Carolyn Fern

Sure, Carolyn Fern likes to heal horror, and is incentivized for doing so, helping the whole team out with a pile of resources. But what about healing damage, which is also a problem in some campaigns? There are some good Guardian Level 0-3 cards that do just that, like Second Wind and Emergency Aid. But how about we take a look at which cards can heal both damage and horror, to save ourselves on deck slots?

  • First Aid (0): heals damage or horror, one at a time, only from an investigator.
  • First Aid (3): A big glow-up that heals one of each, from either an investigator or an Ally at your location. You really want this one for two reasons -- (1) many enemies do one damage and one horror as their attack, and if a hunter that has that attack is on its way, you can save yourself from dying for one more turn. (2) If your Ally or a teammate's can take damage and horror without being defeated, you can use this to keep them from dying forever, maybe even to reuse their abilities every round (hello, Agency Backup!). Since both horror and damage is being healed, the target's controller gets a resource on every use. Oh, and it uses supplies, so Emergency Cache (3) is on the menu.
  • Medical Student: Like a one-time First Aid (3), and then will take one more hit.
  • Hallowed Mirror: the Soothing Melodies are like a more flexible First Aid (3) that draws you a card, but you only get three scattered through your deck. The upgrade adds an extra point or reshuffles it back in.
  • Call for Backup: one use event, can split the damage and horror healing across any two cards, anywhere, and you'll need Peter Sylvestre and a asset in play, but you should do that anyways. Strong if you can get all of the other effects, too.
  • Earthly Serenity (1)/Earthly Serenity (4): Another spell for Carolyn to upgrade! Only targets investigators, but very versatile. You do need to make a test, though. This is less good for Carolyn since you'd like to heal one horror point at a time to give out the maximum number of resources; BUT you can succeed by 3 and heal two damage and one horror. And sometimes burst healing is necessary.
  • Thermos: It's level 0, but gets more interesting if everyone has two or more trauma. Carolyn can probably afford the resource cost. By the time this is a viable card, you should be able to afford First Aid (3) or something else.
  • Archive of Conduits: This is like an unlimited First Aid (0) with the huge benefit of the targeted player getting to draw a card (something like Liquid Courage (1)), AND the targeted investigator can be across the map. Sometimes you'll get to burst heal. Doesn't work on Ally assets, though, and Carolyn can't give out resources if the action is used to just heal damage.
  • Inspiring Presence: Great if your team has Ally assets to heal! You'll be making and tests anyways.
  • Lonnie Ritter: heals damage from the team in a roundabout way. Only you will get the resource each time Lonnie heals, essentially refunding the cost of healing.

A few cards only heal from you, so they don't really help the team but are worth a mention:

  • Precious Memento/Precious Memento: Only heals from itself, which is fine, but doesn't really help out the team with resources. Let's put Spiritual Resolve in this category, too, since none of these trigger Carolyn's resource ability either (Also true of healing horror off of Holy Rosary and the like, but that is much less likely to happen).
  • Deny Existence (5): You want this because all of the other effects are strong, not because you're planning on healing damage exclusively. Again, only heals you.
  • Spirit of Humanity: Well, it doesn't take an action to heal, so I guess that is good if you don't mind the tokens. But this card is probably useful for adding the tokens in the first ability and counteracting the damage with some kind of Lonnie or Peter shenanigans.
  • Meditative Trance: Ehhh, maybe if Carolyn has Shrivelling and something else?

So, if Carolyn is going to be a full-on medic, she has a lot of interesting options. With Edge of the Earth's Down the Rabbit Hole, the very best options are available at a discount: First Aid (3), Hallowed Mirror (3), Archive of Conduits (4), and Earthly Serenity (4) all have level 0 or 1 versions.

I recommend choosing one of two routes to maximizing your healing potential: supplies or charges. Depending on what else you're trying to go for, either can give you a rainbow of colors for the Synergy cards Carolyn can take advantage of. If you're going the supplies route, focus on First Aid, and maybe drop those supplies on a Fingerprint Kit or some Liquid Courage while you're at it, or possibly Painkillers to heal yourself, or load up Venturer to help a friend shoot something. You probably want this route if you're going to stay focused on testless healing, damage, and other support, and help out with clue-getting with Carolyn's high . Archive of Conduits will slot in nicely here too.

