Unspeakable Oath

Unspeakable Oath

By far my least favorite weakness in the entire game. The premise seems interesting enough, but it's the most frustrating thing this game has to offer. If I remember correctly you draw your weakness after you build your deck specifically so you can't build a deck around your weakness. If you're playing something like a guardian it's fine, but t's the second time in the last 5 or so decks I've made that I've drawn this card and have literally no way to deal with this weakness. If I don't have a card in my deck that does at least 2 damage (say almost any level 0 seeker deck) then you're out of luck. The worst part? the card isn't even interesting, all it does is give me a flat 2 experience drain that serves no purpose except to prevent me from actually getting a card that might be able to deal with this stupid weakness.

Vultureneck · 74
Depends on who you play this weakness can be more dynamic or interesting- Patrice for example gets hit by it harder. I also think it's easy enough to adapt your deck to it, as every class has fighting options they can XP into. It's just tough that first scenario, especially as a Seeker. I vastly prefer it mechanically to something really boring like The 13th Vision. — StyxTBeuford · 13072
Every weakness can be crippling if drawn by the wrong investigator, or just at the wrong time. I recently completed a campaign where my basic weakness was Drawing the Sign and I swear it cost me anywhere from 3-5 cards and 2 actions on almost every scenario. It was the most brutal run of luck I've ever had with a weakness. Still won the campaign though, so it can't have been that bad. This is at least interesting, and offers the possibility every time you draw it that it won't even damage you at all except for the marginal tempo loss that you when you draw any weakness. — Sassenach · 189
I'm pretty happy whenever I draw an Unspeakable Oath weakness, the fact that it can be ignored without consequences as bad as trauma or The Price of Failure makes it feel mild. However, the value of 2 experience per scenario does vary with campaign and player count: Dunwich offers less than most while Dream Eaters offers more, and larger teams are more likely to spawn VP enemies, have spare actions to pursue VP, and earn VP from cards with 'Deep' in their name. House rules about choosing weaknesses (like draw 2, pick 1) are quite common, which is perhaps as it should be — Patrice and Doomed both exist. — Spritz · 69
The only cards i know of that a seeker has that deal more than one damage is "I have a plan" and "strange solution" meaning I'd have to XP into level 0 cards, after I just got 2 less experience from this card. And I think weaknesses that hit really hard when they show up can be really interesting, this one is just "oh, guess I get 2 less XP this round" — Vultureneck · 74
In fairness, I've Got a Plan is a fairly common Seeker take- the one Seeker who doesn't take it also happens to be the one who gets Guardian weapons anyway. Ursula and even Rex and Mandy can spec into Ornate Bow. It's really not that hard to deal with as a Seeker, it's just more of a reach than some others. And fortunately, Seekers tend to not need as much XP to be great anyway. i really don't see this as that bad of a weakness at all, certainly not in comparison to something like The Tower. — StyxTBeuford · 13072
I don't see how this competes with Doomed for least favorite weakness. I think this weakness hits harder at higher player counts since investigators tend to be more one dimensional but even then Seekers (hit the worst by this card) usually have an off class set of cards in addition to I've Got a Plan. Daisy can use Shrivelling. Joe is fine. Ursula adds the Ornate Bow after the first scenario. Minh has Fire Axe. Mandy has many options with her sub-classes. Rex has his 5 splash cards so he has options including Dynamite. But this card will definitely hurt decks that don't include any cards that do damage because they are just focused on getting clues. For most this is barely an inconvenience. And it hits the Dunwich campaign harder than other campaigns. — The Lynx · 1024
I’m unsure on damage timing. Can Blood Rite clear this? — Kergma · 11
I want to say yes because I believe the effect needs to be resolved in full, so it would be a full 2 damage. — StyxTBeuford · 13072
I believe Blood Rite can clear Bloodthirst — normally the phrase "one at a time" is used when this kind of effect is not intended to be simultaneous. — Spritz · 69
It is not much consolation, but every seeker can run Knife. Blood Rite is probably a much better plan tho. — Death by Chocolate · 1504
This has never been about which weakness hurts your investigator the most or has the most massive impact. Of course I like Doomed way more than this weakness, It's probably the most interesting weakness in the game. Any weakness in the category of "this experience drain is a short price to pray for such a mild weakness" already makes me hate it. And I get there are level 0 options for dealing with it, but I DIDN'T PUT THEM IN THE DECK, I like how some weaknesses can be detrimental in different decks, but this is the only one I've ever seen where I actually needed to change my deck because of it. — Vultureneck · 74
I guess I dont get the point of your complaint or your card review then. A weakness that makes you change your deck to deal with it means it’s not that mild. If you find it boring then that’s your opinion, but it’s certainly not boring in someone like Patrice who sees her precious hand size cut down from it. I dont really see how you separate the fun of a weakness from what it forces you to do to adapt to it since that’s kind of the entire point of weaknesses. — StyxTBeuford · 13072
I'd like to hear one other example of a weakness that made someone decide to spend xp to put level 0 cards in their deck. My other problem with is it is you don't even need to adapt, the card has almost no impact in the actual scenario, that's what makes it boring. Also Patrice is a very unique case, when talking about the general application of a weakness I don't think she is very relevant. — Vultureneck · 74
My point was that weaknesses can be more interesting depending on the deck, and I was just citing one particular example where this weakness has an interesting interaction in my opinion. I think generally this weakness is most interesting in people who can't fight regularly, and least interesting in Guardians who will fulfill the requirement naturally. — StyxTBeuford · 13072
Well while I still feel like it's a boring weakness and with a more circumstantial clear condition than the other unspeakable oaths it looks like I'm in the minority here. — Vultureneck · 74
@StyxTBeuford It hitting Patrice harder doesn't make it more dynamic or interesting. 13th Vision is a MUCH better designed card. — Tilted Libra · 37
People saying you can just take the Ornate Bow to covert this are silly. That bow isn't good in most Seekr decks due to taking two hands, and that is a huge investment just to cover a weakness. — Tilted Libra · 37
We've got "I've got a plan" (2) and "Occult Lexicon" (3) since the release of this review. So the complaint, that there are only level 0 versions are not ongoing anymore. — Susumu · 383

