Book of Shadows

As of Core + Dunwich through Undimensioned and Unseen this card simply doesn't seem to have a place. 'Add charges to spells' seems like a solid concept, but this card unlike any other in the game is demanding in money, actions AND slots. Money and hand-slot could perhaps be forgiven, but the sheer number of actions required in order to make this card useful are insane. It's 4r + 2 actions + 1 hand to refresh your Shriveling or RotS once.

The card seemingly is meant to bend towards 'hardcore casters' who want more than two spells and want to cast them all a lot, but by the time you've bought this AND three other spells AND burnt one of those spells of it's charges the game had better well be over or you're probably not going to win. You're better off just overwriting one of your original two spells with the third that you need right now. Now, of course, we do have a character who can use Tome actions for free and uses spells! Ah but wait Daisy Walker is a Seeker, and as such doesn't have access to this card outside of Jim teamwork shenanigans...

It's just a huge miss. Maybe one day we'll have someone who can use certain charged spells without using actions, and when that happens this card will probably still be trash tier. It simply is too far removed from viable play in resource cost, action efficiency, and intended function for it to be worth even the deck slot, let alone 3 exp.

The one thing that might change my mind is if in the future we see a big expensive spell with a single, or limited, charges much the way that Shotgun is mad expensive but also dependent on Extra Ammunition

Difrakt · 1325
I think this card is practically made for Akachi Onyele and I will be getting it we survive the next scenario in our campaign. — Panzerbjrn · 19
I feel like this card is created to support a very specific build revolving around Scrying, Shrivelling, and Mists of R'lyeh. This card will easily support all three, and Norman Withers is a superb clue-getter/support figure with this as a foundation. Honestly, so long as Norman has a partner who can reliably defeat enemies, he should be worrying about anything other than controlling the encounter deck and gathering clues. Anything else he does is just gravy. Book of Shadows doesn't only not suck for this purpose, it's essential. — crymoricus · 252
Yeah, I've been playing hardcore with Marie and Book for a couple days, and this thing is definitely for Marie more than any other investigator, because it's basically a free action with doom out, so long as you're using the charges. Everything in the arcane slots beats everything in the hand slots for Marie, too. — crymoricus · 252
Is anyone else willing to house rule that — Stigles · 1
Can be used to pump charges into Seal of the Seventh Sign, which is quite strong, and even provides the extra slot for it. Am xp-intensive combo to be sure, but quite strong. — SGPrometheus · 847
Rabbit's Foot

Sounds weird, but this tag is better on easy/standard difficulty than on hard/expert. Sure, the ability triggers more often on tougher skill tests, but the best strategy on a higher difficulty is to do everything you can to minimize the number of skill tests you attempt, or make them auto-successes, with e.g. Flashlight or Will to Survive. When we do attempt skill tests, we want to boost them with sufficient skill cards that we'll actually pass them. So Rabbit's Foot is just going to go a long way to pay off, if it ever does.

Pros

  • Good click-compression in decks that are likely to fail repeatedly at certain actions. Like my beloved Wendy at fighting or investigating.
  • Synergizes well with other cards with the same triggering condition: List
  • Decent install cost.
  • 1 -icon to boost skill tests.
  • Can form a very clunky combo with Scavenging: Commit Rabbit's Foot from hand to a skill test. If it was an investigation attempt, you are not allowed to retrieve Rabbit's foot after the same test, but in any case after the next successful investigation attempt.

Cons

  • The effect is mediocre with the one-time usability restriction per round.
  • It takes up a valuable accessory slot.
Synisill · 804
Baseball Bat

UPDATE (Path to Carcosa released):

Now that William Yorick joined the ranks, Baseball Bat has found it's love. His ability is meant to retrieve assets from the discard pile. The risk of splitting the bat during a swing is huge (3 out of 16 tokens), so besides Yorick's convenient retrieval method, there are two more investigators likely using the bat: Wendy Adams can reduce the risk of breaking the bat in the first place with her draw-again-ability, and Agnes Baker could use it as a fallback weapon together with her spells.

With the bat in both hands you can hold ground against a group of enemies and deal 2 damage with each blow consistently. The +2 is a dire necessity for investigators who are weak in the knees.

Pros

  • Unconditional +1 damage, doesn't use up supplies, +2 for each attack.
  • Can be retrieved with Scavenging or Yorick's ability.

