Recent threads had me thinking about a Virtue and I was wondering if it made sense as a Minor.
Mercurian Lesser Rites (Minor Hermetic Virtue)
You may use Ceremonial Casting on all Formulaic spells. This Virtue has Mercurian Magic as a prerequisite.*
*This is not a balancing flaw. It's a bit of color for the Virtue, and probably an intentional design decision on the inventor's part.
It essentially integrates a single Spell Mastery into a Virtue affecting one's entire repertoire, which seems fair for a Minor, but I'm curious as to whether I'm way off base.
I think it's somewhat underpowered, particularly with the Mercurian Magic requisite... but it would have its uses, and I would not object if someone brought it to my table.
I like it, without the requirement of Mercurian Magic. There are many descendants of Mercurian magi, Houes of Hermes:Societates discusses these at great length. So a virtue like this isn't unreasonable. Also, given that Quiet and Subtle Magic mimic spell mastery options, I don't see why this one can't mimic the option. Thematically, I like the idea of magi taking a lot of time to do something really well. It's the one aspect of magic that I think Ars Magica could stand to develop. The more effort you put into something the greater the result. Magic now, is rather binary, success/failure, penetrate/resisted.
As for the requisite, the idea that germinated in my head had it as a deliberate inclusion by a Breakthrough inventor who wanted to develop Mercurian Magic in particular - hence my comment that it wasn't intended to be a balancing flaw. (I'm sure that no magus has ever done something like that purely out of ego. ) In retrospect, that'd be saga-specific, though.
I like this but will probably remove the requirement.
I don't think it's underpowered at all. It's great for a Quesitor, for instance, who is often casting spells in safe situations but needs a lot of penetration. (Tracking a magus with InCo, for example.) So sure, it's situational, but as a way to add two Abilities to your Penetration score? It's great!
) In retrospect, that'd be saga-specific, though.