Divination

The interesting comparison for Seekers is with Fingerprint Kit. For one experience, you get:

  • One resource cheaper
  • No exhaust
  • Don't spend uses on a failure
  • Can be refilled with Enraptured or Winds of Power but each charge is only one more clue
  • Tutored by Arcane Initiate and the like and has cost reduction synergy with Robes of Endless Night
  • Takes up an arcane slot instead of a hand slot, which is very valuable for Seekers

On the other hand, Fingerprint Kit has its upsides:

  • 6 total clues instead of 4 if you don't fail any tests
  • Can be refilled efficiently with Emergency Cache (3) among other cards, and each new supply is potentially 2 clues
  • No penalty on tied skill test
  • Tutored by Backpack and has cost reduction synergy with Charles Ross, Esq.
  • Hand slot can be mitigated with e.g. Detective's Colt 1911s
  • Can be taken at the beginning of a campaign without other penalties

The card sits in a weird spot for Seekers, especially the 5- Seekers, since Fingerprint has bigger upsides as long as you don't fail. This could be a good fail-safe for Amanda Sharpe on turns where her isn't boosted high enough to beat the whole chaos bag. Daisy Walker can take advantage of the Mystic synergies, but with her Tote Bag the Fingerprint Kit isn't a big deal either, and she might as well take advantage of the Seeker synergies. If you're not afraid of the and you're not playing on the hardest difficulties, there is little to recommend here for Seekers. Interestingly, the biggest winners are probably Luke Robinson and Gloria Goldberg, who can play this along with their other spells and still commit Seeker skills like Deduction to the test.

dscarpac · 929
without synergy is 3 resources, 3 actions and two tests to get 4 clues, which is only one higher than you'd get from just investigating, if you don't care about the +1 skill value this gives I think you never take it. so probably only best in people with low Int and low will/no mystic access. (Roland banks is a good candidate for it in my book, spend those dreaded guardian do nothing actions getting clues) — Zerogrim · 290
Just to clear up some misinformation above - you can't refill this with Emergency Cache. From the rules: "A card cannot bear uses of a type other than that established by its own "Uses (X type)" keyword. (For example, a card with "Uses (4 ammo)" cannot gain charges.)" — tripngroove · 1
They mentioned you can fill this with enraptured or winds of power. It is fingerprint kit they mentioned can be filled with the emergency chache, which is correct. :) — cookiegolem · 1
The 13th Vision

If it turns out, that you get this basic weakness as a , you might just as well consider the nice interaction it has with the "Edge of the Earth" set of dual class spells, in particular the level 4 versions, with their more severe drawbacks.

The catch is, that these never trigger, if you fail by zero. Of the four spells, the Brand deserves a closer look. It has the most severe drawback, so even a might consider it a bonus, if he has The 13th Vision and level 4 Brand on the table. You don't deal any damage, but you also lose just the , you just took to fight, instead of in the process. While you would normally over commit on the first two fight actions on your turn to not lose following actions, you rather do that on your last action, if the weakness is out, and often only, if you pulled bad on the previous actions. On the other hand, with the level 1 version, you strictly don't want to trigger this "combo", as you just lose an action either way, but you do so dealing up to 2 damage without the vision.

Not saying, this is amazing. The weakness also triggers on other tests, even from other investigators at your location. But let's be honest: this is not the worst of all basic weaknesses, you will often not find the time to clear it. Considering, that it will then wipe your spells from their special spillover effects, can be viewed as a bonus and makes these assets even better.

Susumu · 361
Offer You Cannot Refuse

A pretty cool random weakness.

The safe way to read this is "Gain 2 experience. At the start of each scenario, you have no resources."

You basically never want to have less than 5 resources in your pool unless this weakness is in your discard and you're far away from recycling. Play with that handicap and this weakness is actually fairly benign and can be a boon.

But buyer beware. Each time you fail to have the desired number of resources when your patron comes calling, it gets even harder to meet the offer the next time. You basically get three failures over the life of your investigator, and then your goose is cooked.

