This is from Ichabod's rewrite of the rules.
May keep one more card than normal in your hand
If you control a character with this special ability your hand size is increased by one. Whenever
you would discard down to eight cards, discard down to nine instead. Whenever you would draw
up to eight cards, draw up to nine instead. Two characters with this special ability are cumulative,
so you may keep ten cards in your hand. Note that some characters must be at a particular site in
order for this special ability to work.
I know this isn't an official document, but Ichabod was ICE's main rules wizard. Also if, as you say Ben, being able to keep one more card than normal in hand does not change your hand size then how does this help at all when you always draw up to or discard down to your hand size (as per the CRF)? Since the CRF entry discusses cards that allow you to keep one more card than normal you can't say that this rule doesn't apply when you have an ability that allows you to keep one more card than normal. Furthermore, normal is always 8, so interpreting this in such a manner means that decreasing hand size doesn't change what one more than normal means. This way of interpretation is full of contradictions.
I agree that the language is poor, but the clearest, and most consistent reading is that keeping one more card than normal is equivalent to increasing hand size by one. It also has historical support and is the way everyone plays.
