We usually play with 4 Investigators, randomly chosen. But assuming that you could choose any 4 investigators to play with, which would you choose to try and ensure victory? Choose from any of the 36 investigators, but assume a random draw of any of the 16 Ancient Ones.

My team:

Diana Stanley : Stanley's Lodge Membership allows her to immediately attempt Inner Sanctum encounters that are generally pretty beneficial. In addition, she can generate health, sanity and clues during Doom Counter / Terror level increases.

Leo Anderson: Leo's ability to prevent a point of sanity / health loss is useful on nearly every turn, and helps combat the stat attrition my group always seems to be suffering mid-game.

Mandy Thompson: Who doesn't use her ability on almost every single turn?

Wendy Adams: Wendy not only starts with an Elder Sign, she can also skip past any monster on the street and has a crazy-high sneak even at maximum speed. She could be a real liability if Cthulhu is drawn, though.

So, to open the debate - choose your own team, or critique mine.

Daisy the librarian is the best investigator in the game. She's so good, I've banned her from my games. She can go so many different ways. I'd trade out Diana for her.

Leo is good. I'd rather have Darrell or Kate the scientist though it's pretty close to a toss up. Leo is consistently good. Darrell and Kate the scientist can have really big effects, but sometimes they don't.

I agree with Mandy and Wendy. I'd probably go with an all girl gang.

my favorite team is a team chosen at random

Leo, Kate, Daisy, Mandy... plus better be playing KiY for Arcane Insight... shut the game down with these guys... also switch Daisy out for Jaquline!

Depends on the number of investigators, but lets assume we are doing a four person team. I would have to go with Daisy, Mandy, the psychic (I forget her name), and Leo. The ability to get Arcane Insight and then just shut the game down but looking at mythos and using the Psychic's ability to toss-out mythos cards is absurd.

If we were to go beyond four, I'd definitely include Joe Diamond. Probably include Wendy and Wilson.

I often find that Darell is superior to Diana for Twilighting. With his speed he can get to the Twilight lodge first turn, and quickly get the membership thanks to hometown encounter. After that, his hometown encounter ability makes for far superior twilighting than Diana. However, I like Diana as well, but I don't know if she'd be on my top4.

I guess my dream team would be.

1. Jackie. Top notch spellcaster, enchanted jewlery, and an ability that can really get you out of a scrape. They don't come much better.

2. Mandy. Sometimes I am loath to put her on the team, but her ability and clues to start make her one of the best.

3. Bob: For synergies, Bob just seems to be great support for all characters. Mostly he's in the team as a monster-killer, so that Jackie can collect clues and mandy can seal gates. I like his stats, and his ability can help him get some good weaponry.

4. Jenny. Another questionable choice, but also for synergies, mostly with bob. Bob probably Bob will be able to use Jenny's cash to buy her a motorcycle, ater that Jenny can feed Bob more cash for guns, directors diaries, old journals, press pass, etc. So many common items are crazy helpful.

kroen said:

Exactly this sentiment. I don't want to stop and think about which investigators are best or work best together, because I want to regard them all as equals, even if they aren't (Daisy! BLARGH).

When given the choice, I'd much rather have a team with variable strengths and weaknesses from game to game than one I know too well and will probably win with. That's no fun.

eyeroll! That's completely not in the spirit of the post Tibs/Kroen.

It's like asking: Hey, do you like the shotgun or the tommy gun better? And replying "I like whichever one I draw."

Surely you must have favorites? Investigators that you think are more fun to play than others?

No, I answered the question legitimately. My A-Team is a random team. A better analogy would be, "what's your favorite way to win?" "Whichever way I end up doing it."

AND I do believe my answer to the original Shotgun question was:

I've always had a weak spot for the Shotgun, personally. Tommy Gun can't do ANYTHING about a Color out of Space. At least using a Shotgun gives you a fighting chance.

But I would love to see either one.

However, to answer your question, I enjoy playing as Diana Stanley quite much.

well my favorite char is mark. he just has the most badass ability in the game

Our team currently is Lily, Daisy, Mike, Rita, Wendy and either Leo or Diana. We usually have six people...but lately we have been going full 8.

But for four...Rita, Daisy, Mike, and Wendy. Good balance, despite being a little physical.

I also enjoy randomizing, despite my soft spot for playing Rita. It is the only way to get my sister to play anyone other than Micheal.

My 4 player dream team is: Leo (every team needs a leader), Jacquline (a rumour, what's that?), Mark (just because it's hilarious to imagine what would be happening in Arkham if Mark joined the Sheldon Gang / got caught by the Curfew / got caught up in student protests) and Lily (Lily + Inner Beast = Kung Fu Werewolf, who needs items?)

This seems to change for me every time someone poses the question--which gives me the perfect reason to agree with Tibs and Kroen: "whoever showed up to the party"--but to answer in the spirit of the intent of the debate (that is, specifics), I think:

Darrell the Photographer - I love Arkham Encounters, and Darrell usually gets to have the really nifty ones (and never the stupid BATS! in the Black Cave). He's very fast, he's not bad in a fight, and he tends to have a decent array of items in his coat, what with starting cash/Retainer and the ability to get Encounters with "stuff".

