Offer You Cannot Refuse

I have a question about this basic weakness.

Right now the rules say the random basic weaknesses are added at the end of the deckbuilding process. Does that mean that the 2 experience you get from becoming the bearer of this weakness can't be used until the end of the first scenario? With the rules as written, that seems to be the case, but I wonder if that was the intention.

I haven't played with this weakness yet, but it seems debilitating if your name isn't Preston Fairmont. I think most investigators would prefer Paranoia. These campaign weaknesses that evolve to create disastrous consequences just seem mean in general. Having 2 experience here is at least nice little bit of compensation - if you could use the experience before the first scenario, it would seem more like the game was saying "here's a challenging weakness, take some experience to see if you can fight it off." However, since it seems like the experience comes after the first scenario, it feels instead more like the game is saying "this weakness is ultimately going to get you so you might as well live fast, here's some experience to see how far you can level up before you go."

I think the rules are worded that way to prevent you from totally restructuring your "all-money Preston" deck after drawing Paranoia. I'd say that the weakness gives you the two xp after deck construction, but before the first scenario, allowing you to upgrade your deck instantly. I really like that this weakness is just Doomed-but-that-was-divisive-so-we-balanced-it. — SGPrometheus · 821
My gut instinct says that there isn't a window to spend XP in before the campaign starts but Mateo contradicts that so I would stay consistent with Mateo and spend the XP before the campaign starts. — The Lynx · 980
You build your deck, THEN get the weakness. The window Mateo uses to build his deck is the same window everyone gets, he just has more XP for it. You get this weakness AFTER that window, so presumably you have to just live with it for one scenario before you even get to use the 2XP. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
I wonder, why there is even a XP Bonus. Yes thematically it's a offer, so there have to be some benefit, but they could also designed it more like arcane research "lv0 survivor permanent, cannot discard by any means, you are gifted with more xp but dont have start resources". The difference were, it would be an active decision, not some random weakness — armin321 · 1
Lucky!

This card make for "Skids" O'Toole (Paralled) . With new deck building option he can put all 6 Lucky !!!! and recurring use Lucky to any test!!!

For another investigator it still be good to use because -3 would appeared more often on higher difficulty. The this card cost 0 so it not annoy you resource gained from upkeep.

AquaDrehz · 198
This upgrade is actually crazy: one resource cheaper and one more skill value are already worth one xp, but on top of that this allows you to use it on your nearby allies. That's crazy good. — SGPrometheus · 821
This card is totally bonkers. Parallel — Zinjanthropus · 229
Parallel Skids can also Double, Double it for a whopping +6 on a failed test. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Just remember you cant take all 6 at once, only 2 of any combination. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Double, double is so good for him. Tried already and impressive so much. — AquaDrehz · 198
Nevermind, I didnt realize how parallel Skids worked. That is interesting. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
You can't Double, Double when using Parallel Skids's back (Rogue level 0-3 only) and Double, Double is level 4 — arkhamproxy · 1
Nevermind, apparently the Parallel back displayed on arkhamdb is different than the Parallel back on the downloaded card from FFG — arkhamproxy · 1
Chuck Fergus

Can we talk about how insane this is?

If ol' Chuck here had been spoiled before the rest of Wini's deck, I probably would have said, "only Tactics and Tricks? Good, but not crazy." However, Wini's deck contains several extremely powerful trick events that you can play repeatedly if you succeed well enough.

Think playing events every turn would get expensive? Think you might not succeed by enough often enough? Chuck literally solves both those problems! And if you're swimming in cash, you can just make an event fast instead! Sure it's once per turn, but that's ridiculous!

How much would you pay for this? Well admittedly much of the price tag is in the xp cost, but the actual price tag is cheaper than Leo de Luca, and if you're playing a fast, free event every turn it's just as much action economy. Unlike Leo, Chuck is much easier to play late in the game, and the both have the same soak.

Event-heavy Rogues coughPrestoncoughSefina will get a ton of use out of Chuck, and could reasonably target him as a priority upgrade. Guardian Tony has access to many interesting tactics, including Clean Them Out and Counterpunch, which would greatly benefit from becoming fast and more accurate. Additionally, Chuck provides a Swift Reload for a mere 1 resource.

Even though he only works once per turn, I'm pretty sure this card is awesome. Can't wait to try it out.

SGPrometheus · 821
Question about discounts. Can i initiate playing a card if i don't have enough ressources but use effects like chuck for discounts? If this works, could be a good combo with dark horse. — Django · 5108
@Django I'm pretty sure someone in the comments for shining trapezohedron said you could, so I think it works. — SGPrometheus · 821
This guy seems like he'll be a very interesting build around. — Zinjanthropus · 229
@zinjanthropus Tony Morgan with the new fight events certainly likes him. Oh, one-two punch fast AND free? Yes thank you. Clean Them Out fast and at 7 fight? I'd love to! He's providing a fast fight action every turn, either for free or at +2 combat. Crazy. — SGPrometheus · 821
Can we also talk about how, while Nathaniel Cho hates the O'Bannions, he would love to Teamwork Chuck over from a Rogue friend? Maybe make sure to pack some "Let Me Handle This!" and Stand Togethers to help sweet talk them into spending 5/10 xp on an ally for you! — Death by Chocolate · 1485
I asked the same thing about costs as a review on Shining Trapezohedron's page but didn't get a clear answer. — Django · 5108
Yeah, guardian has some great tactics, especially since the Nathaniel Cho deck. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Note that you can also turn Dynamite Blast (0) into 4 cost and fast — Zinjanthropus · 229
I definitely want to try out this card next time, I play Sefina. But even thought she has plenty of targets in her main class, I feel a bit sad about: Every class has at least one Trick and one Tactic card in their pool, except Mystics, which has currently neiter! — Susumu · 371
Can you use this for Painted World from Sefina? — Scythe · 1
Love chuckin' dynamite with ol' Chuck.... — Quantallar · 8
Mysterious Raven

Compare to Art Student: the Raven costs 1 less, but also costs a Horror to use, and the Student can soak a Damage and 2 Horror after finding a clue instead of 1 Horror instead of a clue.