Otherwise, you may want to boost your and lean into and access to refill your Earthly Serenity with charges with Enraptured or Winds of Power. 9 charges is a lot, so maybe you don't run out, but there are other cards you might want these for, like Close the Circle or Shrivelling. If you're taking other cards with secrets, like Forbidden Knowledge or Ancient Stone, Enraptured can help here too, but it is slow. Maybe Eldritch Sophist can help move charges or secrets around for you. Finally, you can also search for your Soothing Melodies with Arcane Initiate, along with any other interesting spells like Blood Eclipse, Brand of Cthugha, or Deny Existence.

dscarpac · 1211
Solemn vow is also interesting for Carolyn. It doesn't trigger her ability (move not heal), but moves the damage/ horror to an asset carolyn controls so she benefits more of her own ability. Not needing an action to use is also very helpful. — Django · 5148
It's a great combo with the Big Man on Campus, but I think it's also a good take if you're going for either of the Precious Momentos. No action spent for healing is great! — dscarpac · 1211
Sound Advice is good too. — MrGoldbee · 1484
Minh Thi Phan

It’s worth reconsidering Minh a few years after her debut. And it’s because nearly every beneficial card survivors have for clues is in the 0 to 2 XP range.

In terms of assets, the mariner's compass lets you run a speedy-efficient dark horse Minh. In duo, you can clear most locations in one action. With scavenging, you can recur the ice pick(3) and make it three clues. Or use scavenging(2) to continually grab your old keyring.

The new survivor skills are also amazing. In your hands, unexpected courage (2) is a ???. With analytical mind, you can use it all game to mitigate tests they won’t pass but are punished by how much they fail. You even get a card! Plus, you can recur it to help deal with your weakness.

Signum Cruces can fill the bag with blesses, even if you’re intending to use a fire axe and succeed. Unrelenting lets you take test without symbols that penalize you for trying.

On the seeker side and ignoring recursion, Ancestral knowledge and Guided by the Unseen get you more skills. And while Ancestral might make PMP harder to trigger, it allows you to get skills you need later, like stunning blow. Congratulations, the guardian just evaded the boss! No more retaliate this turn!

There’s a lot that makes you hardier than a normal seeker: bandages, jury-rig, hiding space… So many different ways to build the seek-ratary. (Although most of them involve the card you can get from either color, grisly totem.) Plus, you can use it to help deal with your weakness.

Now go get a lot of clues and make your team more efficient!

MrGoldbee · 1484
Minh got a big boost wtih EOTE. Scavenging (2) eon chart gives her lots of actions. Pocket telescope saves her lots of actions to investigate from a central spot. Ancestral knowledge is very helpful for clearing the king in yellow. — Django · 5148
I think, Minh has a lot better items for her handslots than compass or even more so keyring. And upgraded "Unexpected Courage" I would strictly only consider, if she has people on the team, who plan to fail stuff. Sure, Scavenging (2) is great on her and "Ancestral Knowledge" as well. — Susumu · 381
"Get behind me!"

Im not sure if this allow Daniela to bypass the "no attack of oportunity" condition. My understaanding is that you can play this, ask for a friend to provoke an attack of oportunity and this will be deal to Daniela instead and then you can "evade him or deal 1 damage to him". What do you think?

isuscbrmid · 44
It def works on AOEs. — MrGoldbee · 1484
Danella's card says: "[reaction]After an enemy attacks you (except an attack of opportunity YOU provoked)." RR says: "When resolving a triggered ability [including reaction triggered], "you/your" refers to the investigator triggering the ability". So, yeah, it sure works. — Susumu · 381
Ethereal Slip

I absolutely adore the concept of this card for a Luke Robinson deck with the ability to feign where "your" location is you can really lean into the team player/support role with his kit. Two is fairly pricey but you shouldn't have much problems with resources with Luke considering how many actions the Gate Box can save you. The major question I have for this card though that will effect it being either A- Bonkers awesome or B- Plain awesome is:

"Enemies and investigators other than Luke Robinson cannot enter Dream-Gate" As numerous FAQs have pointed out enemies cannot follow Luke into the Dream Gate even if he Moves out then Moves back in, if the enemy "Spawns" on Luke they are discarded, no EXP granted. (Even if it is a scenario important NPC such as the a certain Masked somebody).

So if this card is used while in the Dream-Gate onto an enemy in a connecting location is it- A. The Enemy cannot be swapped into the dream gate so the card cannot be played. B. The Enemy is Swapped with Luke into the dream gate then is discarded(not defeated). C. Luke appears at the Enemies location but the Enemy does not move as they cannot SWAP.

Grim-Rule dictates it'd be either A or C, but I am curious if someone has found an FAQ or somebody more knowledgeable than me can clarify this interaction.

Either way I am auto-including this in my 'Fellow Investigators are Chess Pieces' build.