Cons

  • Two-handed weapon. Don't underestimate this drawback - this weapon competes not only with other weapons, in fact, you should consider any asset which you can not play while baseball bat fills your hands. One could include Bandolier to attenuate this disadvantage.
  • There is a high risk of losing it at the worst possible moment.
  • Don't waste it to boost skill tests.
Synisill · 804
Any build with Scavenging can make reasonably good use of a baseball bat. Wendy most especially. In the standard chaos bag, there are 2 skulls and one tentacle out of 17 possible tokens. So you have an 18% chance to break the bat each time you make an attack (and you do get the benefit of the bat on that turn). However, with the ability to redraw her chaos token, Wendy greatly reduces the odds of pulling one of those 3 tokens twice in a row. Additionally, if she *does* pull it, she can scavenge the bat back in hand - at that point the 2 cost is pretty reasonable to replay it. So the Baseball Bat is mostly good as an addition to a deck that is already planning to run Scavenging. Outside of that, the risk and two hand cost is probably way too high. However, if you have such a deck, and you need a weapon, the Baseball Bat is a reasonable choice. — Ergonomic Cat · 53
I include the bat in my own Wendy builds, too. You illustrate the combo with Scavenging a way too easy, i think. First, 18% with every swing is pretty chancy - everytime you draw the skull with Wendy, you have to decide if you prefer to lose a card and maybe the retry or let the bat hit, which leaves you in a very unfavorable position, if this hit does not kill the beast. Together with Wendy's Intellect of 3, the combo is hard to pull off. Other investigators with higher Intellect, on the other side, are unlikely to use the bat at all. Just my objection, please feel free to use the combo. Would be nice to hear of good results here on this page, i like the unique feel of that weapon! — Synisill · 804
I reckon that the Baseball bat is a decent backup-weapon for Agnes Baker. She's a spellcaster, so she will often have hands to spare. She can also use Shrivelling and her unique "Deal 1 damage if she takes Horror"-ability to handle most threats. But for low Fight, 2 hit point monsters such as ghoul minions and mobsters, this is a decent tool for her. Most other investigators have better options, I think. — olahren · 3567
Leather Coat

The leather coat is the current state-of-the-art proactive damage prevention tool! As a survivor character, i would pack one every time i go out adventuring. The inclusion is harder to justify for other factions as they miss the opportunity to recycle old coats.

Pros

  • Leather Coat uses a body slot, only two other cards, Bulletproof Vest, Fine Clothes, compete for this slot.
  • Phenomenal install cost. It's a handy throw-away card if you are hit by events which force you to throw assets away. I would argue further that a second copy in your deck is never a dead draw.
  • Combines well with Scavenging
  • Great click compression, compared to other heal tools like Emergency Aid, First Aid, Medical Texts and Painkillers. Guardians more likely use Dodge to avoid 2 damage.

Cons

  • Protects the wearer only.
  • Should be played before enemies appear, during a fight it's useless.
  • Don't waste it to boost skill tests.
Synisill · 804
If you're using scavening, you CAN use this card to boost combat tests as well as wendy or ashcan's ability. When discarded by damage, you can even play it again, if you scavenge successfully. — Django · 5162
It's all about Yorick and Survival Knife, Baby. Toss in other soak, and kablamo -- free actions. — crymoricus · 252
Jim's Trumpet

So people wax happy for Jims trumpet in multiplayer, where it triggers very often. Do not be fooled, however, as even though the trumpet triggers 4x as often your allies are taking roughly 4x as much horror in aggregate. In this sense it matches the scale of the game in multiplayer, but it does not exceed it.

Although there is a catch. When Jim plays you can choose who gets the horror. In a 3p game with Jim Daisy and Roland, Jim can tail Roland and play his sweet soothing jazz, effectively moving some of the games horror load from fragile Roland to mentally hardy Daisy and Jim. This margin is where the trumpet is actually super effective in multiplayer.

that being said the trumpet can do work on its own in solo or 2p, provided you have the action economy to afford it. Further Jim's passives make him pretty hardy in hard and Expert difficulties, so don't let his unique asset scare you away from trying him there!

Difrakt · 1325
Getting done with a campaign we did last night we can say this: This does wonders if you are in 2p and the fellow investigator is lower sanity and helps heal horror Jim might take. This said, you want to pair this with Clarity of mind and/or Liquid Courage for healing more horror (and consistently). — Tanakoskyler22 · 84