Magic diversity

[Omnirizon]

one in each path isn't prohibitively expensive and will uncover the majority of sites and get a good gem income.

however, a pretender more specialized in a few paths is going to find more sites in those paths, and bring in a bigger gem income in those few paths. consider that most nations have natural access to four paths, this is really where you need your gem income.

also, to have an awake pretender, with decent scales, and enough magic in some paths to gain access to higher level spells, you might not be able to squeeze out one in each path.

lastly, you also might want to have a few extra in one path to be able to cast a higher level spell without a ton of boosters. the extra speed might be worth it over extreme diversity.

that said, I consider diversity anywhere from one in each path, to a few in five paths. you can build a strat around five paths, and not even miss big gem income in the others. you need to consider the opportunity costs of taking even just one in each path; it might not always be worth it.