Randall Cho

Surely this card is misprinted. If Randall's ability is truly a trigger like it says, and not a , he can do it an infinite number of times upon entering play. Needless to say, that's pretty good. But the icon is certainly wrong, no?

Assuming so, my assessment would be that Randall is still a good, simple ally. Nathaniel's worried about sanity for sure, and the closest comparable horror soak available to him at level zero would be Something Worth Fighting For, which doesn't really do much else. But the real value in Randall is of course his ability, which even assuming it's meant to be a reaction, ranks him ahead of comparable cards (Tetsuo Mori and Prepared for the Worst) for two reasons: 1) Randall searches the entire deck for the item, and 2) he immediately plays the thing. This is pretty economical.

Holy Outlaw · 269
It is a mistake, it is meant to be a react. Newman has already clarified this. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Oh good. Yeah, I googled it and searched BGG for an errata but couldn’t find anything. Thank you for clarifying. — Eudaimonea · 5
Forbidden Tome

A fun and relatively simple side quest (appropriate to a starter desk), although 5 actions is a lot. Few Seekers are going to want to a third of 5 turns doing Draw actions to get a shot at an upgrade that will be useful only to Big Hand decks. Eldritch Sophist will helps you pull secrets off it, but that's a pretty thin combo.

More urgently, what happens if you do your last draw, have no secrets left, but don't have 10 cards in hand? Do you hang onto the tome until you hit 5 cards in hand? Have you missed your chance to translate it?

Pro tip: don't spend the last clue with fewer than 9 cards in your hand. Since spending the secret is part of the cost, you can't activate the tome later to translate it (outside of Eldritch Sophist/Astounding Revelation shenanigans). Woe betide the Seeker who pulls Amnesia. — SGPrometheus · 821
Sorry, that should be 10 cards in hand, but are you sure you can get stuck? — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
The pre-then aspect must resolve in order for the post-then aspect to resolve. Don't worry, you can move a secret onto the tome with Eldritch Sophist to get unstuck. — toastsushi · 74
Use Eldritch Sophist to move all but 1 secrets to a different asset. Only when you have 10+ cards in hand, activate this ability to solve it. — Django · 5108
I wonder if there's a build here where you don't care about translating it, and just use it as a source of secrets to reload Rook (or Pnakotic Manuscripts or whatever) with Eldritch Sophist — Zinjanthropus · 229
@zinjanthropus If you're putting in a "battery" card, why not use the level 0 Encyclopedia? Only 1 more resource, and it provides an effect you might actually use. — SGPrometheus · 821
Probably not a bad idea — Zinjanthropus · 229
If you want a battery, and have access to it, I suggest Forbidden Knowledge instead. Also, if you DO get stuck with this at 0 secrets, you can use Forbidden Knowledge to resolve its ability and bypass its cost! You were going to want KiP in your deck anyways to support its upgraded version, so may as well have it already. — Death by Chocolate · 1485
Couldn't you just knowledge is power on this while it is in your hand and immediately resolve it? — Zerogrim · 295
Zerogrim. yes. it seems to me that if you have 11 cards in hand including knowledge is power and Forbidden tome you can "translate the tome" very easily — NarkasisBroon · 10
Zerogrim. Actually I thought about this a bit more. Abilities can't interact with cards in an out of play area unless the ability explicitly says it can. so the text on Forbidden Tome "You may discard it to record in your campaign log..." can't discard Forbidden Tome from your hand, because your hand is out of play. and because it can't discard it from your hand, it also can't "translate the tome" — NarkasisBroon · 10
Has anybody checked that this is 5 free secrets costing 1 ressource for other assets if you have Eldritch Sophist and/or Ariadnes Twine? — GrueneLupenAufheben · 138
NarkasisBroon, that's a nice catch, except I'm not sure the restriction you've cited applies, since the Rules Reference reads (under Ability) "Card abilities only interact with OTHER cards that are in play" [caps added]. So it seems to me that Forbidden Tome is unprohibited from interacting with itself (via its ability) while out of play. (There is the preceding restriction under Ability which normally prevents card abilities from interacting with the game at all from out of play, but Knowledge is Power clearly overrides that or it would be entirely useless.) — alxemy · 1
Scrying Mirror

I'm a little surprised this card hasn't received better, or I guess more, fanfare. This is essentially 3 resources for 4 Premonitions which is incredibly powerful. The big drawback is that you have to decide the action you're going to take in advance rather than playing Premonition and deciding what action would be best to use the sealed token on. Generally speaking though, you'd only use a premonition on an important skill test (i.e. where the stakes are high), but the same is true here since you only get 4 secrets (but that is rechargeable through a number of cards, Enraptured in and Truth from Fiction and Eldritch Sophist if you've got access to ).

