I created two characters, a Sinda loremaster and a Noldo magician, to illustrate some of the things I put forth in my original post. The loremaster's name is Galist ("bright lore/knowledge"). The magician's is Vanion ("beautiful one"). I'll give a basic write-up of their stats.
Galist
Race: Elf (Sinda)
Racial Abilities: The Art, Beast-skill, Comfort, Elven-sleep, Ghost-scorn, Lightfooteness, Musical Gifts. Sindar get the following attribute adjustments in my game: +2 Bearing, +2 Perception, +2 Nimbleness, and +1 Vitality.
Attributes: Bearing 12 (+3, favored), Nimbleness 11 (+2), Perception 14 (+4), Strength 8 (+1), Vitality 8 (+1), Wits 12 (+3, favored). In my game, Noldor get the following attribute adjustments: Bearing +3, Perception +2, Wits +2, Nimbleness +1
Reactions: Stamina +2, Swiftness +4, Willpower +4, Wisdom +4 (favored)
Orders: Loremaster
Order Abilities: Expertise (Magic), Spellcasting 2, Vala Virtue (Elbereth)
Advancements: 5
Magic: Sense Power (racial ability. This might be changed to a rank in the Judgement and Prophecy magic specialty or just a flat bonus to using the Observe (Sense Power) skill.), Fire, Earth, Stone & Metal +2, Secret Fire +4.
Skills (ranks only): Armed Combat: Blades (Long knife dagger) +2, Debate (Negotiate, Parley) +3, Healing (Treat Injury) +2, Insight (Motives) +1, Language: Laiquendi +4, Language: Sindarin +8, Lore: History- Elves +1, Lore: History- Sindar +6, Lore: Magic +10, Lore: Race- Dwarves +2, Lore: Race- Sindar +6, Lore: Realm- Doriath (Menegroth) +6, Lore: Star-lore +4, Observe (Sense Power) +6, Perform: Compose Verse +2, Persuade (Oratory) +3, Ranged Combat: Bows (Shortbow) +2, Survival: Forest +3
Edges: Curious (background), Eloquent (racial), Fair (racial), Keen-eyed (racial), Swift Recovery (racial), Wise 2 (background edge plus order edge)
Vanion
Race: Elf (Noldo)
Racial Abilities: The Art, Beast-skill, Comfort, Elven-form, Elven-sense, Elven-sleep, Farsightedness, Ghost-scorn, Lightfooteness, Swift Healing
Attributes: Bearing 13 (+3, favored), Nimbleness 10 (+2), Perception 14 (+4, favored), Strength 8 (+1), Vitality 7, Wits 14 (+4)
Reactions: Stamina +3 (base, picks, and Resolute edge), Swiftness +4, Willpower +5 (base plus Resolute edge, favored), Wisdom +5 (base plus Wise edge)
Orders: Magician
Order Abilities: Spellcasting 4, Spellcasting Method (Songs of Power)
Advancements: 5
Magic: Air & Storm +3, Fire, Earth, Stone & Metal +4, Secret Fire +5.
Skills (ranks only): Armed Combat: Blades (Longsword) +1, Debate (Parley) +3, Healing (Treat Injury) +1, Inquire (Converse) +2, Insight (True Bearing) +2, Inspire (Kindle Hope) +2, Intimidate (Power) +1, Language: Quenya +7, Language: Telerin +3, Language: Valarin +1, Lore: History- Noldor +6, Lore: Magic +8, Lore: Race- Maiar +4, Lore: Race- Noldor +6, Lore: Race- Teleri +3, Lore: Race- Valar +4, Lore: Race- Vanyar +1, Lore: Realm- Aman +4, Lore: Realm- Beleriand +2, Lore: Star-lore +4, Observe (Sense Power) +6, Perform: Song +2, Persuade (Oratory) +2, Ranged Combat: Bows (Longbow) +2, Ride (horse) +1, Survival: Forests +2, Track +1
Edges: Craftsmaster (racial), Curious (background), Eloquent (background), Fair (racial), Keen-eyed (racial), Resolute (advancement picks), Swift Recovery (racial), Valour (order edge), Wise (racial)
Examples
Galist
Explanation: After getting his 10th rank in Lore: Magic at his 3rd advancement and spending the other ranks on other skills, by his 4th advancement, Galist is able to select Spellcasting as an order ability. When he does so, he gets his first specialty for free and five picks. He chooses Secret Fire as his first specialty. At this point, he doesn't have many options. He can either place all 5 picks into the Secret Fire specialty or he can purchase another specialty for 4 picks and place one pick into one of his specialties. He chooses the latter, selecting Fire, Earth, Stone & Metal as his second specialty and placing 1 rank in Secret Fire. At his 5th advancement, he wishes to increase his abilities in these two specialties, so he selects the Spellcasting order ability again and devotes 3 more picks to Secret Fire (giving him 4 total ranks) and 2 more picks to Fire, Earth, Stone & Metal (giving him 2 total ranks). When using the Art and focusing on Secret Fire, he gets a +9 bonus (4 ranks plus Bearing modifier plus the Art racial ability). When using the Fire, Earth, Stone & Metal specialty, he gets a +7 bonus (2 ranks plus Bearing modifier plus the Art racial ability).