Compare to Stray Cat: same cost, soaks 1 Damage instead of its Evade, but the Raven costs a Horror, too.

I'm not sure who likes this card. Agnes Baker can maximize it, but she has way better Allies to play....

Compared also to Art Student: you can prepay the action early as opposed to the Art Student who needs you to have the action available when you want the clue. Also, Mysterious Raven seems solid alongside The Boyfriendin a Yorick deck where you can recur the Raven and mostly ignore the horror. — Death by Chocolate · 1485
Yup, it being Survivor matters a lot more than you’d think. Resourceful or Scrounge can recur it, as can Yorick’s ability. Solo Yorick with a Keepsake can use this as an easy method of clue getting. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Add Peter Sylvestre with Charisma to ignore the horror? — Django · 5108
Sure, both your comments are true, but since the Raven takes an ally slot, you'll be spending XP on Charisma. The Horro cost means your going through soak faster if you're relying on Yorick's recursion to get back both Keepsake and Raven, so that's, what, 3 actions, 2 Resources, and a kill for two clues, and the next two cost clues another 3 actions, 2 Resources, and 2 kills. Meanwhile, Yorick could pack Evidence! or Scene of the Crime for 4+ Shroud locations and Old Keyring or Flashlight give him a decent chance at 1-3 Shroud clues. There's also "Look What I Found!" as a back up, plus some of the Nathaniel Cho clue cards. Heck, Yorick can take Grete Wagner as an Ally, get three clues, a useful boost, and some Sanity soak for not much more than the cost of 3 Ravens. So, even in Solo, Yorick has better options. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
Scene of the Crime costs an action, and both it and LWIF cost 2 resources each. Raven is arguably more efficient in solo when you can't get two clues from most locations. You spend a total of 2 actions and 2 resources for 2 clues (you were going to play keepsake anyway, let's be honest), versus with SOTC it'll usually be 2 actions and 4 resources for the same number of clues since 2 clue locations in solo are rare. There's also no reason he can't include all of those in solo- clue getting options and the ability to fight well is enough to clear most scenarios. I'd also add that testless clue getting like Raven is super valuable in TCU. Finally, I don't see why you need Charisma for this. Yorick is fine letting his allies die and replaying them when necessary. If I want more damage, I'll recur Guard Dog. If I want more clues, I can recur Raven. And honestly, you were likely to buy Charisma with Yorick anyway, so that's not really a valid cost. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Eh, you may be right. I don't think it's reasonable to ignore a necessary card because you were likely to use it anyway; you still need it for the set up, and if the Keepsake is taking Horror from clue-getting, it's not helping with Horror for the scenario. Charisma is necessary for the Raven/Peter suggestion from DeathbyCocolate (unless I misunderstood the reference) and Django. Anyway, you've convinced me that Raven may have a home in some decks and playstyles. — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
It's definitely not necessary though- it doesn't matter if the first horror or two is on you, then the Keepsake, or vice versa- as long as you aren't taking more horror than you can afford you're fine. Keepsake works pretty much regardless of when you play it, because you either tank 2 horror now, or tank it later, and Yorick is flush with card draw to guarantee he sees it eventually. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
The 2 cards not mentioned so far in this thread are Calvin Wright, and A Chance Encounter. Early in a Campaign it seems like Calvin would welcome Edgar Allen here showing up from time to time to depress him. — HanoverFist · 739
Any solo Survivor with low Intellect (most of them...) wants it desperately. It made solo Survivor just so much easier! It has amazing synergy with Peter Sylvestre, you can obviously recur the raven with Resourceful, Scrounge for Supplies etc. Yeah, you need Charisma for that kind of shenanigans, but it makes life of a solo Survivor a lot easier. — rednar · 22
Agnes may dig it! — MrGoldbee · 1471
Stella Clark

When I first looked at Stella, I worried about being able to trigger her ability reliably with lower difficulty Chaos Bags. Then I fooled myself briefly thinking that her ability wasn't much help except as a bonus to the Survivor "win by losing" strategy (it feels really good to attack an enemy with .18 Derringer, miss, Use Oops! to hit another target reloading the pistol in the process, then shoot the original target with Stella's special action).

Now, while both of those are at least partly true, I'm beginning to see Stella's ability as "tempo protection." While a on a critical test will still ruin her day, Stella gets 3 successful actions in a turn far more often than other investigators. The versatility of that "failure insurance action" allows her to do anything, where most of the investigators with bonus actions (e.g. Ursula Downs, Finn Edwards) are constrained to one sort of action, and Stella is a lot more versatile.

Rabbit's foot + Draw Thin. Fail better! — MrGoldbee · 1471
Drawing Thin is insane! Forget Dark Horse, you're going to be rich! Add in Quick Learner x2 and the occasional Eucatastrophe and you will pass the big tests. Neither Rain nor Snow completely negates any treachery with a test, then has 3 wilds, because why not? — Taevus · 775
tempo protection is a really good way to describe it — Zinjanthropus · 229