The reference guide says that if your result and the difficulty are both 0, then you succeed. Auto failures set your result to 0. So if the difficulty is 0, does an auto failure actually make you fail?

I could see the argument being that auto failure overrides the normal results of step 6 of skill test timing, but I couldn't find anywhere where that was explicitly stated. It's also more thematic to never allow the player to be certain of success.

On the other hand, treating an auto failure as a simple "set to 0" is more elegant in some ways and makes it easier to figure out what happens if there is ever a situation with an auto success and an auto failure applying to the same check.

The tentacle makes you fail. If it is relevant by how much you fail (and only then!), it makes you fail as if you had a result of 0. It does not simply Set your result to 0.

Do you have any backing for that interpretation? I could see either way being right and am hoping the rules specifically address this somewhere that I missed.

Chaos Tokens

– This is the auto-fail token. If this token is revealed for a skill test, it indicates the investigator automatically fails the test (see " Automatic Failure/Success " on page 5).

Automatic Failure/Success

- If a skill test automatically fails, the investigator's total skill value for that test is considered 0.

- If you reveal an auto-fail token, you automatically fail the test.

- If you automatically fail the test, your skill value is considered 0.

The second sentence does not contradict the first. You fail, and your skill value is considered 0.

Chaos Tokens

– This is the auto-fail token. If this token is revealed for a skill test, it indicates the investigator automatically fails the test (see " Automatic Failure/Success " on page 5).

Automatic Failure/Success

- If a skill test automatically fails, the investigator's total skill value for that test is considered 0.

- If you reveal an auto-fail token, you automatically fail the test.

- If you automatically fail the test, your skill value is considered 0.

The second sentence does not contradict the first. You fail, and your skill value is considered 0.

I concur. That "conisered 0" bit is there for cards where you have to make a skill test and then bad things happen by how much you failed them by.

So pulling the tentacle ( yeah that doesn't sound dirty at all) on a grasping hands test makes you take 3 damage. Even if you had a agility of, let's say, 5.