Flamethrower

Although this card is powerful, one thing to note is that Flamethrower does not work on exhausted massive enemies, since massive enemies aren’t considered to be engaged to any investigators, as per the rules reference. So if your teammates have an evasion strategy going, it might be better to take a good old fashioned Lightning gun.

iceysnowman · 164
I don't find this a compelling reason to prefer Lightning Gun, myself. Why not Flamethrower the enemy on your turn for massive damage, then have your teammate evade it afterwards? (In the rather unlikely event that it survived the Flamethrower attacks, that is.) — CaiusDrewart · 3168
Miss Doyle

Miss Doyle is a cool cat, but perhaps the cats of Ulthar are not what the doctor ordered?

TL:DR. A little expensive in resources, it's luck dependent and it's really a 4 XP card since you're going to want Charisma too, Patrice Hathaway is a crazy cat-lady though and is rarely seen without her furry friends. Generally high card-draw decks should consider this card when they level up.

Hope.

Zeal.

Augur.

These are the cards Miss Doyle brings to bear, one randomly from the start, the rest will show up, eventually.

The cats are good, no question about that, if you ever had Duke in your play area you will know that replacing your base value is fun and good, the variety of cats makes then attractive to a variety of folks, all the will love Augur for the 1 / turn replacement, it's a great starting point for and some characters will search aggressively for this one cat and never use the discard outside niche circumstances. Hope is somewhat less universally liked since much of the faction sports base values at 4 or 5 already, he's going to get discarded as soon as another cat hits the discard pile, if not sooner. Zeal is also going to see a lot of discards, her replacement is marginally useful without bonus damage to capitalize on, however an autohit attack is a sparkly wonder indeed.

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Executing the "furry flurry" is great fun, I speak of course off those moments where you've got 1 cat in play and at least one in the discard, that moment where you throw a cat at an enemy to finish it off, another cat at another enemy to distract them, a third cat at the nearby mysterious wallpaper, to latch onto and scratch it off to reveal the elder sign underneath, bonus points if you rock 2x Charisma and more cats to make this a 5 cat combo move.

Luck IS a factor for the cats, you'll routinely be herding them only to realize you've got the wrong one in play and none in the discard, this is especially annoying when you play Miss Doyle and come up with Hope or Zeal without any enemies to use them on or no intention to, "I could Hope this guy and keep moving, or I could hit it with my Meat Cleaver and not worry about it henceforth".

Another downside to the cats is their tendency to kill draws. You don't draw Miss Doyle once, you draw her 3, 4, 5+ times per scenario! Once she is in play and you're flexing the cats, finding specific cards you need will be a little harder, it might be worthwhile to try and be set up before you play her. I'dd go so far as to say that the cats are a liability, a Weakness, if you put them in a full on deck, Agnes Baker stay away!

Note that the shuffle mechanic is a "may", you can drop the cat in your discard to have it ready for future combos.

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The cats are actually very fluid once you find them, characters with deep discard piles and rapid draw speeds (Minh Thi Phan, Patrice Hathaway, Silas Marsh) will like them best, the cats are most consistent if you can get them into play for free via their inbuilt mechanics. That said their self-play based mechanics are rarely "feelsbad" moments and wont leave you stuck, since their Fast keyword lets you brute force the most immediately useful cat onto the field if they wind up in your hand.

This also means: The cats are expensive. You pay a relative fortune at 3 resources for Miss Doyle and a random cat, and paying 1 resource here and there (probably 1 or 2 times per scenario) makes it a bit harder to run this thing with certain ever popular builds. There is also the hidden cost of Charisma, Miss Doyle is a 1-off, therefore you really want some other ally around as well (probably Peter Sylvestre, Mr. "Rook" or Jessica Hyde), making Charisma a necessity.

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The cats get quite a bit of perfectly decent support in-faction, you can entice a cat with the contents of your trash bin, getting the combo going if all the cats got discarded, and you never know when you'll run into a cat. Zeal can deliver an autohitting Stunning Blow and Hope can distract the whole room with a Survival Instinct, with the right class combinations you might even land Deduction or Vicious Blow in this manner. Note that as allies you can hit them with Calling in Favors, which is a pretty neat trick to get a different cat or some bigger friends into play.

Patrice Hathaway is definitely the intended audience, her ability finds kitties at breakneck speed, and the kitties in turn go back in her deck and help her slow down, also ensuring that she'll keep finding kitties even faster as her deck shrinks! All the stats are useful to her, although you might find yourself gagging on Zeals furballs. Preston Fairmont and Calvin Wright also like the cats, for obvious reason, these latter two would still need to find ways to up their draw power to make the cats consistent and not gimp their decks.

