Roland Banks is a very good beginner character, and I love his deck options with Guardian and Seeker combo, making him great at the 2 main aspects of the game, getting clues and killing things. The 5 Sanity is an issue, and can be conquered by Elder Sign Amulet (3), Kerosene (1), and Logical Reasoning. .36 Colt (2) is kind of broken in my opinion, and an auto-include. .45 Automatic (2) is a reliable weapon, and can take out some of the harder enemies. Roland's 4 Combat right off the bat tells you what he's good at. To amp him up to 7 Combat, Beat Cop (2) and .45 Automatic (2) can get the job done, nearly guaranteeing your attack will be successful (minus autofail). A Mystic friend would help him out with Clarity of Mind (3). For Cover Up, Deduction (2) can help rid Cover Up of clues faster. First Aid x2 (3) is OP, and necessary with some Ally like Beat Cop (2), for example, who just hurts himself. Just be sure to get rid of all the clues on Cover Up, because mental trauma as Roland Banks is bad. Timeworn Brand (5) is nice when your guns run out of ammo. Speaking of which, Venturer, Extra Ammunition (1),and Contraband can all help.

Norman Withers can play stupid games with this lady.

Namely, True Magick takes up neither hand nor arcane slots while under her control. He can place it on top of his deck for guaranteed tutor using his signature. Both his signature and True Magick can be tutored by Research Librarian.

Norman also gets to play dumb games like using Livre d'Eibon to place Enraptured on top of his deck, then Written in the Stars to place a load of charges on something while spending a whole turn investigating 6... something like True Magick.

With Astrological Atlas/Livre d'Eibon in play, you can get away with a serious amount of shenanigans recurring cards like Enraptured and Fearless. Eli holding True Magick, you can also get a giant Clairvoyance or Shriveling once a round only limited by what you've got in your hand, and Norman, being a Seeker, can draw like a beast.

This card is nuts on True Magick, and Norman is a great candidate for reaching both.

Sounds like a nice item for Trish Scarborough, as it gives her some control over hunting enemies in case you don’t want them to enter your location (you still need to dodge the AoO attack with e.g. Obfuscation )

I wonder how Haste works with The Council's Coffer. You activate two which activates the of Haste. At this point, you can take another . Let suppose that we are in a typical 3-actions-per-round situation for our investigator. My question is: can you use your third action in addition to the allowed by the effect of Hasteto activate The Council's Coffer effect again? It would mean : First action = / Second action = / = again / Third action = .

Grounded (3) is an upgrade from Grounded (1) in all of the ways the other Composures have been upgraded, but also note that the single icon on the level 1 is now ! We have a few cards that care about icons on cards that you don't really want to throw into the discard pile now, notably Well Prepared and Astronomical Atlas. Grounded joins a select few assets that have : quite a few signature cards, but also Prophesiae Profana, the two Precious Mementos, The Black Cat and The Red Clock (5). Grounded at level 3, fast, and 0 resources is the most easily accessible of the bunch so far.

Diana Stanley can take Well Prepared and Astronomical Atlas (though not sure she wants it), and loves the boost on whatever skill she is testing, since she will often test all of her skills. Diana/Well Prepared/Physical Training (2) is already a great combo, but remember that cards like Read the Signs actually are tests, so Grounded (3) does give you a boost there too, both on the wild icons for Well Prepared and the +1 skill boost. Finally, note that using Well Prepared for the icons here makes up for the fact that you can't use its boost on treachery cards, a notable downside already mentioned compared to Holy Rosary.