Ancestral Knowledge

Not every Investigator with access to level 3 Seeker is going to go hard on skills, though if you were already running 6-8, there is very low opportunity cost to this, because you can add some more flexibility cards while not changing your chances of drawing them. The downside is the interaction with Practiced Makes Perfect, meaning you're more likely to whiff on your first time through the deck (which, you're Seeker probably, so its fine). But My favourite interaction is the wording on the lightning bolt. "Draw 1 attached skills". Not "add to your hand". So this card, can, for Harvey Walters, guarantee draw 1 additional card for 5 turns in the game for when you don't already trigger it from a Eureka or Perception, or your Vault of Knowledge investigate trigger. At this stage in the game post Hemlock Vale, there are certainly enough skills, especially one's that cantrip already, that Harvey can just take a toolkit of skills, taking a Guts, Perception, Manuel Dex, or maybe Plan of Action, Eureka, Deduction, Survey the Area. Amanda loves this card, but I would posit that this card is also absolutely fantastic for any Harvey build and I would prefer it to Studious for the same XP.

Good spot! Although it is worth mentioning that it is double the XP cost of Studious, because this card is Exceptional. — snacc · 958
Harvey's ability reads "draws 1 or more cards from their deck", so that interaction doesn't work — aurchen · 1
Elaborate Distraction

Is this better than Cunning Distraction? Well, lets see. It's 2 resources cheaper, though still not cheap for survivor. And it has variability, you can evade or ping it for damage. AND you target all adjacent locations as well. For the measly extra cost of an additional action.

The value of this card really goes up in 3 and 4 players when you simply have more spawns, and also swarm enemies. Preston of course likes testless stuff and can pay any resource cost. If Rita can pay the cost in actions and resources, it generally syergises with what she wants to do. She (and Preston) can also store it under Bewitching. 1 of the actions spent can be viewed as either doing testless damage or a move she would probably have used anyway. This way, there was no test. I think you do need to be hitting 2-3 minimum for this to be worth the squeeze. At lower player counts, one hopes enemies aren't getting that out of control. But at higher player counts, 1 players turn, can really save the entire team a heap of trouble.

Beguile

If you are playing Alessandra and wondering which enemies are the best targets for Beguile:

Pretty much the first non-elite enemy spawns on the map is the best one. However, there are still few things to consider:

  • I wouldn't put Beguile on an enemy like Wizard of the Order, you want to keep your target on the board as long as possible. Extra doom every turn isn't feasible.

  • An enemy with an evade value <= 2 is preferable, with Fine Clothes you can always use an action to "auto" evade itself (barring tentacles of course). Using this action once every turn can boost your engine considerably with Pickpocketing, and you'll drown in cards and resources if you put down two of them. You can make it even sillier with Lucky Cigarette Case.

  • Beguiled Hunters can be more beneficial than the stationary ones. If you can spare some health/sanity, you can tank an attack in the enemy phase to lure them to your location, then parley-investigate your location in the next turn (which can again, benefit from Fine Clothes). Therefore, enemies with single health or horror damage are more advantageous.

  • Aloof enemies usually want to be addressed, but an enemy like Whippoorwill can be used like any other hunter enemy. Just move out of the location yourself, then investigate to avoid -1 to skills penalty.

Aesyn · 232
Hank Samson

-This is an excerpt from my 'All for One' series of decks. If you'd like to see similar descriptions for other investigators, just search them up under my username.-

Some might think Hank a simple farmhand. I'm here to say he's anything but! First thing is his unprecedented 5 combat in a Survivor, a class with limited weaponry options that gains a lot from having a headstart in the fist department. His basic ability to take teammate damage is pretty unimpressive, until you factor in that Hank the tank actually gets a total whopping 10 health and sanity, which he can stretch even further since excess damage doesn't carry over to his bonded cards. Those bonded cards more than make up for his lacklustre starting ability; granting him even more impressive stats, aaand a much deserved reward for doing what he does best: taking a beating! While his Warden form is what you'll be wanting majority of the time to smash beasties better, you have some added flexibility with his Assistant card if you know there's not much fighting, or you need to soak up some extra horror.

Up until that point Hank reaches his "final form", his ability doesn't generate as much value as your average investigator, and you'll never be that excited to see his elder sign. The impact Hank has in the first half of a scenario is going to very much depend on what cards he's drawn, and with his limited cardpool, options for weapons are somewhat lacking when compared to other fighters. Another Hemlock investigator with a nasty weakness, Hank's search for Pa has potential to really sideline your gameplan. Burst damage or horror healing are welcome options to have on standby before you realize Pa's gone missin' again! Also, for some reason the designers decided to give big Hank a big ol' deck, so consistency is not his strong suit.

Some archetypes that work well for this template:

EzieBaikUben · 434
"Where's Pa?"

Wanted to make sure I got something right here, since this can be attached to an elite and non-elite enemies or enemies that cannot be defeated, Does this mean in those cases you are just out of luck and are doomed to take a horror damage for the rest of the game?

The first things that come to mind is Suspicious Orderly or the Hunting Horror. Is there anyone more common enemies that would be included? If so that'd really be rough since it seems the only way you can discard it is by killing the particular enemy. If you get it with the concealed cards in Scarlet Keys that's also really rough.

Edit: Another one comes to mind is Harbinger of Valusia, since when its set asside it keeps its attached damage, and possibly attached cards? In which case you'd keep the horror damage indefinitely.

Mercifully, "Where's Pa?" can only pull enemies out of the encounter deck, so the majority of Elite enemies aren't eligible targets (though tragically/hilariously, I think Nyarlathotep in Where the Gods Dwell is an exception). Also, since you "spawn" the enemy as opposed to drawing it, I don't think Concealment X or any Revelation effects would trigger. — NightgauntTaxiService · 332
The rules on attachments say they get discarded if the cards they're attached to leave play, so I think you're ok in the case of the hunting horror/harbinger since where's pa should just get discarded when they leave play. (I also don't think it's possible for the harbinger to get in the encounter deck...) — bee123 · 25
Agree with the others. And regarding the orderly: these will get replaced by other enemies, and if this happens, "Where's Pa?" will get discarded. Unless of course, if you resign earlier. — Susumu · 338
I was actually playing the end of dream quest last night and thought about Nyarlathotep interaction. In that case is probably a big boon. — Sean The Sheldon Gang Consigliere · 1