reading is for stupids
Interesting. For comparison, this is the seasons that my Bjornaer magus has spent on reading and lab work in my current saga (R = seasons reading, L = seasons in Lab work).
1220: R(2), L(1)
1221: R(1), L(0)
1222: R(1), L(1)
1223: R(0), L(0)
1224: R(0), L(2)
1225: R(1), L(2)
1226: R(1), L(2)
1227: R(0), L(1)
1228: R(1), L(0)
1229: R(0), L(3)
1230: R(0), L(2)
1231: R(0), L(2)
1232: R(0), L(3)
1233: R(0), L(3)
1234: R(2), L(1)
1235: R(0), L(3)
1236: R(1), L(2)
1237: R(0), L(2)
1238: R(3), L(1)
1239: R(0), L(2)
Average: R(0.65), L(1.65)
Total: R(13), L(33)
Why?
I can see that if the story-guide is a bastard and uses the story opportunity inherent in Study Bonus to create obstacles to deny you the benefit of Study Bonus, then, yes, that would be a reason to not take Study Bonus.
However, if the story-guide uses the story potential of Study Bonus to tell stories that don't actually stop you from gaining the Study Bonus, isn't that a good thing? It means that sometimes as well as getting the +2 XP from Study Bonus, you will get some Confidence Points, or vis, or whatever, as part of the story. Also, the players will be entertained by telling a story about your character, which hardly seems like a bad thing.
Hi,
The only reason I'd give a grog one of the 50xp-granting virtues is because I wanted him to have access to the skills it allows and didn't have a better way to do it. Each of those virtues gives 50xp plus opens a set of skills.
I also would be reluctant to give him Independent Study, when I could give him Tough, or Puissant Something or Other, or Keen Eyes (for a lookout) or even Skinchanger (a turb of Skinchangers with different animal types, how cool is that?)
If the guy really does adventure every season, maybe. Maybe. Yet a grog worthy of being that leader probably has already needed to be optimized just for that.
Note that I haven't called the 50xp virtues worthwhile. They're very situational, and usually not good, though sometimes necessary.
That's what I was looking for!
I'm convinced. FM is very good for a character designed around it.
If you have an advanced character with FM, please post it.
Anyway,
Ken
Hi,
In an Order with a reasonable economy, you never run out of books.
The artificial distortion is that there is an excess of summae due to the covenant creation rules. Consider:
Who has resources to commission good books, newly Gauntleted magi, or senior magi?
Who will the archmagus like better, the guy who wrote a summa that is useless to the archmagus or the guy who wrote a few tractatuseses?
Who will achieve fame in the Order, the guy who wrote the primer (and to an elder magus, all summae are primers) or the guy who puts out cutting edge insights?
If you're a senior Flambeau, you want those tractasuseses on Ignem; the magus who writes them is precious, and you'll do stuff to make sure he keeps writing them. If you're a Tremere, the Order is the flow of books.
Tractatuseses are the lifeblood of the Order. Their distribution is the real reason Redcaps matter. Communication of magical knowledge is the real reason the Order is powerful.
From the perspective of game mechanics, there is no reason at all to suggest there is any upper limit to advancing Arts through reading. The only limit is artificial, players and SGs deciding they don't want it.
The idea that reading books has a cap comes from earlier editions of AM, which had different game mechanics.
Your analysis here is sound, and recapitulates that of the first post in this thread. Elemental Magic can be good--for a character who wants to specialize in all the elements.
Anyway,
Ken
Hi,
That's me! 
I notice your reading is trending upward, as the demands of starting up fade. What is he doing with his time? Say, in 1223 or 1226.
Even if the virtue is used 2/year (which it looks like you are settling on), it is very good. At 1/year, not so much.
Sagas do vary, and BL isn't good in all of them.
Anyway,
Ken
Is their anything that improves exposure xp?
Agreed. Until you get to really, really high ranks in an Art - something that's likely only to happen in one or two Arts if at all - you shouldn't have too much of an issue. We've seen solid arguments for this case before.
Agreed. The summas listed for typical covenants and available through the points are really good.
Good points.
I think this one is trickier. Even the elder magi will want to have the great primer for their apprentices since producing good apprentices will help them earn status. Plus, the one everyone reads early is still the one everyone reads.
If I take my own studies in physics, there is a book on electricity and magnetism that is simply referred to as Jackson (the author) in conversation. It is the primary textbook used in the US and I think around the world for beginning graduate level physics. However, there are higher level textbooks use for other E&M stuff, such as plasma physics, that are studied later. There are also plenty of articles on E&M stuff being published regularly. But Jackson is the one we all know really well.
