Very nice ideas. I can certainly see this getting magi to get out more.
I thought along similar lines recently, but about the XP system in general. The main idea is that you only learn from higher skilled teachers - you're never inventing new stuff, you're always learning from the Great and Glorious Past. The higher the level the more Mythic the source must be.
This is coupled with the idea that you gain 30 XP per year, always. So chargen and in-game advancement are in-line.
It would go sometihng like this.
Character Transformation
Characters are transformed by their experiences and time.
Experience alone is not enough to undergo change. You need time to internalize your experiences and grow.
Time alone is not enough to facilitate all changes. Changes can only be accomplished by undergoing appropriate experiences.
- A main (magus) character receives 30 experience points each year.
- A supporting (companion) character receives 15 experience points per year
A background (grog) character usually receives no experience points and does not advance at all. For ease of play, it is assumed that whatever changes he goes through are minor or irrelevant.
However, to invest experience in a skill or Art requires also an appropriate Source. Each source can only increase a skill or art up to its Source Level, and not beyond.
- Exposure or Primer up to 1st magnitude (Art level 5, Ability levle 3). (semi-skilled)
- Training or Summa up to 2nd magnitude (Art level 10) (professional, skilled)
- Personal instruction up to 3rd magnitude (Art level 15) (grand master, journeyman mastery of Art)
- Raw vis or minor (Might 10+) supernatural intervention up to 4th magitude (Art level 20)
- Significanto or medium (Might 30+) supernatural intervention up to 5th magnitude (Art level 25) (Mastery of Art)
- Mighty (Might 50+) supernatural intervention for 6th or higher magnitude (Art level 30+) (legendary level of Art)
Each Source can only increase up to one magnitude (5 Art levels) from when it's first used. Even if its Source Level is higher, you cannot increase more than one magnitude using it.
Exposure
You must be able to closely observe those practicing their skill, and their skill level must be at least 2nd magnitude (professional). This method of learning can increase your skill to 1st magnitude (semi-skilled).
This is often the way of learning at early apprenticeship. Assisting in a laboratory can garner Exposure in appropriate skills or Arts.
Training
Supervised learning, with instruction and supervised practice sessions, possibly as part of a group of up to Leadership students. The trainer must have a skill or Art level above the trainees. This method of learning can increase your skill to 2nd magnitude (skilled).
This method of teaching is often used in most of the apprenticeship. As training takes at least a season, the teacher may engage in other seasonal activities during the year; the master of an apprentice often uses these for labwork.
Book
There are two kinds of books.
A Summa is a book written by a grand master, providing a comprehensive treatment of all the essentials of a topic. It can increase the reader's level to a master (2nd magnitude). It must be written by a writer who is at least a grand-master (3rd), and has positive Communication.
A Primer is a book written to provide more elementary instruction. It often takes the form of a question-and-answer series, dialogues, or educational stories, and is often aimed at adolescents. It can teach only the bare elements (1st magnitude) of the topic. It can be written by anyone who is at least a master (2nd magnitude) and has positive Communication; or by any grand-master (3rd magnitude).
Primers and summas are very useful for apprentices, and for magi not yet highly experienced in an Art. In addition, however, magi make use of two more kinds of books:
A Tractatus is a Laboratory Text.
A Synthemata is a True Name.
Laboratory and Synthemata Tractatus are relatively short treatises, and several are often bound together in a single physical volume. Such compilations are commonly referred to as grimoires.
Personal Instruction
Intense personal instruction to a single student. The teacher must have a skill level 1 above that of the trainee. This method of learning can increase your skill to 3rd magnitude (grand-master).
Raw Vis
Magi can study raw vis to increase their Arts. This requires (Art) pawns of raw vis, and allows increasing the Art up to 4th magnitude.
Studying raw vis requires a laboratory and is inherently dangerous. You must roll a stress die with at least (3 + Art/5) botch dice. Success is guaranteed, except on a botch. A botch often sends magi to Wizard's Twilight.
Significanto
Significanto are uniquely powerful expressions of an Art, raw vis that is exceptionally aligned with its Form. They are usually harvested from Mighty (Might 50+) creatures, and contain 10 pawns or more of raw vis.
A single significanto can allow continuous study until the learner increases his level by 1 magnitude. It can only be used to increase a score up to 5th magnitude (Art level 25). Each (10 XP) of study depletes it of 1 pawn of raw vis. When completely depleted, it can no longer be used.
Supernatural Intervention
A supernatural creature may help a mortal to gain higher skill levels. The creature must actually have the desired skill at that level, or be closely associated with the Art, and be of sufficient Might.
Such intervention usually takes the form of intermittent instruction, or instructive performance of the Skill or Art, over the course of the year. Some magi have been known to imprison supernatural spirits and force them to provide instruction or study them in the laboratory through macabre experiments in order to learn their secrets.
Note that there are spirits and creatures of all Realms with the requisite skill and Might.
Original Research
It is generally assumed that skills are eternal and immutable, and are known in their entirety to the relevant supernatural entities. Wayland Smith can teach smithing to the highest conceivable level; there is no technique, innovation, or method of smithcraft beyond his knowledge. Likewise, the archangel Metatron possesses complete knowledge of theology, and the titaness Gea possesses perfect understanding of the Art of Terram.
Certain forms of mundane knowledge, however — such as Area Lore — are more transient. Such knowledge is often not possessed by supernatural beings (perhaps with the exception of ghosts) - and correspondingly is often limited in level.
Such knowledge may be accumulated through painstaking mundane research. Unlike other Sources, this undertaking requires an entire year of dedicated effort and therefore cannot be combined with other Seasonal activities. The character must have access to suitable mundane resources — ancient texts to study, villagers to interview, sites to visit, or similar materials relevant to the subject of inquiry.
If these conditions are met, Original Research may increase such skills up to 3rd magnitude (grand master).
This method is employed in the creation of new Mystery Cults, where it serves to establish the cult’s Lore.
Hermetic Apprenticeship
A typical Hermetic Apprenticeship spans 15 years of menial labor, study and magical transformation, hence providing 15 x 30 = 450 XP. This is divided to 120 XP in Arts, 120 XP (levels) in spells, and 210 XP in other skills; the latter must include as a minimum Magic Theory 3, Latin 4 (or 3 with Hermetic usage specialization), and Artes Liberales 1. It also confers Parma Magica 1 for free.