Moonstone

Moonstone

In addition to the ways described above to circumvent Moonstone play restriction, Unearth the Ancients should work. It indeed allows Moonstone to be "put into play", which is different from "play(ed". It may mostly be relevant in a Ursula Downs deck (maybe Minh Thi Phan as well), but still deserved to be mentioned.

Binoux · 27
Unfortunately, Unearth the Ancients only works on Seeker assets — which is a shame since Moonstone would be quite good in a level zero Ursula if there were an easy way to get it into play. — Spritz · 69
As Spritz mentioned, Unearth and Ancients only works on Seeker assets; however, Archaic Glyphs: Markings of Isis, if you have it, will work. I think it's debatable whether Moonstone is better in Ursula decks than the Tooth of Eztli though, which gives similar boosts (albeit only for treacheries), doesn't have a play restriction, and provides card draw. — iceysnowman · 164
Moon Stone is more useful but harder to play. I use both Moon Stone and Tooth of Eztli and use Dr. Elli Horowitz to search for Moon Stone, if not found I get Tooth of Eztli instead. — AquaDrehz · 205

Luke Robinson

Luke Robinson

There are a lot of good combos with him (some were already mentioned before):

  • Crack the Case when a fellow investigator finishes the last clue at a connecting location, and as his ability is per turn, you can also use an other event in your own turn.
  • Unfotunatelly Vantage Points doesn't work for his weakness, but you can also use it with the Box. It makes his location 0 shroud so it is auto-success other than auto-fail, and you can get a clue from any location to it. It pairs very well with Hawk-Eye Folding Camera. When you investigate the dream-gate you trigger the camera. You can do this multiple times in a game (ofc you need to put a clue on it to work) as per rules Limits and Maximums every time the Gate enters play it is a new instance. Alternatively you can use Dr. William T. Maleson or Quick Study to put a clue on your location. The later can greatly help if you want to investigate the weakness side of the Gate, and makes the investigation meaningful.
  • Barricade non-elites.
  • Shortcut(0) by wording causes a double move.
  • Time-warp an other investigators action from a connecting location (doesn't take up your turns event). You can even pull the other investigator back to your self if he/she moves away. Good if revealing location wasn't such a good idea, or if you only want to troll a little.
  • My favorite for a multi investigator game is Open Gate. You want to get your teammates from an other location? Or send them away? Put down a Gate on your location, enter the Box, then put down an other gate anywhere on the map by using his ability. You can even end up on a third location (and put a Gate there too).
  • Open Gate has an other good use. If there is already a Gate in play, when you draw your weakness, put down a Gate in the pointless reality, so you can move away without investigating. Its fast so you only have to move. Ofc you lose one of your Gate cards, but if you weren't ready for investigating the location it can be a good alternative. Edit:
  • Knowledge is Power is awesome to use shrivelling on neighborhood enemies.
vidinufi · 69

Hastur's Gaze

Hastur's Gaze

This card is a lot more dangerous than it looks. Should you be trying to reach Dim Carcosa via the Vortex, ie, leave through the Abbey Tower, then you could be in a bind.

