From the book, page 205 under step 4:

In addition to always counting as an additional (Success), (Triumph) can be spent to activate these abilities as well. A (Triumph) may be spent to inflict one Critical Injury [...] In addition, a (Triumph) may be spent to activate one weapon quality, no matter how many (Advantage) it would normally take...

So, I think the "in additions" are being used a bit ambiguously here. I understand that it really can be used IN ADDITION to counting as a (Success), but can it crit in addition to activating a weapon quality? That seems way too powerful for one symbol.

In two games I have seen a total of two Triumph and one Despair. I am quite happy with their impact given the rarity.

No, it can be spent to either crit or activate a weapon quality, not both, unless you roll two.

From the book, page 205 under step 4:

In addition to always counting as an additional (Success), (Triumph) can be spent to activate these abilities as well. A (Triumph) may be spent to inflict one Critical Injury [...] In addition, a (Triumph) may be spent to activate one weapon quality, no matter how many (Advantage) it would normally take...

So, I think the "in additions" are being used a bit ambiguously here. I understand that it really can be used IN ADDITION to counting as a (Success), but can it crit in addition to activating a weapon quality? That seems way too powerful for one symbol.

I read it as "in addition to counting as a success". They are using parallel wording between the two examples.

If they prove sufficiently rare, though, I can see buffing their effect to make it more "epic".

No, it can be spent to either crit or activate a weapon quality, not both, unless you roll two.

Correct

Well, I can't imagine they'll be too rare, given most combat oriented characters will have more than one Proficiency die in their primary attack fairly early if not immediately. 2 yellows = 1 in 6, although I guess given how early in the campaign my group finds themselves, time will have to prove out how many attacks they even get on average per session.

Still, the fact that some folks interpret the answer either way makes me think my initial question was a fairly useful one.

Successes don't activate weapon qualities or crit ratings, Advantage does. So in addition to adding a single success to the pool results, the triumph counts as a freebie to activate a weapon's crit rating OR a weapon quality. The ambiguity exists for other custom applications of triumph that a GM / group may desire.

It doesn't seem unclear to me, but I could also be adding some connective rules tissue where none exists. Triumph is a dandy thing, but giving it a blank cheque for racking up in game effects would make rolling a second or third Triumph about as useful as the thirteenth nipple on a oppossum ( interesting but functionally odd ).

The biggest thing to remember is that it's still just a single success. If that success is cancelled along with all others, then the Triumph ends up simply redeeming an otherwise failed action. If this should happen, it doesn't mean a crit in combat because you missed your shot. It just means the GM and Players get to describe some sort of cinematic and beneficial effect related to the failed action taken.

At that point it's just a really dramatic Advantage.

I'm actually happy they will come up more for stronger characters because it mitigates the chance of actions being totally and utterly wasteful or boring. As the characters grow in power, every action should carry a weight, and make some sort of impact. Sure I could just make those up for any failed action, in any game, but Triumph (and Advantage to a lesser extant) keeps these sorts of narrative elements feeling special.

It's like scratching Lotto tickets. Sure, I could just have the cashier scan each ticket to see if I'm a winner, but the illusion of drama created by scratching them is far more entertaining, and makes losing a little less anti-climactic.

I could just describe the outcome of actions in a dramatic way every time but the illusion of attaching those results to a die roll is far more entertaining, and makes failure a little less anti-climactic.

Swing, hit or miss, damage, next, rinse, repeat gets rather tiresome in high level Pathfinder for instance. Sure, I could inject my own brand of excitement into every die roll in PF but it's not as intuitive. The dice symbols here also make those moments of narrative color feel more special. Something about this sort of dice pool system really inspires quick and dirty interpretation that always inspires further creativity.

An unloaded gun still has more dramatic power than my hand in the shape of a firearm. These dice are my unloaded gun.

The biggest thing to remember is that it's still just a single success. If that success is cancelled along with all others, then the Triumph ends up simply redeeming an otherwise failed action. If this should happen, it doesn't mean a crit in combat because you missed your shot. It just means the GM and Players get to describe some sort of cinematic and beneficial effect related to the failed action taken.

At that point it's just a really dramatic Advantage.

...

An unloaded gun still has more dramatic power than my hand in the shape of a firearm. These dice are my unloaded gun.

I'm not sure having the Triumph trigger either just a crit or just a weapon quality diminishes what you're describing all that much, since if you miss, you miss, and neither happens, and you still get to do the interesting cinematics with the Triumph.

If you hit and Triumph, then the latter does something very dramatic either way: it auto crits (which is any number of advantage symbols), OR it automatically counts for both Advantage symbols needed for a weapon effect. One could argue that the latter isn't as dramatic as the former, but that depends in part on the quality being automatically triggered, not to mention it frees up 2 Advantage for other qualities to be triggered.

Perhaps it could either crit or trigger any number of a given weapon's triggerable qualities?

Regardless, after seeing the mixed answers here, I hope this is officially clarified at some point.