The ability to know EXACTLY what token you'll be resolving is strong, more so if you have anything that can draw multiple tokens (McBride, Jacqueline). If you're going to be just a little bit short, you now know if you need to commit a card from your hand that you were hoping to play. But obviously, that's just some useful knowledge that helps keep you from over or under committing. The real strength of the card is when you're committing skills to the test.

Unfortunately, most skills don't really need this. Enraptured will simply replace it's own secret (though you can use it to charge a spell instead), while skills like Prophesy and Torrent of Power are generally strong enough that it'd be a bit of a wasted use. It doesn't work with Defiance since you have to pick a symbol before you reveal, and even though it does combo with Defiance lvl 2, I'm not sure how useful that would be. Jacqueline's favorite augury is a great target since the effect is quite powerful, but you already have good odds of getting that to trigger so long as you're drawing multiple tokens.

Given this, probably the best thing about the card is it's lvl 0 rank, allowing it to be taken in off class s, Dunwich gators and anyone who's versatile enough. In faction it's a good little luxury/tool, but off class it's quite powerful. s like Silas Marsh and "Ashcan" Pete would appreciate it. s with Shotguns would like it, especially Zoey Samaras and the upcoming Sister Mary (which is exactly how I intend to play the nun with a gun). And Dexter Drake and especially Sefina Rousseau can abuse the crap out of all those delicious skills.

Aside from it's use in solo (which is good if a tad expensive), it's really going to shine in multiplayer where you'll be everyone's best friend. Remember that other investigators at your location can get in on the fun and commit their own cards to compound the effects. You could even double up those tokens with Take Heart and Self-Sacrifice.

LaRoix · 1645
I'll take it over Prescient any day. More uses! — MrGoldbee · 1472
Correction: It does not combo with Defiance (0) because Defiance (0)’s ability only kicks in if it is committed before chaos tokens are revealed for the test. This was explicitly confirmed in the FAQ in the pack insert for the Jacqueline Fine deck. However, it does combo with Defiance (2) since Defiance (2) doesn’t have the “before chaos tokens are revealed” condition that is on Defiance (0). — iceysnowman · 164
Right. I should have checked the rules on defiance lvl 0. I revised the review to reflect only the lvl 2 version. — LaRoix · 1645
I think your first point (you can't trigger it until after a skill test begins) is why I ended up being a little disappointed by this. Premonition on tap would be amazing! I think you're right that it's still good, though. There are tons of great applications, though I feel like Mystics don't benefit as much as others (outside of combos like Crystal Pendulum) because they're usually way over the test difficulty anyway. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Yeah, I agree with that. I play kind of overzealous in that I like to be 4 up before the pull with a way to wiggle out of an auto-fail. I get that's what every player wants, but I tend to over-commit so knowing how much of that I need to be doing is a huge boon. So maybe the card is just more suited to my play style. — LaRoix · 1645
I meant Premonition. — MrGoldbee · 1472
I hadn't paid much attention to this card since I thought it took up an Arcane slot like most Mystic assets but it is a hand slot instead. I would still consider this to be a team/support card since most of my Mystic builds result in mostly taking Willpower tests at 6 minimum and usually 8+ by the end of the campaign. I barely bring any skill cards in some of the decks. — The Lynx · 980
Feed the Mind

I've used the upgrade successfully in a speedy Ursula deck that sometimes struggles to get all its cards at the right time. Compared to Preposterous Sketches, which gives you 9 cards for 6 Resources and 3 actions (as long as there is a clue at your location, and assuming you can get one of them back into your hand), this is up to 9 cards for 3 Resources and 4 actions, assuming you can beat a (1) test by 3, which isn't that hard, especially if your seeker has some sort of static boost. Other Seekers more covetous of their Arcane slots might feel differently.

This would probably be a stepping stone on the way to the upgrade, but it's OK as a beginning card.

You mean 6 cards for 4 resources and 2 actions if you played 2 copies of Preposterous Sketches? The other thing to note about that is you'd have to draw both copies of Preposterous Sketches and have the resources for them while this version of Feed the Mind you can play once for 1 resource more (or 1 less since you'll only play it once). I agree, it's okay, especially if you're intending to upgrade it. And the intellect test is definitely not a big deal since Seekers are always finding ways to bolster their already high Intellect. — LaRoix · 1645
I was trying to get an exact 1-1 scenario for the card draw, since Feed the Mind (0) tpos out at 3x3 cards, so I was assuming you somehow played 3 Sketches (maybe Mandy played a Quantuum Flux?). You are correct,: under normal play conditions, Sketches would cost 2 actions, 2 cards, and 4 resources for 6 cards, while FtM (0) is 4 Actions, 1 card, 3 resources (and an Arcane Slot) for up to 9 cards. Even if you average 2/secret, you'd be a bit ahead I think, depending on whether actions, resources, or cards are more valuable at the moment. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
If you bring Knowledge is Power, you can get a few more uses out of it. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Eldritch Sophist

Hmmm. You can use this card to translate Forbidden Tome a couple of turns quicker, all while refilling Mr. "Rook", Encyclopedia, Esoteric Atlas, etc. Can you use it to translate Archaic Glyphs faster? It say so put a Resource on it "as a secret."

