Summa: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:02, 6 June 2015

Each summa is described by two factors: its level, which represents how much knowledge is contained in it, and its quality, representing how well it is written.

Synopsis

A summa (plural, summae) in ArM5 is simply a book that can be studied for multiple seasons. They are an important part of most covenants' libraries. Summa may be used to learn any Art or Ability.

Although he acknowledges that he is not a professional medievalist, Michaël de Verteuil, commenting on and suggesting rules changes for Fourth Edition in the Hermes' Portal fanzine article Ex Libris (part of the latest Heretic's Corner installment in issue 4), noted that the Ars Magica rules give the impression that summa were the starting point for midieval learning, when in fact tracti were the basic texts used in formal education. If you're up for it, see the Wikipedia article on summae.

All the same, reference to summa still gives a good, if inaccurate, feel to the period.

Errata

The first printing of ArM5 contained some confusing text about summae that has been clarified by the official errata. On page 165, the text in question reads, "Summae: Source - Quality and Level".

Not as clear as it might be, true. The called-out sentences in the left-hand column just give the stats for the books. The words after the colon should not be capped. The rules are the same as for everything else: Advancement Total is based only on Source Quality, not level.

--David Chart, Atlas Games Discussion Forums, 11 Feb. 2005

All the text is really supposed to mean is that summae have two statistics: Quality and Level. Contrast with Tractatus, which have only a Quality score (no Level).

Summae in Past Editions

In ArM4, summae were described as books "distilling all that a scholar knows about an Art or Knowledge into a single book." (page 188). The formula for determining the Quality of the summa was somewhat different than in ArM5, but the general rules for studying from them were similar.

In ArM3 and earlier editions, there was only one sort of book. Summae as such did not exist (although all books were similar to summae in that they could be studied for more than one season).

References

Studying from summae, ArM5 p. 165
Writing summae, ArM5 p. 165
Value of summae in a covenant library, ArM5 p. 71

Legacy Page

The history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at Legacy:summa

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[begin:.preamble]
 Each summa is described by two factors: its [[Book Level | level]], which represents how much knowledge is contained in it, and its [[Book Quality | quality]], representing how well it is written.
-["--Ars Magica Fifth Edition, page 165]
+==  Synopsis ==
-[end:.preamble]
+A '''summa''' (plural, ''summae'') in [[ArM5]] is simply a book that can be studied for multiple seasons.  They are an important part of most covenants' libraries.  Summa may be used to learn any [[Art]] or [[Ability]].
-==  Synopsis ==
+Although he acknowledges that he is not a professional medievalist, [[Michaël de Verteuil]], commenting on and suggesting rules changes for [[ArM4|Fourth Edition]] in the [[Hermes' Portal fanzine]] article Ex Libris (part of the latest Heretic's Corner installment in issue 4), noted that the Ars Magica rules give the impression that summa were the starting point for midieval learning, when in fact [[tractus|tracti]] were the basic texts used in formal education.  If you're up for it, see the [[Wikipedia]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summa article on summae].
-A '''summa''' (plural, ''summae'') in [[ArM5]] is simply a book that can be studied for multiple seasons.  They are an important part of most covenants' libraries.  Summa may be used to learn any [[Art]] or [[Ability]].
+All the same, reference to summa still gives a good, if inaccurate, ''feel'' to the period.
 ==  Errata ==
+The first printing of [[ArM5]] contained some confusing text about summae that has been clarified by the official [http://www.atlas-games.com/arm5/arm5errata.php errata].  On page 165, the text in question reads, "Summae: Source - Quality and Level".
-The first printing of [[ArM5]] contained some confusing text about summae that has been clarified by the official [http://www.atlas-games.com/arm5/arm5errata.php | errata].  On page 165, the text in question reads, "Summae: Source - Quality and Level".
+:Not as clear as it might be, true. The called-out sentences in the left-hand column just give the stats for the books. The words after the colon should not be capped. The rules are the same as for everything else: Advancement Total is based only on Source Quality, not level.
-[begin:.quote]
-Not as clear as it might be, true. The called-out sentences in the left-hand column just give the stats for the books. The words after the colon should not be capped. The rules are the same as for everything else: Advancement Total is based only on Source Quality, not level.
-["--David Chart, Atlas Games Discussion Forums, 11 Feb. 2005]
+:::::--David Chart, Atlas Games Discussion Forums, 11 Feb. 2005
-[end:.quote]
 All the text is really supposed to mean is that summae have two statistics: [[Book Quality | Quality]] and [[Book Level | Level]].  Contrast with [[Tractatus]], which have only a Quality score (no Level).
 ==  Summae in Past Editions ==
 In [[ArM4]], summae were described as books "distilling all that a scholar knows about an [[Art]] or [[Knowledge]] into a single book." (page 188).  The formula for determining the Quality of the summa was somewhat different than in [[ArM5]], but the general rules for studying from them were similar.
@@ Line 29: / Line 23: @@
 ==  References ==
 * Studying from summae, [[ArM5]] p. 165
 * Writing summae, [[ArM5]] p. 165
@@ Line 35: / Line 28: @@
 ==  See Also ==
+* [[Books]]
-* [[Books]]
+==  Legacy Page  ==
-===  Legacy Page  ===
 The history of this page before August 6, 2010 is archived at [[Legacy:summa]]