Quote Originally Posted by RMS Oceanic View Post
The thing is, you're assuming a homebrewed effect to justify the lower level. Yes, there exists a homebrewed effect that does what you're describing, but there's no evidence that it was used on this occasion.

And people have been gaining stats/levels "without anyone noticing" for a while. There was no pomp and circumstance when V revealed Power Word Stun: Until that time we still believed they were level 14.

Also also, the extra int and level can be explained hand in hand: Upon reaching level 16 (and any multiple of 4), you can raise one of your ability scores by one. So going from Level 15/Int 23 to Level 16/Int 24 is perfectly acceptable.
1: Thanks for the ability score explanation.

2: The homebrew has been used before. An effect that could be caused by the homebrew has been used this time. Going from that to "the homebrew was used this time" doesn't strike me as a huge leap of logic.

3: At "Soul Splice" time, was V level 15, or level 14? If 14, that would be quite an impressive jump, going for 14 to 16 on that few encounters. No?