Raise the Stakes

Raise the Stakes

One of the O'Bannions approaches you...

"Want to play a game?" he says with a sinister grin.

You see through his ploys; this is a game you cannot win. You consider your options:

  • Accept the game, but cheat: you'll win the game, keep your money, but they'll know...
  • Accept the game, play by their rules: you'll lose, they keep your money, but will leave you alone for now...
  • Reject their offer: the O'Bannions won't like that you rejected their "generous" offer, and start wondering why you're even here. Their men will be ready to "kick you out"...
Nenananas · 267
Often best to keep $ low btwn turns and pick #2. — MrGoldbee · 1483
Real talk 2 and 3 are the only options; the universe will punish you heavily for cheating. — SGPrometheus · 829
@MrGoldbee My understanding is that if you do not have 5 resources you cannot pick that option. — Time4Tiddy · 247
NM - I see that's been clarified below, and wow we've been playing this much harder than we have to. — Time4Tiddy · 247
Thanks on the nice words on "Hypnotic Gaze". Really liked that one as well. — Susumu · 381

Winifred Habbamock

Winifred Habbamock

For those asking "what core investigator role is Winifred best suited for: Fighter or Cluever?", it appears that she is capable of being built as either one. Similar to Jenny Barnes and Finn Edwards, the Rogue card pool can make Wini into a Cluever (Lockpicks, Lola Santiago) or into a Fighter.

As a Fighter, she can be built in two different ways:

Option 1 - Agility. Built similarly to Finn's fighting style, trying to leverage her Agility (Ornate Bow, Sneak Attack, Backstab).

Option 1 - Strength. Now with Lonnie Ritter and Delilah O'Rourke as part of the card pool, Wini could be a gun-wielding Fighter as well due to these allies bringing Wini's Strength to 5.

Sharpshooter is an interesting card that helps either of these two combat options. Wini now gets to attack using her Agility score instead (which would be 5, instead of attacking at 3 Strength).
Added to Option 1, any Agility boosters would make this even better (The Moon • XVIII, Lola Santiago, Cat Burglar).

If added to Option 2, with Lonnie and Delilah, then Wini would be at a base of 6 Agility, and attacking using that rather than her base Strength of 5. Sharpshooter would also give a +2 bonus from the two Strength boosts that each ally provides. So Wini would be shooting a gun with a combat skill of 8, plus the bonus from the weapon she is using. Pretty good! Checkout my review of Sharpshooter if you'd like to unpack the topic more.


So, what role is Winifred best suited for? I'm going to vote Fighter.
Fighting usually requires high skill tests, and you are rewarded more for over-committing to these tests than compared to clue gathering. Also, a lot of the Rogue weapons reward you for over-succeeding, so you might as well play Wini this way. Otherwise, why are you playing an over-succeed investigator? What's the payoff?

What do you think? Is Wini's "optimal" build to be a Fighter, or a Cluever?
Feel free to share details about strategies and cards that help bolster her "optimal" role.