The low-key "Huh, more useful then I thought" character with Miss Doyle is William Yorick, he really benefits from all the different cats and can play a few tricks with his innate ability to control which cat is in play, notably you can discard the one cat several times and get it back repeatedly, this is especially useful with Zeal and Augur. Also, you'll get the same kind of "Huh, more useful then I thought" thought if you play the cats in a Dunwich campaign, that campaign more then any other attacks your deck and has a high chance to find your cats for you, it's like Lupara in Forgotten age, the perfect hunting ground.

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All in all Miss Doyle is a fine card, I bet you can find some particular interactions where she's gamebreaking, but the happenstance nature of her cats reigns in her power a lot, she'll be a stable in Patrice Hathaway, for whom finding single copies of an ally is not an issue and fishing for the other cats is no issue at all, rather all the "dudded" draws from drawing cats will be a boon for her.

The weirdest bit about this card is that, because of the luck elements, she actually feels a lot more like a card, although she is definitely most useful in the faction.

This is a length review and perhaps not terribly positive, but I would still recommend this card, it is definitely not a dud and I greatly enjoy playing it, both as a cat-person and as someone who likes cards that have crazy mechanics.

Tsuruki23 · 2547
Cute Cats.I suggest to give it Myriad,so I can see these sweety quickly. — Yusaku · 2
It's a bit misleading to say "it's really a 4 XP card since you're going to want Charisma too". Hope, Zeal & Augur DON'T use an Ally slot, so you don't need Charisma. Yay! ^^ — Yellow_Peril · 1
Yes, but Miss Doyle does take the ally slot, and she's probably not going to be a first choice. For Preston, Lola Santiago seems like a much better use of that slot. That's where charisma comes into play. — Azriel · 1
this test is automatically successful, Can we commit when this test automatically successful ? — h2ovn · 1
Yes, you can. https://arkhamdb.com/rules#Automatic_Failure_Success — vidinufi · 69
Moar cats! The black cat! More for our cute felineup — chirubime · 27596
You shouldn't ever really be paying to put down any of the effect cats. Discard them by committing them and then pull them out for free after performing the automatic success with the one you have out. — Tilted Libra · 37
I've only played the cats with Patrice and they really shine with her. They've saved me so so so many times, and with her deck cycling you can get almost whatever cat you want whenever you want it. To be honest, I didn't think they'd be as effective as they have been. I'm interested to try them with other investigators. — DavidRyanAndersson · 54
Mandy Thompson can't use Miss Doyle because she can only have "up to 10 level 0–1 EVENTS and/or SKILLS of your chosen secondary class." — Gibbs_M · 1
Hope's automatic-success Evade is also a highly-convenient way for Patrice to deal with the Watcher from Another Dimension. — anaphysik · 95
(Zeal's automatic-success Fight as well.) — anaphysik · 95
Knowledge is Power

Edit: Some Luke and Marie testing, also no need for the Lola shade.

This card is great.

At face level, this is not a bad level 0 card, you can get a bonus trigger from a combative spell like Shrivelling or clue spell like Rite of Seeking without paying any resources to put it in play or even spending an action. Pushing the limits to make 4 attacks in a turn is a great ability on it's own, well worth a card, but when you start upgrading cards and using this to key off-of them it becomes outrageously good.

  • 4 Shots from Shrivelling to deal 12 damage in a turn, normally something not possible without very big guns combined with cards.

  • Trigger Encyclopedia as a fast action, to gain that bonus to a combat relevant ability and use it to win a fight.

The sneaky bit of goodness to this card is the ability to hit cards in your hand as well, you get a chance to oust yourself from scary situations by calling upon assets you havent got in play yet, this is especially useful at the start of a scenario or when the mythos deck is killing assets or resources.

It also gives you leeway to play with an overloaded slot ( characters tend to have an overabundance of Hand items, characters have trouble with Arcane slots). While your hands or Arcane slots are full you can snipe a card in your hand, possibly saving charges on something, whilst also refunding a potential dud draw.

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The biggest issue with Knowledge is Power is it's class. It's a decidedly card that's printed yellow. Which limit's it's extreme power, which I guess is fair, if this card were it'd be a contributing factor to making Akachi Onyele and Agnes Baker the uncontested best characters in the game.

The standouts who get the most from Knowledge is Power are:

  • Norman Withers, he needs to make use of his level 0 to do a lot of work, and this card definitely helps him stay relevant while he is still skilling up Shrivelling and makes him an outright powerhouse once he's got just 10 XP. The way Norman powers through a deck with his ability, you can get all of this goodness set up at breakneck pace.