Similarly, Newton is probably the best-known of all and most generally known. His works (Principia and de Optica - I'm more likely to write them even more wrong if I try to write the whole names.) laid the cornerstone of so much of physics. Of course, his were cutting-edge at the time, so maybe he's not the best example. The above example is better.
But we can counter with examples such as Einstein and Hawking. That's why I say this is a trickier point.
Chris
I would add that the more famous and well read the book is, the greater number of commentaries that will be written by it. So much so that a vry well read and commented on primer might be desired by an elder who never read it and who has a level way beyond it, just so he can later study these three really high quality commentaries on it.
double post
I gotta get me a copy of that book 
What are the ways suggested?
Great example of using Unravelling the Fabric of [Form] with FM (me being a fan of FM) - just a question, can you invent more than one spell per season? (Assuming very high lab totals and low levels of spells)
Kal
As long as the spells use the same Lab Total, you can invent multiple spells.
So, you can invent several Unravelling the Fabric of [Form] spells, as they are all PeVi spells.
I have to agree; and from my own experience 3 seasons/year spent reading are actually far above the average. Some time ago our group decided to collect some statistics about how the magi we had played had actually been spending their time, so as to have a general idea of how to build experienced NPCs "on the fly". Roughly speaking the result was the following:
about 1 season/year actively studying Arts (perhaps 90% from books).
about 1 season/year actively studying/practicing Abilities (both arcane and mundane - about 30% from books).
about 1 season/year doing lab work, including learning spells.
about 1 season/year doing other stuff (including participation in stories, teaching, writing, mystery initiations, twilight etc.)
Obviously this varies (Verditius magi spend more time on "labwork", magi heavily involved in mysteries spend more time on "other stuff") etc. but not nearly as much as I would have expected. Then about 1 to 1.5 seasons per year are spent reading.
Has it any sense newly gauntleted magi write tractatus for archmagi?
Hi,
Make sense from a realism perspective? I don't know.
But from a game perspective..... That newly gauntleted magus with a high Com and the virtue that adds +3 to the Quality of books he writes is a treasure of the Order, more important than a gaggle of weird and incomprehensible Bonisagi elders, and those elders know it! Declare Wizard's War on this fellow, and find yourself squished by a bunch of archmagi waiting for the next Harry Potter book.
Right out of the box, he can write a Tractatus in any Art for which he has score of 5. 10 lets him write 2. These high quality books provide their full benefit to anyone who reads them other than the writer. Including his parens.
This guy will have archmagi sending him the very best books in their favored Arts, on condition that he read them and write about his insights.
Anyway,
Ken
Having a Great writer within a Covenant, is a double bonus - good books immediately for the covenant library and good books (Tractatus) to trade for those higher level summae (roots and branches), and also potential for friendly older magi.
Back to FM, tho we were comparing it to BL, have folks considered it in combination with BL. Read a book on Spell Mastery and recieve an extra 6xp from it!
Kal
Here's what I have from my last long-term character:
Note, we had a good source of teaching, I payed a lot for another, and I had my familiar learn MT really high and teach it to me before using our tractatus. Those seasons could have been spent with books but were not. Also note that I was one of the primary storyguides.
9 Adventure
2 Initiation
13 Book
22 Being Taught
21 Lab
7 Teaching
2 Writing
In retrospect, what's really sad is that I took Book Learner and not Apt Student. Sure, most the seasons being taught were not in magical things (Leadership, Teaching, etc.), but there were a lot of those seasons. Book Learner had not yet paid for itself, but Apt Student would have by long-shot. Anyway:
13/74 seasons w/ books
35/74 seasons w/ books or being taught
This was an unusual case with the teaching sources I discovered; usually I would have put most those seasons into books instead. Then Book Learner would have paid for itself. So, in the end, I don't expect to see more than half the seasons for any of my characters spent with books.
Chris
Another thought on BL and similiar virtues - it depends on how old your character is to being with, as the year by year creation doesnt take such virtues into account and an older magus probably wont be reading too many books, as he will have surpassed virtually all of the books in the Order of value (apart form Tractatus). Affinities or FM seem more suited to older magi created via the year-by-year system.
As an aside, in relation to my former post and callen's post, combine FM with adapt student - additional 10XP when somone else is teaching you about spell mastery
Kal
Hmmm... I think our experiences differ significantly. Our magi usually invent most of their own spells to take advantage of their particular strengths/weaknesses and interests. As a result, there is no way to gain mastery for the majority of our spells from books or from teachers. That means most of our experience in mastery comes from either adventure or practice, which means Independent Study is the only thing that combines well with FM post-apprenticeship in our sagas.
Chris