It could depend on a number of things- there is far more prestige in publishing a book on an art than lab notes on developing a new spell, plus publishing a spell reveals what spells you have learned, which some magi might prefer to keep private.
Lab texts are the easiest to multiply. A tractatus takes an entire season to write or copy (properly), while a magus can clarify lab texts at a rate of at least 100 levels a season (if you can write clearly enough for hermetic/academic purposes - which requires Speak Latin of 5). The rate of copying lab texts is even higher, assuming a professional scribe trained in Magic Theory (easily 360 levels of spells a season).
Lab texts are also not dependent upon the writer's communication, unlike summae and tractatus. Simply put, the supply potential of lab texts is extremely high, compared to arts texts. You'd need a contrived situation to change this, like a group of magi trapped in a regio with only vis to study. Any virtue can be considered better than normal given contrived situations (in this case, Free Study is the best virtue, and Magical Memory is pretty good too).
As a final note, magi in a situation with a drought of lab texts could still resort to trading seasons of teaching spells, which can even be more efficient than learning from texts, even after you account for the loss of season while teaching. Mostly because it uses the teacher's strongest TeFo lab total and can teach spells of any arts combination.
A world where magi are protective of their secrets and do not trade texts like used bookstores is not at all contrived. In fact, it's much more common in fiction about wizards than the sort of commercial, division of labor, efficient market that posters on this board like to imagine that the Order of Hermes is. That's not necessarily to knock this vision of the Order, just to point out that alternatives are equally plausible and atmospheric.
But this is not the Order of Hermes as presented. You can come up with a setting that makes Magical Memory the most powerful virtue if you try, that's not the point.
The same argument holds true for books of Arts as it does for Lab Texts. If magi are protective of their secrets, they won't write Arts books either. Nobody's arguing that DM wouldn't be a better deal if no books were available at all - it would. It would be awesome if there was no formulaic magic at all. You just have to really stretch to imagine a world where Arts books are bountiful while Lab Texts are not even more so.
Hermetic secrets aren't secrets. Not really. In most cases, magi could reproduce the effect of another magi's spell, though it will likely take time. That's what the hermetic system is all about. If my CrIg lab total is 30, I can invent Pilum of Fire myself. It's simply more efficient for me to learn it from a text (1 season) than self-invent it (2 seasons). There are going to be cases where it's impossible (lab total = spell level), but the hermetic system is well understood and most formulaic spells aren't mysterious at all.
Obviously you can.
But you'll have no familiar, which I consider a major drawback in this edition.
Yet another major Virtue. Viable for an Ex Misc, not really otherwise, I think.
or with Philosophiae, yeah. I thought about that, but in the end decided I didn't have the virtue slots.
True, but how many spells do you really end up flexing? In this case, my opinion is based on characters I have played, and I felt much less overwhelmed by FFM than by Flawless Magic.
It might (as you indicate) have to do with the length of our sagas. It is certainly dependant on the sort of challenges and situations you tend to encounter in your saga.
Absolutely! Which is also a reason for me to take it 
Agreed.
I don't disagree.
About FFM, it's nice and all but the thing that bugs me most is that bumping Target up from Ind to Group is 2 magnitudes and therefore not viable. Upping Range and Duration is nice, but Target is often not useful. IMHO it would be a lot more desirable Major Virtue if you could increase spell by 1 magnitude free but 2 magnitude for a Fatigue level? Also I'd like clearer definition of what can be changed, like EITHER changing one of R/D/T one magnitude up or down OR changing the size modifier up or down. I don't intend for full flexibility allowing actual change of the spell like Terram spells where magnitudes added can change a dirt-affecting spell to affect stone or metal suddenly. While it would be nice I think it's a slippery slope since Terram is fairly isolated in this method of quantifying where other Forms use a method with guidelines of higher level. So, no.
But having seen the way Tellus used Diedne Magic for utility spells and grog-boosting I agree it can be used for great effect for this kind of character concept.
I don't believe that's the case. The internal operations of the Order are actually left quite vague in published AM5 materials. It's mostly in the online community that we see a hyper-efficient Order where a magus can use the magic of the marketplace to make up for lack of skill in brewing longevity potions and the like.
I did specify a saga with fewer books. Surely that's as possible a quality to vary as is high vis or low vis in a saga?
Yes, and there are other ways to improve the Arts without reading books. It's unfortunate that AM5 books, post-Covenants at least, so overpower these other learning sources.
Some lucky dice roles was also involved, as well as a pre-errata Glove Talisman.
Talismans have been errata'ed to add to the scating score, not the casting total, meaning before division, not after.
Hi,
It's been a major drawback in every edition. The Cords have been with us for a long time. In previous editions, you also got free Bond qualities which could boost characteristics, arts and do other things.
True. Or you could just cast MuCo(An) on yourself. That works too, and can provide a wider range of animal shapes.
