Assume we have a Gifted child, who is taken as an apprentice.

While helping in the lab, there is an accident. Most of the magic he has been taught, and probably the Gift itself, have been ripped away (c.f. Mercere).

Assume he is left with some rudimentary knowledge of one or two Arts.

What would be the virtue costs of a) the ability to learn an Art, b) a fixed score in an Art.

V.

In RoP Divine each method and power was a major virtue. Mapping this on to hermetic magic; you'd pay the cost of a major virtue for each technique and form. Of course methods and powers work differently than techniques and forms so this might not work exactly but virtues and flaws are inexact no matter how you deal with them.

I think that a companion who spent six of their virtue points to be able to handle intellego mentem as if they were a magus got a steal and one who picked up intellego ignem for six virtue points got shafted.

I'd let the player come up with the characer that they want and then judge it to see if it will fit in the game without detracting from the fun of the other players I wouldn't worry about the numbers. (I'll add the caveot that it is easier to grant new abilities than to take existing abilities away so being too generous is more dangerous than not being generous enough.)

I like Erik's answer and to some degree such ideas begin to run outside normal rules. Not all form/tech combinations are equal and this fact complicates matters making it difficult to generate a generic rule for the purchase of techs and forms.

One can further complicate the situation by broadly interpreting the uniqueness of the situation. For instance I'm playing a Gifted Mercere who has completed their 15 years of study but can not for the life of me pass their gauntlet. I've failed three times!

Why? I'm intentionally failing my gauntlet because my character has 'issues'. I am in effect playing a failed apprentice who has an entire array of Techs/Forms/and Parma Magica available to them. Now should I write up a companion and take Failed Apprentice or does this character fill my magic slot? I try to be a conservative GM and naturally this is my Magi slot, but I can imagine others argueing for the Custos slot and walking away with a vast array of powers.

Prior to Ars5, when an apprentice could learn Parma Magica before completeing their gauntlet it was common for us to have failed apprentices simply so a companion could have Parma Magica.

These are broad interpretations of the rules and regions that often lead to awkward arguements over game balance and what is/isn't fair.

Before you make your final decision I would consider not how well your ruleing works now, but how well your ruling will work 5 years from now (game time) when the characters are coming to power. Will this character cause resentment among the other players? Will this character be a constant irritant to you as a GM (in terms that they can quickly solve all the problems you toss at 'mere' companions)? Go beyond the now and thing about the when. When will this character come back to bite you in the butt? Is it worth it?

Solve these problems and stress to the player that you might be wrong. That you have the right in the future to *depower* the character simply because you never anticipated some X Factor that allows the PC to have Uber Stats.

Chuck

If you assume:
(1) most of the magic learned was lost then you have a mage which throws away points.
(2) the gift was lost you have a companion with the skill magic theory.

Assuming AM5 you have no knowledge of parma until or unless you have completed your guantlet then that is no longer an issue either. Plus parma requires the gift or something equivelent so if it is lost so is the ability to learn parma.

The answer is then:

If you have the gift you build a mage with a large number of hermetic flaws and lower starting points in arts and forms but no other differences. The person may be considerably older than normal before being able to take their guantlet but should still be able to do so.

You might also want to create a hermetic flaw to encompase this: "Dead Art" which would prevent the character from ever learning that art period.

If you have no gift then you build a companion using the mage template up to a point and then the companion template afterwards. You should track the art score for whatever modifications it might provide but beyond that it is window dressing as with no gift the character can't cast spells, or learn parma. And this assumes that without the gift you get the art modifications and it is not clear to me you do...if you assume that you don't then they become window dressing and you can just build a companion with access to the skills Magic Theory, Hermetic Lore, and some of the other ones normally restricted to mages.