Rex Murphy Investigation Power Hour

This is a party build for 2+ players. You will need protecting... but remember, you're here to solve a mystery, leave those pesky distractions for your bodyguards to handle.

----Rex---- What separates Rex from the rest of the pack is his ability to double up on clues when he succeeds by 2 or more on an investigate check. Rex's has the highest total health/sanity in the game at 6/9 = 15 points. Compare that to Lola Hays who has 6/6 = 12 points. Rex's elder sign effect is also very powerful when used right. It grants a +2 bonus which is enough to pass most checks, and when its not, you can chose to draw 3 for your troubles. Occasionally you may want to fail an investigate check when you aren't constrained on time, in favor of filling your hand also helping maintain a full hand for Higher Education.

The Drawbacks to Rex is a base 4 Lore, which is 1 point less than Daisy's, and Rex's Curse. There are two huge drawbacks to Rex's Curse and one Minor drawback. Strangely enough the huge drawbacks are that, especially on higher difficulties, you draw more chaos tokens, drastically increase the chance of taking damage, adding doom, or various other detriments, regardless of the check's results and in the event that you do get rid of the curse, it shuffles back into Rex's deck to torment him again. The minor drawback is that, eventually, Rex will fail a test that he would otherwise have succeeded. Often failing a test feels bad, but relative to weakness of other investigators, Rex's Curse doesn't take up any additional turns, isn't a monster that needs to be dealt with, doesn't take up a slot, and doesn't inflict Rex with a Trauma if he has left it un-dealt with by the end of the campaign. Relatively Speaking, Rex's Curse isn't that bad of a weakness.

----Items-----

Dr. Milan Christopher is among the three most powerful allies in the game, competing with Upgraded Beat Cop and Upgraded Leo De Luca. The amount of resource generation D.MC is capable of generating is on par with Jenny Barns. D.MC is the best card in your deck.

Dual-wielding Magnifying Glass, Rex Murphy significantly improves his ability to trigger his passive granting extra clues without needing to draw extra token from the chaos bag. Lacking any self-defense, Rex relies heavily upon his fellow investigators to protect him from the Eldritch horrors. If you feel it necessary to give Rex a form of self-defense, the fire-axe is a welcome splash and outlet for the absurd resources generated from D.MC.

Flashlight: Highly recommended in harder difficulties as it makes it nearly impossible to fail locations with shroud <=2 while offering double the power of a magnifying glass albeit with limited charges at a moderate investment.

Leather Coat/Cherished Keepsake are fair additions to any scavenging package as their recur-ability vastly improves Rex's ability to survive the Mythos and various hits he's bound to take along the way.

Scavenging offers Rex a value engine to recur the Leather Coat/Cherished Keepsake and various item-assets dedicated to skill checks. If you happen upon a Pantalone along your adventures you will certainly understand the power of recycling.

Strange Solution offers three upgrades, of which we will be choosing the fight-solution. SS is the seekers most efficient means of handling nearly any monster encountered.

Mind over Matter allows seekers to evade monsters that would otherwise eat their tasty faces off. It synergies well with Hyper awareness and later on with Higher Education.

Shortcut: Admittedly Shortcut is better utilized on Fighter characters in allowing them to save an action of movement to make fight checks against monsters with their full turn. If you have another Dunwitch Investigator, consider giving them a shortcut or two. You can even cheekily shortcut allies into unexplored locations before entering yourself in case some monsters lay in ambush.

Deduction: does double work in Rex Murphy's deck. improving his ability to discover multiple clues in his location, and giving him the ability to find 3 (or 4 when upgraded) at a location, which would otherwise require a full extra investigate action. You can also dedicate deduction to other investigator's checks to help them in rare situations you are out of actions or they have nothing better to do.

Anatomical Diagrams: for 1 resource you can add +2 to up to three checks an investigator will make vs a single monster. Also practically guarantees hits vs monsters with fight <=2.

No Stone Unturned: a good option for finding D.MC when he's not in your opening hand, or for assisting your fellow investigators in finding their key weapons or spells necessary for keeping you alive!

Delve Too Deep: Okay this is in here for greed. Greed is good. If you've got time, and Rex is possibly the best suited to have time on his side because of his ability to fully investigate locations quicker than any other investigator, Delve Too Deep can be a cheeky way to earn a few extra experience points early in a campaign. BEWARE D2D is dangerous, can't be dedicated to checks, and should be saved for when investigators are well prepared to handle and survive the mythos cards.

Skills are up for discussion. I like having 1 of each skill. And would include 2 over powers simply to augment your fighters ability to combat monsters.

----Upgrades---- Priority Upgrades are: Pathfinder: essentially a 3 cost Leo De Luca that doesn't take up your ally slot. Absolutely incredible for 1 pip. Higher Education: a permanent hyper awareness that saves you a card draw. easily the most efficient use of resources. Drastically improves Rex Murphy's odds of successfully investigating, triggering his passive, and combos ridiculously well with D.MC. Strange Solution/Cryptic Research: Both are worthy additions for 4 pips and have their situational benefits. I feel that Cryptic Research improves your ability to assemble your combos while turning on Higher-Knowledge / Scavenging / Seeker Buffs (D.MC+2xMG). However if you feel that you are lacking on ability to fight monsters, a strange solution may relieve those concerns.

Best of luck on your investigations.