Cryptic Grimoire

What were they thinking.

It needs to proc once to break even in actions, and 3 times to break even in resources in the ideal operating environment. That's placing and subsequently pulling at least 6 curses (and not cancelling them) AFTER the tome has been played, each of which on a subset of Insight events. All that to break even INSIDE a scenario... not counting the prerequisite quest or the 8xp playset. And it has to compete in the hand slot.

lol?

This is a totally viable card in a curse build, really not sure what your issue with it is. The other one, sure, pretty bad. This one's solid, though. — SSW · 219
I don't think the effect is bad per-say either. The main issue with this card is that the curse package is far more about 'playing tiny curse cards for huge benefits' than 'actively seek out curses. — dezzmont · 226
This is a good thing by the way: Curses should be far more about the benefits of the cards that generate curses, because a deck that wants to flood the bag with curses proactively for its own sake is almost 'meta-parastic.' Not only is it a strategy that only works with a very specific pool of cards, but it forces every other player at the table into that strategy. So it is sorta good that the seeker curse packages faceplanted hard. But if a 'care about curse' strategy ever takes off for real, this would be a good card in it, despite the fact a lot of insights already are fast. This is, in theory, limitless free actions and your friends can potentially proc it VERY fast. — dezzmont · 226
I have to agree with MrButtermancer here (is there a Ms. Buttermancer?). You're spending a card, a hand slot, a play action, 3 resources and 4 Xp on something that will maybe, on a good day (read: bad day) save you , I dunno, 5 play actions and 5 resources? It's not a great trade. — olahren · 3728
A good question to ask is 'How many times does this need to trigger for me to be happy with it?' 5 actually sounds quite nice, that is effectively 10 whole actions (if we evaluate the non-action benefits of making an action fast as offsetting the fact a resource isn't quite worth an action). Action compression especially is fairly useful in Seeker, so being able to use this to clear out a location even earlier with a fast play of one of the 'Investigate with a benefit' insights. But 5 triggers is a huge ask, it requires you to have 5 relevant insights that will meaningfully help you in hand when you need them, and 5 seperate curse draws after this is in play, which is extremely difficult to do in a timely manner. In that specific instance, your likely looking to not so much flood the bag as keep a steady stream: at 4-5 tokens you will expect a curse 1 in 4 draws, meaning you will get maybe a charge per turn if you can keep that level of curseness up. But that also means your failing around 40% more tests than you 'should,' or need to pass tests by 2 more to get the same expected result (because curse math is weird and trying to just pass by the expected average value of the curse doesn't actually help offset the curse that much). That means your looking at 10% of your tests failing specifically of those 4 curses, which means whatever you do with those insights better be worth it! — dezzmont · 226
Said math is on standard. Curses are more predictable (But affect more tokens) on easy, and get more volatile on harder modes (Because the wider distribution of results means the curse is a difference maker on fewer results, and partially offsetting the curse does more), and assuming one curse pull (The odds of getting two on a 15 token bag with 4 curses is like some odd 3%, so like around 1in 30 pulls). — dezzmont · 226
Every time I try to build around this, I ended up taking Farsight instead. — suika · 9557
Professor William Webb

Professor Webb here is a strange beast. He's a lesser version of Scavenging and a different version of In the Know rolled into one ally. I say lesser version, because Scavenging proper doesn't use secrets and will net you a clue as well. And In the Know can target any location, not only connecting ones.

Webb has a benefit, however. His ability is a to a successful investigation at your location, so you can decide if you want to use his ability after you've succeeded at the test. So, you'll never waste a secret, and you can investigate at locations with no clues and still trigger his ability.

So, what can Webb be used for?

  • 1a) Webb can serve as a Scavenging for those without access to assets. Now, Webb only has three Secrets to burn, so he's less useful than the limitless Scavenging. Scavenging does have the if succeed by two clause but will get you both a clue AND the item. But while Webb is inferior, he will return three items to your hand and if those items are juicy enough (The Necronomicon, Grotesque Statue Key of Ys) he might be worth your time.

