Waylay

So turns out, duke_loves_biscuits already mentioned it - this card is suited for Finn Edwards.

I will add a small caveat. With Anatomical Diagrams. Most of the time you wouldn't even consider that card for a cluegathering style. Although Finn does it already well enough with Lockpicks. Otherwise Finn is an assassin. He understands and sees through the human anatomy so he could pull a stunt like this.

Even more to it, some enemies have an agility below two ([Hunting Nightgaunt](/card/01172), Relentless Dark Young, Wizard of the Order), so he can perform two action(one of them free) with 99% accuracy. Would you pay 4 resources and an action to deal with Hunting Nightgaunt? I would!

In total I'll start the Finn campaign with 2x Anatomical Diagrams, 2x Lucky! and Waylay. To later swap in Fight or Flight and Practice Makes Perfect. Second Anatomical Diagrams is for a combo with Eavesdrop.

I've basically written a small review for Finn here, because I don't really see Waylay being used anywhere else. I would welcome any suggestions in the comments :)

Finn

ambiryan13 · 178
Well Connected

A non-obvious aspect of Well Connected (3)'s ready ability is that its main ability is NOT "limit once per test." You can exhaust it to boost a test, ready it during the same player window, and exhaust again to boost that same test.

This is especially important to know about defensively, sacrificing a few resources in order to pass an important test before you've actually acquired your full hoard of cash. This means that Well Connected (3) can protect you much earlier in the game than Well Connected (0) -- doing so does delay your set-up, but in the case that you're forced to make a "must pass" test (e.g. Frozen in Fear; an untimely Crypt Chill; a must-evade enemy that arrived before you were ready to handle it; or even an early Act-progressing test), that is often worth it.

E.g. this is very useful to keep in mind for Preston Fairmont, who can basically double his test value in a pinch using this trick, and who has an easier time recovering from the expense. And who is likely to be quite vulnerable before being fully set up.

"Ashcan" Pete can also do this trick with a splashed Well Connected (0), by discarding a card to ready it. Pete doesn't generally need protection, but he can use the trick to hit much higher difficulties than expected, or to enable oversuccess if, say, splashing Lucky Cigarette Case or playing Brute Force/Sharp Vision/Expeditious Retreat.

anaphysik · 95
Sleuth

Tactic contains some expensive one-off attack events. Building for just event discount rather than test boosting can be a lot of fun too, and shape the deck away from asset stacking style. (Same for Prophetic with Fortune, Crafty with Trick/Insight. All the non-asset traits.)

I feel like 3 on an Event is much more agonizing to pay than 3 on an Asset as they are one-off, so -2 cost here is a much better deal than it looks considering these events need the right timing to play. It is perfectly fine to "waste" 2 replenishing resources as what you get is the readiness to play strong Events.

When I get to -2 on 2~3 cost Event, it is enough to make them feel like an entirely new card, as a part of experience of using them is often painfully holding them on hand while waiting for resources or even queue up until you can setup other Asset first. You may even have no choice but to commit it away with everything considered, a lot of opportunities lost.

Anyways, here are some early events :

But this card is strategically priced at 3 pips, limiting characters that could take it, while not having and icons, so aiming for and discount is a puzzle. At the same time it is fun to think about which specific character can really play which card at discount while the others can't, really set the theme that a character may have special talent unlike no other.

"Skids" O'Toole with 2x 2x 2x of each core Rogue events at discount would feel like superpower but his access is only up to Lv.2 so the plan is foiled. Instead Parallel Roland Banks can have his niche to be able to swiftly use events. Or go great length to have Zoey Samaras use Elusive and Cunning Distraction as her splashes? Who can Waylay at 1 cost? These series of card has been fun so far to build on and I am glad it is at 3 XP instead of 2.

5argon · 10146
Charon's Obol

As I play through Arkham Horror I like this card less and less. Some scenarios just aren't meant to be survived. The small exp buff this provides isn't enough to deal with the instant death from failing these scenarios.

Maybe good in a campaign that doesn't have an auto fail... but otherwise skip.

drjones87 · 193
What scenarios aren't meant to be survived? — Nenananas · 257
Theres not a lot I'd call auto fail. Maybe Depths of Yoth if you've really been pissing Yig off? Even so: I think in the trickier campaigns you'd still be fine if you just run I'm Outta Here. — Maseiken · 1
I think it's good some people are hesitant to take this. If that weren't the case it would pretty much be free XP for every single Rogue. When you take this you're taking a risk, but that's the Rogue life. What is less fun though is that if the person taking this DOES end up dying, they might just not want to continue the campaign rather than pick a fresh investigator. I think once can always pick an OP investigator that requires little XP and still do fine in the later scenarios. — Nenananas · 257
I took it once in Trish, because I was lured by the interaction with Whitton. Played "Return to the Doom of Eztli" with it. I had the rope and the option to span over the Viper Pit with it, so that everybody can bypass it, or simply "get outa there", and leaving the others, including the one carrying the Relic of Ages behind with no chance to get out. I choosed helping the others and died in the next mythos phase. Still think, this was the right choice, because failing to recover the RoA in that scenario bears a bigger disservice for everybody (either trying it again with less time or piling up on vengeance) than starting with a new level 0 character in "Threads of Fate". — Susumu · 366
@Susumu Picks Charon's Obol, still sacrifices themself to benefit the team. A true Arkham Horror hero (insert good guy greg meme here) — snacc · 982
The consequences of either having +10 Yig's Fury or retrying the scenario with 1 less round and potentially completely wiping out the party seemed to be a worse choice to me than sacrificing Trish. And I could have been lucky to survive the mythos phase and be outa there next round. But that's the problem with the obol, imho. That it makes the Rogue a liability for the whole group. You either try to protect them, possibly forfeiting XP for the group like with "Delve Too Deep", because a "Rotting Remains" might kill them, or they possibly have to resign before they have done their job, failing scenarios because of that, or they have to restart a new level 0 investigator mid campaign. Either option is not great for the progress of the game. — Susumu · 366
Hallowed Mirror

One key difference between this card and the base card that hasn't been touched on...

When the level 0 version leaves play, it takes soothing melodies with it and you can't get them back for the rest of the scenario (removed from game). As such the level 0 version has slot pressure on it for other good Guardian cards.

This text however is absent on this card, meaning once it leaves play your melodies stay, albeit they're the downgraded version of the spell. This removes slot pressure without having to take relic hunter, which further increases the versatility of this card.

drjones87 · 193