Profligate Dedication Merit (Signs of Sorcery)

[Sobran]

The Profligate Dedication Merit on page 57 of Signs of Sorcery says that a Mage no longer gains increased Paradox dice for only using one of his tools. However, the section earlier in Signs talking about having two Dedicated Tools only mentions a Paradox penalty if you have neither tool; it mentions no penalty for only having one tool. In fact, it says that you may still use a single tool to reduce Paradox or as a Path Tool, but not both.

Am I missing something?

[Tessie]

It's written weirdly. It maybe makes a little more sense if turned around. Having two unused Dedicated Tools normally grants Paradox dice. If that was extended to Profligate Dedication, you'd get Paradox dice if you only used one out of three Dedicated Tools because you'd have two unused Dedicated Tools which would normally grant Paradox dice. But with that line it's "clarified" that you don't get Paradox dice for neglecting to use two Dedicated Tools as long as you have the Merit.

Even if that explanation doesn't make sense, you're free to just ignore that line and it all works out anyway.

[Sobran]

Oookay, that makes some sense. Thanks for the help!