Correspondence with developer:

Q: How does Charles Ross, Esq. work? The card doesn't explicitly states its time window. Can you use its ability then in the next round use up the cost reduction? Maybe even use it twice before playing an item? It using at your location, does it mean your location when you use the ability, or when you play the item (if you use the ability and then move, where can you play an item at reduced cost)?

A: Correct; Charles Ross’s ability applies until it is used, so if you use it in one round you will still get the discount next round, and if you use him more than once before playing a card, you would get a –2 discount. As for your second question, if you move after using Charles Ross’s ability, the discount would apply to the next Item asset played by an investigator at your new location, not the former location.

So basically you can get one additional resource from it per round. Awesome for a 2 resource card!

As cards come out that let you recurse from your discard, this card gets progressively worse. Resourceful, True Survivor now let you grab stuff in the discard and can become borderline (or totally) unplayable because of the risk posed by this card removing all the viable targets, Scavenging has always been a liability and these cards are only gonna grow in number. Thankfully Wendy is getting some solid cards like Waylay and Lucky Cigarette Case to slot next to Backstab and Rabbit's Foot and thus all 4 cards gain consistency.

Here'S hoping Wendy gets a novel though because I really would like to try True Survivor survivor on her.

This might be easy to misread, so just a clarification.

Taking -2 Sanity is not the same as being dealt horror, I.E this is not horror you suffer or a permanent reduction in horror health. Therefore the net benefit of St. Hubert's Key is:

+

+

+2 sanity.

In other words, this card gives you the exact same benefit as a Holy Rosary, and then throws in the extra +1. The difference is however that St. Hubert's Key self-destructs and automatically heals you when you hit your reduced Sanity threshold, thus while St. Hubert's Key gives you a bunch of extra power and safety you must still be careful or you'll loose it faster then you'dd like.

St. Hubert's Key does not invalidate Holy Rosary, the latter is still a much tougher asset than the former and in the mystic's already expensive lineup of key assets finding the extra cash to pay for an often unused boost is hard. Often the St. Hubert's Key will find itself sought after by non- characters like Daisy Walker, "Ashcan" Pete or Rex Murphy who will better appreciate the extra since they spend a lot of their time using that skill to begin with. Note that the reduced Sanity stat has an interesting interaction with Desperate cards (Like Reckless Assault).

Currently the lineup of character's will prioritize tests over tests, and often paying the extra cash will just be a waste, since you will spend a lot of your time utilizing a Rite of Seeking or the like. Note that your experience with this card will vary with difficulty, an of 4 for example (like Jim Culver or Father Mateo with the St. Hubert's Key) will get you much further against difficulty 2 locations in standard than it does in hard and it'll be much easier to bridge the gap for higher difficulty locations with other cards. An of 4 will succeed on a difficulty 2 investigate in The Gathering 80% of the time on standard but just 60% of the time in hard, that's the difference between finishing a 2 clue location (Study) in one round or two.

Final evaluation: St. Hubert's Key is powerful, absolutely, but not always useful. Perhap's it is St. Hubert's Key's downfall that Holy Rosary exists.

EDIT: Bonus note, give special consideration to St. Hubert's Key in solo, especially Solo on standard.

I've never been a huge fan of firearms, due to their limited ammo. Do I want a .45 Automatic, which costs 4 and I can use 4 times, or Machete/Fire Axe/Survival Knife, which are cheaper and I can use all day?

Worse - frustratingly, Rogues have better access to ammunition, albeit indirectly, though Sleight of Hand. That's just wrong.

However... Venturer changes that. An ally that reloads a firearm, and then provides a damage soak before shuffling off? Sounds good. Oh, and he's non-unique, so Leo Anderson can easily play him. For Leo, he's way better than Extra Ammunition - no XP, costs only 1 more, and gives that 2/2 soak.

In the Forgotten Age I picked up Shotgun after the first scenario. I'd neglected it for a long time, as that 2-ammo was a killer. Now, though, with a couple of Venturers, well, Leo isn't flush with ammo - but he does have enough.

He synergises well with Calling in Favors, too; Beat Cop is the same price, so make sure Leo hires some of those for the Jungle, too.

For other investigators, he'll take a bit more investment; you'll probably want Charisma, as I still reckon Beat Cop is still too good to pass up for most guardians (or possibly Art Student for Roland) - but if you're going down the Lightning Gun or Shotgun route, I think it would be worth it!

Firearms are interesting again...

I like this card, 1 resource for 1 extra health and sanity, that's a fantastic conversion of resources.

Sadly, liking cards isn't the same as them being good. First off, Dodge exists, a card that costs the same amount of resources and is very likely to net you the same amount of damage sustained or more. Take for example the core set campaign, Dodge immediately has superior payoff if you save it for the confrontation with Ghoul Priest, not every scenario has such a good example but most will present you with some route to preventing 2+ points of horror/damage.

Perhaps the most important benefit in Trusted's favor is that it also protects against treacheries, but that strength is moot against the fact that it has the added clause of needing an ally target, not to mention that allies might not stick around long enough for you play Trusted on them in the first place while Dodge is fast.

Should you play Trusted? Yes, try it. Keep in mind however that it should only be played in an ally heavy deck with more ally-support cards like Charisma, Inspiring Presence and especially Calling in Favors, it happens that Trusted helps your allies stick around and those other cards all depend on allies sticking around until you get an opportunity to heal them, swap them around or fill your board with them.

In summary: Play Trusted as a mechanic to fortify your allies to then combo them with Ally based mechanics. An extra shot with Beat Cop, an extra trigger on Aquinnah. An extra bite from your Guard Dog. Extra tank on your Art Student before you Calling in Favors on them and replay them.