That's inconsistent, then.  There are other perks (like the dodge one) that has 2-3 levels of +5 dodge; those would essentially be useless perks except for getting higher in the perk tree.

Perhaps a better way to say this is "Please make the descriptions of the perks consistent throughout the champion trees; either make them describe the total cumulative effect, as Merchant apparently does, or make them cumulative, and change merchant to +1 gold per perk."

Merchan 1 2 and 3 all stack their bonuses... it takes 1 turn to see the updated UI, but I just confirmed with a test. The bonuses are

Merchant I +2 gildar

Merchant II +3 gildar (+2 from Merchant I for a total of 5)

etc.

No, the experience bonuses add together, so if you have Knowledge and Potential it's +40% to experience gain. Formerly, when we had Potential I/II/III, each of those added with one another for 15/35/60 percent boosts to experience gain. All the Trainer traits also add together.

Likewise, the Lethal traits all add together, as do the Endurance traits. While I haven't checked the Shadow Strike abilities personally, they would be rather pointless if they did not stack. I don't think there is any set of traits available where the bonus from the subsequent trait replaces the bonus from the previous trait, though I could be wrong.

I personally think they should remove it. At the point it's worthwhile it might be too power full.

Maybe change it to a free tech?

Sorry, Merchant IV is +5 gildar per season, but you do have in the mix Merchant I, II, and III. Thus, you actually get 2 + 3 + 4 +5 = 14 Gildar per season not +5 gildar per season. So, in 36 seasons you will be over 500 Gildar. In comparison to the lore abilitiy Lore I, II and III. So, really 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 and so in 17 seasons on will receive that +100 research.

Thus, instead of taking 3 times as long, it is really more along the lines of 2 times as much. Makes you conclusion at the end more reasonable. But I will disagree with it not being worth while.... +100 research is a really useful amount of research even late game. The +500 gildar, doesn't see better than the +100 research that one gets, given how much is 100 resarch worth? 500 gildar? Or is it you feel that 200 research is worth 500 gildar? A 2 to 5 ratio... 

I don't think boosting inovation is really a way to go on this trait.

parrott, I'm aware it's additive, hence why I wrote 33 turns and 100 turns for the Loremaster III and Merchant IV respectively.

100 is definitely too low on Innovation and needs a significant boost. Yes, research is much more valuable than gildar but we're talking a 1:5 ratio here. Refer to above post: Innovation is almost worse than Loremaster III which shouldn't be the case.