Dream-Enhancing Serum

Dream-Enhancing Serum

I never found out what "reveal" means on this card. It doesn't say "play" or "discard" and revelation effects are exclusively on encounter cards. So I only used it as a hand size increase. What do I do with the cards in the second ability here?

Belo · 1
Reveal is literally just showing that you drew the second copy to the other players at the table. Hands are usually private but reveal helps show that you aren't just drawing randomly. Obviously the reveal step for solo is a little pointless so effectively it just reads "Exhaust and draw a card whenever you draw a copy of a card in your hand". — SorryLaurie · 606
"Reveal" as an action simply means to show all players otherwise hidden information -- in this case, the identity of a card you just drew and the other copy already in your hand. "Revelation" effects, interestingly, don't happen when cards with them are "revealed", but when they are drawn. — Thatwasademo · 58

Ancestral Fear

Ancestral Fear

Used in: The Doom of Eztli, Heart of the Elders Part 2, The Depths of Yoth

The Doom of Eztli: Basically reads "Add Ancestral Fear to the victory display," adding doom to locations in this scenario causes a lot of problems (, , and become worse, Final Mistake gets more difficult).

The Doom of Eztli Part 2 Heart of the Elders Part 2: Just like in The Doom of Eztli, you'll usually want to add this to the victory display to avoid losing too many turns (remember, doom on locations sticks around when The Lonely Caverns advances).

The Depths of Yoth: Here, the first "choice" actually becomes a viable option, as you can clear doom by advancing to the next depth level. In addition (for some reason), Forgotten Ruins isn't paired up with Deadly Traps in this scenario, so there isn't as much punishment for ending up with doom on locations.

Strategy: In standalone, Ancestral Fear becomes very interesting, forcing you to be very thoughtful about what other cards with Vengeance you add to the victory display lest you cross the 3 Vengeance threshold for Serpent from Yoth and The Depths of Yoth's . In campaign mode... I'm not going to lie, I hate this thing's design when it comes to campaign mode. Vengeance, ideally, should provide the players a choice a la Offer of Power, forcing them to weigh long-term costs against short-term gains. Boa Constrictor does so by forcing the players to either deal with an annoying hunter or use up 4 damage worth of resources and make things worse later, Serpent of Tenochtitlán tempts the players with that victory point, while Descent to Yoth doubles the temptation and cost. With Ancestral Fear, though, the first "choice" is usually so untenable that it doesn't feel like a choice at all until you reach Depths, making Vengeance less of a choice and more a simple "do bad things" mechanic. And its other keywords (Peril and Surge) mean that your friends can't help you with your "choice" and you'll get another encounter card for your pleasure. If you're playing Campaign Mode, understand that, even if you're a complete pacifist towards all snakes (though not non-snakes, like this jerk), you'll still probably end up with around 4 Vengeance due to Ancestral Fear. If only Yig was willing to talk it out...

NightgauntTaxiService · 430
That's interesting, because my group almost ALWAYS places doom, and we've played TFA at least a dozen times. I don't think I need to convince you for The Depths of Yoth so that much is clear. For Hearth of the Elders Part 2, that scenario is insanely generous with the doomtreshold, so it only really affects Final Mistake, and the extra difficulty doesn't really effect most characters; either they are so good at Agility they still pass or they weren't going to pass anyway. I can see an argument for The Doom of Eztli because doom defintely can become tight there. However, in the Return to (which we pretty much always play) there is a location that allows you to flip doom to clues. We usually camp our group there and once we've gathered most of the necessary clues and did our setup, we race through the rest of the scenario. All in all, buffing Brood of Yig, Wrath of Yig, and the lasting campaign effects tend to be MUCH worse. — Nenananas · 258
I agree with Nenananas. Usually the goal is to find room to allow for the doom option, so basically the challenge is to just clear the scenario slightly faster. I think it’s something that feels bad on a blind run, but on repeats you can plan around it. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Yeah, on second thought I think I was a bit too harsh on this. Managed to do a run of Doom of Eztli yesterday, and the doom option actually proved palatable a few times. I hesitate to say it only feels bad on a blind run, though, Styx: it might not be as harsh as I first thought, but surging Ancient Evils is never good. — NightgauntTaxiService · 430
I guess what I mean by that is you just sort of go in subtracting 1 from the agenda, kinda how you do with ancient evils. — StyxTBeuford · 13028

Corpse-Taker

Corpse-Taker

Hello there. Just a question. If I haven’t defeated this enemy, and it is on the Main Path, should I trigger the 2 forced actions every round? Or it must be only one time, once it reaches the Main Path?

