All we need is someone with Hades blood and we will be doing some straight Water, Wind and Underworld action...though bright side I think if we travel during winter...that weather and conditions are gonna be a joke.
The main benefits to training are that you get a season of work in while training them and it doesn't tie to com. So someone with a com-3 (extreme example) can either take a season off work, say as a mason, and teach their apprentice- if they have never done this before they have a 0 in teaching, and would have a SQ of 6, or train them while working, assuming a craft skill of 5, gives SQ:8 and get in a season of work.
For anything remotely academic or with a decent com score (above the skill being taught-6) teaching is obviously the way to go. However when Alexander starts taking apprentices he can either teach for SQ:11 (one on one) or train for SQ:15. Guess which option he will be taking...
How should we handle the reading of a summa where we do not get the full benefits of a full season's studying?
For example, Maximilian has a score of 3 in Intellego. What happens if he studies a L6Q21 summa? Can the time left over from reading that book (a bit more than 1/4 of a season) be used to start reading another summa on a different subject?
I would use the rules for distraction, where the other book is the distraction. So if you have an ability of 3 and a SQ:21 level 6 book in an art, you can read it for 1 month for 7 xp, 2 months for 14, or 3 months for 21 (more on this in a second). If you choose to read it for one or two months the other months of the season may be spent with another book.
Now as I read the rules, it says that you can continue to read a book so long as your score is under that of the book, it does not state that you cannot wind up with more experience than the minimum of the book. So if you have level:3 and it is a quality:21 book with level 6 then after 2 months you would have level 5(5), and can continue reading for the full amount of experience, getting a total of 6(level 3)+21(book quality) experience for 27 xp, leaving you one xp short of level 7. If you started with level 3(2) then when you finished the second month you would have 22 xp for level 6(1) and would need to stop there.
Silver two quick questions for my cap.
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During his advancement and during play should it be assumed he has 2 seasons per year of being the mailman. (and due to that what exposures is he applicable for.)
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We changed to post training to seasonal advancement, i went with straight 15xp per year post grad when making the cap, whats the differences in library functions that you offered, and more or less how should I account for skills otherwise so i have him in tune with what we are doing.
I've never seen the rules for the summae interpreted as allowing one to gain any xp over its score. It seems against the spirit of the rules. It would mean that someone with a score of 2 in an Ability could write a L1Q14 summa who can be used to learn that same Ability to 1(9), or just 1 xp shy of the score of the author.
Let me clarify and give a more detailed example of what I was thinking. Maximilian has Intellego 3 and Herbam 5. Let's say that Polyaigos has L6Q21 summae in both of those Arts. Raising the scores of both Arts would require exactly 21 xp. Since both summae have that same Quality, wouldn't it be simpler to give 15 xp to Intellego and 6 xp to Herbam, bringing both to a score of 6? In short, allocate xp at a pro rata of the time spent reading that book? IMHO, it does not really constitute a distraction, since he simply keeps on reading, if on a different subject. Not much different from transitionning from one season to another on two different books.
It...really adds a complexity the game doesnt need for just getting the basics done.
For the redcap there really isn't a "post gauntlet" because you used the advancement rules for non magi. For magi you are free to use the simplified 30xp/yr if you wish.
simpler when they have the exact same quality, sure, but we need a general rule, not one that works only when the two books have the same quality.
The alternative is you simply lose potential quality from the book because it does not match up perfectly with the amount of time you spend studying it.
As to someone writing a L1 book which allows for level 1(9) learning, first of all this is being calculated by month not season, so with quality 14 after 2 months of reading you would be at 9xp for level 1(4), not 1(9), and secondly I think this is much more realistic than everyone finishing a book at the exact same level of understanding.
While allowing book study by month is very attractive, it does not match the tone I have seen in the rules. (There are a few things like figurines where they explicitly allow months, but not otherwise.)
And as I read the rules, the level cap is a hard cap on what you can learn from a book. Yes, this produces a non-realistic uniformity. But it is the way the rules seem to be written.
Simple calculation to determine how much xp is gained, rounding down. So getting 15 xp out of a Q21 summa and starting on a Q17 summa would yield 4 xp for the second Art ((21-15)/21*17=4.85, rounded down).
Why would it work for 2 months but not for 3?
I still think it is against the spirit of the summae cap.
Sorry for generating another debate. 
I suppose the alternative is to go as it is normally read, requiring they study an entire season to eek out the last few points which do not add up to the full book quality..
I'm fine with it, its not like most of us aren't going to ideally live a very damn long time.
No one will want to waste a season to get those last few xp.
Means a L6Q21 summa is only really useful to someone with a score of 4 or less. For someone with a score of 5, it's a waste of time.
Doesn't make sense to me, as reading a book is not the kind of activity that needs to follow the seasonal pattern. But so be it.
Yes, it is annoying. Yes, it is counter-intuitive. But it seems to be the intent of the rules, and how most folks read them.
I assumed that one would use adventure experience or vis study to top it up, or just settle for getting less for a season (depending upon how much the margin is).
I figured an L6Q21 book was primarily aimed at someone who had a score of 0 in the art. It moves them from 0 to 6.
As I read things, to get past the level one has books for in an art one either needs to study from vis (painful in multiple ways) or use adventure / exposure?
Ah, that's the beauty of tracti. They are useful to students at any level of ability. So once you get to the limit of the summa that you have, you can start reading tracti.
In the same sort you can always learn from someone better, proverbially suck off an archmagi if you can stomach the pride hit. Tracticus really are there for that xp gap bridge and yeah vis might not be ideal but it always works...provided you dont screw the pooch on a botch and twilight out.
I have returned from Gen Con! I will now be able to post again. Give me a bit to catch up though.
I am confused about when apprenticeships start and end in the Theban Tribunal.
From some of the discussion, apparently, in Greece we use a slightly unusual system where apprenticeship starts at a tribunal.
From other discussions, it appears that apprenticeship ends at a Tribunal (in order to have the Gauntlet recognized).
My main question is how both of the above is possible, since an apprenticeship is almost always 15 years.
And that the House rules, not the Tribunal rules, determine when one exits the apprenticeship. At least based on the complex description of Tytalus apprenticeships in HoH: Societies.
So I am confused.
Thanks Arthur. That now makes sense. I imagine some of the Houses don't like the approach, but I guess Tribunals generally get to choose.