Gem use, master enslave, high astral and oracle.

[Jarkko]

Originally Posted by Kobal2

No, nothing has changed and it's always been this way. Check page 89 of the (pdf) manual. There's even an example with a mage using one gem to raise paths, and a second one to reduce fatigue.

You are reading it wrong As has been pointed out in this thread already a few times, a mage can use at most as many gems as he has levels in the path, and one of those gems can be used to increase his level. This is the way it has always been

The example you point to tells this very clearly. The mage is an Astral 2 mage who wants to cast an Astral 3 spell. As he is Astral 2, he can use 2 gems. He uses one to raise his level to 3, and then the other to reduce the fatigue. It is explicitly stated he can not use three or more gems because his original skill (ie without the gem "boost") is 2.