So, I was looking through RoP:tD book, and noticed that the "Does not need to sleep" ability is crazy insane useful, as it gives you 2 extra seasons of study a year. My first thought was "OK, next time I play a character, they're getting Holy Magic!" My second one was "wait, can I just do that now with the Rego Vim specialist I'm already playing?" Has this aleady been discussed?
Anyway, in looking through the arts, it sounds like this is a Rego Mentem spell - based on the Rego Corpus lvl 15 "direct the flow of bodily energy" power. (Or, it's Rego Corpus, with a mentem requisite.)
"Dreams of Cognizant Awakening" - (ReMe, lvl 30) a part of the magi's mind is in a constant state of slumber, thus allowing the magi to remain awake at all times. This allows the magi to have an extra two seasons of study, as per the Divine ability.
However, I'm guessing that the Divine is better at healing and succor and whatnot than Hermetic magic is. So there's certianly going to be some drawbacks to this. Thoughts:
It's moon duration, so it only lasts for a month. I'd say that the magi needs to sleep for a full day (ie, 24 hours) once it drops. So they're spending 3 days a season sleeping, and thus cutting into their 10-days of break. Which also potentially means their parma is down 3 days a season. (depending on when the moon goes full, I suppose.) I suppose they could make it a year-long ritual and spend the vis for it, though.
They still physically need to rest - and long-term fatigue can only be restored with actual sleep. So to recover long-term fatigue they'd need to cancel the spell, or wait for the end of the month.
They're always asleep - meaning they are legitamete targets for certian types of dream-based magic, although this one doesn't seem to be too much of an issue.
Some places you might look for inspiration for #1:
a) Endurance of the Berserkers comes to mind as somewhat similar, and it comes with a drawback.
b) The unusual routines in the laboratory section of Covenants could give some good ideas, too.
In games I've played in and referree'd, we've ruled that going without sleep by means of Hermetic magic (ReMe/Co) was indeed possible, but would lead to the magus going insane if he/she used such a spell for longer than one season at a time (this was in 4th ed, where we assigned an extra season for not sleeping per real season; this would need to be modified in 5th ed since there are actual guidelines for this now).
If, however, the magus had a divine component or had changed his/her essential nature sufficiently far from 'human', then it would work without going insane. In an amazing coincidence, these two exceptions are available in 5th ed! ie by becoming a magic being (RoP:M quality), or having the Divine Holy magic mentioned.
I think the Overtime rules could handle this pretty well. Use a spell to go for quadruple Overtime since each level seems to extend the day (and thus probably reduce sleep) by 2 hours. (Other routines are for cramming more in the same length day.) Quadruple Overtime can be extrapolated from Overtime, Double Overtime, and Triple Overtime. 1 Warping Point per season (insanity part suggested above I suspect), +/-1/2/3's become +/-4, +/-3/6/9's become +/-12, Aging rolls are made, and your Fatigue level is capped. Looks pretty painful to me that way, but I could see some magi trying it out to use it as two spare seasons per year.
Of course, the spell involves being under a continuous mystic effect for the year, which would lead to a warping point. If you are trying to get more powerful quickly, it may be worth it, but in general it seems like a bad trade.
I think two seasons of extra experience would easily be worth 1 Warping Point per year to most magi. When you take the typical non-long-term typical personality, even more so. I do think 1 Warping Point per year is extremely low in cost. Note that the cost is much greater via Becoming and No Fatigue, that being that you don't have Fatigue to spend. Also, Triple Overtime should cost less that what seems to amount to Quadruple Overtime, and maintaining Triple Overtime for a year costs much more than 1 Warping Point.
Although characters presumably don't think of it quite like this. They would think "I'm able to do significantly more in a year at the cost of Warping that is roughly equivalent to that I get from living the year under a Longevity Ritual." I think that most magi would consider that a reasonable trade, but it will come down to what the magus wants to do and how quickly he wants to do it.
The decision should be even easier for a player character. As the player may not expect the saga to run long enough for Final Twilight to be a risk, and even if the character does drop into Final Twilight, it's not the end. The player gets to make up a new character.
Can work. And then you get your effect dispelled and you fal asleep and cannot be waken for 2 years. Like sleeping beauty, just without the beauty part.
I think it can be quite an abuse and as such I would not allow it IMS to work like that. Being unable to recover long term fatigue should be enough most of the time, but needs to be treated with caution. It can be a source of stories as well to go on a non-sleeping spree (like you needing 2 months to complete a project but only having one to do that because you are about to enter Wizard's War or you have a dragon incoming) but it should have consequences. It can be the source of a great hook. My troupe would not allow this to become a general feature without consequences, though.
Huh - well, was just flipping through Covenants, and was reading up on the actual spells that grant the Addled bonus (The Resolute Mind of the Tireless Researcher, pg. 122), and it sounds almost exactally like what we're talking about here: a Rego Mentem effect to increase the effeciency of one's thought process.
And, as others have observed, this pretty much is the RAW answer to "using mentem effects to increase your lab bonus: yeah, you can do it, but it adds botch dice and Warping.
Ah, well - guess I'll be playing a Holy Magi next time, instead.
I like the consequences that come along with the bonus. I have a maga who used The Resolute Mind of the Tireless Researcher to finish up a spell right before Tribunal, and she failed the Stamina roll and thus had a long-term fatigue level for the whole Tribunal. I had a great time playing her as always tired and run-down. And then she botched an Awareness roll ... I knew exactly what to blame! Everything came together for that story, and in a sense it gave me license to play her as a more imperfect person, which is always more rewarding anyway.
