I’m still reading through the book, but I haven’t found a summary of when do you have to declare that you’re using Momentum, Doom or Fortune, both as a player and GM?
In some situations you can first roll the “normal” skill roll, attack roll, or damage, and then decide to use those if you fall short of your goals. Are there situations when you have to declare before you roll?
Depends on the action. You have to declare usage of Momentum prior a roll if add extra dice to it and you can wait until you see the result to declare momentum spends that come up after a roll. Fortune can be declared before or after a roll if you use it to have extra successes, thus powerful usage.
Doom is equivalent to the Momentum pool for GM.
But the rulebook says: “Fortune points must be spent before the rest of the dice are rolled.” (p. 100)
Now, you see, I’m uncertain about Fortune Points being used in any way, at any time, before or after a roll.
This came up, for me, during a game last night. Players were waiting for a roll result before determining to spend Fortune.
But the Core Book on pages 100 and 275 uses, in each instance, almost identical language to say:
A single Fortune Point adds one bonus d20 to a skill test. However, this bonus d20 is unlike other bonus d20s in that it is “pre-rolled”. … For Average (D1) tests that is usually enough to succeed. …
If the character scores enough successes with just d20s bought with Fortune, the player may choose not to roll any other dice, and thus not risk any potential Complications. Players can spend multiple points of Fortune on a single roll, but Fortune points must be spent before the rest of the dice are rolled.
Though not explicit, this certainly suggests some sort of declaration before rolling “normal“ dice.
Though still confusing, the restrictions for spending Momentum are covered on pages 102-104. Some uses of Momentum are Immediate, may be used at any time, and (the best way to think about it) are not tied to any one Action or die roll result. For example, Obtain Information is Repeatable (each point of Momentum spent receives one additional point of information) but it is not “Immediate,” because it is reliant on a successful skill test (for example, Observation to notice a spy lurking in the trees, each point of Momentum spent to determine, perhaps, another one, or whether the spy is armed, or who he is). In other words, you can’t simply burn Momentum just to Obtain Information. The popular extra damage is another example of this, reliant on a successful attack roll to apply extra damage. In these instances, the chance to use Momentum in these ways is “lost” after someone else makes an action because the action is completed and the narrative has moved on.
To elaborate, Fortune spent in this way is like “other bonus d20s,” and bonus d20s resulting from Create Opportunity must be declared. Momentum spent in this way cannot be used after the skill test is rolled.
My statement about the Fortune is indeed incorrect. Excuse me for the incorrect statement, my memory mislead me.
Yeah requiring a nemesis to essentially spend his entire turn getting a boar spear out of him seems excessively powerful to me. Though I guess if he generated enough Momentum on his Athletics test he could then gain a Swift action and make an attack then? This is where a big Doom pool becomes key to making climactic encounters dangerous.
Maybe that’s something to love about the Momentum/Doom system: you can’t predict how long a turn will last.
Sorry, I meant this to be the most pertinent here:
“For me, it’s easiest to think of it as: PCs have Momentum, GMs have Doom, and it (almost) is the same thing. With this in mind, I expect most tables develop their own rules for how it’s generated (on either side of the GM screen) and how it can be used. The short answer to your question is that NPCs generate Doom just like PCs generate Momentum. But I know at least one GM on this forum limits its use to Immediate Spends (though I think this house rule might be on both sides of the screen—that extra damage can only be generated and spent from the actual roll at the time).”
If you’re referring to me, I retract my earlier statement after reviewing the rules. Not sure where I got that idea.
I certainly wouldn’t limit Doom that way. You lose a lot of the narrative function if you just can’t spend it the same way as Momentum.
It also allows you to ‘pull punches’ early on when you roll stupidly well on a test, instead saving it up for 'ron.
To be clear, the GM’s house rules I saw entailed only (if memory serves) extra damage confined to Momentum generated on that, specific attack roll. And, as I suggested, I’m pretty sure that this applied to GMs and players alike, on both sides of the GM screen. So, in this case, Doom was being generated and used the same as Momentum. It was a house rule that applied to everyone.
And, incidentally, I’m not that GM. I use Doom to try to pound the ■■■■ out of my PCs. In fact, I don’t even require myself to pay Doom for the introduction of NPC reinforcements (as long as it makes sense). I play to the best of my ability (which isn’t the greatest).
I like that about this game. GMs, too, can get into some of the tactical, resource-management fun!
That’s a house rule my players and put into play. As a group it made more sense to improve an attack based on how well you rolled on the attack. The gm also follows this as well. We came up with it after some playtesting as a group. The campaign I am running just finished its 17th session.
It can be argued either way. It’s cool to see what kind of house rules groups come up with.