I downloaded the FAQ. There is an example that contradicts the core rules in my humble opinion.
For example, Valeria has hit a toughened pirate with her cutlass for 5 damage. She has 2 Momentum and really wants to do 3 more damage to exhaust the pirate’s Vigor, causing a second Harm and taking him out. She spends her 2 Momentum and 1 Momentum from the group Pool on the Repeatable damage spend to add 3 more damage to the attack!
Raising the Damage with the Momentum pool? The Momentum spend table “Bonus Damage” is clearly NOT an immediate Momentum, so I thought only with the Momentum I gained with the attack skill roll I can get Bonus Damage.
Immediate Momentum spend - that means, it could be substituted by generating Doom. That’s all.
The Group Momentum pool is always accessible for Momentum spends on any actions, including adding damage.
So a non-immediate momentum spend is like: Successfull skill test with 1 Momentum = Use the Momentum pool AND the Momentum you generated?
So I have to generate at least 1 Momentum with a skill test to use the stuff in the momentum spend table?
“The table above provides a number of additional options available to a character generating 1 or more points of Momentum in combat.”
the wording in the corebook drives me nuts.
Successful Skill tests even without any generated Momentum can use the group Momentum pool.
But not to determine the winner of a Struggle, as for that only the actually generated Momentum of both sides is compared.
The wording in the table does not take into account the existence of the group Momentum pool at all. If you don’t have a group Momentum pool or a Doom pool, you only have Momentum if you generate it in the current Skill test.
During any successful skill test, a character may spend Momentum saved in the group Momentum pool instead of or in addition to any points generated from the successful skill test itself, spending from either or both as desired.
Emphasis is mine. ANY successful Skill test, that means even a success without additional Momentum generated.
I’d say you’re correct in this post, and this is the way I’d interpret the rules as meant to be played.
Here’s a few reasons why.
For one thing these are the Rules as Written in the book. They also did not correct this rule in the official errata, they also didn’t clarify it further in the FAQ. In fact the example given reinforces this rule by showing that Valeria had two Momentum generated from her attack before grabbing another from the Pool
The rule on pg 102 " During any successful skill test, a character may spend Momentum saved in the group Momentum pool instead of or in addition to any points generated from the successful skill test itself, spending from either or both as desired." is located under the Chapter 4 Rules section and seems generally related to rules overall and not specific circumstances (such as Action Scenes).
The rule under Chapter 5 Action Scenes pg 118 says “The table above provides a number of additional options available to a character generating 1 or more points of Momentum in combat. These are in addition to the normal uses of Momentum…”. This wording seems very clear that during Action Scenes this is the rule and is in addition to the “normal” rules under the general rules chapter. The wording is also very specific that you must generate 1 Momentum on your Combat roll to be able to unlock Combat Momentum Spends. Once unlocked you are free to spend Momentum as normal (Generated or Pool per the general rule pg 102). This makes thematic sense too as then you can only buff up attacks that were already above average, and not just any old roll. This also puts more tension and importance on the quality of each individual attack roll, and puts more importance on whether you should buy more dice to make the role in the first place.
There’s also another Action Scene rule that seems to re-enforce this. Swift Action Momentum Spends pg 115 “By spending 2 points of Momentum from a prior skill test (even one from a Reaction)…” again it very specifically points out the two points must come from a prior test. I believe for the same reason. Thematically you have to be doing good before you can upgrade to great. So that you can’t just double attack whenever you want. And to put more emphasis on how good the attack roll actually was and prevent a “the roll itself doesn’t matter since I can just improve it anyway” mentality
Curbs players from just being able to buy themselves out of a bad roll any time they want, and should also help keep some tension in rolls as PCs gain power over a campaign.
If the Action Scene rules weren’t meant to be different I believe all the momentum rules would have been under the general Rules chapter together, all in one place. Giving Momentum its own section in the Action Scene chapter as well draws attention that combat has it’s own unique rules.
So rules as written, makes thematic sense, more tension in the mechanics… That’s my take on it anyway.
When you spend Momentum, you can always spend the Momentum available in the group pool.
Immediate Momentum spends differ more in timing than source: they’re options available outside of “you’ve just succeeded at a skill test”, and in those situations, the only Momentum available is the group pool.
Is there really the requirement that you have to generate at least 1 Momentum from the roll before you can use the Action Scene Momentum Spends?
Core Book p118
The table above provides a number of additional options available to a character generating 1 or more points of Momentum in combat.
No, that’s simply the standard circumstances for using them. If you’ve succeeded at a test, you can spend Momentum to improve the outcome, and that Momentum can come from either of two places: the Momentum you’ve generated on that test, and the Momentum saved in the group pool.
Well good to know and I stand corrected. This should really be added to the FAQ/Errata though because that’s different than what the rules as written actually say.