True Scavenger

Patrice Hathaway is special. She is always fun to play, though rarely perceived as particularly strong investigator. When trying to build a solid Scavenger, the Cursed Performer came to mind.

This interpretation of Patrice combines 3 archetypes: 1) the traditional Patrice with icons, Cornered and a very safe Summoned Hound; 2) the Scavenging archetype, oversucceeding the tests to recycle cheap items; 3) the archetype to compensate for her Cursed trait - and because she can do it better than anyone else.

After a few scenarios of not-so-serious struggles, the key upgrades turn Patrice into a very strong, very resilient and most importantly, very fun-to-play cluever who reliably keeps the bag full of tokens, is able to trigger Scavenging pretty much every turn, passes the important tests and just exceeds all expectations.

Key observations

Don't worry too much about your low statline, you have more than enough tools to compensate. Even the Moonstone is an unnecessary luxury I like to keep around just because Patrice can play it literally for free. Similarly Track Shoes are not here for +1 but for the free movement.

Resource management: The synergy between Madame Labranche and Schoffner's Catalogue is greater than it looks, allowing to land most successful Scavengings with 0 coin immediately turning into 1 coin. For the most value, Scavenge the Catalogue every other turn and pay for your partner's weapons.

Health management: the idea was to Scavenge the Fine Clothes as much as possible but it turned out that with Madame Labranche, Summoned Hound, the very defensive statline supported by Moonstone and all the tokens around, Patrice doesn't really need the soak.

Weakness management: While The Watcher from Another Dimension looks menacing and Patrice obviously needs a plan to deal with it, it usually is no less than a slight annoyance. For a rather low price (drawing 4 cards instead of 5), you can choose when you want to deal with it. Feel free to wait for the right moment: Last Chance or Promise of Power usually indicates the right time. Smack it with a Shovel, Shrivel it, let your Hound handle it or just evade it. If you happen to commit Signum Crucis, even better.

Action management: Patrice's greatest weakness. One Hound helps, two Hounds even more - double Charisma is affordable to keep Madame Labranche around too. Don't waste your precious actions to play items! Just make sure to get Scavenging, Cornered and Madame Labranche on the table, your oversuccess will take care of the rest. Notice that all your key cards are and use your Resourcefuls accordingly. Track Shoes will reduce the number of actions wasted by moving.

Enemy management: in principle, you want a fighter to join you - preferably a fighter with a Sacred Covenant. However I strongly prefer to play a copy of Shrivelling to be able to help and wander on my own without fear.

Time & Place management: In general, it is a good idea to stick with fellow investigators. Commit to their important tests, pay for their weapons with your infinite Schoffner's money, give them cards or money playing your violin. In fact they may want to be your Safeguards.

Upgrade management:

Scavenging, Cornered and Ancient Covenant to make everything work. 10 XP

A Chance Encounter, Summoned Hound and Charisma for the clue or hit almost every turn. 19 XP.

What next? Pack 2 Favors of the Sun to secure important tests, Plucky is an excellent free buff and soak, Ice Picks are just fantastic in this build. 30 XP.

Disclaimer on balance:

All of the above may read strong and yes, when decently set-up, the deck is very strong. But the problem with Patrice, a problem which makes her a true survivor, is everything is so damn difficult to plan. You never know what you're gonna draw and the whole game is a game of improvisation and making very difficult choices. And while Madame Labranche, Schoffner's Catalogue and Patrice's Violin work wonders, somehow you keep wishing you just had more money. You will often commit or just discard excellent cards because you have no money or no actions to make better use of them. And sometimes a genuinly good thing like an can cause you some headaches - to reshuffle or not to reshuffle?

This deck provides enough options to be sure you can always do something useful - maybe not as much as you'd dream of, but that's life. You often have to pick 1 of 2 or even 3 key assets to play and often hate yourself for the choices made. If I was to prioritize:

1. Don't miss a chance to Encounter a Hound! The clue almost every turn is what makes the real difference. With the Hound out you can feel less stupid spending multiple turns just setting your assets because at least you'll get a few clues to progress the game.

2. Play a copy of Scavenging and when you have the right amount of money, do not hesitate to overcommit heavily to get the item that helps you the most into play (I usually focus on Schoffner's Catalogue, Patrice's Violin and Track Shoes - in this order).

3. Take care of your money: be it Madame Labranche, Patrice's Violin or ideally both (the latter can be scavenged anytime though). Many important cards in the deck cost 3, with Madame Labranche and the Violin out, you'll always have 2.

Only then start spending money on the luxury (Keep Faith, Favor of the Sun and honestly, even Cornered.