Cumulative and Adjustment Powers

[JamesG]

5E page 75 says that the Cumulative advantage cannot be used on Adjustment Powers that increase a characteristic such as Aid or Absorption, but that it is valid for Adjustment Powers that decrease a characteristic, and gives Suppress as an example. Page 163 also mentions that Cumulative is a valid Advantage for some Adjustment Powers.

But isn’t Suppress already inherently Cumulative? In fact, aren’t all the Adjustment Powers that decrease characteristics (Drain, Suppress, Transfer) inherently Cumulative? If I am correct about all Adjustment Powers that decrease characteristics already being Cumulative, isn’t the text on 75 and 163 mistaken, as there would then be no Adjustment Powers that could legally take the Advantage?

[Steve Long]

They're inherently cumulative, not Cumulative -- the former is an adjective, the latter is a game term with specific rules connotations. ;) It would probably make more sense just to say Cumulative generally doesn't apply to any of them, though it could possibly apply to some Limited forms of decreasing Adjustment Powers that had to hit a specific total before taking any sort of effect.