So, why don't you just graduate him early?
Apart from these methods, Parma is also kind-of a magical effect; it's certainly supernatural and can be dispelled by PeVi effects. So InVi effects might identify the origin of someone's Parma. For example, (although I don't think the RAW explicitly state this), it's plausible that a magi's sigil manifests in his parma.
Because the apprentice isn't ready for the responsibilities of being a full-fledged member of the Order. This shouldn't preclude them from being able to defend themselves, however.
-Ben.
"Grow up fast or die" is a fairly traditional story to tell. As is, "Run away, we're vastly outgunned."
Yes, you could teach your apprentice the Parma, though why you'd do that instead of using a season profitably to defend yourself or overcome your enemy (probably the same thing) is beyond me. You just have to deal with the fact that if anyone finds out, you're going to die, probably at the hands of your Pater. And, if your enemy is a member of the Order and suddenly discovers that both you and your apprentice are now immune to his low-level tricks, they're going to find out very fast indeed.
The Order is not fair. The Order is not kind. The Order (rather than individual Magi) is concerned solely with the survival of the Order as a way to make eveyrone's lives easier and if that way must be paved with the blood of thousands, so be it. As long as the Church doesn't find out.
Precisely...having Parma and not teaching it people who are not magi is one of the responsibilities of a full-fledged member of the Order.
The apprentice still has a Form bonus, so they do have some magic resistance, and if they stay in the covenant (behind the Aegis) then they will be much safer than if they had a point or two of Parma and were outside the Aegis. Unless the source of trouble is someone who participated in casting the Aegis, I suppose.
If a magus wants to take his apprentice into supernaturally dangerous situations, then that's a problem of their own creation. Nothing forces the magus to take his apprentice everywhere. There is nothing stopping the magus from solving this problem by teaching his apprentice Parma; but then they have to suffer the consequences if the rest of the Order finds out.
Which two? Tremere definately, but what about the other? The other two "killer" Houses are Flambeau and Tytalus, and those are the exact two I would most imagine trying to slide by with such a practice. House Gurnicus would prosecute, maybe take the apprentice away and punish you with a fine, but I don't know if they would march you as a house in total.
I was thinking Tremere and Flambeau. Particularly in its new incarnation as Hermetic knights, I think the Flambeau would crush anyone who gave the mystical equivalent of the secret of the stirrup to anyone who is outside the chose circle. Also, for them, the idea that a squire's not a knight is just obvious, and so some of Ben's ideas about how "It's your child" don;t hold up, because medieval nobles used to deliberately brutalise their children, or send them to foster homes where they would be trated brutally, as a way of making sure they grew up strong.
Ah, I see. Not all new Flambeau are imitation Knights, nor are they all from France following the Frankish method either. This mundane tradition of abuse is tactically unsound for a Flambeau magus anyway.
I obviously have different ideas of that House, as you well know. I tend to follow the Spartan model. I can totally see a Flambeau warrior teaching his apprentice/sidekick a bit of parma. A warriors strength comes from the warrior next to him. On the other hand, you could just call it "battlefield gauntlet", and though he is technically a magus, he would be your protoge for a number of years and you his mentor.
And even in the revised version, I don't see House Flambeau being at all unified and organized from the top down in such a way that they would zap each and every early-parma granting master.
So, to sum it up, I still think that House Flambeau, either version, would be the ones most likely to do this. Pragmatism. Tytalean magi would do it as well, if it serves their plots. However, it is they that are most likely to expose their apprentice to danger and abuse without any protection.
So, yeah, it is a high crime, but I suspect it happens more often than you would think and gets winked at in the proper circumstances (having a good rep, a valueable apprentice, and haveing good connections).
I thought more about it, and the more I realize that teaching your apprentice/sidekick parma is a waste. I like to form what I call a "Wizard's Lance", which consists of a Flambeau magus and three or more other warriors. I, as the magus, generally cover all of them with my Parma if I can, and if I have a squire/apprentice, he would be one of them. The overall protection is higher, it numbs the gift penalty so we can fight as a larger trained group, and it insures that I have a shielded soldier on my left and right. So teaching Parma to your apprentice seems to be an inefficent and foolish endevour.
I still think most Flambeau magi are willing to wink at it though. The ones that would be most concered are the Quaesitors and House Tremere. The Tremere may march you, but I think the Q's would find a much more gentle form of punishment and administer the oath to the miscreant apprentice on the spot.
So you teach your apprentice parma...being your apprentice it's clear he's intent on joining the order. So now it comes down to what do they do with hedge wizards? Do they just take the oath on the spot and they're good, or do they get a time of instruction on the workings of the order (a shortened apprenticeship) ?