In one of our past games, our SG ruled that the Order forbade texts on the Parma Magica...deeming it too easy for books to fall into the hands of those who should not have it...
Thoughts??
There is a Story Seed on page 12 of True Lineages.
Basically , a Tractatus on Parma Magica is missing.
As this is in the Bonisagus section ,
i guess that Texts do exist , but are very carefully accounted for.
In our game, our covenant has a parma text that is an enchanted device. The book has a constant effect on it to give it the appearance ofa mediocre philosophae tractatus (and a character could read it for this purpose if they wished). You need to cast some sort of spel on the book to be able to see the text. (intellego imagonem to percive the written text, perdo vm to supress the magic, or perdo imagonem to supress the artifical image)
That is a majorly cool idea. Thanks.
Very nice... I like it.
I am glad that my SG's ruling wasn't a universal thing. It seems TOO difficult to learn PM effectively with out a book.
My thanks
Adventure XP can be taken in anything the maga uses during the adventure, and that will almost always include the parma magica; that can allow for middlin' fast advancement, if your GM allows sufficient adventure XP and your maga goes on enough adventures. Or am I missing something?
Yeah. Not all sagas have magi resisting magic as part of every story. Heck, in my last saga magi would throw themselves at the magical beast so they could get parma XP it happened so rarely.
My group's covenant made a book of Parma for their library that the Guernicus character was entrusted with. I pointed out that if the book should ever get out of sight of the covenant, or ever be in the possesion of a nonmagus, that it's a high crime. They weren't so keen on possesing it then. Became more like an albatross around their necks than a book. They made some pretty intricate plans on how they would protect that book as well as how the book could be checked out and used.
But your magi are casting parma magica twice a day every day. It's an ability that magi use during adventures. Who cares whether something tries to come through it?
Yes, our SG allowed us to take adventure exp in Parma...wow, 3-4 per season 
I was not about to take my noncombatant Verditius out, just to get a few exp in parma...not when I could be studying a text worth 10 (exp), or working on a magical device.
Hence my original question..and the Sg ruling.
Well , why adventure outside the comforts of your own Covenant. 
You and your Sodales simply set aside time to practice at home.
All of you spend an entire season hurling spells at each other.
Nothing fatal , and probably not inside the Covenant.
Your SG didnt have your Verditius character
take a Story Flaw to get you out of the lab i guess.
Oh, I had one... and I did go out. The thing is, you can't force someone out four times a year, and I certainly wasn't going out 'foolin' around, just to get a couple of exp in Parma...
You just need deadlier, higher XP adventures, or a crazy generous GM, like I've got. (I swear, the next time I get 10 adventure XP for a trip to the outhouse... 
)
Point taken. I guess a case could be made for parma being hard to acquire, since it's the distinctive feature of the PC magi that they can do it. But I can't think of any in-game reason why no one would ever write down anything about it, other than that it could fall into the wrong hands, and that seems like the sort of rule that's begging to be broken.
Yeah, but I think it was more a control issue...if we could be forced to struggle to raise our Parma, that meant the bad guys could hurt us...
.., the SG also got upset because I taught the scribe Magic theory, so he could copy our books...
Well consider that teaching someone who has not sworn the hermetic oath Parma will get you marched. That means writing a book read by an un-authorised individual will get you marched. Getting marched means you get killed with a high degree of certaintly. So really how often will this get broken?
The whole if you know Parma you can never leave bit is a lot of the glue that holds the Order together. It is also a large part of what gives the Order its power (parma that is) so I doubt the older more powerful mages will be exactly in a wrist slapping, 50 lashes with a wet noodle sort of mood if this discovered. This is one law of the order that breaking is not a laughing matter so I seriously doubt anyone even considers writing a book on parma without some deep soul searching. Not to say such books don't exist mind you.
the ArM5 book refers to having the apprentice study the Ability "Parma Magica" in their final time as apprentice, up to level 1, but that the "final key" to make the ritual work is withheld until the Oath has been sworn.
Then the Apprentice is taught the final secret - a matter of minutes - and is finally able to raise a working Parma.
I would thus suggest that a Text on Parma Magica can indeed be written without ever including that secret;
that including the secret in a text would be a High Crime;
and that books on the Parma are thus "worthless" to an outsider unless they can get some other to teach them the vital secret (and offend the Order in doing so!)
The Order would still keep close control over the Parma texts, since an outsider might, with time, rediscover the breakthrough secret that Bonisagus found. One can guess that "it was a difficult, if short, secret" and that it's unlikely to be repeated.
That works nicely.