It's a pity that it's pretty hard to get ES in a deck with Quick Learner. I'd like the chess motif....

You could combo with Decorated Skull, which can generate charges to move to your spells. Unfortunately there are not many investigators who can take Decorated Skull and Sophist, and also care about charges. — Zinjanthropus · 229
@LivefromBenefitSt I don't think you can translate the glyphs with it. I believe there's a ruling somewhere that you can't put tokens (ammo, charges, secrets, etc) on a card that doesn't have the same "uses (token type)". The glyphs don't say "uses (secrets)" so you can't put secrets on them. The glyphs themselves override that with the specific>general rule. Otherwise you could translate them in a flash with Astounding Revelations or Truth from Fiction. — SGPrometheus · 821
The only such rule only prevents cards *which have a Uses keyword* from gaining other types of Uses - people do in fact use Astounding Revelations and Truth from Fiction for that purpose. — Thatwasademo · 58
@Thatwasademo Incorrect. "A card cannot bear uses of a type other than that established by its own "Uses (X type)" keyword." applies to cards without a "Uses (X type)" keyword. Since they do not have that keyword, no uses type is established and thus they cannot bear any type of uses tokens. Read another way: 'A card can only bear uses of a type established by its own — Death by Chocolate · 1485
"Uses (X type)" keyword. Yes, people do in fact use Astounding Revelations and Truth from Fiction for that purpose, but it is in violation of the Rules Reference. People play the game 'incorrectly' all the time. That hardly sets sufficient precident for anything beyond the rules being too ambiguous in the situation. (Which, as one of the only cards that puts 'use' tokens on itself without the "Uses (X type)" keyword, it is absolutely problematically ambiguous.) — Death by Chocolate · 1485
Hmm. By that interpretation, how does Tony's Bounty Contracts move bounties onto enemies? They're a use type, and the enemies don't have a Uses keyword, so this argument prevents them from bearing them. — Tamsk · 1
It is written if there is an established type, than it cannot bear any other. If there isn't any it can. Otherwise Glyphs couldn't translate itself as there is no established type on it. — vidinufi · 69
No, bounties and glyphs work because of specific beats general. These cards specifically allow for placing a bounty/secret, so it works. This card does not specify to specifically place a secret on a card without "Uses", so it doesn't work. — Nils · 1
As confirmed by a recently-posted FAQ on Truth From Fiction (among other cards), you can, in fact, use Eldritch Sophist to move secrets onto Archaic Glyphs, for exactly the reason I claimed six months ago. — Thatwasademo · 58
so i see 2 interpretations of his transfer ability. some argue you have to move charges from other charge cards. Others think that the secrets and charges are interchangable. this is in keeping with how Venturer works where his supplies can be supplies or ammo. Have we seen a decision one way or another on this? — Roakana · 1
Ive been playing it as it not being interchangeable, and I think that is the RAI. No idea if thats accurate though for RAW. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Actually looking at the TFF FAQ demo mentioned, you can move secrets to a card using charges or vice versa, but predictably they don’t do anything. Implies pretty heavily that they do not change their element when moving from one card to another. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
In other words, Uses is merely the enabler- if the card gets more of those types of tokens somehow, it can use them. Glyphs is fine taking secrets any way it can for translation purposes, using Sophist or TFF or even Astounding Revelation are all valid ways to get to translating it. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Actually the TTF FAQ only says that you can place charges/ammo/secret and so on on cards that don't have "uses". It doesn't reverse the general rule that you can't place uses of one kind to a card that has uses of another kind. So basically you can place charges on a Machete but you can't place charges on a .45 Automatic. — Killbray · 12063
Killbray, actually the FAQ says you can use it to Glyphs! — condedooku · 2
It seems you could use the Sophist to move secrets off the Forbidden Tome and onto the Archaic Glyphs, however, helping unlock both. — khoshekh · 5
To confirm: you can NOT take a Secret from this Ally (or another card) and put it on a card that uses Charges and expect them to work as Charges. They would retain their "type" and therefor unusable by a card that has Uses (Charges), correct? — slothgodfather · 7
Yes Slogfather I believe that is correct. Secrets remain Secrets and Charges remain Charges and you can't put them somewhere where they would look like the other thing. — Timlagor · 5
NB for Forbidden Tome: you have to do the last secret using the action on the card or it doesn't unlock (you must have a secret there to spend) — Timlagor · 5