AlejoS88 · 1
You always give it doom in the mythos phase. in the enemy phase you either move it towards main path, or move its doom from itself to the agenda. Each effect always happens every round, regardless of where it is. — Zerogrim · 295

Martyr's Vambrace

Martyr's Vambrace

I think the most interesting candidates for this card are investigators who also have access to the Mystic class.

As of the Scarlet Keys, this means : Carolyn Fern, Sister Mary, Lily Chen, Amina Zidane (remember, Vambrace is a charm), and to a lesser degree, mystic Carson Sinclair and Zoey Samaras. Unfortunately just out of reach for Diana Stanley...

Low-level mystic events offer awesome possibilities for dealing with the encounter deck's treacheries (Deny Existence and Ward of Protection are staples for a reason). You can now redirect a dangerous card drawn by a teammate to yourself if you can deal with it (it has probably happened to some/most of you that your friend drew an Ancient Evils while you were the one holding the cancel...)

Compare the 2 xp cost to upgrade to Ward of Protection (2) VS the 3 xp cost of this accessory, that grants a similar benefit to multiple cards, on top of good soak and a bonus to ALL skills against revelation effects. This brings these characters' average-to-good Willpower (except Carson Sinclair...) to interesting levels, and shores up their Agility/Intellect defenses as well.

Of course, Ward of Protection (2) has the advantage that it can be used at any location, while the Vambrace encourages you to stick with your fellow investigators.

Lastly, as Guardians / Mystics, most of these characters can be built as enemy-managers, and the Vambrace can redirect an enemy to yourself, potentially saving you an "engage" action and/or preventing the sudden appearance of an enemy on your teammate from messing up your team's activation order.

DrOGM · 25
My first thought was actually to combine this with Tooth of Eztli on Parallel Monterey, regular Zoey, and maybe Roland. — OrionAnderson · 79
Query to the community: As there is free action player window, in the mythos phase after players draw encounter cards, could a Lola Hayes with this as say secondary investigator, have the lead investigator pull an encounter card, then yell help!, Lola Hayes wearing these Martyr's Vambraces then uses the player window to switch roles, into Guardian for free based on her investigator power, and then trigger the reaction trigger on Vambraces to draw the card instead of the lead investigator or another team member whilst they draw their cards from the encounter deck? — Quantallar · 8
I'm not sure that I undertand your question correctly. The window to change a role in the mythos phase will only appear after every player has drawn the encounter card (if no skill check is done) -> Regarding #Lola Hayes you need to have the guardian role active to be able to activate your Vambrace. So you would need a "Player window" before a card gets drawn (latest in Phase 4.15 Upkeep Phase). Or a skill check is done in the Mythos Phase, so you can activate Vambrace for the following encounter cards. — Eternity · 1

Stupor

Stupor

not a review but a question:

If I use flashlight to investigate, is it regarded as an activate action or an investigate action?

There are a lot of similar questions, e.g.

If I use Scout Ahead to move, is it regarded as a play action or a move action?

If I use Disguise to evade, is it regarded as an evade action or an activate action?

zrj · 1
I think that the answer is both. — Jota · 7
I send the message by error. Wanted to add that, for the card Hasta, it works like that AFAIK — Jota · 7
Haste* Goddammit, sorry for the spam — Jota · 7
This had been asked and answered a lot of time: They are both. Otherwise, if fighting with a weapon was just an activate action, or fighting with a kill spell like "Spectral Razor" just a play action, they would provoke AoO! Also check the FAQ for Ursula Downs, who can use her free investigate on anything with an Investigate designator as well, not just a basic Investigate action. Of course, this also applies to cases like here, where actions are restricted. — Susumu · 371
If I post a rules question on ArkhamDB, it is a review action or an FAQ action? — toastsushi · 74