  • 1b) Any investigator whose deck is built around Scavenging can use Webb as a extra copy. But anyone with access to Scavenging also has access to Short Supply and Resourceful so a backup might not be needed.

  • 2) Webb can pick up clues from connecting locations rather than the one you just investigated. This can be useful, but it's quite conditional. You need to have a revealed location next to you, with a clue that you want to pick up. And with only three Secrets to Webb's name, it's not like you can use this ability willy-nilly.

  • 3) Webb can be a swiss knife ally for an investigator who both benefit from the Scavenging ability and the ability to find clues at connection locations.

Let's look at candidates for the different user cases:

  • 1) Scavenging Webb: Anyone who plans to recycle high value items such as The Necronomicon and Key of Ys can certainly use Webb. Right now that archtype belongs to seekers with access to Survivor cards (aka Minh Thi Phan), but you might want to try a Harvey Walters+The Necronomicon-build with Magnifying Glass glass to discard emtpy tomes and then get them back up again with Webb. The problem here is that seekers already have lots of ways to play with tomes, so Webb seems like a detour. But it's still my favorite combo.

  • 2) In the Know-Webb: Webb can help shore up up the "seeking from afar" archtype along with Pocket Telescope and In the Know. You'll need some way to generate secrets, but it's doable. The prime candidate is Luke Robinson, who can use Webb to investigate from the safety of his 1 Shroud Dream-Gate.

  • 3) Swiss-knife-Webb: Again, late game Luke with some sort of intellect buff and Grotesque Statues, and probably Charisma, Whitton Greene and a way to replace lost secrets that might go to Webb if needed.

Professor Webb has a level 2 version as well. The difference is +1 Sanity, a pip and that you'll always activate both his abilities. so he's a Scavenging without the succeed by 2 clause that can find clues either on your location or a connecting location. It's neat but in my humble opinion, triggering both isn't worth 2 xp.

Conclusion: Seekers and survivors both have great awesome allies that's awesome by themselves. Webb is not one of them. He has no stat buffs and he needs to be part of some sort of combo. I have listed a few combos above but ally slots are valuable, and Professor Webb seems mediocre at best.

What do you think? Is Webb worth it because he has two abilities and thus easy to get milage out of? Or is he simply not good enough at what he does?

olahren · 3728
2xp to remove "don't discover clues" is probably under costed for the scavenging effect, I honestly think level 0 Webb is close to unplayable because of that line of text. (you have to get something back worth wasting a successful investigate action, an ally slot, and a secret, so better find something HUGE) — Zerogrim · 301
I think even the 0xp version is useful if you plan to scavenge some item after the first or second scenario. Combine him with the archeologie funding, the twin and his colleague Dr. Christopher. — Tharzax · 1
Well 3 testless clues per copy is valuable, provided you can set it up. And it flexis into item recursion which might be useful sometimes. — oothooly · 1
I've put him in a Darrell deck with Short Supply, so I can use him to grab back precious things that went into discard from the off, but also to pick up a clue from a connecting location when there's an enemy there that I've put an evidence on, and scoop that up too. Unless Prof Bill and his twin get short supplied at the get-go themselves, in which case it's on to plan B.2.iii ;) — Dr_Shigogo · 1
Bangle of Jinxes

This is one of those “released exclusively for one investigator“ cards. Take it as Daniela Reyes, save up bonuses for hitting back and passing encounters. An extremely defensive Yorick or Calvin might see use for this, but only one character has a signature that goads the enemy. Which is a hell of a position to take versus the mythos, but there you go.

