Pete is likely the best generalist in the game, whether in true solo or as a flexible addition to multiplayer. Here’s some key aspects to Pete and his loyal companion Duke:
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Free move actions! Duke must have some bloodhound in him, since he drags you to connecting locations and then does his investigation skill test. This often means blindly moving to an unrevealed location and hoping for a clue. Note the clarifications that you complete the investigation before any enemies engage.
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Duke does an innate 2-damage attack and starts in play. It’s hard to overstate how powerful this fact is. There’s no need to dig for a Machete or Shrivelling asset, just get investigating on turn 1 and don’t look back!
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Great defensive stats! His high and average mean that he does well against the encounter deck. A Test of Will should be a staple, and several Survivor allies boost his further and make this event more reliable.
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Terrible offensive (active) stats! Pete can’t effectively cope with locations and treacheries that test his low or . If you need to lift something heavy you’re in trouble unless you can get some icons to commit.
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Great at the one or two actions from Duke, which use a base skill of 4. Therefore, you should aim to do one or two every turn. You will sometimes be tempted to just play assets or events, but you should really really be aiming to use Duke at least once per turn to avoid wasting precious time.
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Because of the way Duke does most of the investigating and fighting, you really want cards that stack on top of his stats. Ice Pick, Plucky, and Granny Orne are all great ways to boost your that play nice with Duke. In contrast any card with a separate Investigate or Fight action cannot stack, such as Flashlight, Lantern, Winging It, or any weapon.
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Your ability resets Duke for free. So aim to use Duke as one of your first couple actions in case you get lucky, that way you’ll still have an action remaining to use him again.
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No card is a ever a dead card. Every card can always reset Duke, effectively becoming a +2 and a free movement action!
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A powerful affinity card for Pete is A Glimmer of Hope. Every Pete deck should have 3 copies! It saves draw actions, letting you draw up to 3 cards with one action to fuel your loyal companion. For this reason the card is often called Dog Chow or Scooby Snacks.
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While I haven’t had much success with using Scavenging to cycle items, I heartily recommend Resourceful to re-use your best cards. Same with Scrounge for Supplies. If you do go this route, certainly run Short Supply, which can give you something to dig for on turn 1. It also can give you some foresight about which weaknesses you will and won’t see. And it often jump-starts getting copies of A Glimmer of Hope in the discard pile, making it work sooner than it otherwise would.
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Pro tips for cycling your deck: be sure to have all copies of Glimmer of Hope in your hand before cycling. That way you can continue using them to full effect instead of losing that capability for the rest of the scenario. Similarly, if your weakness is near the very bottom, consider cycling your deck before clearing your weakness. That way it will not hit you on your second time through your deck.
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Other staples for Pete include Lucky! as well as Live and Learn, which convert wasted actions into successful ones by overcoming an unlucky draw from the chaos bag.
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Even with the fortune events, I suggest starting a campaign with Rabbit's Foot, and then replace it once you have acquired some experience and are passing tests reliably. It's just because generalists can’t excel at everything right off the bat. Once failures are less frequent it’s no longer needed, but early on it offers a vital consolation for otherwise-wasted actions.
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Wracked by Nightmares is not a terrible signature weakness per se, but it really really hurts if you happen to draw it and have to deal with an enemy. In my experience the best options are to cling to a Manual Dexterity to flee at times like these. Or even better, use a flex card slot to pack Spectral Razor
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Speaking of flex cards (the five level 0 cards from any faction), there’s lots of great choices. Many decks here hail from years when the card pool was small, so take note that there are better options available now. For example, Vicious Blow might now be replaced by Long Shot. Ward of Protection is less common now that A Test of Will is available. Ice Pick is a great alternative to Magnifying Glass and it can also help in combat.
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A couple cards that remain classics for Pete are the (slotless) Fieldwork and the Duke-approved Inspiring Presence. A card from 2024 that will surely see plenty of use with Pete is Wolf Mask. But lately I’ve tended towards powerful pricey allies like Leo De Luca, which in turn leads me to prefer the income provided by Lone Wolf. YMMV.
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As Pete gains experience, he has lots of amazing allies to pick from. Note that Duke doesn’t use up the ally slot, so you can assemble quite the team on your tableau. I’m a big fan of The Black Cat and Granny Orne, but it’s hard to argue against classics like Peter Sylvestre or Aquinnah
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You can also spend experience on powerful events. Hate the chaos bag? Ignore it for a turn with Will to Survive. Do you tend to run out of time? Just remove doom with Fickle Fortune and/or Fortune or Fate. For a guy down on his luck, Pete can sometimes have a lucky streak…
That's all the play tips and key cards that I can think of. What advice or cards do you find play well for Pete?
