Fine Clothes

Okay, the Parley bit is interesting ... but - just how many Parley actions are there in the game so far? Not many, so let's ignore that...

1 cost for 1 health and 1 horror. And it's an Item, so Scavenging might work well with it. Also, it's the first body slot card to offer some level of horror protection, which is interesting too.

On balance, it's probably not as good as Leather Coat, but it's not disappointing for the cost, and I find horror is often more of a problem than health. It's also much cheaper than Bulletproof Vest in terms of XP.

I could imagine using this with a Rex Murphy Scavenging build, or perhaps Jim Culver Scavenging with the right ally cards.

One down-side - this has the creepiest card art in the game. Is that a mannequin? Scary.

AndyB · 956
Is really good for Carnevale of Horrors so far — jd9000 · 77
In the first two Dunwich scenarios the parley checks are kind-of important, so I tent to put Fine Clothes into deck with the intent to replace it later. — Magnificate · 1201
*Minor spoiler ahead:* In certrain scenario's where you encounter nasty treacheries that make you discard assets in play, this little neutral card i great as asset discard fodder. You're gonna cry when that treachery comes up after you just put your lightning gun as only asset into play — Heyenzzz · 7468
As of the release of Path to Carcossa, 8 of the 15 existing scenarios have a parley action on at least one card, and most of those require skill checks and have big payoffs. — Sechen · 53
Perfect for Eternal Slumber — ifergus · 1
Preston needs this, if only for the theming. — grenadillaGoat · 21
NIGHT OF THE ZEALOT *spoiler Alert* - does it work for those parley tests with the top cultists in Midnight Masks, please? — brennalex · 7
@brennalex *spoiler alert* Most of them don't actually involve tests, but a couple of the 'Return To' cultists are effected. Jeremiah's has a test, and Alma makes you draw encounter cards which may cause you to make skill tests nested within her Parley action. — Death by Chocolate · 1489
Survival Instinct

This Survival Instinct is absolutely awesome. Evade a whole bunch of enemies - and because it's Evade and not Disengage you might stand a chance of getting away from them - and move too!

In particular (Spoiler ahead) in The Devourer Below, it's a fantastic way of getting past the cultists from the Midnight Masks. Walk up, evade one of them - and you're home free, as they're not hunters. You still won't win, but by heck it helps.

Also, 2 icons - excellent.

I'm almost certain this will be an automatic choice for Agility based survivors. It's like Cunning Distraction, only affordable.

AndyB · 956
Wizard of the Order

Man this guy is a huge jerk. As leader and teacher to all of the little Acolytes he has the same effect they do, but worse.

First of all, he spawns somewhere empty which usually means 'at least one action away from you' and he immediately gains a doom at the end of the mythos phase he spawns in. So far he's just as bad as his little minions. But as extra rank gravy he also has the following:

  • at 4 str and with the retaliate keyword he knows how to fight and will punish you if you don't (though with 1 damage, not by much)

  • with two health he is not flimsy, requiring either multiple actions or a weapon to down

  • one doom is not enough for this bad guy, oh no he adds an extra doom at the beginning of every round. (thankfully, without a threshold check) meaning you can easily lose 2, 3 rounds to him if he spawns in a particularly bad spot and time.

The first two additions make him a difficult kill for non-fighting investigators who aren't packing plans or solutions, but the last effect almost certainly mandates that he is a priority target regardless of whether anyone around is good at fighting.

10/10 on theme and drama though. While I hate seeing him show up, he is a flashy and intimidating villain who presents a threat that is a bit more than just a sturdy body and damage. It makes for great stories (and losses)

Final note: it is especially important that you not misunderstand the grim rule with this guy. While you may have multiple options of where to put him, he doesn't have to go as far away from you as possible. The rules explicitly state that when spawning an enemy if there are multiple valid locations it is player choice on where he goes.

Difrakt · 1325
Definitely don't make the mistake of waiting until you have something out that will soak the 2 horror that you have to take in order to enter the location this guy revealed in Shattered Aeons. — Zinjanthropus · 230
Elusive

EDIT: Disregard.

After re-reading the timing chart I've noticed there is a player window between Hunter enemies moving and enemies making an attack, which means it is possible to make the enemies move and elude them afterwards. This is useful in some scenarios with out-of-the-way locations.

Magnificate · 1201
This interaction would be super sweet, but sadly there's this little sentence "Play only during your turn." to prevent this. — Csys · 1
Oh... That's true. Doesn't that also mean you need to have at least one action remaining to play it? — Magnificate · 1201
No, you don't need to use an action. It's still a fast card :) — Csys · 1
That's not what I meant. It seems that in the player's turn there's no window after taking actions. So, that means Elusive can be used at the latest between the second and third action. Right? — Magnificate · 1201
There is an action window before 2.2.1, and you enter that window before your first action and after each action, including after your last one. You can play Elusive then. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
I'm assuming playing this card provokes attacks of opportunity. You could be taking A LOT of damage prior to getting away? — Gallows · 1
No, you disengage with each enemy engaged with you. — bern1106 · 2
Fast cards do not trigger attacks of opportunity, if I'm not mistaken. — FeyrBert · 1
Playing cards doesn't innately trigger AoOs, spending actions does. While most cards require spending an action to play, fast cards do not — Chitinid · 14
Flashlight

Writing one serious review:

Solid card, should be a 2 of in any investigator's deck unless you're a dedicated these-hands-are-for-shotguns-only fighter, or Agnes who can't investigate her way out of a paper bag (and who's spells don't work with this action). Even when not being used to cheese the rules it can bring even terribly shrouded locations into acceptable investigation reach which is pretty nifty.

the FAQ bump says everything you need to know about playing this in higher difficulties. For 2r + 1action you get 3 clues off of 1 or 2 shroud locations, with the single token being the only exception. The value of this would be good if it was almost twice as costly on expert, where -4 is the average you're going to pull from the bag. This saves you actions and cards that you will need bumping tests elsewhere.

So stock up on batteries guys.

Difrakt · 1325
I think Pete might also be someone who doesn't really need these - Duke is likely to do all your investigating, and his ability doesn't stack with the Flashlight. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
And yet on Expert, where the Expected Value of the token modifier is -4, Duke himself does not quite cut it. On Expert, Flashlight is still a great choice for Pete! — Darthcaboose · 285
I am not sure why you say not use with Agnes? As I read it reducing Shroud would make it equally effective with all and combined with right of seeking very effective? — Stebb · 2
Yep, running Flashlight is a good idea for 2-intellect investigators like Agnes and Zoey. — CaiusDrewart · 3198
@Stebb Rite of Seeking can't be combined with flashlight — SerpentofSet · 1