I think Doomed is an amazingly cool weakness, and those who feel like it denies player agency might want to take a closer look at the math. I ran some simulations, and assuming I did it right the numbers look very fun. In these simulations, I ignore the possibility of drawing Doomed or its replacements twice during one scenario, since that should be uncommon (but it would be quite bad).

Let's say you run 8 scenarios, and draw half your deck each time; specifically, let's take a 28-card deck (standard 33 minus the starting 5) and draw 14 cards per game. In 8 scenarios, Doomed will kill you 36.4% of the time and there's nothing you can do about it.

Or is there? What if you try to draw fewer cards (by pushing to complete faster, taking fewer draw actions, etc)? Just by reducing by 1 card draw per game, and taking 13 instead of 14, your odds of death by doom drop to 28.8%. Reduce to 12 cards and it's down to 22.1%. Alternatively, suppose your deck is built for card draw and you ignore Doom and pull 16 cards per game: you'll die 52.7% of the time.

Maybe the worst happens and you draw Doomed the very first scenario. Your odds of death (back to 14 cards here) are now 50.0%. Maybe you play the remaining games super aggressively, deciding that the risk of defeat and trauma during a scenario isn't that big of a deal now, and only draw 10 cards per game: with that strategy you can push your doom risk back down to 21.2%.

If you have better luck and survive the first scenario without any Doom, your (14-card) odds are down to 22.7%, so you aren't out of the woods yet. Survive 2 games sans Doom and you can breathe more easily: 10.9%. Draw Doom once in the first 2 games and you're at 34.4%, close to where you started... and even with only 6 scenarios left, the impact of drawing 1 fewer card per game is still significant.

Note that, because of the way the probabilities work, drawing Doomed/replacements 4 times over the course of a campaign is much more likely, and many players will find themselves with The Bell Tolls in their decks by the final scenario (something like 50% using base assumptions). Also I did not include the effect of adding additional story assets or weaknesses over the course of a campaign, but it's fairly significant too, so whoever has Doomed should try to pick those up when possible.

Bottom line is Doomed makes a situation similar to the chaos bag; players can change the odds at a cost, but aren't in control of the outcome. The interesting difference is that the cost/risk picture is very long-term: each avoidable card draw hurts you very little (probably), but over the course of the campaign the likely cost for making a lot of avoidable draws is enormous. It's very much in keeping with the concepts of the game both thematically and mechanically.

The economy boost your entire group gets from not having to boost/commit cards to cover that -5, is that worth 1 resource a turn?

I say yes.

Is it worth an arcane slot? Hmmmmmm.

Rich via Dr. Milan Daisy Walker is taking this all day long.

This card is powerful but as one might expect, you are playing with fire here. Just be aware that you spend 2 xp to get it and then it grants you 2 xp each time from then out. This means that should you buy this after scenario 1 (the only reasonable time to get this) you don't really get "bonus" xp until the conclusion of scenario 3, as following scenario 2 it just pays for itself.

(MILD SPOILER) Without spoiling too much there are scenarios which kill your investigator if they are defeated Obol or no Obol. So the total number of scenarios you have to survive with Obol is slightly lower than one might initially think since you would be killed with or without Obol in these cases. (END SPOILER)

It is also worth noting that Ursula and Leo can take this card. Easy to miss it.

Complete list of people who can play this as of FA: Skids, Wendy, Jenny, Sefina, Lola, Leo, Ursula, Finn.

This is worth getting if you are comfortable with the risk involved. But you must get it early, otherwise just leave it behind.

I don't see why someone would take a copy of this card instead of Emergency Cache.

Emergency Cache vs Alchemical Transmutation:

• Cost of 0 ressources vs 1 ressource
• Gives you 3 ressources for sure vs 0 to 3
• No side effects vs possible damage
• No slot vs 1 spell slot

Ok, you can use Alchemical Transmutation 3 times (or 4 times with Akachi Onyele), but in most scenarios, you won't have that much spare time.

Ursula has the abilities of a dedicated clue gatherer like [Rex Murphy], so let's compare her to Rex and not Daisy and Minh.

Stats:

Ursula loses 1 fight and gains 1 escape.

Rex couldn't really use his strength without a [Fire axe] and tons of money anyway.

Now Ursula has high chances of being able to escape monsters. That's especially useful when you know that seekers have low combat abilities and that Ursula cannot splash for combat cards like [Fire Axe] or [Elusive].

Ability:

Rex's ability isn't capped, Ursula's ability is. That changes a lot of things.

In solo play, most locations will contain only one clue and Ursula's ability is better.

With 3-4 players, most locations will contain tons of clues and Ursula's ability will fall behind Rex's.

In duo, the two abilities are quite similar. Rex needs to move, investigate and succeed by 2 or more to get both clues.

Ursula needs to move, investigate successfully during her free action and then investigate successfully once more.

Rex only needs to succeed one test, Ursula has more flexibility in her actions.

Rex doesn't really need [Archaic glyphs: guiding stones] but Ursula could definitely put it to good use to investigate as fast as Rex!

Cards pool:

Rex can splash for awesome cards like [Fire Axe], [Ward of Protection], [Elusive], [Scavenging], [Lone wolf] and so on. He seems more versatile, stronger in the early campaigns & safer. With money, [fire axe] and [Higher education] he can basically succeed in every task easily. But later in the game, his card pool only improves with Seeker cards.

Ursula has access to [Armor of ardennes], [Charon's Obol: the ferryman's pay], [Grotesque statue], [Lucky dice], [The chtonian stone], [Jewel of Aureolus: gift of the homunculi] and [The gold pocket watch: stealing time]. Those are all strong late campaign cards. Those can be combined with [Dr. Elli Horowitz: assistant curator] or [Relic Hunter] to great effect. Basically she can gain xp faster and use that xp better.

She still has access to [Mind over matter], [I've got a plan], [Knife] and [Manual dexterity] to survive alone early on. Later in the game she will have access to [Strange solution: acidic ichor] and [Disc of Itzama: protective amulet]. The later also prevents Yig's revenge from stacking in the victory pile!

This may still be a bit weak for solo play, especially against bosses, but in a duo it would work wonder!

Bonus cards:

Both are useful but not broken. It's a bit sad that Ursula's card takes up an ally slot. [Dr. Milan Christopher] & [Dr. Elli Horowitz: assistant curator] are both really interesting ally choices. This may make [Charisma] a high quality option for Ursula at some point.

Malus cards: Both are back-breaking but generally won't cost you the game. Be sure to pack some horror soak for Ursula anyway.

Conclusion: In my opinion, Ursula is a really good dedicated clue gatherer. She may be even better than Rex in a multiplayer campaign or in a duo as she has a better late game potential and her ability is basically equivalent to Rex's in a duo. She is also favored in scenarios with tons of locations to explore & investigate and little to no time to do so.