  • Luke Robinson, he's fresh off the presses so I dont fully know all the options, but he has native access so he can get the fancy Tome shenanigans going that Norman cannot. I still think Norman's raw draw power wins out in the end. Also he can do some interesting teleport spellcasting. Think Mists of R'lyeh blasting an enemy engaged with a friend at another location or Rite of Seeking nuking a location from his pocket dimension.

P.S. Daisy Walker, Rex Murphy and Finn Edwards can do some stunts too, but it's coming at the cost of precious slots or locked to triggering on 0 level spells, sure you can trigger it on a big book like Pnakotic Manuscripts but really, that card doesn't hold a candle to beasts like Shrivelling or Rite of Seeking.

Tsuruki23 · 2547
It’s early to say since Luke just came out, but this card does seem good for him since it’s an event. I believe he should be able to use it to make a spell attack an enemy at a connecting location. — ArkhamInvestigator · 304
Yeah the most interesting use for Luke I've found with these is using Mists of R'lyeh or Shrivelling from an adjacent location. You could also use it to directly attack an Aloof enemy adjacent to your location, as you would be playing this event as if the Aloof enemy is already engaged with you. In solo this isn't as useful as you might hope, but in multi I can see it doing a ton of work. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Re: Daisy and Rex (or any other seeker) - getting an extra (and fast) charge off of Archaic Glyphs doesn’t seem either weak or niche to me. — Death by Chocolate · 1473
Love the card, but have a Q: if I'm playing scenario 1 Norman and don't have a spell or tome yet, can I still play this off the top of my deck to just speed through the deck more quickly? It says to "choose/reveal a tome or spell..." but if I don't have those yet I'm hoping I can forget about that part of the card. — Krysmopompas · 360
I actually think activating the ability from Pnakotic Manuscripts from hand as a fast is pretty good (avoiding the costs that make the Manuscripts bad), but probably not good enough without janky deck-cycling shenanigans, I suppose — Zinjanthropus · 229
@Krysmopompas: No. "Choose" is the keyword falling under the "Target" header in the rulebook. If you don't have a valid target you cannot play the card. — Yenreb · 15
SMH, RTFC. The "or" makes it a yes. You can try and fail to do the latter option. — Yenreb · 15
That said, if you did have a Tome or Spell in hand you'd have to reveal one, and if it had any you'd have to resolve one of its [Action] or [Free] triggered abilities. Fortunately the discard is optional. — Yenreb · 15
Super confused about the last comments here. I don't see how "or" lets you play with card without a valid target. If you have neither target of the "choose" and neither target of the "reveal", how are you bypassing all that to play the card? — Time4Tiddy · 245
Kleptomania

how will it work with Charon's Obol? Who will get the additional exp? I guess the owner will.Because u should get Charon back when the game ends,and Charon give the owner exp during the resolution of a scenario. Or the thief will get?That's very interesting.

Yusaku · 2
Charon's Obol is a permanent so I'm pretty sure it can't be stolen. — Sassenach · 179
A card with the permanent keyword cannot be discarded by any means. — Yusaku · 2
Looking at the rules entry for permanent, it says permanent cards can't be discarded, shuffled into investigators' decks or used to pay for effects involving cards being returned to hand or shuffled into decks, but doesn't say anything about moving control between investigators without discarding it. So , rules as written, I'd say it can be moved by both this card and teamwork. As far as the effects of the obol go, the timing point is "during the resolution of a scenario" so it should be back in the deck of its original controller by then and the effects should apply to them. Oddly enough , it seems to me that for the second effect the wording is "if you were defeated during that scenario" so I think it also happens while earning EXP and so would also apply to the original controller. In other words the only effect of stealing the Obol would be satisfying your Kleptomania. That's just my reading though and it might be one for the FAQ, maybe? — bee123 · 31
Where in the rules reference does it say that cards will be back in their decks during resolution? If that was true, Delve Too Deep would be worthless. I vote that the effect of the Obol is on whoever controls it at the end. — Death by Chocolate · 1473
Considering that Matt rules that in case two players have an obol only one can put it into play and only that one will get the benefit and consequences, I think it's pretty safe to conclude that you don't get those for owning the card but for having it in play when the scenario ends. Thus if someone steals the obol he gets the benefit, or the negative consequences. — Killbray · 11933
If I remember correctly, you don't get bonus XP from Obol in City of Archives, because you don't have access to your unique items in that scenario. That too would suggest that stealing the Obol will give you (as in, the person who steals Obol), the extra exp — neescher · 316
Maybe I can help my teammates by stealing their item weakness such as The King in Yellow or something else like The Necronomicon ? — Shefield · 1
You can't steal signature assets with Kleptomania, so no stealing The King in Yellow: Act 1 or Necronomicon: John Dee Translation. — Katsue · 10
Actually, the King in Yellow: Act 1 isn't an Item so you wouldn't be able to steal it anyway. — Katsue · 10
Sixth Sense

Other people than I should likely weigh in here, but ok, Ill go first!