Mandy the Researcher - with arguably one of the best abilities in the game, Mandy is responsible for so many "emergency extractions" from DOOM. Not only that, but she starts with 4 Clues, generally the only Investigator with a guarantee of being able to Seal a Gate by the end of the first Movement Phase (except for Wendy). And nobody ever really looks at this--because we're usually too busy throwing things at each other about her Special Ability--but her Stats are really NICE. (No, her stats! STATS!!! Not her...stop staring!!!) Good movement and Will; just get her a weapon. Her only crusher is her ability to Close Gates can be rough.

Daisy the Librarian - I don't think it's all that safe to gush about Daisy around here; let's just say everyone knows why I picked her. I love the variety of Spells she lets me play with that I don't often get a chance to really use. Awesome Stats.

Wendy the Urchin - Gate-cracking machine. At first glance, I hated her, couldn't understand her usefulness; now, as part of my Community Service for that tragic misassessment, she will always be on this list (pre-Innsmouth; never say "always"). Her supreme manueverability and offworld survival skills has SHATTERED a number of games for me (Atlach-Nacha and Shudde M'ell DESPISE her). And I know it bugs some on a thematic level, but I LOOOOVE Deputy Wendy: "Then why don't you put HER in charge???"

My Arkham Horror version of the Scooby Gang.

The Gangster, the Soldier, the Bounty Hunter and the Private Eye. BRING IT ON.

jgt7771 said:

I HAAAATE Deputy Wendy.

jgt7771 said:

NM I love Deputy Wendy now. Thanks!

ok, so I guess I'm missing it, but I can't figure it out. .... What's the big deal if Wendy is the Deputy? why is that more broken than if anybody else gets the Deputy?

awp832 said:

Isn't it a bit of a waste? Wendy's the urchin, right? She can move around town however she likes anyway, so giving her a patrol wagon is a bit pointless.

No, giving the car away because the player who earned is a quick mover is a great idea. It allows the less mobile characters to get around town, while the Deputy can still run around sans car.

awp832 said:

The problem is two-part:

1) She's a kid. This is bad enough for me, but if REALLY REALLY pressed and under the influence of evidence that the kid can pack, the sheriff MIGHT grant her a car. It would be an extremely dire situation to be plausible. However:

2) She's most qualified to be Deputized. She starts with an elder sign and can get to the first gate in short order. Then she already has enough clues to give her leverage and incentive to get the 2nd gate trophy. Then she can zip over to the Police Station without any problems. All this can be done in about half the time that any of the well-prepared adults can accomplish it.

That, my friend, is the problem with Deputy Wendy.

Minor: She can't receive bank loans. Great—why didn't they disallow her of being deputy too? What sheriff in his right mind....

Ah. Well I've said enough. I'm going back to work before I froth at the mouth.

... that's it?

I.. er... okay.

1. Desperate times call for desperate measures my friend. Obviously if Wendy can get the stuff in half the time, the girl is more than qualified. Besides, Engle made Dingby the deputy. They don't come much worse than that.

2. Because she can get it fast... ok. I guess.. I just don't thnik that's a huge deal.

awp832 said:

Because every time Wendy is in a game, she's the quick candidate for Deputy, never really giving the adults a chance. That's silly.

Plus, desperate times isn't that good an excuse. Does Engle know how desperate the times are? So much to give a gun, car, and salary to a kid without a second thought because she's dragging around a zombie pelt? She probably can't even reach the pedal! That's also silly.

I don't know. It just doesn't sit right with me.

Okay, to be fair, awp832, my love for Deputy Wendy is about 75% theme, 25% gameplay.

Tibs said:

Of course it is. But that's the point. For anyone who didn't catch it, the quote from my previous post is from Aliens:

Hudson: "...and they're gonna come in here AND THEY'RE GONNA GET US!"
Ripley: "HUDSON! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training. Right?"
(Li'l Newt salutes.)
Hudson: "Then why don't you put HER in charge?"

And yes, Wendy immediately trades away the Patrol Wagon and the Deputy's Revolver to someone who will use them, and just makes money for the rest of the game. With some extremely shrewd (or lucky) gameplay, you could conceivably have Deputy Wendy by Turn 5, but more likely by Turn 7 or 8.

But mostly, I just have images of Engle, dripping with ichor from some impossibly disgusting encounter, turning around...

"Toldja. You gonna listen to me now?"

Wait, is everyone's strategy to just let wendy evade all the monsters in the game? I always put a weapon in her hand... or maybe I shouldn't have...

kroen said:

In theory Wendy deserves to be as well armed as everyone else. She technically can't last as long against monsters as most investigators can (since she has low san/stam) but mostly this won't make a substantial difference.

However in practice my group usually finds that there's always something better for her to do than fight monsters. She can ignore monsters that are stopping other investigators reaching crucial gates, and she can act as a brilliant 'courier' who carries items between other investigators.

jgt7771 said:

Game over, man! Game over!

I've only recently come to Dunwich, so I'm a little surprised at the general consensus that Daisy is considered to be as powerful as she seems to be. Does this derive from her ability with tomes, her spellcasting cost reduction, or her stats? Or is it a combination?

It's also hard to image Wendy acquiring allies like Prof. Rice or Tom "Mountain" Murphy. Or pumping the locals for information at Hibb's Roadhouse. Or taking classes at Miskatonic U. Or throwing out the troublemaker at Velma's Diner (thereby earning her gratitude). On the other hand, it's also hard to imagine some of the other investigators doing many of these things...