The 0% chance might be due to your human´s and your pupil´s probably not so great knowledge attribute. The cheapest way to give it to others is to include them in your party when you finish the journey yourself. All party members get it for free. Teaching it later on is a problem. Once they have the skill you can transfer skill points for stress gain. The illegality is a diplomatic problem.

Both had learning education and the appropriate stat at decent level, it didn't affect the 0% chance whatsoever.
It's also worth noting that the sorcery learning trip is unavailable for a character with said trait, ergo a parent can take an adult kid with them, but this parents grandkids cannot be taught it through the journey.
It takes 300 gold and a 1k prestige + potential expenses during the trip which makes it too big of investment for a minor faction that is under a constant existential threat from its neighbors, let alone spending it every time a new ruler ascends to the throne.
I could learn something like Theurgy but once I got it the ability did not look like it even was worth picking since most perks pale in comparison with what Sorcery offers.

For a vamp or a fae knowledge 40+ is super easy to get. For a mummy just 40 would be pathetic.
Even if your base attribute is ~10 you can get up to 50+ no problemo - provided that you are not mortal. Independent hunters are the weakest SPLAT by far. As a mummy etc. you can simply get sorcery, theurgy and whatever else you want. As a mortal you have to pick one. And yes, even if you play smart your grandchildren can start from the beginning.
You get sorcery to stop being mortal. Then it is a race against time. If you are not playing for immortality then sorcery is too risky and too costly compared to PSI, which is not illegal and does similar things except for immortality.

Factions that have immortality from the start are not the main focus of what I am speaking about, but serve a good reference point when comparing a faction that starts from scratch to a faction that has a solid ground on day 1. Being immortal automatically makes you to "git gud", duh.
With these discussions I am trying to find a way for an independent hunter to actually score something beside pointless death. Sorcery looks like the best option.
I have concerns about it, though. The potion of immortality requires ingredients that can be found only in Umbra realm. Learning sorcery does not unlock it. The ingredients cannot be bought from a mummy, stolen or obtained in any way from a character that has these ingredients.
Getting to Umbra, iirc, becomes possible after learning PSI. Which is a bit too much since there are existential matters to attend to as I mentioned previously.
An ability to teach Sorcery in the same way as Witchcraft would be reasonable and still provide a hefty challenge, since a player still has to learn PSI when their heir ascends to the throne or come up with a really good plan to learn PSI+Sorcery as a Ruler#1 and pass on these skills to an heir without leading their realm to a game over.

Okay so I just loaded my House Schreckt independent hunter playthrough.
- Sorcery gives you umbra access, but not to The Dreaming. I indeed got that via PSI.
- I can teach sorcery to other people, but my knowledge attribute is at 53. Your success chance of 0% is very likely due to your not so high knowledge attribute.
- Karl Schreckt, my starting character, died of old age. His son got immortality, in part because he was the youngest child of the second or third wife and inherited the realm in his early 20s.
- Mummies might not straight up sell you the ingredients for immortality, buuut they are still quite essential allies. They explore realms at speed 75+, while you yourself start at like 25. They can do umbra quests for you, it´s just super expensive to send them. They sell potions that buy you time. Literally.

All of that is total overkill, of course. It would be way more effective to just rush the main objective and take the casualties as they come.

Quick PSA: When I say mummies I mean competend mummies. Some "mummies" are neither good at alchemy nor have access to the umbra.

Just an FYI, sorcery 100% gives access to the Dreaming, through Oneiromancy 5. Honestly, Sorcery is the single most bonkers OP lifestyle in the game. Basically lets you do everything other vampiric disciplines/supernatural powers do to varying degrees, so it might not be individually better compared to specialized trees, but no other focus has the flexibility it has. Wanna be immortal or make potions like mummies? Alchemy's got you. Presence opinion bonuses or Domination hook formation's got you jealous? Fascination. It's even got a little necromancy so you can have your own wraiths, and demon summoning.

The one thing holding it back a bit is that it's expensive to train. If we could just easily pass it around to heirs or other characters at our convenience we might as well play with cheats on. It is honestly fairly simple already to achieve immortality in one human lifespan, what should be a multi generational struggle can be managed by one dude in a single county if you plan ahead of time a bit.

Oh yeah, Oneiromancy 5. Apparently they have also buffed sorcery even further by adding new paths. Wow. Some changes recently, like the new fleshcrafting, are really pro powergaming.

As for achieving immortality in one lifetime I would agree as well as long as we are talking about self-made characters. The canon ones sometimes start in their 40s (Schreckt) or 60s (Knights of Acre).

As for the OPness of sorcery I would argue that it is bonkers in mid- to late game. Early on you got too much essential BS going on especially as an independent hunter. Also, the buildings that allow you to get one skill point per year cost money you don´t have initially and require turf that you do not start with. In the early game true faith is more powerful, especially because you level it for free via hunting monsters.

Originally posted by random encounter:

As for achieving immortality in one lifetime I would agree as well as long as we are talking about self-made characters. The canon ones sometimes start in their 40s (Schreckt) or 60s (Knights of Acre).

Yes, that is true, it does require a self made character, characters in their 40s aren't gonna cut it. And yeah, hunters have a bit of a wonky power curb compared to the supernaturals, but I think if you really wanna push into sorcery, as long as you're willing to put off the buildings and true faith, it's very viable. One of the decisions as an independent hunter even encourages you to go for this style, but granted it's probably weaker in the short term

Unfortunately, none of the official independent hunter characters start with true faith.
It does several important things if you can get it:
-You do no longer risk random death to cancer, pneumonia, wound infection, etc.
-You can cast intercession on other people, giving true faith to them. It is thus trainable.
-Huge buffs and debuffs
-Health increase and consequently longer life expectancy
-Powerful building against disease
-Instant conversion of your whole realm via a decision

PSI and sorcery offer more variety but you need time to earn perks and it occupies your lifestyle. True faith is leveled by using it and by wasting fiends. You just do you.
An immortal sorcerer with tons of skill points in sorcery is imo roughly as powerful as a 8th gen vamp with several standard disciplines. Only alchemy breaks the mold. The moment vamps use elder perks like Fist of Titans or turn your spine into a pretzel from a continent away via flesh crafting it is GG for hunters.