The modifications we were discussing were largely to do with the distribution after the the apprentice has declared their choice of master of the tokens from potential masters between the apprentice and the original finder. I was glossing over it deliberately in that post (as it's not immediately important to Timeaus, and I couldn't remember what we'd decided without searching for it).
Going back and rereading (approx from here: an Ars Magica Index ?), we never completely firmed it down, but I think something like:
- The apprentice gets the number of tokens the master they chose offered.
- The finder gets a number of tokens equal to the highest bid from a master not chosen by the apprentice, subject to a minimum of one.
That's not exactly your original proposal (as there were a few issues pointed out with it), but incorporates the idea of rewarding finders more for better apprentices. It does leave outstanding the question of under what circumstances the bidding magi get their tokens back - presumably not if they were successful, but do they if "their" tokens get allocated to the finder? Saying they don't feels like it's going to be doubly nasty to the bidding magi - you just lost out on the apprentice and you lose your tokens, but saying they do feels like it opens to the door to collusion between the finder and bidders ("Say, Horribilis of Tytalus, why don't you bid 20 tokens on that apprentice you were terrorising whilst we were waiting for the Redcap to come and pick her up after I found her. There's no way she's going to pick you, and I'll give you some of the tokens!") I suppose one way to "lessen" the pain of the first option is to decide you always lost the tokens you bid, so it doesn't smart extra when you just lost out, but I'm not sure if that's an improvement.
I think we decided two.