.32 Colt
Two experience points gets you -1 resource cost and the ability to bounce it for a resource. Note that the free trigger window before committing cards lets you commit the Colt to its own skill test for a +2 (ideally after firing the last bullet).
So, is it worth it? Two resources is obviously a great deal for weapon with such an easy +1 damage trigger, but at level two it's got some steep competition. In particular, Blackjack and Taboo Machete are at the same experience cost and are more accurate, and their damage triggers are easy enough that you can easily manage 12 damage over their lifetimes.
True, you don't have to mess around with engagement to use the Colt, but no skill bonus whatsoever is a steep asking cost. Blackjack and Machete may have engagement-based restrictions, but the Colt effectively has a much harsher restriction: It only works on enemies with very low fight values (or when you're willing to invest quite heavily in boosting your skill).
This all puts the upgraded Colt in a pretty awkward spot. You want to use it as a backup weapon, taking out low-fight enemies so you can save the ammo of more reliable guns or the trouble of making melee weapons work. The thing is that the level zero Colt does the job just as well. You're not going to upgrade it just for the resource discount, so the question becomes this: How many scenarios have enough low-difficulty fight tests that you'll want to spend three resources reloading the Colt? I can see that happening in The House Always Wins or The Secret Name, but most scenarios will demand a more reliable weapon.
I will note, however, that the upgraded Colt does work nicely with cards that use ammo as currency. Warning Shot doesn't care about accuracy, and Eat Lead (2) can reveal enough extra tokens to compensate. I don't think we have enough of those cards to make it worthwhile, but if we do see some more (or get a way to recur Tactics), it should be worth revisiting.
"Eat Lead!"
Downgraded to a level zero card, Eat Lead costs one resource and only allows one extra token draw. This is... not spectacular as far as economy goes (if you spend the resource on a skill booster and commit the card instead of playing it, the +2 skill value is usually a better bet). Mathematically, it has the largest effect when you've got a 50% chance of succeeding without it--at which point you're at just over 75%, which is pretty low when you've invested in an Event.
Eat Lead is therefore mostly in certain circumstances:
- You've covered everything except the autofail (or tokens that are bad enough to effectively be autofails--eg, tablets in Night's Usurper and skulls tied to effects that can easily get out of hand)
- Certain tokens have terrible side-effects even if you succeed when revealing them
- You're aiming not to succeed but to hit certain values (eg for Oops/Live-and-Learn shenanigans).
Its value increases somewhat if you don't care about conserving your gun's ammo (say, because you've got a better gun in your hand waiting to shove it out of the way) and quite a bit if you're a gun-wielding Diana Stanley. For the most part, it's heavily dependent on your campaign.
Though it's always going to be useful in Night's Usurper. Those tablets and skulls...
Logical Reasoning
The level four version of Logical Reasoning essentially triples its effect if you've got it in play. If you have three clues, you can heal six horror from your friends, or discard three Terror cards, or something in between. That's a ton of healing. Even Deny Existence (5) can rarely match that level of horror protection.
That said, bear in mind that you are spending two resources and an action to play it, so you should keep your lower-level options in mind. If it's your own sanity you're worried about, the Elder Sign Amulet is a more economical choice as long as you've got the accessory slot to spare (this is especially relevant for Joe). If you're Carolyn, you probably prefer the healing version of Ancient Stone, since it gives more triggers for your ability; even if you're not Carolyn, the ability to parcel out the healing over multiple turns is sometimes handy.
Archaic Glyphs: Markings of Isis
Archaic Glyphs has two excellent upgrades. Prophecy Foretold is a wonderful defensive spell that lets you practically ignore enemies while it's out, and Guiding Stones is just plain amazing. Markings of Isis, to be blunt, is nowhere near that level.
To fully understand that, you need to know why the other two are so good. First up, Prophecy Foretold counters your main weakness. You're a Seeker; your job is to get as many clues as possible. When you draw an enemy, that's a serious obstacle. Even for more self-sufficient Seekers (like Joe and Ursula), time spent dealing with enemies is time not spent advancing the Act; for others (like Rex and Minh), you're outright incapacitated until the Guardian bails you out. Prophecy Foretold lets you ignore all that. If you fail your investigation, then at least you canceled an attack of opportunity; if you succeed, you get a powerful auto-evade.
Conversely, Markings of Isis gives you nothing you didn't already have. It puts an asset into play; you could have done that guaranteed by spending an action. True, you don't need to spend resources on it, but those savings are countered by the investment you put into over-succeeding on the investigation test.