Or once you are an Ex Misc, there are a few ways to recover fatigue quickly. (Solomonic Alchemy, etc.)
There are 2 ways to allow this. You cannot use one, because your Hermetic Major is spoken for. But there is a Heroic Flaw that allows it; I forget the name.
Unquestionably. FM is rightly considered to rank among the best Hermetic Major Virtues, and is perhaps the best, especially if you build around it. Not only is the virtue strong, but it is also core. A GM who wants to nerf it has to change very clear rules rather than interpret ambiguous ones.
Sponting with Knickknacks
Faerie Magic + Folk Magic + Magic Foci: You will need to carry around lots of knickknacks and doodads. But with Faerie Magic 4 and Magic Theory 4, you are likely to easily muster +10 to your Casting Total before you even consider Arts, Stamina, Aura, and so on. It's a cool style of casting, pulling in various correspondences. These virtues don't work very well with Formulaics, but shine for sponting. Increases to Magic Theory offer diminishing returns, but can still be useful, both for some of the higher F&M bonuses (Coral! Demons beware! But there are other good bonuses) and for lab work.
Getting +10 to a Casting Total with DM requires the low Art to be 20; getting +10 with LLSM requires 3 Fatigue levels; both LLSM and DM require a stress die. If you work at it, you could have more than +10.
This bonus combines nicely with both DM and LLSM.
While we're adding knickknacks, the ceremonial casting aids in the Jerbiton chapter also add to casting total, iirc. So if you are willing to accept cermonial sponts, Mystic Choreography speeds things up. Cautious with AL and decent scores in Phil+AL also help, though only to Casting Score.
Still, there's something to be said for pulling out an arbitrary level 15-20 spell in 3-4 minutes without rolling a die, and maybe an arbitrary level 25 spell in 5 minutes with some (probably all) botch dice removed. All before having a score in any Art.
Once you start down this path, though, the SG is likely to rule that using Charms takes time (not RAW). And once it proves effective, the SG might start ruling that the correspondences are never good enough. (Yes, today is Tuesday, but your "Tuesday" charm is too generic to satisfy the Time category.) Or "You moved! Let's roll to see how many charms you lost." Or "You are carrying two hundred charms; let's add some stress dice to see if you remember where the one you want is, unless you are willing to spend a few rounds looking for each one..."
Anyway,
Ken
Hi,
I think the virtue would be just right if it allowed +/-10 to any one of RDT, including changing size within Target.
Or if it allowed modifying RDT at will, with a +5/-5 cap. That way, you could still get a Group, at the cost of R or D.
But yes, what keeps FFM from shining is the inability to go from Ind to Group, or back, which is probably the most important application. And it is simply a bad virtue in a saga that rules it does not apply to Target size modifiers, or that going from Diam to Conc is not included, etc.
That said, it is nice to be able to make an ordinary PeCo affect the ogre, or lower the range or duration by a notch for +5 penetration, or Arc of Fiery Ribbons all the way out to Sight range, or generally Group to Room or Structure, or Sun to Moon, or ...
Anyway,
Ken
Hi,
Yup!
I'm not on board with the notion of hyper-efficient book trading, but canonically the redcaps are involved in book distribution and Covenants does list several methods of book distribution by the authors of said books, which implies a robust and complex book trading community. House Bonisagus deliberately circulates an important collection of texts to keep magic theory knowledge current throughout the order. Heck, the entire house is built around the notion of publishing your work!
4th edition has several defined covenants engaged in book acquisition and visitor access, at least one of which (Triamore) is canonically in existence in 5th, basically unchanged. Book trades are a thing and one of the big reasons the order hangs together; relatively easy access to knowledge keeps magi from killing each other for it like they did in the Dark Ages.
But no, I don't think magi have endless access to Q12 tractatus or L20Q12 summae.
Very much agreed!
That sounds about right for the baseline of the Order, I agree. We do see a lot of variation in organizational levels between Tribunals, ranging from wild Hibernia to highly structured Transylvania and I would imagine that the magical market corresponds roughly to this.
There's nothing bad about a normal level of book trading or a high level of it, for that matter. A low level can also make for an interesting game. I would imagine "Early Years of the Order" variants like the one presented recently in Sub Rosa would be of this sort. Deidne do much better in this circumstance.
I'm not sure I could short of some magical catastrophe that wiped out all the hide-quality animals, blighted the papyrus crop, and caused everyone to forgot how to make paper.
Magical Memory might be ok if it were combined with the Memory abilities from Mysteries. Even then it might not.
Somebody called for a miracle that destroyed all non-divine texts. Only those with Magical Memory can save the Order from turning to Holy Magic!
But seriously, Magical Memory sucks. It's something magi should be able to do anyways, for the most part.
Hi,
The same with Art of Memory, imo.
