We’ve had one list ranking the investigators, and I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring. First off, this list is based on most powerful, most likely to win, in my own thoughts. I wish I could completely take my own perspective out of the picture, but there sometimes are ‘fine in theory, doesn’t work in practice’ cases, so I will be relying on my own game experience as well. Also, we each have our own favorite characters. I have tried not to play favorites, otherwise, Wendy, Finn, and Luke would be on top.

Now, on to my game enviorment. We play a four investigator team chosen from a randomly drawn six investigators, and teamwork is excellent. We use AH, DH, KH, and IH in our games, with randomly drawn GOOs. Most often we don’t use heralds or guardians, but we do use personal story cards and epic battle cards.

One last note: Due to the difficulty of fighting many of the GOOs in final battle, priority is given to gate sealers over combat characters, as you can kill all the monsters and still lose, while if you seal 6 gates, you win.

48 Vincent Lee, the Doctor
47 Sister Mary, the Nun
46 George Barnaby, the Lawyer
45 Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist
44 Harvey Walters, the Professor
43 Tony Morgan, the Bounty Hunter
42 Charlie Kane, the Politician
41 Amanda Sharpe, the Student
40 Kate Winthrop, the Scientist
39 Agnes Baker, the Waitress
38 Jenny Barnes, the Dilettante
37 Diana Stanley, the Redeemed Cultist
36 Michael McGlen, the Gangster
35 Zoey Samaras, the Chef
34 Ursula Downs, the Explorer
33 Dexter Drake, the Magician
32 Hank Samson, the Farmhand
31 Bob Jenkins, the Salesman
30 Trish Scarborough, the Spy
29 Jim Culver, the Musician
28 Norman Withers, the Astronomer
27 Luke Robinson, the Dreamer
26 Gloria Goldberg, the Author
25 Rita Young, the Athlete
24 William Yorick, the Gravedigger
23 Ashcan Pete, the Drifter
22 Tommy Muldoon, the Rookie Cop
21 Mark Harrigan, the Soldier
20 Skids O'Toole, the Ex-Convict
19 Minh Thi Phan, the Secretary
18 Lola Hayes, the Actress
17 Roland Banks, the Fed
16 Leo Anderson, the Expedition Leader
15 Carolyn Fern, the Psychologist
14 Finn Edwards, the Bootlegger
13 Wilson Richards, the Handyman
12 Joe Diamond, the Private Eye
11 Akachi Onyele, the Shaman
10 Darrell Simmons, the Photographer
9 Lily Chen, the Martial Artist
8 Marie Lambeau, the Entertainer
7 Rex Murphy, the Reporter
6 Silas Marsh, the Sailor
5 Wendy Adams, the Urchin
4 Daisy Walker, the Librarian
3 Mandy Thompson, the Researcher
2 Jacqueline Fine, the Psychic
1 Patrice Hathaway, the Violinist

Explanation for my choices will follow, after I have time to do them.

Very surprising to see Wilson so high. And of course Dexter is WAY too high . Swap him with Mary .

Excellent! Looking forward to your reasons and rationales. Very curious to see why Harvey's in the cellar.

@ Dam Wilson #13 is a great all around investigator. He always always helps. I'd say about right.

@Renderfalls: Thanks for this. I love this stuff.

I'd be interested to know you strategy that makes you so high on Jacqueline #2? She's above average but not in my Elite though sweet 16.

I also don't see Marie in the Elite 8? What are you seeing that I don't see?

Lily at #9? Are you playing her by her card or by her change? I like her either way, but 9's a little high, but definitely in top half.

Minh #19 on the other hand is really good, expecially with her personal story. She's in my elite 8.

Luke at #27? Too high! He's one of the most lovecraftian, but I surely haven't gotten him to be much of a contributer. What's your strategy?

Hank Samson #32? Maybe. He doesn't look that bad, and he starts out really good for us, but in the end he usually isn't on the winning team. Perhaps too min maxed?

Jenny # 38? Everybody here loves to get Jenny. First move is a bank loan. Her slowness doesn't effect her when she's shopping for the first 3-5 turns. This will usually turn up an elder sign, some weapons and something to move her along. She's in my sweet 16, for sure.

George the lawyer at #46. I guess others else have worse experiences than I do with George. He's not a top, top investigator but he never disappoints. Pushing top half, maybe. A lot depends on how long his retainer lasts.

Amanda at #41. For our last three games we've let the players choose her two skills and even maxed out, everyone has been disappointed. They've tried to make into a fighter. We're going to try one more time and make her into an evader. But skills aren't worth $10 or even $8. #41 might be too good for her.

mageith said:

Renderfalls mentions the personal stories are used in their games. Not sure if they are taken into account in the ranking, but I assume so. If PS is in, Wilson blows big-time, can't collect any Clues until the doom track hits 6? Well, you can, but they'll go poof. If he starts/get KiY and manages an early seal okay, but most investigators can do that and don't run the risk of getting their Clues go poof.

@Renderfalls: Thanks for this. I love this stuff.

mageith said:

To me, Marie with IH borders on over-powered, -2 doom tokens are pretty much guaranteed. And the PS is ridiculously easy to pass, meaning most GOOs have a doom track 2 spaces longer (in effect).

mageith said:

Jenny is very meh for me. I don't use/abuse Bank Loans and she always tends to roll horribly. And her PS sucks hairy monkey-balls (as does Hank's among others).