Next up, Guiding Stones not only provides a huge amount of action compression, it comes with built-in overcommitment protection. You want to succeed by two to benefit from it; if you boost yourself up to six over shroud and pull a -4, you can be rest assured that all your commits were necessary. If, on the other hand, you pull a +1, you get two extra clues as a reward for your good luck.
With Markings of Isis, that rarely happens. You should know exactly which asset you want when you initiate the test. If you're trying to play a 2-cost asset, boost yourself to six over shroud, and pull a +1, you get the same 2-cost asset. Sure, occasionally you'll also have a 4-cost asset in hand that you weren't planning to play now but are willing to do so with that discount, but that's a pretty niche situation. Particularly given that Seekers only have two 4-cost assets in the entire collection.
Alchemical Transmutation
Two experience gets you -1 resource cost, -1 difficulty, +1 charge, and +1 max resource gain. That all combines to make it a great deal more playable than its base version (which is to say it makes it playable at all). The problem with the level zero version is that, by the time you can regularly expect to profit from it, you've got enough of a board state that you don't need the money anymore (and, even in the best case, the profit's not that great). With a difficulty of zero, on the other hand, you can make use of it fairly quickly.
Here's the average gross income you can expect from this card:
(For comparison, this is the same table for the level zero version):
Of course, the great thing about a difficulty zero test with a wide "succeed by X" range is that you can commit skill cards to it, convert your will pips to money, and feel very secure in knowing that the skill's effect will trigger. The downside is that you normally want to save willpower pips for more important tests, but if all you care about is the effect, it's an excellent way to trigger it. The ideal scenario here is probably a Well-Connected Sefina committing Watch This and Double or Nothing to this test to make out like a bandit, but there are other cards (such as Eureka) that can be worth spending this way.
The biggest downside is that it still exhausts on use, meaning it'll clog up your arcane slot for quite some time if you want to get full use from it. If you use spells for everything, it's going to be awkward to use.That makes it best for secondary Mystics, who don't have better uses for their slots. The aforementioned Well-Connected Sefina might prefer to bribe her way out of trouble. Daisy can probably get away with having one self-defense spell in play (particularly in standalone, where she can't use Guiding Stones). Norman's in a similar position, and he can't take Guiding Stones regardless.
Here's the average gross income you can expect from this card:
| WILL: | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 9.87 | 12 | 13.6 | 14.9 |
| Standard | 8.27 | 10.9 | 13.1 | 14.7 |
| Hard | 7.2 | 9.87 | 12.3 | 14.1 |
| Expert | 6.13 | 8.8 | 10.9 | 12.8 |
(For comparison, this is the same table for the level zero version):
| WILL: | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 4.6 | 6.2 | 7.4 | 8.4 |
| Standard | 3.6 | 5.4 | 7 | 8.2 |
| Hard | 3 | 4.8 | 6.4 | 7.7 |
| Expert | 2.4 | 4.2 | 5.8 | 7 |
Of course, the great thing about a difficulty zero test with a wide "succeed by X" range is that you can commit skill cards to it, convert your will pips to money, and feel very secure in knowing that the skill's effect will trigger. The downside is that you normally want to save willpower pips for more important tests, but if all you care about is the effect, it's an excellent way to trigger it. The ideal scenario here is probably a Well-Connected Sefina committing Watch This and Double or Nothing to this test to make out like a bandit, but there are other cards (such as Eureka) that can be worth spending this way.
The biggest downside is that it still exhausts on use, meaning it'll clog up your arcane slot for quite some time if you want to get full use from it. If you use spells for everything, it's going to be awkward to use.That makes it best for secondary Mystics, who don't have better uses for their slots. The aforementioned Well-Connected Sefina might prefer to bribe her way out of trouble. Daisy can probably get away with having one self-defense spell in play (particularly in standalone, where she can't use Guiding Stones). Norman's in a similar position, and he can't take Guiding Stones regardless.
Storm of Spirits
I'd love to write up a massive 10,000 word paean to this card, but what'd be the point? You can just read the card yourself. It's very accurate, and it deals three points of AoE damage. And unlike Alchemical Transmutation, its level zero card is a staple already, so you'll be able to benefit from Arcane Research. The backlash is considerable, so you should make sure you have an Eldritch Inspiration or similar token-cancelling effect handy before letting loose (it's probably for the best that Sefina can't copy it, since she'd probably tear herself to shreds).
Stealth
The level zero version is, in my mind, rather unfairly maligned. Sure, it's not as good as a "proper" evasion, but it still has plenty of uses. If you're leaving the location anyway, it's great for dealing with non-Hunters. It's perfectly fine at getting an enemy off you so your Guardian won't kill you (even better if said Guardian is Zoey, or wields a flamethrower, or is a flamethrower-wielding Zoey). It reliably triggers Pickpocketing (2) and various agility- or wild-type skills (like Watch This and Quick Thinking). Wendy can combo it with Close Call and Survival Instinct.
