An item from the new Streets of Arkham expansion reads as follows:

Scalpel
Bladed Weapon
Base Damage: 1
Ability: You may deal 1 additional damage while attacking with this card.

The Question: Do you get this optional additional point of damage whether you pass or fail your attack skill test?

The argument FOR allowing the optional damage on any pass or fail is that A) the card doesn't offer any caveats to optionally dealing one extra damage besides simply using the Scalpel to attack and B) the rules don't address any conditions regarding "additional <anything>" such as "you must deal one or more damage to trigger any effect allowing additional damage". (That may sound a bit far-fetched - that is, explaining what "additional" means - but consider FFG's rule for the Blast and Cleave effects in Imperial Assault which both trigger only "[if] the target of this figure’s attack suffers one or more damage...". To me, this means FFG is aware of deliberate wording for clear and consistent rulings.)

The argument AGAINST is actually an argument "for" the optional extra damage only being available if the pass/fail result indicates that you deal damage (thus allowing you to deal one additional damage) and seems to me to be mostly a thematic justification. Perhaps the key to this whole thing is the answer to the question "why not just have the Scalpel's base damage be 2"? The answer is that if you attack a creature with a generic weapon with 2 base damage and the skill test says "If you pass, deal damage equal to your test result", you will simply deal damage equal to the test result; however, had you attacked with the Scalpel, you would deal damage equal to your test result plus one (for the Scalpel's ability).

Bonus question: If you attack with the Scalpel and attack's skill test and it says something like "you take 1 damage", would that trigger the optional extra point of damage? ...and more importantly could you choose to use it on the original target of your failed attack?

Thank you in advance for your constructive thoughts!

I would say this only adds damage if you get to damage the monster, since it´'s worded "add additional damage" you should have to add any damage at all first.

Take into account that some attacks will say "add damage equal to your test result" in the app, so the weapon's damage in the card is ignored, and I sense that's where this ability comes in handy as you will always have that extra +1 damage for those tests too.

This is at least how I interpret it

You could always ask FFG what the intention of the card is. I haven't gotten to open my copy yet...

I'm inclined to agree with Juan, but I could see it going either way. The argument about the damage = successes and the thematic (though not strictly countering the wording) leads me to believe the intent is that you would have to do damage.

Also, if you look at the scalpel as a surgical tool that requires skill and precision, it makes sense that the checks where damage is based on how skillful/successful you were would be boosted as the primary benefit to the scalpel.

It is unclear, and I would just ask FFG directly if you're uncomfortable with house-ruling it one way or the other. But the above is how I would lean, but I lean INTO thematics the majority of the time ambiguity comes up.

The way I read it:

- attacking: means you're resolving a combat action against an enemy. Attacks require passing a test, and sometimes if you fail the test something bad can happen
- the "attack missed" condition could trigger damage on the investigator
- "may" allows you to choose whether to extend the damage or not: in this case, if you deal damage to the monster, you'll probably go for the additional damage; if you fail the test and are about to deal damage to yourself, you probably won't

Just my 0.2, of course