Are all your actions taken at your initiative or are they staggered based on the type of action? For example, I would think that snap actions should generally be resolved  before full actions unless you are fighting something really fast.

Do you intend to add the Attack II spell base that you detailed in a thread elsewhere?

For an ArchMage type of Character...... Hmmm.....

As for Arcane Magic (being treated as the root of all magic), I would consider that to be the Spell Bases, from Libram Novus #1. Just follow the rules for learning and using Spell Base

Now, if you want to treat Arcane Magic as a seperate Realm, you would need to actual create that Realm and decide what spells are wanted as part of it.

And for an ArchMage, I think I would likely do something similar to the Harn Wheel of Magic. There are 8 core Schools,  And the Universal Spells could act like Grey spells in Harn (basically the same, learnable by all).

Attached is an image I just made up.
A Circle Divided into the 8 Schools of Magic (the underlined words). Casters are listed (same size as the School Name, but not underlined). Mixed Classes/Training Paths listed in smaller size. And those with quasi-magical abilities are list in parenthesis ().

Dual Mage would be allowed any 2 (though, looking at this, I might limit to those not directly opposed), and an Archmage could be one who learns all but the one opposite (One Primary uses Major costs, the two directly beside the Primary uses Minor costs, and then the next 2 use Non costs, leaving 3 Schools unaccessible (which allows for a good bit of variation).

I have always preferred Arcane magic to be the root of all magic instead of a separate realm so learning the Spell bases would be the way to go.

I really like your concept for ArchMages.   How would you handle the cost for the talent to be an ArchMage?  I guess this is something that you could "grow" into as you progress as a mage.  This is how I remember Grey Mages work in Harnmaster.  Would you see there being spells that are universal which are only available to ArchMages?  Perhaps there could be concepts/spell modifications that are part of the universal Spell base that only Archmages have access to instead.

Perhaps to stop ArchMages from being too powerful your spellcasting skills for adjacent schools can be increasingly penalized the further away the school is from your primary school.  One could then learn 7 of the 8 schools but the schools that are the furthest away from your promary school would have a steep penalty for the casting roll. 
 

So the only real change would be for skills.

Instead of

skill + stat + roll + Mods >= (TN 20 + Mods)
(which is it currently, we just have the GM determining the Stat at the time of the roll since many skills could work with different stats based on how they are used)

We are talking about changing it to

skill + roll + Mods >= (TN 20 - Stat) + Mods
(this would essentially be sayin "Make a XX Stat based skill roll" which then gives a base TN based on the stat, and the GM would then apply the mods (he doesn't have to state them beforehand either

I find that the second method is not very intuitive.  In other games that I have played either the stat is not part of the skill roll or it is added to the skill roll. 

How are you proposing to do opposed skill rolls in Novus 2.0? How would this affect opposed skill rolls?

Culture -- skills learned by all from that Culture, regardless of background  (i.e. Adolescent skills part 1).

Backgrounds -- you got it. It represents early training influences (i.e. Adolescent skills part 2).

the two together defines where your character came from

Then the Training Path is basically represent Apprenticeship. This is where you are/where you are heading.

Okay, this all makes sense.  Which background would you choose if your parents are Mages or Alchemists?

Therer are no requisite number of ranks, but the more you know, the better you will be at crafting or making or doing whatever. Though I do like the idea of  being a journeyman, or at least a Senior Apprentice (say 4-5 ranks)

This was what I was thinking. One has to have at least some basic knowledge to progress to more advanced studies.

This is quite interesting.  The more I look at the layers of rules for damage the more I see over-lap.  For example, the 1 point Boon Strong Attack: Does additional Base Damage equal to Strength Stat Bonus. May not be used with Adrenal Surge. 

............

I understand the idea of making weapon damage a little bit variable from PC to PC or Monster to Monster but, I wonder if it devalues Boons if you add it in as base damage.  Again, the stat is already accounted for in the scaled damage.

The proverbial can of worms it seems...

I personally don't think that adding a "damage" stat to damage devalues boons.  Boons are much harder to achieve than just hitting; therefore, they occur less often. Needing a boon to add a "damage" stat to damage just doesn't make sense to me.

Boxers and MMA fighters fight in different weight classes for a reason and it has nothing to do with skill level.  Heavier and stronger boxers hit harder with every blow.