Vincent Lee has a dark secret, he does not want to talk about. You know, how caring he is about any wounded bystander, he encounters? His mind suffers deeply, whenever he can't help, or at the very least keep them alive. This was not always the case. Once he visited Dunwich, and let somebody die, without regret. He blamed the Unhallowed Country for that.
I think there is a simpler way to get enjoyment from this card than mathematically computing how many that should have been negated. Then you'll not want to purchase it, because you think it does nothing in most tests.
It can give you quite a special experience when you could declare "hah! auto win!" as soon as you have boosted to match the highest minus in the bag, not often what you can feel in this game. If you think of it this way, it always does something on every test that everyone could enjoy until the charge runs out.
My play group is obviously grinning when doing high advantage test with sealed here. I think the card does its job well and we were entertained.
Love this jacket. I created a Charlie Kane deck with lots of animal companions to go with my Rod of Animalism, and despite organizing my allies around animals and a few low-cost people, I was still having money troubles. Then, mid-campaign, I picked up the jacket. NOT ONLY is it extra soak - which I need because I now start every game at 4 & 4 due to trauma - but with sufficient card draw and a few turns, it's a gain of 4 resources. Plus, I get to say that I'm shoving birds, cats, dogs, and people inside my coat and popping them out when the coat inevitably falls apart XD
FoHV has been out for a month and still no reviews, so here's the description from my "One for All" series of decks that has a similar breakdown for each investigator:
Right out of the gate, Ali has an above average statline, the coveted 7/7 in health / sanity, AND a free action she should be able to use nearly every turn. What we're actually doing with that action is not at all straightforward. Parley actions are consistently inconsistent, but they are mostly event cards, and mostly require a nearby enemy. Events and variability means that as long as our Duchess has lots of cards and somebody to talk to, she should have solutions to lots of problems. Her signature card isn't just a powerful tool to make enemies do your bidding, it's a guide that shows you exactly where Alessandra wants to be: elegantly dancing around the board with her short-term frienemies.
True to her Rogue roots, this presents a very risky playstyle. You never know when you're going to run out of interesting things to say, and suddenly all those fishmen you've enamored remember that you stole 6 clams from them, and you're not actually their friend. You'll always want an exit strategy for when you run out of cards, resources, or pull an inopportune autofail. Or when your weakness Zamacona shows up... that guy's a serious creep!
Some archetypes that work well for this template:
The Socialite - Ali just wants to parley, so give her lots of parley cards that work with her stats (foot and book, naturally. Brain if you've got some boosts!). Anything that powers up your parley is important, and Fine Clothes is mandatory if you have it. You'll probably want some improved card draw to keep your hand flush with options (and to find your clothes!). Resources shouldn't be an issue if you bring along cards like Grift and Bianca "Die Katz". Speaking of Bianca, cards that potentially spawn enemies gain utility here as well.
Big Money - The previously mentioned resource generating parley cards are reason enough to give our Countess a head start on a big money build. The fact that having oodles of resources gives you ample opportunity to beef up any and all of your stats (with either static or temporary boosts) is also a very nice way to power up your parleys, regardless of the stat they're testing. Find some wealthy financiers to generate you some resources, and use those resources to fuel engines that make you better at telling everyone how rich and powerful you are! That's capitalism, baby!
Less is More Clues - With your signature in play, you don't really need a tonne of extra parley cards to fully utilize your bonus action. While there are some clue-oriented parley cards worth taking, this still leaves a lot of space for tools that help you investigate and boost your book; so you'll have a really smart army of baddies doing your dirty work at a good safe distance.
Less is More Fights - Agility based characters have gotten a lot of solid options to eliminate enemies over various releases, and Ali can use the same principles in the previous archetype to make her exceptional at enemy management and flying solo. You'll have unrivalled control over when, where, and how many enemies you want to tangle with, and can set the board up for some big multi-target hits. Perhaps best of all, you can laugh at Zamacona whenever he's dumb enough to show his ugly mug in your town.
Uniquely effective and staple cards for Alessandra: British Bull Dog, Fake Credentials, Eldritch Tongue, Fine Clothes, Bianca "Die Katz", Fox Mask, Backstab, Grift, Persuasion, Stir the Pot, Well-Dressed, Vamp, Flashlight, Leo De Luca, Lockpicks, Lone Wolf, Lucky Cigarette Case, Scrimshaw Charm, Streetwise, Underworld Support, "Hit me!", "I'm outta here!", Bank Job, Coup de Grâce, Narrow Escape, Scout Ahead, Slip Away, Nimble, Quick Thinking, basic neutral skills, Drain Essence