The level three version does all of that except for the Wendy bits... and it does so as a free triggered ability. That's pretty crazy. The only downside is that Rogues already have plenty of ways to spend experience. If you already liked Stealth (0), this is going to save a whole lot of actions over the campaign. If you didn't, I doubt it'll merit your interest.
The level three version does all of that except for the Wendy bits... and it does so as a free triggered ability. That's pretty crazy. The only downside is that Rogues already have plenty of ways to spend experience. If you already liked Stealth (0), this is going to save a whole lot of actions over the campaign. If you didn't, I doubt it'll merit your interest.
Suggestion
This one's another downgrade, from four to one. First, let's talk about what you lose: Namely, the three free attack cancels, and the unlimited boosted evasion. Those are significant, to be sure, but they weren't really the main focus of the card.
Let's talk about what you keep: Adding willpower to your evasion until you finally run out of charges. For most of the investigators who wanted the original card, the downgrade will last for quite some time. Furthermore, as a level one card, it's available to Wendy, who'll love it forever and can cancel an unlucky draw that would otherwise discard it. It's potentially a solid upgrade to Stealth (0) for her. For a level one card, the value is huge.
Let's talk about what you keep: Adding willpower to your evasion until you finally run out of charges. For most of the investigators who wanted the original card, the downgrade will last for quite some time. Furthermore, as a level one card, it's available to Wendy, who'll love it forever and can cancel an unlucky draw that would otherwise discard it. It's potentially a solid upgrade to Stealth (0) for her. For a level one card, the value is huge.
Gravedigger's Shovel
Two experience gets you -1 resource cost and the option to RFG instead of discarding for an extra clue. The RFG isn't much of an extra cost unless you're Yorick (or maybe Patrice)--There are far better targets for Resourceful, and if you could reliably trigger Scavenging you wouldn't need the Shovel--so for the most part you'll happily take that option. If you're already using the level zero Shovel, it's a solid upgrade.
Now, is it good enough that investigators who don't take the level zero Shovel will be tempted? That's tougher to say. One resource and two actions for two testless clues is a pretty good deal for anyone, but juggling that hand slot can be a bit cumbersome. Minh's probably got it easiest, since she can bounce a Magnifying Glass to make room. Patrice has it the hardest, since she can't save it for when she has room. For everyone else, it just depends on how many non-expendable hand assets you've got (eg Bow Rita won't want it, but Bat Rita might).
Now, is it good enough that investigators who don't take the level zero Shovel will be tempted? That's tougher to say. One resource and two actions for two testless clues is a pretty good deal for anyone, but juggling that hand slot can be a bit cumbersome. Minh's probably got it easiest, since she can bounce a Magnifying Glass to make room. Patrice has it the hardest, since she can't save it for when she has room. For everyone else, it just depends on how many non-expendable hand assets you've got (eg Bow Rita won't want it, but Bat Rita might).
Lantern
The Lantern uses exactly the same upgrade template as the Shovel, but its vastly different role requires more discussion. First off, unlike the Shovel, the Lantern has a fairly useful repeatable function. The RFG option doesn't really enhance its main function, as it does with the Shovel. Furthermore, the Lantern can have a place in a Scavenging build, so the RFG is a non-trivial added cost. Lastly, one testless damage is worth less than one testless clue (particularly when that damage provokes attacks of opportunity).
That said, the non-RFG aspects of the upgrade do plenty for a Scavenging build. A cost of just one resource makes it easy enough to replay (ideal if you expect lots of Whippoorwills or Lodge Neophytes). More importantly, it's an Item with two intellect icons. That's a handy commit that comes back to your hand.
Outside of that, it strikes me as a bit of a niche upgrade. Perhaps Rita could use it to take out a three-health enemy. For the most part, though, if you want to contribute in a fight and have a spare hand slot, there are better options.
That said, the non-RFG aspects of the upgrade do plenty for a Scavenging build. A cost of just one resource makes it easy enough to replay (ideal if you expect lots of Whippoorwills or Lodge Neophytes). More importantly, it's an Item with two intellect icons. That's a handy commit that comes back to your hand.
Outside of that, it strikes me as a bit of a niche upgrade. Perhaps Rita could use it to take out a three-health enemy. For the most part, though, if you want to contribute in a fight and have a spare hand slot, there are better options.
No comments:
Post a Comment