I was looking over the advantages for magic and I saw the one for half attuned to the tree and it sounds really cool with the MA bonus for 5 paths but what I don't get is how do you determine what those 5 paths are? All the book says that it affects 5 paths that make up a segment of the tree. I was looking at the "tree" and first I noticed it should be called the web. Anyhow I was thinking that you pick one path and you get the bonus for any path that is directly attached to the one you chose but that is more than 5 so I am a little lost in translation.

Can you guys clarify how this works because it sounds really cool but I don't get it.

This is actually difficult, and I do not know for sure, but what I do know is that each book has a polar opposite. If you are attuned to one you are not attuned to the other. Thus if you are attuned to Light you cannot be attuned to Dark.

From my understanding you choose each opposite individually, and just collect 1/2 the possibilities. This is probably wrong, but does work. The opposites are;
Dark - Light
Creation - Destruction
Water - Fire
Air - Earth
Essence - Illusion

and of course
Necromancy - Everything else

I do not know if you can be attuned to Necromancy.

So, from my reading, you could be attuned to Dark, Destruction, Fire, Earth and Illusion; or Dark, Destruction, Water, Earth and Illusion; or Light, Destruction, Fire, Air, and Essence; etc.

my group had some trouble with this one too. we came to the following conclusion, though to tell the truth it may also be incorrect.

we pretty much ruled it similar to Lia, except we allow the player to attune themselves to opposing elements without the drawbacks. effectively you readjust the polarity of the spell tree/web to your own liking. being aligned to the five paths you chose, and then opposed to all others. and we don't allow players to choose necromancy at all for this advantage. but again, that's just our ruling and it works for us, it may not be right.

It's called a tree because it is based off of the Kabbalah, which is a mystical practice. The 'tree' itself is also known as Sephiroth, or The Ten Qabalistic Spheres.

Kether (root of air)

Chokmah (root of fire)

Binah (root of water)

Chesed (water)

Geburah (fire)

Tiphareth (air)

Netzach (fire)

Hod (water)

Yesod (air)

Malkuth (earth)

The Sephiroth is also known as the Tree of Life. In this particular path, it is made up of ten spheres, 3 of which make up The Three Mother Letters (associated with the primeval elements: air, water, fire) and 7 of which make up The Seven Double Letters (associated with the seven planets; also, each one of these have a hard and soft pronunciations to them). The Seven also represent the 7 days of creation in Genesis, and the seven orifices of perception (two eyes, ears, nostrils, and the one mouth).

It's not uncommon to find mystical or magical representations in RPG games or fantasy settings that have a basis on real life occult practices and/or believes.

As far as the system question for "Half Attuned to the Tree", both those options seem usable to me. I haven't had the chance to mess with that particular piece myself yet.

Lia Valenth said:

Lia has the right of it. You have 10 options, choosing one option prevents you from choosing the opposite, so once you choose Light, Darkness is automatically excluded, and now you have 8 options remaining. You choose 1, lose 1, until you are down to 0. The advantage itself specifies you cannot choose Necromancy with it. If you want to be attuned to Necromancy, you have to pick the 1 point advantage, and if you do, you cannot be attuned to anything else. But honestly, if you pick Necromancy for your spells, you are going to be learning spells from every other path in the game at 2x the price, so you may as well be attuned to Necromancy if you are going to take spells from it. Use any excess magic levels for Metamagic.