Get boost to learning from Hermetic society and Diplomacy with the Falconer/Poet event and with Focuses. I have started to add in Attractive with the character starting at 25yo and making the stats 11,20,14,14,11. A Catholic character with those traits, and the way I like to play, is able to have 14,20,14,14,14 while staying at 16yo. This gives a fairly decent amount of points to pump into the other stats as you see fit. I tend to create a Martial based leader to start out with these traits when not playing as a Muslim. I am by NO means a master at this game, heck I haven't even done a full play through, so take this for what its worth.