaim, then go for it.
I would certainly grant points for books on Magic Theory, Penetration, and Finesse. Parma Magica would depend on the specifics of the game being played - could be good or bad.
We do house-rule that acclaim. We have a Bonisagus in our new game that has mixed his time between writing (Good Teacher) and experimenting towards a breakthrough (Inventive Genius). We require double the levels listed in the book. He has a flaw that essentially costs him a 20% penalty in addition to other things. Even with the penalty he's around level 5 after only 4 years out of apprenticeship. We house-ruled this long ago and, having seen this Bonisagus recently, are quite happy with the house rule.
Chris
I thought there was a cap on how quickly your House Acclaim score could rise, that no matter what you did, it took time for news of it to spread throughout the Order. That is wny being published in the Folio is a good deal, because it allowed you to overcome that limit. Or is that what your house rule addresses?
I see I wasn't very clear. Sorry. There is no cap on the points, it just takes time for the acknowledgment of the points. So the points are earned, but they arrive over time. If you do something worth 6 points, you will finish receiving the 6 points after 6 or so years. In other words, our magus could do no more writing/research ever again, and then a number of years from now would be recognized for all his achievement.
I like how it takes time for the points to be recognized so you can't move up overly quickly. My problem is that you can earn all the points you need in just a few years of work and be done with it. Here are some examples:
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A magus with a focus who enjoys experimenting might invent level 21-25 spells within that specialty in a single season straight out of gauntlet. If done by experimenting, that's 10 points for a 5th magnitude spell. Five seasons of that, plus maybe and extra season or two for failure. Basically you could experiment for your first two years out of apprenticeship and be done.
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A Good Teacher with enough Communication might write a Quality 12 tractatus. At 6 points apiece, only nine need be written. A generalist with a five Arts at level 6 or higher can handle this straight out of apprenticeship. Write for just over two years and you needn't write ever again.
What if you put little effort into it? You could still get there in eight years using only one season a year. It seems that almost any such Bonisagus will trivially earn the points needed well before word can spread. The only real question is whether the time is per piece of work or all together. (I don't think it's totally clear on that point.) If they're all considered together so you can only gain 1 point per year, the we might as well forget the points and just say you have points equal to your Hermetic age. If the points are basically irrelevant, why all the bother. That's why I prefer the interpretation that each work builds reputation separately. But if each is separate, then in the examples above the magi only need about a decade to finish gaining the points. While there is now a reason for the point system, mild dedication allows you to get there in perhaps one and a half decades with ease.
Since we double the required score for the title, you have to reach a score of 8, not 4. That's 180 points instead of 50 points. We also distinguish between odd and even scores, though not with titles. That means the top you can get is 9 with 225 points. That's 5.5 times as many. That takes far more effort. It's not so trivial to write 30 or 38 tractatus or to experiment to make 18 or 23 fifth magnitude spells. To us this seems more worthy of the highest honors.
Chris