RitsyReelz · 2
In my opinion, Luke in Dream-Gate cannot play Ethereal Slip. First, the enemy cannot enter Dream-Gate, so that the enemy stay its location; note that the reason the spawned enemy is discarded is that it has no location to stay. Second, target rule tells that you should choose the target whose game state is changed. Since the enemy is not moved, no game state of enemy is changed. Thus, Luke cannot play Ethereal Slip in Dream-Gate. — elkeinkrad · 500
Note that spawned enemy at Dream-Gate is discarded since they has no location to stay. It's not Dream-Gate's ablilty. If the enemy is already at a location, the effect to forcly move the enemy to Dream-Gate does not cause the enemy to be discarded. — elkeinkrad · 500
My instinct is to say it's C. Enemies only get discarded by the dream-gate when they try to spawn there , because enemies with no legal location to spawn at get discarded, enemies with no spawn instructions want to spawn at the location of the investigator who drew them (so enemies that Luke draws can't spawn at the dream-gate). But when they try to move into a location where they can't go, that's a different situation. And the rules say about Hunter enemies trying to move places they can't go : "If a hunter enemy would be compelled to a location to which the move is blocked by a card ability, the enemy does not move". So thats what I think happens there: Luke can move so he does, the enemy can't move (at least to where it wants to go) so it doesn't. — bee123 · 31
Agreed, target rule means it's definitely A (Ethereal Slip is unplayable from the dream gate). The undefined part of the rules at the moment is whether ethereal slip counts as a move for the purpose of movement effects. — suika · 9497
Thank you for the clarification and where specifically to look. "Target". Thank you all for the replies! This is an awesome community :) — RitsyReelz · 2
But I would say, Luke can still play the card from the Dream Gate with his "once per turn" ability. Not extremely powerful, but he could play the level 0 version for the effect of the level 2 version (still at 2 resources cost). — Susumu · 381
Yeah, Luke in a Dream Gate can play Ethereal Slip with his second constant ability to move any enemy to any location up to 2 connections away (taking AOO from enemies there if any) and move to that enemy's previous location, which is pretty decent. — Thatwasademo · 58
All revealed locations are connected to the Dream Gate, so the "up to 2 connections" restriction isn't really a limit. As long, as the enemy is on a revealed location, he can move it to any other revealed location, just like everybody with the level 2 version. — Susumu · 381
It's a limit on *how far you can move the enemy*. — Thatwasademo · 58
Oh wait, unless you mean you can count distance for the card through the Dream Gate even though the enemy can't actually move through it because it's moving directly? Huh. — Thatwasademo · 58
It was a brain fart from me. You are right. Since you have to move to the original location of the enemy, even though you can go to any location from the Dream Gate, it still must be two away from the enemy. — Susumu · 381
I don't see why you wouldn't be able to count distance through the gate. Nothing in the text suggests that the enemy would move one location at a time. You could even play this on an enemy that can't get to you at all (because all connections between the two of you are one-way). — TheNameWasTaken · 3
I agree with TheNameWasTaken. "Dream-Gate is connected to each other revealed location, and vice versa. Enemies and investigators other than Luke Robinson cannot enter Dream-Gate.", So technically at this point, all locations are two spaces are two away from each other (even though no one but Luke can enter the midpoint). — khoshekh · 5
So is the consensus that Luke in the Dream-Gate can play Ethereal Slip as though he's at Location A, choosing an enemy at Location B; and the result is that Luke moves to B and the enemy moves to A? (I can't find any official definition for "swap.") — szwanger · 2
Bandages

This card is sooo good in William Yorick, especially the combo Bandages + Beat Cop. In recent game I played Beat Cop round 2 and then Bandages. The Beat Cop stayed in play whole game (18 rounds) and dealt around 6-7 damage...Killer! You deal damage to Beat Cop, heal with Bandages, enemy gets damaged. When used up, Bandages discards itself and Yorick plays it back after killing another enemy to keep on damaging with Beat Cop...

SergSel · 371
For the Yorick + Bandages + Beat Cop combo, what it does is to save you 2r per recursion of Beat Cop. Pretty good for econ, although if you're already running say Rite of Sanctification you won't need it. — suika · 9497
Interestingly, I ran exactly Blessed Yorcik in the campaign and Rite was good, but the problem was sometime to get my bless generation cards together with it. Bandages also helps heal damage from other investigators and Yorick himself and not needing to play Beat Cop from his ability lets you play something else, like in my case Favor of the Sun or Rite of Sanctification or Keepsake. I managed to pull of the combo in about 4 out of 8 scenarios (2 Beat cops and 1 bandages in the deck) — SergSel · 371
In addition to reduce the cost, it means you're paying for items, not for allies. This means Yorick can use Schoffner's to fund his beat cops and may open interactions with Bob Jenkins or that one seeker ally. — OrionJA · 1