GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Hellboy

If the skill a Path defaults to is either Ritual Magic or Thaumatology, is there any sort of benefit to having both of those skills high?

Like I would think someone with RM 20 and T 20 might be slightly better off than someone with only one of those at 20.

You could make a variant of RPM where different uses had different Core Skills. Doing a drawn out ritual would probably have reduced chance of a Botch and use Ritual Magic, while casting more rapidly might require Thaumatology, for example. As it stands, however, you only have one Core Skill, which is usually Thaumatology.

Originally Posted by Hellboy

Also I think it was in theory possible to buy a Path directly even if you could not cast any other paths because a 1/2 point only let you ID rituals and you only needed ritual magic 12 as a prereq to select a path.

Allowing someone to buy a Path Skill above their Thaumatology- or Magery-based cap might be an option, depending on how magic works in your world. They'd still be limited by the cap for purposes of actually casting, of course. As for knowing Paths without being able to cast, in RPM anyone can cast spells, so long as they have at least some knowledge in Thaumatology (RPM6 notes the need for at least 1 point in the skill, but presumably someone with Dabbler that included Thaumatology could pull it off as well).