VanyelAshke · 181
She's flex! — MrGoldbee · 1483
I think she is a cluegetter that packs a big punch with the Mauser (and then an upgrade), Lonnie/Delilah and Sharpshooter. She can still have one Lockpicks in the other hand and then some of the clue event cards. — The Lynx · 987
I used her in a 3p game as a cluever. She and Chuck scooped up clues with ease using Pilfer (3). Sometimes she helps out in support by doing a Sneak Attack (2) at the breakneck (haha) speed with her pal Chuck. — toastsushi · 74
She's a great flex gator, meaning she does fighting and clue getting well. She draws fast enough and has such great economy, and she's able to overcommit with significantly less opportunity cost, that her stats actually go much further than you'd think. Those 3's ast more like 4's or 5's in a normal gator since you're always committing 2 cards instead of 1. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
Wini is absolutely a generalist. Note that Lockpicks and Mauser both exhaust (though Mauser can ready itself on an oversuccess), which points her, like many Rogues, toward trying to use both each turn whenever possible. Sharpshooter, in her set, amplifies this by making both her investigates (with lockpicks) and her attacks add Agility, so load up her deck with the powerful Agility and Wild Rogue skills. — Thatwasademo · 58
(er, to clarify, you can't use Agility skills on Lockpick investigations, though you can on Sharpshooter attacks -- the Lockpicks give you the typical Lockpick-Rogue base of 8 though, so that's fine) — Thatwasademo · 58
Good catch, on the Mauser + Lockpicks single-use making her an Agility-oriented flex character. She could kill a 4 health enemy by over succeeding on the first Mauser shot, shooting again, then getting a clue on the third action. — VanyelAshke · 181
after all boosts you have how much attack? 5? and this is "good"? most part of fighters have 4-5 on start. If you play with bow, u shoot 1 time and after that what? AOO from enemy? Winny is bad fighter. — Rentgen · 1

Adaptable

Adaptable

The previous reviewers have stated the benefit(s) of this card: providing versatility and the ability to make changes in your deck later in a campaign. A good example someone gave is with Sleight of Hand. Until you spend the xp to get Lupara, you don't need Sleight of Hand yet.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Adaptable also lets you swap out the out-of-faction cards in your deck too!

For example, the Dunwich Legacy cycle investigators (Jenny the Rogue) are allowed up to 5 level 0 cards outside their faction. With Adaptable, you can choose those 5 colors to serve a particular purpose (maybe, make Jenny into a decent clue gatherer with Seeker cards). Then, once you have the xp for the amazing Rogue clue-gathering cards (Lola Santiago, Lockpicks), then you can substitute those Seeker cards for different cards (maybe something to make her more able to handle enemies so she can investigate locations alone).

TLDR: Adaptable lets you swap around level 0 cards, across ALL factions that investigator is permitted to include in their deck. Versatility, from being "Adaptable", can improve efficiency and survivability.

VanyelAshke · 181

Stick to the Plan

Stick to the Plan

If Mandy Thompson is teamed up with a Guardian investigator, would that investigator get to draw 4 cards to put under Stick to the Plan? Edit: I have found out. At the time when you draw your opening hands, you haven’t yet read or set up the scenario so aren’t yet at a location. I think.

Phoenixbadger · 199
I read that question somewhere else and i think the answer was "no cause mandy is not at your location during setup". — Django · 5142
Additionally since FAQ 2.0 abilities that react to searching the deck (and Mandy Thompson's ability is mentioned as an example) do not work during setup. — Killbray · 12322

Hypnotic Gaze

Hypnotic Gaze

If you take arcane research with Sefina, you’re going to run out of cards to level up quick. (Wards of protection and suggestion are other useful ones.) This one also stays good for an entire campaign: the more damage enemies do, the more damage hypnotic gaze does. It pairs best with cards that let you see more tokens, and has anti-synergy with bless and curse tokens.

MrGoldbee · 1483
Rite of Seeking (2) is also a good option for her research. Would you rather upgrade Hypnotic Gaze early, to make the deck cheaper? Or late in the campaign, to get the "more urgent" spells earlier? — Susumu · 381
Later. First is Wards, then Suggestion. — MrGoldbee · 1483
Sure, Suggestion can never be the first upgrade, as the lower version is level 1. But I think, the only thing you might end up doing with Hypnotic Gaze (0) would be to commit it on an evade, or a fight of another player. In solo, I would not take Arcane Research at all on her, as the Ward upgrade gets pointless and you are better off with Sixth Sense than RoS. (But that one can't be upgraded yet, due to her level 2 restriction.) — Susumu · 381
Other options to not carry around the level 0 version for her would be Adaptable or Versatile. But you should have other reasons to get these cards. Or of course, pay 1 XP later to save 2 the following scenario.. — Susumu · 381
Good eye, Susu! — MrGoldbee · 1483