On Reiko's Ninjitsu Master role card, she has this line:
[] You may treat your powers and favored card type as if the word "Poison" were "Arcane." ([] You gain the skill Arcane: Charisma +2.)
I know when you have adjacent power-feat boxes you have to do them in left-to-right order, but in this instance, could I skip the 'sub Poison and Arcane' power and go straight to gaining the Arcane skill? They aren't adjacent, but something about the way they're arranged on the card makes it feel like the substitution power is a 'pre-requisite' for the skill-gaining one.
I can guarantee the rules are the same pre-Core and post-Core... but you'll have to forgive me the only quotes I can provide at the moment are from the Core Rulebook. Nevertheless, you should find similar text in your respective base set rulebook somewhere.
When a power starts with a checkbox, that checkbox must be checked before any feat inside it. If two or more feats are adjacent, they must be checked in order from left to right.
As listed above, there are two limitations that apply to picking a power feat. First, that a checkbox 'inside of' a power that also requires a checkbox can only be picked if you have checked the initial box (that is, you have the overall power). And second; that if two feats are adjacent, they must be checked from left to the right.
In this case, you cannot gain the Arcane skill until and unless you've already spent a power feat to treat your powers and favored card type as if the word "Poison" were "Arcane", because the former is inside of a power feat that requires a checked box to function in the first place.
Thanks. That was what I thought and was afraid of. I really don't care about that power, but it looks like I'll be stuck with it.