Brutal during Act 4, but usually actively beneficial during Act 5 since it causes exhaustion before the investigation phase, and so turns off attacks of opportunity (extremely relevant if massive, and also for retaliate). This is due to the "attacks as if it were the enemy phase" wording.

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Q: If an effect causes an enemy to move/attack "as if it were the enemy phase" (e.g. Dhole Tunnel, Myriad Forms), does the enemy exhaust after doing so? (The wording on Ravages of War [from War of the Outer Gods] implies that, without such wording, the enemy would indeed exhaust.)

A: Yes, with the rules as written, if an enemy attacks “as if it were the enemy phase,” they would have to exhaust after performing the attack (unless otherwise specified). Cheers,

MJ Newman

With the Quick Thinking limited to once per round and Three Aces taboo'd to RFG, I think the ban on Donut could be revisited. The abusive edge cases are pretty much all gone at this point. Donuting Momentum or "Watch this!" is perfectly fine, as is committing it to an ally's check.

I think the game has room for some version of Double or Nothing in it. My humble proposal would be, at 0xp:

Double the difficulty of this skill test. If this skill test is successful, resolve the effects of the successful test twice. Then, remove Double or Nothing from the game.

This old staple still doesn't have a review?

Testless damage is always good, and this one is a huge upgrade. While Sneak Attack (0) requires you to pass an evade*, this one doesn't as long as the enemy is engaged on someone else. That saves you a test and an action most of the time. Two testless damage that can hit aloof enemies is excellent. Chuck Fergus makes it fast and allows it to be used on other players turns, too. An auto-include in any Chuck deck and a generally strong event that Sefina Rousseau usually wants.

When it comes to contributing to fights, I've always felt it appropriate that this and Backstab are so much stronger than any of the rogue guns. That's how a Rogue's supposed to fight, after all — not head on, but sneaking in a punch while the 's got them distracted. Save your hands for picking locks and strange gizmos, don't try to be a worse guardian!*

* unless you use it in the player window after enemy attacks with Chuck Fergus.

** unless you're Tony, in which case you're actually secretly a Guardian

Galvanize is a card in need of good targets. Guardian assets that you want to use multiple times in a round are relative rare, most common targets would probably be Agency Backup, Beat Cop or Well Prepared. I've also tried this with Nathaniel Cho with Boxing Gloves to some success, since it can be found by the gloves as well.

Note that if you cannot make use of the ready effect, Galvanize is relatively inefficient for what it does; contrast Swift Reflexes, Shortcut, and Taunt. That two resource cost isn't cheap at all.

Here's another item that Lonnie Ritter can fix (along with the two Precious Mementos and Heavy Furs in this set), and in the two other factions likely to want the horror healing of Lonnie. But to get more uses of Protective Gear's ability, you'll need to heal the horror, too. That's a tougher task, since most card effects heal horror only from investigator cards or Ally cards. The exceptions are Ancient Stone, for which you'll need Seeker access, and Call for Backup, but for that one you'll need a Mystic card, too to do the horror healing. All of this points to just one investigator, Carolyn Fern, who can additionally run The Star • XVII to beef up this and Lonnie and just never die.

For other investigators looking to get extra uses out of this card, forget Lonnie, Call for Backup on its own will do the trick. This card already gives you the damage healing from being a Survivor card, you just need a Mystic card in play, too. Lily Chen and Diana Stanley don't need any more help since their investigator card counts. There's a good chance Sister Mary and Patrice Hathaway already have a Mystic asset out. For all other Guardians and Survivors, you'll need to run another multiclass card, which isn't a bad idea if you are playing Call for Backup anyways.

A more straightforward combo is just to use this thing up three times and pull it out of the discard. Anyone with Resourceful can do this, or anyone happy to take Scavenging like Minh Thi Phan or Agnes Baker.

Finally, the use of Protective Gear's ability depends on the campaign. A few campaigns so far have little to no specific Hazards. Canceling a Hazard usually lets you bypass an Agility test (sometimes a Willpower or Strength), but other times a nasty revelation effect.