Theorycrafting a bit here, what can someone with high Magic Theory and negligible arts do with the original research rules?
Let's say an Infamous Tormenting Bonisagus master never taught his poor Apprentice any arts at all, and The Apprentice also has affinity and puissant with magic Theory, inventive genius, great intelligence x2, and minor Potent Magic in the field of his research.
Let's say that this poor Apprentice can end up with a magic theory of 11 at gauntlet.
So at gauntlet he can conduct original research with a +3 risk modifier, so that's something, but what can he do with that?
(Have his parens brought up on charges, for one!)
Using the estimates from Sub Rosa 11 he will average 4 stabilized breakthroughs in 5 years and with his research lab total of 5in+ 11mt+ 3Au+ 3IG+ 3mPM = 25 that will be 20 breakthrough points!
First thing he should do is head to the library and pick up a book in one of the arts, then another season for another art. then spend a season inventing a lot of low level spells involving those two arts.
True enough. A single season in each Art would likely give him a 6 in each one, for a research lab total of 37ish or 28 breakthrough points in 5 years.
Don't forget the Twilight point gained: he might churn breakthrough efficiently, but he will be short-lived at this speed.
Finding Insight is unlikely to work well since insight requires to invent a specific effect dictated by the source of insight and considering his almost non-existent Arts, he won't be able to turn the Insight into spell and gain the related breakthrough points.
I'd say forget about breakthroughs for a few years, get your basics down in terms of spells and arts. The good news is those lab totals can be used for a lot of things besides original research. Then head out into the world to find the inspiration for your research- my choice would be looking for cave paintings to research fertility magic, and as a side effect you are building up your creo Corpus so you ca get good longevity rituals. Which also benefit from a high magic theory, so you don't have to kill yourself with risk doing your research. That or go for a breakthrough involving longevity rituals.
I was referring to "Warping Points gained: the Magnitude of the Stabilized Discovery minus a simple die".
And those warping point will trigger twilight episode if 2 or more points are gained.
Cautious Sorcerer and Careful with MT won't reduce those Warping Points, then the mage must roll for Twilight. Those virtue won't help. They help when there is a spell cast (careful sorcerer) or a MT roll, but in this case, the Twilight episode is triggered by gaining Warping point, due to the research itself.
Moreover:
"You receive Warping Points whether you succeed or fail at stabilizing your discovery. If your stabilization attempt fails, you may spend another season and try it again."
So even failed stabilization will earn warping and possibly trigger twilight episode, especially when aiming at 5 to 7 breakthrough points.
Your math is correct regarding his progress, I am just highlighting a risk that can significantly shorten his lifetime.
Goes to check if I can do them simultaneously as multiple small projects
That question was already asked and answered on the forum.
The CRB is clear about this: you CAN do multiple small projects batched together - and it is calculated as 1 project with the sum of the Lab Totals of the smaller projects. And the seasonal breakthrough points are also summed regarding the calculation of Warping Points.
No loophole
I was calculating some plans for Original Research. My golden rule was you go with 4th mgnt effects. That amount is small enough to be effectively mitigated by the simple die roll in most of the times, but big enough to produce a minor Breakthrough in every 5 years without accumulating high amount of Warping Points.
That is approximately 1,5 extra WP per every 10 BT Points. (Just don't fall into Twilight )
I did a minor breakthrough project, for about 30 points (researching a new guideline for something that should be doable, but does not exist: creating an empty mind). My mage was progressing with original research worth 4 to 5 points. She succeeded three times out of about 8 attempts (I believe), with a +2 modifier, so performing better than statistic (but the small sample size explain this deviation), and the remaining points were earn through insights.
Overall, it took her 15 years, with adventures and events in between, and needs to grow Arts, develop spells and items outside of her research field. She also got 8 points of warping due to her research.
The golden rule our magi use is to get an apprentice and have him conduct Original Research It's not that hard to get a Major Breakthrough, and quite possible to get an Hermetic Breakthrough with some careful preparation. All over 15 years, in which you devote 1 season/year to training.
Don't forget Bonisnatching. You don't have to have all your arts up to five if you are taking an already opened apprentice, and then you get to add their magic theory as well.
If you have magic theory 9+2 then you can, in principal, train that apprentice in magic theory at 12xp/season without stopping your own work.
Hmm. I'd say that's ... questionable. For two main reasons.
First, the section about training specifically says that one can train someone else in an Ability one uses to earn a living. I think it's a big stretch to claim that doing most labwork counts as "earning a living with Magic Theory" (on the other hand, setting up a lab using Magic Theory would).
Second, the text about apprentices specifically says you must spend at least one season a year directly teaching [your apprentice]. I am under the impression this means the master must use the teaching rules, rather than the training ones (despite the section being titled "training your apprentice").
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