Having or not having(spending) Vis affects lab work, having none halves total, having some allows normal, having lots raises it up to at least double. Makes Vis truly valuable.
Having the right(relevant) books available afffects lab work, number of books needed for the bonus either as Art or Ability progression(ie +2 from 3 books with as Art, +2 from 15 books with as Ability). Greatly helps covenants with huge libraries, which is cool and gives a good reason to have lots of books laying around.
Can reduce social penalty from Gift by turning Parma "inside out", spend 2-3 points of Ability score to negate each point of penalty, and cause a -5 penalty to any spellcasting not aimed at self, Parma points that have no other use for the day of course. Potentially huge gamechanger, but not the most fun of HRs.
Being able to boost penetration by spending lots of time casting, from 2 rounds for a meagre 1/4 bonus, up to 30 minutes to get a twice extra bonus. Very useful gamechanger as long as you can come up with a way to have the spell still be valid after the added casting time.
All activities are done monthly, but XP is gained per season(so no major change in amount of XP gained except if you want to give the same for adventures(making 15-30 XP possible per season(possible, not recommended )), studying still takes a season, but using the lab to make items, gather Vis etc is 3 times as fast, and can do "adventures" 3 times per season), Exposure XP raised to 1 per month, ie 3 instead of 2 per season. Highly recommended as "doing things" becomes worth the time spent, studying isn´t automatically the first choice to gain power.
Experimentation adds a D10 to lab total per level.
That feels like it could be used as the basis for an expansion of Ceremonial Casting in general... Something along the lines of allowing CC with formulaic spells in exchange for longer casting times, with the CC bonus scaled based on just how long you spend on casting the spell and then allowing the (scaled) CC bonus to be applied to either the casting total as normal or to the Penetration multiplier (possibly at a reduced rate).
Here is a simple one with no apparent immediate effect but with an eventual dramatic impact.
The limit on Seasonal Vis use in the Lab equals Magic Theory times Magic Lore (or as appropriate for vis of other Realms).
No "Personality Traits". Instead, Passions.
Passions advance as abilities, and characters must add to or subtract from any total all relevant passions.
I've actually tried this in a short saga. It had far more impact than I would have guessed.
Nice use of a throwback concept
8)
I had a differnt idea on how to employ the concept of passions, and just now had a new one based on yours.
Old Idea: All grogs have Passion, which is essentially the same as Ferocity, acting as Confidence does but only under the conditions that trigger that passion.
New Idea: As above, Passion being linked to a Personality Trait (Flaw), and spending a point gives a bonus equal to that trait's score. The higher the score the better the bonus, but the more enslaved by yor passions you become.
This would be Free for Grogs (flaw included). Companions can take Passion as a Minor Virtue (mandatory flaw separate) and combine it with Confidence. Magi cannot take passion, for their training has taught them to "subdue their passions".
Another rules simple rules change, that is admittedly not huge: Opening Arts ignores Supernatural Abilities. (Learning Supernatural Abilities does not ignore anything, and opening more Arts does not ignore existing Arts.)
The only thing the current rules really achieve is to limit the diversity of magi. Supernatural Abilities tend to be less 'efficient' than boosting Hermetic stuff anyway, so it isn't as game balance is at issue.