I thought this was a pretty crap card compared to an upgraded Rite of Seeking, and in many decks that will remain to be true. However, if you are going on a token manipulation deck; a deck that utilizes cards like Olive McBride, or Eldritch Inspiration which give you multiple "If X is revealed during this test" triggers, things start to change dramatically. Already, this card gives the same +2 testing buff as an upgraded rite, but the sneaky ability to trigger the "investigating as if you are the chosen position IN ADDITION to your location" trigger makes this card at least as good as the first upgrade of Rite of Seeking, and the occasional time to trigger it twice, netting you at least 3 clues from 3 locations utilizing the most favorable shroud value. That last point isn't to be understated. When resolving multiple nasty tokens makes for some complicated math if you can't get something like 2 shroud as your base.

Also, the negative ability on rite is just brutal sometimes. Turning it into a plus has the ability to supercharge some builds. For a deck that is going full-on token manipulation, consider this card at even or maybe even better than an upgraded rite. Rite has limited ammo and costs a 2 more to boot. This card really shines in multiplayer, too, as you have other people unlocking locations for you. The drawback, like all combo decks, requires a very picky set of conditions. With Olive only able to trigger once per round, without other token manipulation, you might find Sense rather wanting.

In the end, more stable cards like Rite will likely continue to be the mainstay for most clue/mystics. But don't overlook this very interesting build path.

Father Mateo +++

Being that Father gets superpowers on resolving Eldar symbols, going token manipulation already is a very clutch strategy that gets turbocharged by adding this upgrade path.

Jim Culver++

While Father benefits FAR more than Jim, being able to "0" out the skulls really allows this card to shine more if Jim is manipulating the bag!

Diana Stanley+

A lot of the problem with setting up a deck manipulation strategy is getting the right cards at the right time. Few base characters in the game can churn through their deck faster than Diana. While you have to dedicate a huge number of slots to exercise this churn and burn, there are likely enough slots to throw-in a few token tricks *stairs longing at Eldritch Inspiration. Of course, if you resolve it twice rather than cancel it, you don't get the same churn and burn ability, and other cards give up more looks at tokens are generally items or assets we would rather not see leave play, which def makes Diana the least suitable to lean heavy into this path, but it is still at least slightly more powerful than other mystics abilities line up for.

All other mages might actually be actively bad to try this path. Though others might have more to say about synergies that I haven't considered as a relatively new player. So don't overlook Sixth Sense, it might just help you see the way forward!

BeCurieUs · 17
This is a great card even if you're not doing token manipulation. By the time you're in position to purchase this card then you're probably deep into a campaign and the bag will be filling up with extra tokens that would trigger the ability. But really that's just an added bonus. The real reason you take this is that it allows a mystic to reliably investigate at whatever shroud level without needing to spend any charges. Mystics are not usually the primary clue-gatherer anyway so don't necessarily need to be grabbing multiple clues in a single action. — Sassenach · 179
That's fair, and I made a mention of that. For me, ammo charge in Rite haven't been to much of an issue, and we have had mad dashes to get clues! I end up always playing a bit of a flex mage with an equal part clue and fight. Perhaps if I REALLY leaned into the fight, though, and just took a card like this to kinda sorta get a clue when needed that might work out well, too!? — BeCurieUs · 17
Durn, beat me to it, I was working on a writeup :P you make lots of fine points. — Tsuruki23 · 2547
When you investigate in both locations, apart from getting to use the shroud from either, do you get a clue from both if you succeed? — AllRoundGoodEgg · 1
it says in addition to which suggests it gets a clue from both locations. I have seen people playing it this way. — Roakana · 1
This card is especially miraculous for the Dream Eaters campaign, since so many locations start in play revealed. — alexs34 · 1
Jacquie Fine running with Olive Mcbride ... just sayin. — dlikos · 159
Just one note...I am pretty sure that they "if a [xyz] token is revealed..." only applies one time, regardless of how many tokens you reveal. That is a general rule afaik, if it said "for each [xyz] token revealed..." then it would work as you're saying. Eldritch Inspiration is a way to duplicate the effect. — thereelaristotle · 17