A neat thematic weakness. Do take note: you cannot choose to put this weakness in your deck, but since Arkham is heavily open to table rules I imagine some folks will still sneak it in.

drjones87 · 188
No group I have ever played with has chosen their weaknesses. It's a non-factor. — fiatluxia · 65
I started Innsmouth in a 4p group with Bob Jenkins and draw this weakness after creating my deck with "In the thick of it" and "Charon's obol". I had a hard time trying to save my ressources to avoid death because of the weakness of Bob and this one but it was really funny though. I was holding my breath at each upkeep phase! — Tirindor · 7
Discipline

Hypothetical Combo Alert! Consider the synergy with Ace of Rods. Get a free action with +2 to every stat - spend it on three baby attacks, and select for attacks that are buffed by multiple stats. Here are some ideas:

A solid day's work for the chosen one. And then you get to take your 3 regular actions...

Addendum: there are also lots of combos with Fang of Tyr'thrha, particularly that card's ability to attack enemies without moving to them, or to move during a flurry of attacks.

MrWeasely · 42
I suppose you didn't see the action trigger on this discipline. So after you have activated it you only have to actions left without other effects. — Tharzax · 1
Ace of Rods gives the seed action for Balance of Body, leaving the 3 main investigator actions untouched. — MrWeasely · 42
@Tharzax well Ace of Rods gives him an additional action — Nenananas · 251
That's actually a pretty awesome combo. Nice find! — Nenananas · 251
Cool, if it is fine for you, I add it to my Guide for Lily as I try to reference all the cool possibilities for her :) — Valentin1331 · 66333
Go for it! — MrWeasely · 42
Scavenging

So... this card... this card is insane. there is no other way to say how unbelievably insane this effect is, letting you play an item from your discard pile is both a 100% reliable tutored draw and a play action rolled into it, in the class that has 0/1 cost items galore its just makes you immortal with Cherished Keepsake and Leather Coat, as the other reviews point out you can use it with investigate cards themselves to boost your investigate which helps you get more cards which.... [looping intensifies]

But today I come to ring its bell because of one avenue of power that this humble card totally wrecks open, Story Cards.

Story cards range from good to under costed to down right broken, and sure not all of them are items, but in the cases they are and they have a low cost you can just cram all of them into your deck and use their often ridiculous abilities right from your discard pile then if they have a slot just overwrite them and then play them again...and again...and again, and never spend an action (or in some cases a resource) to do so.

Sure would be nice if we had a campaign that had some decent story item's or two in it huh? Fake wink

I am legitimately having to struggle not just slamming two copies of both Scavenging and then Scavenging into every deck ever now, I'd honestly not be sad paying double for this in XP.

I'm not sure this card will ever get any stronger than now though given we have cards that give it infinite fuel Short Supply Forced Learning cards that give you unlimited money with it Schoffner's Catalogue and basically any effect you could want The Council's Coffer.

O...and its still slotless so you get two play actions every turn if you do so something as crazy as investigate slightly higher than you needed to be, this gets even the slowest set up investigator fully installed while keeping them focused on their primary task.

TL:DR: its bad in Yorick 1/5.

Zerogrim · 290
I find the biggest limit on Scavenging is the lack of high intellect survivors, who would regularly make the plus two. — LegendRJS · 3
I agree. I think, it's best in off class survivors like Minh (or Agnes, who can trigger it on a willpower investigation spell). I wrote a review @ Pantalone from "Carnevale of Horrors", and this was a very strong combo for Minh. — Susumu · 361
On second thought, "Medico Della Peste" would be as great on Agnes, repeatingly healing Horror (or Damage for II version) is fuel for her ability. Minh still gets the edge on this combo, as she has a much easier tools to assemble the pieces for it. — Susumu · 361
Most survivors do have low int but there are so many ways to boost your int in survivor, also bless builds will easily pass by 2 very often. but yea I do agree it gets easier to make it nuts outside survivors. — Zerogrim · 290
It’s very good versatile target for any seeker with some items, especially fast like ice pick — Django · 5051
No, it's not. You can only versatile into the level 0 version. But this one is level 2, we are talking about. — Susumu · 361