[Edratman]

That works. However there is a typo. I'm not at home with my mods so I had to use memory, which has proven to be faulty. I remembered that I had to do each path individually, that is why I showed each path as a line, but you do not use the mask number in boost, you use the path.

The correct form is:
#custommagic 384 100 (mask 128 + mask 256)
#magicboost 0 2
#magicboost 1 2

I am about two weeks from posting my first mod (which will be hated by purists I think), but I am successfully using boosts on 4 mages. I am using it on Sorcery mages without blood so I use custom magic 100 % (2048 + 4096 + 8192) and then use boost path on 4,5 and 6.

The only issue with using a boost is when you look at the mage in the commander screen you will only see the magic as (for example) F + A 100% and see 1 level not the three that will actually occur.

I have never tried your second conjecture. It is a little too complicated for me. I'm an old fart.

If you would like, I could send you my ALPHA vrsion of the mod. I do not want to post an unfinished version. I'm playing it now for debugging, but I would like to add about 6 more summons to it. But not until I get up to and test the summons that I've written into it so far.