Galist watches his craftsman friendforging a sword, and he wants to do something to help him out. There are two ways to do this. He could use his powers of Fire, Earth, Stone & Metal to assist in some indeterminate way ("help my friend's efforts be worthwhile") or he could use his powers in a very specific way ("make that sword as keen as can be").
For the first, the Narrator could set a TN of 10 for the spell because of the multitude of ways this could happen, although the caster is not trying for a specific effect. Success, then, can be measured in any number of ways. Galist rolls and gets a result of 14, a complete success. There are any number of ways the Narrator can determine success. She could give Galist's friend a +5 bonus to the Smithcraft check to make the sword. She may grant wielders of the sword a +3 bonus to Armed Combat tests. She could even give the sword the ability to glow when in the proximity of a certain type of enemy (take Orcs, for example).
For the second, since Galist is going for a specific effect that obviously has a tangible influence over the physical properties of the weapon, the Narrator may assign a TN of 15. Let's say Galist gets a result of 9, a complete failure. Because Galist's attempt fails, the Narrator calls for a Weariness test TN 10. Galist's result is 15, so he doesn't lose Weariness.
Vanion
Explanation: At character creation, Vanion must select Spellcasting as his first order ability, and this grants him his first specialty for free and gives him 5 spell picks. As with Galist, he does not have many options at this stage. So, he chooses to spend 1 pick to get 1 rank in Secret Fire (his initial specialty) and 4 picks to gain access to the Air & Storm specialty. At his first advancement, Vanion chooses the Spellcasting order ability once again, putting 3 ranks in Secret fire (4 ranks total) and 2 in Air & Storm (2 ranks total). Vanion spends the picks from his 2nd advancement increasing skills, but on the 3rd he chooses Spellcasting again. This time, he spends 4 spell picks to gain access to the Fire, Earth, Stone & Metal specialty and 1 pick on the Air & Storm specialty (4 ranks total). The picks from the 4th advancement are spent on Perform: Song (1 rank) and Spellcasting. The spell picks Vanion gains is used to increase his Secret Fire (by +1, giving 5 ranks total) and Fire, Earth, Stone & Metal specialties (by +4, giving 4 ranks total). His 5th advancement is used to increase Perform: Song by 1 rank and gain the Spellcasting Method (Songs of Power) order ability. Vanion's bonus to casting Air & Storm and Fire, Earth, Stone & Metal effects is +9 (ranks, Bearing modifier, the Art racial ability). If he uses the Songs of Power method, the bonus is +11 due to his 2 ranks in Perform. His bonus for Secret Fire effects is +10 (+12 if using Songs of Power to cast them).
Vanion and his friends are caught in the midst of a storm while traveling. He wishes to calm the storm so they could reach their destination more quickly. The Narrator assigns a TN of 15 because Vanion's attempting a pretty big feat, being that the storm covers a lot of ground (while still being small for a storm). Vanion gets a result of 11, a failure. The Narrator calls for a TN 12 Weariness test due to the magnitude of the effect Vanion tried to pull off. Vanion gets a result of 7, a failure. He loses a Weariness level.