Teaching Hermetic virtues

[Berengar]

@rgd20

The question therefore is, if the children are taught magic theory, can she teach them Gentle gift before their arts are opened? If she can and then the arts are opened by some other maga, would they run the risk of destroying the Virtue (like Supernatural abilities can be lost on opening)?

Obviously this is a YSMY issue, but I wondered if anyone had any thoughts.

You ask two questions here.

(1) What is the required relation of instructor and student of Hermetic Virtues on Apprentices p.40ff?

This is not certain. The structure of the chapters in Apprentices puts Teaching Hermetic Virtues as a subchapter into Hermetic Apprenticeship, implying that teaching Hermetic Virtues requires an Hermetic apprenticeship. But

@Apprentices

The instructor, typically the apprentice's parens, generates a Teaching Source Quality total ...

puts this into perspective again. And on Apprentices: In my hands... - #66 by Matt_Ryan the author of Apprentices, Matt Ryan, appears to see no problem with shopping around for another teacher:

@Matt Ryan

Suddenly, I want my apprentice character to have the Gentle Gift but not start play with it. His master doesn’t have it, so I have to convince my master to find a magus who will teach it to me. What is that going to cost? Since money means nothing to wizards, I’ll have to convince him some other way. Maybe if I steal the dragon’s eggs for master he will let me perform a service for the magus I want to teach me, if I can convince him to teach me in the first place.

So this is utterly YSMV.

(2) What happens to existing Hermetic Virtues, when the Hermetic Arts are Opened?

Nothing. Only non-Hermetic Virtues form an obstacle here: see Apprentices p.35f Opening Arts with Supernatural Abilities, which is not cleanly worded, but clearly shows the intention.

Cheers