Default maximum

[Lameth]

I am running a path/book game with the magic system. If the cap for your paths is your ritual magic skill, what happens if you have a talent or a perk that will bring your ritual pass your cap? Can a perk or a talent take you above the maximum allowed by your ritual magic/thaumaturgy skill?u

[corwyn]

Well, if you have a cap for your skills, it's just that, a cap. Your final skill cannot surpass that. Also remember, defaults don't benefit from a talent unless they are explicitly included. So if you have a skill that benefits from a talent and a skill that defaults from that first skill that isn't in that same talent, then you need to default from the original skill as if the talent wasn't there.

[Lameth]

Originally Posted by corwyn

Well, if you have a cap for your skills, it's just that, a cap. Your final skill cannot surpass that. Also remember, defaults don't benefit from a talent unless they are explicitly included. So if you have a skill that benefits from a talent and a skill that defaults from that first skill that isn't in that same talent, then you need to default from the original skill as if the talent wasn't there.

It's more a ritual mastery perk that you have to take per ritual. Could that allow it to bypass the path skill itself?

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Lameth

I am running a path/book game with the magic system. If the cap for your paths is your ritual magic skill, what happens if you have a talent or a perk that will bring your ritual pass your cap? Can a perk or a talent take you above the maximum allowed by your ritual magic/thaumaturgy skill?u

It's a cap on actual skill level, not on effective skill level - Ritual Mastery can exceed it, as can using a Grimoire. Talents are a partial exception here - note the Talents from Ritual Path Specialists (Pyramid #3/66) sorta-kinda include Thaumatology (but only when the relevent Paths or the Talent's concept are involved), avoiding the problem of caps. Of course, skill levels from Talents are functionally treated pretty much like real skill levels, unlike circumstantial bonuses like Ritual Mastery.