Are there any AH investigator reviews online?

By satakuua, in Arkham Horror Second Edition

Posted at

mageith said:

How do you not abuse her ability? Just make her stingy? Give her a clue umbrella? I suppose one way is to make her greedy and send her to all the dangerous locations. In any case, she adds 15 or 20 or more clues to the mix. It makes Hypnos and even Prof. Rice seem like pikers.

Like I intimated, I changed her rules with Strange eons, but short of that she's hard not to abuse.

I'd like to know what FFG was thinking. Or if they were.

Anybody got experiences with Patrice in a Yibb-Tstll game?

Posted at

First off, regarding Jim... Jim is on the bottom rung for me as well, I tend to have bad luck with him, and really the only undead worth taking out are wraiths, and there's only 2 of those in the cup. Personally I'm really upset at a lot of the things that *arent* classified as Undead. Ghouls, Fire Vampries, and the Star Vampire, for starters. As Dam already pointed out, problem with Jim's strange luck ability is that in order to *use* it you have to be in the Abyss, Yuggoth, or R'lyeh (not counting 'extra' OWs from expansions). All of these gates have -2 mods or worse, and Jim's lore maxes at 4. If you're lucky enough to draw the Lore skill or Revelation of Script or something, it can be a different story, but that's relying on a lot of chance and odds are, he's just going to sit there hoping to roll a success for several turns. Lords help you if there's a monster surge.

I think I better defend Amanda a little bit. Ok, so she's not that good, I admit it. But I don't think she's *that* bad either. Certainly not deserving of a position next to George barnaby on the bus. Granted, her ability isn't all that useful, granted that Lola pretty much has her in that respect. However, starting with your choice of 2/3 skills often has good results, and has the effect of usually bumping up a couple of her mediocre stats. If people cooperate and give Amanda some cash, she shouldn't have *too* much difficulty passing her mission. If she does, she becomes 6/6, which is a lot more benificial than you might think. And I dont think that I need to point out that comparing her to Patrice isn't exactly fair.

Posted at


mageith said:

mzonic said:

Dam said:

mzonic said:

The balance that I can see is that they made some investigators better/more suited for the increased difficulty with expansions.

George Barnaby still got the really, really short straw.

Well, I said they made SOME investigators more suited. It goes along with my thinking that they made some investigators better than others. Though Patrice isn't more suited; she basically changes how you play the game (if you want to abuse her ability), and hands you the win. gran_risa.gif

How do you not abuse her ability? Just make her stingy? Give her a clue umbrella? I suppose one way is to make her greedy and send her to all the dangerous locations. In any case, she adds 15 or 20 or more clues to the mix. It makes Hypnos and even Prof. Rice seem like pikers.

Like I intimated, I changed her rules with Strange eons, but short of that she's hard not to abuse.

I'd like to know what FFG was thinking. Or if they were.

I think it's intended for what AVI said earlier: People who want an easier game can choose investigators like Patrice. After winning a few times, they can move on to other investigators that require some thinking to use. I think it's acceptable if she's in a team with the likes of Amanda and Ashcan. In fact, because of their mediocrity, the game might be a toss-up.

How not to abuse Patrice? Not reminding people when they can use her clues, not reminding people when she receives clues, or just tell them that they might need to keep some clues in final combat against Tsathoggua! demonio.gif Sigh, the only way to stop the abuse is to stop her ability.

On Amanda, If I have 8 dollars I'd rather try to get a weapon or elder sign than have her gain a skill and make her slightly better (Is she really going to be that great with grapple or Mythos Lore?). 8 dollars can improve Amanda from the bottom to the middle, or you can improve someone from the middle to the top. I'd argue that 6/6 isn't that great either. The 3 unique items that Amanda draws would help her though. Sorry I really like to compare, but Patrice only needs to draw 2 unique items to pass her PS.

