[V5 - Official Ruling Request] - Selecting Powers - Can discipline levels essentially be skipped if leveling several levels in one go?

[MyWifeIsScary]

Did V5 drop the -you probably shouldn't get more than a single dot of something per story- ruling?

Disciplines especially. They're something you get over years of accumulation.


Oh yeah, the Diablerie rules...
You should probably be getting the same powers the victim had whilst taking into accounts the limits of each level (IE if you eat someone with Potence 5 you're not going to put his 5th level power as your 4th dot)

[Incarnate]

You are quite right. You can only buy a power from a lower or equal level, not a higher level.

Furthermore, you buy the dots sequentially, even if you're spending loads of XP at once. So you buy the third dot first, and pick the relevant power, before buying the fourth dot--even if there are only seconds between each purchase.

You quoted the relevant text on p.244:

"either from their new Discipline level or below"

That's as clear as it gets. Disciplines aren't like Loresheets where you can buy whichever levels you want, skipping what's in between.

But let's say this person does want to skip right to the fifth dot by spending a big chunk of XP at once and let's humour them by saying you can spend your 84XP in this way.

The rule still says you only get a single power at your new level *or* lower, so if you went from two dots to five, you would only get one power and miss out on the other two. Because you get a choice of one power at your new level or lower, not both.

If the intent was that you buy multiple dots simultaneously, it would say that you can buy a power for *each* new level or below, or for the new level and *each level below*. But it doesn't say that.

So the logical outcome, if they were right, is that they'd pay for three dots but only get one power. That's clearly not the intent of the rules, and so that reinforces the idea that you have to buy each dot consecutively not concurrently.

I completely agree, but for some reason, they think they rules are open to interpretation and are basically using the argument that it isn't stated either that you can't do it that way. Basically with what they're saying, they can essentially spend the dots on whatever level they want, as long as the levels were bought at the same time.

Personally, I find it's rules interpretation shenanigans, if you can apply "the book doesn't state it either that you can't do it" then you can basically change the rules as you see fit, through interpreting it in ways that support what you want to be able to.

What would help here, is if there is a rule on how leveling works, a description about how leveling up is done sequentially - is there such a rule in the game?

[adambeyoncelowe]

You are quite right. You can only buy a power from a lower or equal level, not a higher level.

Furthermore, you buy the dots sequentially, even if you're spending loads of XP at once. So you buy the third dot first, and pick the relevant power, before buying the fourth dot--even if there are only seconds between each purchase.

You quoted the relevant text on p.244:

"either from their new Discipline level or below"

That's as clear as it gets. Disciplines aren't like Loresheets where you can buy whichever levels you want, skipping what's in between.

But let's say this person does want to skip right to the fifth dot by spending a big chunk of XP at once and let's humour them by saying you can spend your 84XP in this way.

The rule still says you only get a single power at your new level *or* lower, so if you went from two dots to five, you would only get one power and miss out on the other two. Because you get a choice of one power at your new level or lower, not both.

If the intent was that you buy multiple dots simultaneously, it would say that you can buy a power for *each* new level or below, or for the new level and *each level below*. But it doesn't say that.

So the logical outcome, if they were right, is that they'd pay for three dots but only get one power. That's clearly not the intent of the rules, and so that reinforces the idea that you have to buy each dot consecutively not concurrently.

[Incarnate]

"Every time a character gains a dot in a Discipline they choose one power from among the listed, either from their new Discipline level or below." Page 244

You can't leave a slot empty, when you purchase the new level, you immediately pick a power. Likewise you buy each level individually, even if you are purchasing at the same moment.

The intention is very much that you don't have higher level powers in lower slots.

Exactly, that's also what I'm saying, but that's what I need an official ruling on, because apparently some think because there isn't actual example in core rulebook that deals with when you level up a discipline several levels in one go, then you can do as I described in the OP. I think the rules are quite clear on this matter, which also why I think there isn't an actual example with regards to this, because quite frankly it's unnecessary with how it's worded. I've tried explaining that when you level something up, it's done sequentially, even if one is leveling that something up several levels in one go for practical reasons, it's still handled sequentially.

// Inc.

[SetiteFriend]

"Every time a character gains a dot in a Discipline they choose one power from among the listed, either from their new Discipline level or below." Page 244

You can't leave a slot empty, when you purchase the new level, you immediately pick a power. Likewise you buy each level individually, even if you are purchasing at the same moment.

The intention is very much that you don't have higher level powers in lower slots.