Hey all,

I have a question about the use of Story Points by players and GMs. The rules state that a Story Point can only be used once per attack- so you cannot gain an upgrade to the die pool and also activate a story point dependent talent like Lucky Strike on the same attack. Fine no problem there.

But what about limits per turn? Can a Magic caster flip a story point to activate Conduit (an active incidental) allowing them to cast as a maneuver and then flip another one to upgrade the die pool of that spell (a maneuver)? What about the action they still have to use this turn? If they cast another spell (or take a different action) can they flip a third story point to upgrade that die pool? Could they also flip a story point to activate a support talent such as Heroic Recovery (an active incidental)?

I didn't see anything in the story point guidelines in the Core book that seemed to define a definitive limit beyond only 1 Story Point per Attack. What do you guys think is reasonable?

Thanks!

Finarin

I didn't see anything in the rules that would stop a player spending that much story points. Story points is a very limited resource. If a player uses most or all available during his / her turn, then there won't be any story points left for other players and for the rest of the game session. Until the GM uses some of course.

Thanks WolfRider, I'm inclined to rule that way also. But occasionally I feel like the intention might have been 1 story point per turn (especially listening to some of the developer pod casts interviews).

Does anyone know if any of the various Genesys or Star Wars Podcasts has a show/segment focusing on this topic? I haven't found any, but some of them are kind of hard to search (lots of clicking open extended show descriptions to see if story points are covered in a special segment or the like).

Found one! Finding the Narrative Episode 3: What's the Point of this Story?

Please let me know if you are aware of any others. Thanks!

One minor point of clarification: the limit is one Story Point per check , not necessarily per attack (which is combat check).

Pedantry out of the way, on to the questions!

On 2/3/2020 at 10:35 AM, FinarinPanjoro said:

Can a Magic caster flip a story point to activate Conduit (an active incidental) allowing them to cast as a maneuver and then flip another one to upgrade the die pool of that spell (a maneuver)?

No, because Conduit is part of the check, it's what's allowing the check. Contrast the wording on Conduit and the Brilliant! ability of the Intellectual:

Brilliant!: Once per session, your character may spend a Story Point as an incidental. If they do so, during the next check they make during that turn, you count their ranks in the skill being used as equal to their Intellect.

For Brilliant! you're spending a Story Point to modify the next check they make , the Story Point isn't being spent to make the check. Small but important difference.

On 2/3/2020 at 10:35 AM, FinarinPanjoro said:

What about the action they still have to use this turn?

Since it's another check you surely can!

On 2/3/2020 at 10:35 AM, FinarinPanjoro said:

If they cast another spell (or take a different action) can they flip a third story point to upgrade that die pool?

The only thing stopping them is the number of Story Points in the player's pool. And, of course, the other players. Spending 3 Story Points in one turn is going to be most (or even all!) of the player's points! Will the other players be OK with you giving the GM all of the points?

On 2/3/2020 at 10:35 AM, FinarinPanjoro said:

Could they also flip a story point to activate a support talent such as Heroic Recovery (an active incidental)?

As above, sure! The only limit is one Story Point per check . Multiple checks means multiple opportunities to spend points!

This is based on CRB195: " You should also remember that if you spend a Story Point to activate a talent when making a skill check, you can’t spend it to upgrade the difficulty or ability of the check. Thus, a talent that requires spending a Story Point. "

It's best to think of the "per check" as a "per situation" or even "per function". The Conduit talent requires a Story Point to activate and it's not done "activating" until the manoeuvre is complete: which means the magic skill check is part of that situation or function. Heroic Recovery, on the other hand (and Brilliant!) is an incidental. Once the Story Point is spent the incidental "happens" and the Story Point limit resets after the incidental is over.

Thank you c_beck, the once per check perspective is helpful for adjudicating these things.

I'm not sure I'm seeing the distinction between Conduit and Brilliant! though. Both are an incidental that modifies the check (one treating ranks as equal to Intellect and the other treating it as a maneuver instead of an action). Basing it on the one Story Point per check premise I would think they could not spend an additional story point on either of the checks. In both cases, I would think the activation is the only allowable use.

Prepared to be convinced otherwise though!

1 hour ago, FinarinPanjoro said:

I'm not sure I'm seeing the distinction between Conduit and Brilliant! though. Both are an incidental that modifies the check (one treating ranks as equal to Intellect and the other treating it as a maneuver instead of an action). Basing it on the one Story Point per check premise I would think they could not spend an additional story point on either of the checks. In both cases, I would think the activation is the only allowable use.

Well, ****. I was going off of my RoT PDF that has outdated info. The PDF lists Conduit as being a manoeuvre so I assumed the magic action was part of the manoeuvre. But the Errata has changed it to an incidental.

The real question I guess is this: is the incidental activation of the talent/ability part of the check? It's an interesting question that I assumed was "no" based on the wording, but now that you bring it up I'm not certain.

If this convo happened a few months ago we could have used the contact form to ask FFG, but since they don't have an RPG department anymore…I seriously doubt the integrity of any response received, if one is received at all!

I did some digging and didn't find any talents that cost a Story Point and allowed for a skill check to be made, so I am left to assume that the "once per check" applies to talents and abilities that modify said check as well.

Thanks for doing the research, your effort is much appreciated! So we're left with a story point used to allow a check is considered to be modifying the check whether its by talent or ability and so a second story point may not be expended to modify the check or activate an additional talent or ability to affect the result (such as Lucky Strike).

It might be worth noting that this is consistent with making an impossible skill check. The story point allows the check to be made, but it expressly does not modify the die pool of the check- and does not allow an additional point to be spent to do so.