I was finishing up the +90 character sheet for the Hector thread and I noticed that he had matching specializations for artes liberals and philosophae. They both had a specialty with ceremonial magic.
I thought that I had recalled an earlier discussion here where I was shown that a single roll can not benefit from two different specializations. So I thought to look up this rule and ask Darkwing for his blessing to change the specialties, and then do it even if he didn't answer.
Yet the text for specializations doesn't say this at all it says:
Does anyone know of a reason why specializations in two separate skils wouldn't both apply to the same roll?
Is my memory flawed in not remebering why I can't apply them both, or is my memory flawed in somehow confusing an earlier conversation into something that it wasn't?
I'm not aware of any rule saying you can't benefit from two specializations at the same time. Without a rule stating this as an exception, not allowing both specializations to apply would violate the very rule you quoted since you wouldn't be applying the specialization properly to one of them.
There are multiple published ArM5 characters that have exactly this combination, so it seems to be legal. I personally tend to like going for one of the classic Trivium or Quadrivium for Artes Liberales, though, just for the (imho) increased flavor generally.
There are a few published characters with overlapping virtues - people who take "vis sources" for any Area lore or realm lore, "Regiones" for any realm lore, or the above- mentioned ceremonial magic combination.
As 13th century sailing is mostly done within sight of land under cloudy skies, astronomy and geometry aren't as much use as in later centuries with better instruments and maps. Hector doesn't try for maximum spell penetration so being able to cast the perfect horoscope isn't helpful. He is a decent speechmaker but has no need for a specialisation in rhetoric. Therefore, the good old standby of "ceremonial magic" seemed perfect for his AL. For philosophiae, unless someone's a determined explorer of natural philosophy, I tend to stick with "ceremonial magic" for magi - I leave moral philosophy to the church.
Ritual magic and ceremonial magic are the only adding two abilities examples in the main book.
The mysteries has a few - Vulgar Alchemy (magic theory + magic lore), inventing theurgic spells (magic theory + (realm) lore), designing rotes (magic theory + AL:arithmetic). As all of these include magic theory, most magi would rather specialise their MT in their favourite art than that particular activity.
So just two things, without resorting to strange mysteries and such. Hardly unbalancing to once in a while maybe getting +1 to a usuallymuch higher total.
I would have gone for it before this thread, without blinking. Now I'm sure.