(And the Mercere virtues pertaining to memory are very pathetic. Memorizing entire books before the printing press is normal. Nothing special about it. Having the Koran memorized? For a Muslim scholar, that's expected! Being able to sing the entire Iliad from memory? Um, yeah. Bardic tradition? Etc.)
All this ought to be covered by having good scores in relevant Abilities, and a decent Int.
Anyway,
Ken
I think there are many ways to change this virtue for the better.
Several of the ideas you mention are new to me, so thanks for the inspiration.
I still don't know what the best fix would be.
I like the limitation that only one of R/D/T can be changed, but I like Size modifier to be one of the parameters as well
I think a change of 2 magnitudes is perhaps too much, but this is needed for Ind to Group, so it may be needed.
I find myself adding too much complexity in order to balance it the way I want: One method is to charge a Fatigue for the 2nd magnitude change, but that may defy the purpose because the spell also becomes harder to cast and hence may cost fatigue, so the spell may be too hard or costly to cast. Another fix would be to only allow the 2nd mag change of the spell is Mastered for a new option we could call Flexibility. Drawback of this is mixing Mastery into it, especially as some sort of Flexible Mastery is already mentioned as an option to Integrate in Hedge Magic RE. Which BTW is underpowered IMHO, you need too high Mastery score to do the slightest thing, other Masteries use Score x3 to determine effect concernign spell levels (Unraveling, Rebuttal). But I digress.
In fact I'd like to coordinate Hermetic Virtues better with Masteries. I really like the idea that I could have a Virtie that allows me to do something cool with all my spells, or instead learn this ability spell by spell by Mastering them. A lot of these options also exist, and some - notably like Flexible - don't.
I really like Flawless Magic because I like Mastery, and whenever I don't have FM it pains me how slow I master spells. I mostly like the quick mastery rather then the 'gain Mastery 1 with all new spells' because some spells I can't think of a good Mastery for. Rituals are also hard to choose, because most Masteries are irelevant. A lot of the time I just takle Imperturbable because if if ever need to roll Concentration I'd like to not fail.
I would like to see a 'Quick Mastery' Hermetic Virtue, preferably Minor as it is already a component of a Flawless as Major. But It is too powerful, and instead of doubling perhaps just multiply by 1,5 as other booster virtues? I would retain FM, but with the nerf to only be x1,5. Anyway I digress yet again.
Art of Memory isn't a virtue, though, it's an Ability anyone can learn. I'd assume that those that have memorized entire books to have filled their memory palace with that book. For example, many of the books of the Bible are effectively long letters, so each book would take one slot of the memory palace. I think for characters like bards, however, that their memorization of the big poems would be represented by (Poem) Lore or something. Depending on the length of the piece, at a certain Ability level you have it memorized. Similarly, islamic scholars would have (Koran) Lore to memorize the Koran. This could be done for any long-form text, really.
Hi,
But most do not. Developing an excellent memory is part and parcel of many disciplines.
Except that the memory palace as written cannot accommodate very much.
But most of the books of the Bible are not letters, counting both by number of books and volume of text.
For me, more simply, it is represented by Music and/or Profession. In the same way a blacksmith knows just how and when to strike the metal, a bard knows lots of songs and stories, and which one is most appropriate.
Faerie Lore is also likely to provide lots of stories. So is Divine Lore. Etc.
Or, just plain Islamic Theology, since a qadi isn't going to have a high score while needing to resort to a book for the major texts.
The big problem with fine-grained skills in rpgs is that they become increasingly worthless, making it even better for players to (rightly) focus on combat and the few skills that matter.
If, to be a scholar, I need skills in quill sharpening, memorization, Area Lore (libraries), a specialized etiquette for universities, numeracy (with distinct skills in Arabic and Roman), penmanship (AL lets you read and write, but without penmanship, no one can read it!), illumination, etc., um no. AM5 does not go that far, yet I have noticed that the core rules started by simplifying skills compared to previous editions, yet supplements have unraveled this, to some degree. (Like, Music once covered music, but a musician now also needs a Profession skill or two to be competent.)
Anyway,
Ken
Art of Memory is a fine idea for a skill but is unaccountably nerfed. The same goes for Vulgar Alchemy in the same chapter - an appropriate idea but completely useless as written.
Art of Memory should scale by something like the usual 10x scale for supernatural effects, so that it's relatively mundane at low levels and appropriately impressive for masters.
I believe Quran memorization is a virtue in AM5. I don't have the books with me to quote the name. This would be alright except that there's no way to pick it up through play.
In general Islamic Theology or Islamic Law (even better) could be considered to include this, since there's enough granularity just in splitting these two apart. Not every master theologian would have memorized the Quran but then not every master of metaphysics would be a master of natural philosophy, yet these are both covered by the Philosophiae skill. Compromises have to be made for the game.
It's even worse when some knowledges are highly granular and some are not. Since Ars Liberales and Philosophiae are almost certainly the two most common knowledge skills in the game, I use them as my baseline.