Making Hermetic magic _very_ generalist

I've had this idea for a while now, to have Technique Bonuses similar to Form Bonuses. (Technique / 5, in other words.)

The use would be for any applicable non-Hermetic magic that the magus performs. So, for example, if a magus has Second Sight, he could add his Intellego bonus to Second Sight rolls, while Mythic Alchemy would get the Muto bonus.

You could even say that some magical Abilities will allow the better of the Technique bonus or the Form bonus - Animal Ken and Shapeshifting might both permit the use of Animal(if higher than Intellego and Muto, respectively), Entrancement might allow the better of Rego and Mentem, and Mythic Herbalism might allow the better of Muto and Herbam.

Maybe, just maybe, even allow a magus to learn one applicable supernatural Ability for every 5 points of Technique bonus.

The idea is, this is a side-effect of Bonisagus taking knowledge and inspiration from every available source. Hermetic magic should be much closer to the "heart" of Magic than other traditions, so Hermetic Magi should have a much easier time developing insight into common magics that are "outside the lines" of Hermetic magic.

-Albert

I'm not a big fan of this. It widens the gap between hermetics and other traditions even farther than it already is.

Example: It takes 100 xp to get from Second Sight 1 to Second Sight 6. With your rule a Magus could spend 25 xp to raise his Second Sight from 1 to 3 and then spend 66 xp to get his Intellego from 0 to 11 to get a +3 bonus to Second Sight. It cheapens Supernatural Abilities greatly.

You say this as if it's a bad thing. Hermetic magi are superior to the wizards of other traditions quite intentionally, and the only tradition who will have any less for Hermetic magi to integrate would possibly be Folk Witches, since their ability to infuse items with Second Sight wouldn't be as useful to people specializing in Intellego anyway.

That set aside, it doesn't make a lot of sense, partially because of the above Folk Witch example I just mentioned. Those abilities are highly useful, and magi getting things somewhat similar to them as free Tech bonuses would be great, but all the Major Supernatural Virtues and most of the Minor ones printed in the core rulebook (except maybe Entrancement) do not work for this because, as explicitly defined in both this and other books, particularly HoH:S and HMRE, and as can be inferred from their abilities not having spell guidelines, those abilities are not fully integrated into Hermetic magic. Perhaps if you integrated everything those abilities had to offer that wasn't Hermetic, then another Minor Breakthrough with Original Research could allow you to add those on as Technique Bonuses. But it doesn't make sense in a standard saga unless you add to Hermetic magic and imply that those breakthroughs were previously made.

In my opinion, Hermetic magic in the modern era shouldn't be too interlinked with hedge magic. The reason being that while Bonisagus' theory was an integration of everything but the kitchen sink, Hermetic magi as a rule (Seekers and Ex Miscellanea aside) have very little link to or knowledge of the precursor traditions. I wouldn't be too interested in a default rule (as opposed to a Virtue) that made Hermetic magic work to support hedge magic.

Seen from another side, Figurine Magic imbues Supernatural Virtues with a score of 1... and that isn't integrated in hermetic magic yet. I don't think there's a single spell that gives or boost them in any way, although some Guidelines cover a few pieces here and there.

Integrating from Folk Witches the Major Hermetic Virtue Sense of the Mystic only allows to disregard Magic Resistance and still requires to work within the guidelines.