I really want to believe that FFG created every investigator with some redeeming value no matter how bad they might seem. Though maybe a student isn't suited for investigating and is destined to be devoured.

Posted at

How not to abuse Patrice? Not reminding people when they can use her clues, not reminding people when she receives clues,

sorry, but it's just sad that the answer to that question was basically, "you have to forget about her investigator ability."

And I wouldn't spend the $8 on a skill either. So don't. Nobody buys skills at Admin, the simple fact that it's still not very benificial even for Amanda, doesn't really **** her. Sigh... although it is a sad state of affairs that Patrice needs 2 uniques and Amanda needs 3.

Posted at

awp832 said:

And I wouldn't spend the $8 on a skill either. So don't. Nobody buys skills at Admin, the simple fact that it's still not very benificial even for Amanda, doesn't really **** her. Sigh... although it is a sad state of affairs that Patrice needs 2 uniques and Amanda needs 3.

I don't like to trash investigators too much, because most of them can be useful in certain situations. It's possible that Amanda can get 2 really good skills from the start that can pull her to the middle. But if that's not the case, you really have to cater to her- give her money, give her items, let her camp at the newspaper/the shoppe, maybe she can get Cabala of Saboth or she'll just have to spend those 8 dollars. By the time she's new and improved, at least half the game is over, and during all this time other investigators are going into OW and cleaning up the streets.

I guess that might be a challenge and you could end up with 4-6 skills and she can do a lot of things by then. But for the amount of time and effort that you need to invest, I just think it might be better to use the resources on the more capable investigators from a bottom-line/just trying to win perspective. She can fill the role of trying to get money and items and pass it to others. That said, if a player draws and plays Amanda, I won't be that heartless and will try to help her every now and then.

Posted at

awp832 said:

How not to abuse Patrice? Not reminding people when they can use her clues, not reminding people when she receives clues,

sorry, but it's just sad that the answer to that question was basically, "you have to forget about her investigator ability."

And I wouldn't spend the $8 on a skill either. So don't. Nobody buys skills at Admin, the simple fact that it's still not very benificial even for Amanda, doesn't really **** her. Sigh... although it is a sad state of affairs that Patrice needs 2 uniques and Amanda needs 3.

I disagree. Maybe Amanda isn't the best person to be buying a skill for, but if you hit up the bank with Lola and head to the administration building, you can buy TWO skills with the money she has. Lola is then a machine. You can basically search for the best skills in the game. I did that once, and Lola was a machine. MACHINE!

During the first league, I was playing Bob, and he got devoured by the horrible Dreamlands encounter. I chose to bring in Lola, because hey, I love her. Plus we pretty much knew the game was going to go to crap anyway. I ended up starting with the Tome that gives her a random skill. Then I got another skill some random way. It was awesome.

I've played the game before where I've gotten Amanda the loan, and headed down and gotten a skill. It can be beneficial or backfire. The worst was when she didn't default on her loan for like 5 turns. She was pretty **** useless without any items.

I'd rather play Amanda than Jim any day.

Posted at

johnwatersfan said:

awp832 said:

How not to abuse Patrice? Not reminding people when they can use her clues, not reminding people when she receives clues,

sorry, but it's just sad that the answer to that question was basically, "you have to forget about her investigator ability."

And I wouldn't spend the $8 on a skill either. So don't. Nobody buys skills at Admin, the simple fact that it's still not very benificial even for Amanda, doesn't really **** her. Sigh... although it is a sad state of affairs that Patrice needs 2 uniques and Amanda needs 3.

I disagree. Maybe Amanda isn't the best person to be buying a skill for, but if you hit up the bank with Lola and head to the administration building, you can buy TWO skills with the money she has. Lola is then a machine. You can basically search for the best skills in the game. I did that once, and Lola was a machine. MACHINE!