MrGoldbee · 1521
Tommy often actively utilizes 'counter attack' weapons and allies to increase action economy and could use this as well, as long as they were willing to give up some sanity soak. I could see this enabling a similar Survival Knife Yorick, but he already has such strong archetypes that it may not 'make the cut' except as an experimental deck. I don't think Calvin wants this, this is really for the 'Guard Dog also draws you Lucky!' synergy. — dezzmont · 226
Or unexpected courage more accurately. — dezzmont · 226
Speaking of Lucky!, Lucky! is way better than this card. So is Live and Learn. — OrionJA · 1
and Unexpected Courage — OrionJA · 1
Oh, wait, it does come with 1 charge for free. That's a little more tolerable. — OrionJA · 1
Or 2 in Akachi. But I don't see this card in Akachi at all. She has way better Accessories, and she kills enemies before they ever attack. — Susumu · 385
I think this is just better in Tommy than it is in Daniela, since using it on his int gets him to a reasonable number, and he's more likely to need it on will or fight, too. — SSW · 219
I've used this card in Calvin with good results. Cal is often looking to trigger opportunity attacks, and has access to counterpunch and Toe to Toe, which has nice synergy. — Tanz444 · 31
I scream this from the hilltops every time I play a bruiser survivor - TAKE THIS CARD! It's a self-generating unexpected courage for 1 XP. It's made me pass so many tests I probably shouldn't have and it can go above it's 1 charge it begins with as you get hit more and more — Palacer · 1
Dr. Shivani Maheswaran

In case you missed it: this is a Steven Universe reference, as is Agenda 3a, Hospital of Horrors. Dr. Maheswaran is Connie's mother in the episode of the same title, which involves a lot of creepy flesh monsters running around a hospital.

Definitely helps out a ton with the orderlies, though a Guardian can feasibly take them early and keep them from being too obnoxious.

LocoPojo · 235
If I made a 2-man party that were Steven and Connie, what investigators would be the best fits for those two? — SGPrometheus · 860
Steven would probably be Carolyn: Focused on protecting people, working through problems, healing both the physical body and mind, and unusually insightful, but despite all that not totally helpless. Connie would be Joe Diamond: She is insightful, loves to plan things out, is supremely intelligent, but also is a total scrapper and goes out of her way to be someone who can defend others even though she is a seeker at heart. — dezzmont · 226
I can't agree about Carolyn; what you say is correct, but Steven is a combat powerhouse by the end of the series, and — SGPrometheus · 860
Damn enter key. I was going to say you can't get Carolyn there by the end of a campaign. She might still be the best fit though. — SGPrometheus · 860
Steven's greatest power was emotional intelligence, and getting other people to a better place, not combat power. He could certainly fight but I think literally every other major character was better at it than him until Future, and a few arcs (such as when both Steven and Amethyst bond over feeling inadequate both as individuals and as fusions compared to Garnet and Pearl) depend on this. Steven Universe Future is 100 Calvin or Mark though. One could imagine Carolyn's dynamite blast could represent the times Steven pulls something clever that allows him to punch above his weight when it happens. Alternatively Steven could be Leo Anderson to reflect the fact that Steven is very capable of rallying pretty much any person into their best selves to help out in a situation. Mitch Brown might even be Lars in that case! — dezzmont · 226
Fang of Tyr'thrha

Expensive, but this is a great counter for Zoey‘s weakness on huge maps. At minimum, you get a shot to kill any enemy at a revealed place, which was previously unattainable for anyone but Luke. In ideal circumstances, you can teleport to someone an ally is carrying around handcuffed, or get a variety of bonuses: Zoey can engage with the enemy, getting a one-dollar refund or doing another damage with her cross. Roland gets a clue. Nathaniel will do a bonus damage, killing almost any non-boss enemy this game has produced.

It might be the best fit for him, because he can recur with his elder sign. But it’s not a spirit card, so it will be harder to find than his typical fare.

And it doesn’t engage the enemy, so you can’t use this to deal with Tony‘s weakness. But if you’re planning to take this card, maybe your party doesn’t need Tony.

MrGoldbee · 1521
This is also a card that breaks a number of scenarios where some connecting locations get disconnected, or need to be "explored". You can literally just teleport across the map, as a guardian. — 1337duck · 1
When you teleport, do you take your engaged monsters with you? — MrWeasely · 42
Yes, you would take engaged monsters with you. — PaxCecilia · 426