Once you advance the "c" agenda to part 3, it will become an Act, and you will be unable to put any Doom on it. Furthermore, you will need to get this card out of your hand to investigate the Abbey Tower, which you cannot do via the Tower's ability or anything else that requires a choice of card discard. If you draw it at this point, you will be locked, unable to complete the scenario until you find a way to get rid of it.

Your only options at this point are to draw and fail either Twisted to His Will or Worlds Merge (the latter requiring you also to have 3 or fewer cards in hand). With the waters of the "a" agenda rising, this is quite possibly a campaign-ending situation, especially on Solo where you have no partner to finish off the Abbey Tower.

If you are playing on Solo - you must plan for this card, either with cancellation, or waiting to draw it before finishing off the "c" agenda. On multiplayer, you must also be aware that once the "c" agenda is finished, anyone drawing this (probably) won't be able to help win.

[NB: as an aside, the "a" agenda equivalent, Hastur's Grasp causes no such issue with it's Chapel of St. Aubert, which makes me think that this interaction was not intended, and this card is accidental in it's potential to lock you out].

duke_loves_biscuits · 1295
Actually, Not even random discard/discard whole hand effects could save you, since the rules explicitly say hidden cards cannot be discarded except by its own ability. Which means this card will be a death sentence if you fail to cancel it. — ak45 · 475

Henry Wan

Henry Wan

It strikes me that this card may soon see a new lease of life (or rather a lease of life, since it fizzled on arrival). The reason is that Haste is now a thing. Haste is a fantastic card that will most likely see an awful lot of run in rogue decks. It combos with Henry Wan really well.

The problem with Henry, as has been comprehensively demonstrated by various mathematical savants from the moment this card was released, is that it's almost never worth using the action it requires to trigger his ability because you're only about 50/50 to succeed on more than one pull, meaning you might just as well have taken a standard resource or card draw action. But what if it was a free action ? Haste effectively turns it into a free action because it's an 'activate' action. Fighting with any kind of weapon counts as an activation, as does investigating with Lockpicks or Sixth Sense or any number of other useful actions. This means that you can theoretically do any of these things, gaining a free activate action that you use to trigger Henry's ability. You wouldn't even need to gamble very much. You could just make one pull and in effect it would become "take two fight actions then draw one card", which would be awesome. If you want to gamble for more then you can still do that of course, and since it would only be a free action that you're using it wouldn't be the end of the world if you whiff.

This could be a great combo for Tony or Skids in particular since they value the horror soak. I can't wait to try it out.

Sassenach · 189
I'm not sure if Henry Wan is worth the opportunity cost. I think if you're really trying to get extra resources, Dario El-Amin could probably offer a more consistent two resources every round. For Henry to be better, you'd need to either be in combat a lot (in which case Haste would be usable for combat purposes), or really need the draw rather than the resource. — Ruduen · 1058
That, and of course, all rogue allies still have to compete with Leo De Luca giving you the same draw/resource every turn directly or more flexibly by simply giving you an extra action to draw/gain a resource with, meaning you're probably looking at secondary options after already getting both Haste and Charisma. — Ruduen · 1058
Leo de Luca is better than almost every ally in the game. It gets boring after a while. What's the point in having a diverse card pool if you never use most of it ? — Sassenach · 189
There is room for other Rogue allies. Gregory Gry and Dario are good backups if you want more resources. The problem is that even for Haste synergy Wan is awful compared to those guys. Wan will really only ever get played if seal gets buffed in such a way that we are able to seal all of the spooky tokens. — StyxTBeuford · 13072
The difference here is that it can be used for either resources or card draw, and the latter is more valuable. I think it's worth experimenting with. Henry is still most likely going to be a useless card most of the time, but the addition of Haste does at least make him viable, — Sassenach · 189
I still dont see it. Safer to take two draw actions and use your Haste trigger to get a third card. — StyxTBeuford · 13072
How can you use Henry twice in a row? You have to exhaust him. — batman14 · 7