During the first league, I was playing Bob, and he got devoured by the horrible Dreamlands encounter. I chose to bring in Lola, because hey, I love her. Plus we pretty much knew the game was going to go to crap anyway. I ended up starting with the Tome that gives her a random skill. Then I got another skill some random way. It was awesome.

I've played the game before where I've gotten Amanda the loan, and headed down and gotten a skill. It can be beneficial or backfire. The worst was when she didn't default on her loan for like 5 turns. She was pretty **** useless without any items.

I'd rather play Amanda than Jim any day.

Yeah. I *always* get Lola a second skill asap (and a third skill if I can afford it). I'd hesitate with Amanda, because usually the team can't afford to buy her another skill (because she starts off so broke).

Posted at

mageith said:

Avi_dreader said:

Personally, I think it was a very good idea having variant investigator powers. That way teams who want easier games can make it easier, and teams who want harder games can make it harder, and teams who want randomness can make it random. :') Everyone's a winner!

I don't think everyone is a winner with this vast variation. I play with dozens of different people and some get kind of pouty if they can't have their favorite investigator. That's OK if its Jim Culver*, Monterey Jack or Ashcan Pete (all multiply requested), not so OK when its Patrice*, Mandy and/or Daisy*. (Nobody asks to be Wendy, however, though I think she's one of the strongest.)

Nobody likes Wendy? ;.( Now *I'm* getting pouty. Patrice, Mandy, or Daisy... Ugh. I suppose they ask for heralds too. Three per game!

Posted at

Avi_dreader said:

Nobody likes Wendy? ;.( Now *I'm* getting pouty. Patrice, Mandy, or Daisy... Ugh. I suppose they ask for heralds too. Three per game!

I didn't really say that. It's that she's not high on the list of investigators they want to be. She's cute for a little girl, but she's a little girl.

mmm. Heralds? What are they? No, no one asks to make the game harder. I do have lots and lots of mods that make the game more "realistic" and/or thematic and may "incidentally" make the game harder, though some make the game easier. Often they come in the form of Ancient heralds. These are heralds that look like, on paper, ancient ones.

This weekend I'm going to play a game where the Dunwich Horror is in the game from the first turn, in all of his unheralded glory. If the players defeat IT they win the game (other normal victory conditions are in effect). For some reason, its very difficult for my games to bring out the Dunwich Horror (even though I often play Dunwich Horror as the only expansion) and when IT does come out, its usually so late in the game, we just ignore IT. I don't think we've ever (bothered to) defeat IT.

Posted at

mageith said:

Avi_dreader said:

Nobody likes Wendy? ;.( Now *I'm* getting pouty. Patrice, Mandy, or Daisy... Ugh. I suppose they ask for heralds too. Three per game!

I didn't really say that. It's that she's not high on the list of investigators they want to be. She's cute for a little girl, but she's a little girl.

mmm. Heralds? What are they? No, no one asks to make the game harder. I do have lots and lots of mods that make the game more "realistic" and/or thematic and may "incidentally" make the game harder, though some make the game easier. Often they come in the form of Ancient heralds. These are heralds that look like, on paper, ancient ones.

This weekend I'm going to play a game where the Dunwich Horror is in the game from the first turn, in all of his unheralded glory. If the players defeat IT they win the game (other normal victory conditions are in effect). For some reason, its very difficult for my games to bring out the Dunwich Horror (even though I often play Dunwich Horror as the only expansion) and when IT does come out, its usually so late in the game, we just ignore IT. I don't think we've ever (bothered to) defeat IT.

Wow I think we've gotten the Horror out about 5 or 6 times and defeated it about half that amount. A lot depends on the card you draw, but it's definitely not an undoable task.

Posted at

mageith said:

This weekend I'm going to play a game where the Dunwich Horror is in the game from the first turn, in all of his unheralded glory. If the players defeat IT they win the game (other normal victory conditions are in effect).

So, Clue-whoring FTW preocupado.gif ? Get Clues, blast DH, win. Meh. At least make that win condition that every investigator/player has to defeat the DH (it respawns next Mythos phase after defeat).

Posted at

mageith said:

Avi_dreader said:

Nobody likes Wendy? ;.( Now *I'm* getting pouty. Patrice, Mandy, or Daisy... Ugh. I suppose they ask for heralds too. Three per game!

I didn't really say that. It's that she's not high on the list of investigators they want to be. She's cute for a little girl, but she's a little girl.

mmm. Heralds? What are they? No, no one asks to make the game harder. I do have lots and lots of mods that make the game more "realistic" and/or thematic and may "incidentally" make the game harder, though some make the game easier. Often they come in the form of Ancient heralds. These are heralds that look like, on paper, ancient ones.

This weekend I'm going to play a game where the Dunwich Horror is in the game from the first turn, in all of his unheralded glory. If the players defeat IT they win the game (other normal victory conditions are in effect). For some reason, its very difficult for my games to bring out the Dunwich Horror (even though I often play Dunwich Horror as the only expansion) and when IT does come out, its usually so late in the game, we just ignore IT. I don't think we've ever (bothered to) defeat IT.

I agree with Dam, your game is going to be too easy. May I suggest you try my new Whatley herald instead? ;') I think there's a good chance you'll get the Horror out with it, and if you're playing it with Yog-Sothtoth, there's going to be even stronger incentive to kill it.

Posted at

Or just simply that you can't use clues to add to horror/spell/combat checks against the Dunwich Horror. Feel free to rule whether you can use them for Fisticuffs, Mystic Gift, and Strong Will as well.

Posted at

Avi_dreader said:

I agree with Dam, your game is going to be too easy. May I suggest you try my new Whatley herald instead? ;') I think there's a good chance you'll get the Horror out with it, and if you're playing it with Yog-Sothtoth, there's going to be even stronger incentive to kill it.

You guys are probably right, but since we've never had the experience it should be fun--at least once. I doubt we can ignore IT since it will be spitting out a doom token every six turns or so. But we just need the baseline experience.

Posted at

johnwatersfan said:

To be fair, I haven't played with personal stories, so I can't really judge that.

All I know is that every time anyone in my group plays Jim, he is practically useless and always gets devoured. And even going through other worlds, we rarely actually get to use the green ability.

We have always thought Jim was a good middle of the road character. Not super great, but certainly not bottom of the barrel. He's one of 4 (drawn at random) in a solo game I'm playing right now. Sealed our first gate of the game and used an extra clue to deadman stomp a vampire. Passed his personal story in the first 4 turns. Now all undead just go straight into his purse. That is nice, as I tend to draw ghosts constantly and they irritate me. :-)

Concur about the green ability. It has very rarely come into play for me when playing Jim.

Posted at

Nghtflame7 said:

Concur about the green ability. It has very rarely come into play for me when playing Jim.

I agree that Strange Luck is pretty useless. I replaced it with an ability I call "Sixth Sense":

Any Phase: Jim may spend one or more Focus points to move his skill sliders at any time except during combat. He may use this ability before resolving the effects of a gate card or a location card.

Posted at

but.... that's not anything remotely like strange luck. You just took out Jim's ability and replaced it with something completely different. He's not even Jim anymore, just another custom investigator.

Posted at

Kind of the point. Though I'd argue that he's still recognizably Jim.

Posted at

avec said:

Nghtflame7 said:

Any Phase: Jim may spend one or more Focus points to move his skill sliders at any time except during combat. He may use this ability before resolving the effects of a gate card or a location card.

For a while Jim, for us, could demand the next green card whenever he was in an other world. He's back to normal now since he's my sons favorite investigator. It's the horn.

Posted at

mageith said:

For a while Jim, for us, could demand the next green card whenever he was in an other world. He's back to normal now since he's my sons favorite investigator. It's the horn.

Yeah, the horn. And you gotta love that suit. And his backstory is pretty frickin funny.