@Dam:

Yeah I was taking into account PS. While nearly all PS are helpful, many are not so helpful that they are worth doing, unless the downside is pretty bad.

Wilson's downside is pretty bad,but we usually just ignore Wilson's and hope to use his clues up before the doom hits 6. Usually we do. I don't see it has that big of drawback. Where would you put him then?

Marie: Yeah doom token removal is big, then what else is there? Perhaps in the overall scheme of the things she is really a powerful (but boring) investigator. But don't several others now remove a doom token when she always did remove 1 anyway. Are you saying she's in your Elite 8? I'm not sure I see drawing and keeping 2 spells as that easy, though probably worth it.

Jenny's great to have with Wilson. Then he passes and she pay's. I'd have to see to do ab/use Bank loans and usually that ends up with Jenny having some great cards. We also ignore Jenny's PS, though passing it is helpful in the speed department, but usually not 5 clues and a lost turn helpful. Is Meh higher than 38?

mageith said:

High-20s, low-30s for me probably.

mageith said:

For winning 2 doomers is HUGE. Who else removes doomers? Tommy, but he has to die for it. Marie with Storm of Spirits can max her Will at snazzy 5 and work wonders in combat, seems her Third Hand often comes into play. I also spam her Voice of Ra heavily.

mageith said:

I'll spend Jenny's money at Curiositie, Wilson's Pass reward isn't really worth it (Hastur, Glaaki as GOOs, KiY or Dagon as Herald maybe), but it's too rich for my blood, I'll take my chances with Elder Signs. Jim Culver belongs lower than Jenny for me (he isn't in my Nefarious Four for nothing), but high-30s or low-40s for Jenny. Depends on how hateful I'm feeling toward Wendy and Daisy .

Much depends on combos, because you will never play an investigator alone. If you've one investigator who has got much money, you won't want another one (because 2 investigators spending the first 1-3 turns buying things really hurts). Plus some investigators really shine when given specific items or combined with other investigators. Examples are Joe Diamond and Mandy Thompson to kill very powerful monsters, or Luke with a page from carcosa which gives him a KiY or an Elder Sign or something like that for a turn 3 seal. Or Luke and Patrice (well, she's #1 already).Or Daisy and Rex (Daisy blessing Rex on turn 2 is just crazy. Well, those 2 are really good anyway).

That being said, I think your list is pretty good. I'd rank Joe higher, but well, he's one of my favourites. Plus I don't know the Innsmouth investigators (well, I do, but I never played them) nor do I know the Personal Stories because Innsmouth has yet to be released in germany.

I'll try to keep my current comments breif till you explanation. I'll only point out the ones I find particularly peculiar.

36 Michael McGlen, the Gangster vs 21 Mark Harrigan, the Soldier

I don't see how they can be 15 appart with Mark ahead of Michael. Michael has better will and speed as well as starts with a very good multi use weapon. As for abilities I find Mark is good if you're playing with IH but other than that it has to be Michael hands down.

31 Bob Jenkins, the Salesman vs 14 Finn Edwards, the Bootlegger

(Bob is one of my favorite 4 characters so this one will be a bit long)

I know you said you have an affinity for Finn but common. There's no way these 2 can be placed so far appart with Finn in front. They have more or less identical starting items (Finn gets a wiskey, Bob gets to "pass over" 1 cruddy common item) Bob has more money, they have identical Stam/San. Other than that it comes down to their stats abilities, PS, and Finn's extra skill.

In the stats department I have to give it to Bob. He might not be able to sneak past monsters very well but he sure as hell can fight.

+2 sneak, +1 speed, +1 lore vs +1 fight +3 will

For a non spell caster I really have to give it to +1 fight +3 will.

For their abilities Finns holdout is good but since you usually try to avoid losing items its a "make something bad less bad" as oppose to "gain some benifit" which I find get less use. Slipery is very circunstancial and may be an extra move or a free evade. Bob can find that weapon he needs easierly if he doesn't get one. Overall though I find Finns better though only because he is likely to be killed by any monster he fails to sneak by so his ability is more likely to be useful. Bit of a hollow victory though.

While a skill is nothing to scoff at paying $10 for one is a little blah. Really depends on the skill though. Don't really know what skill you want to draw for him. His sneak is already high and he doesn't like fighting monsters but hey you might get credit rating which would be good.

For personal stories Bobs fail is worse but passing his isn't such a hassle. Plus I consider the benifit from Bobs much better. Good for both getting items and a clue generator. Finn just gets an virtual extra move and maybe a free evade.

Okay enough on these 2. Don't think I have a problem with the placement of any of my other favorites so shouldn't be any more long ones.

11 Akachi Onyele, the Shaman

I hope that this includes personal stories. I consider her to be a terrible character unless you have PS in. For her you must pass it or you just have a very subpar character. w/out PS I'd rate her around 2-4 worst character. Even with it I think she is rated a little too high. Definitely not above Joe.

You need to specify if you're calculating personal stories or not (if you are, your Sister Mary ranking is whacked).

Avi_dreader said:

Avi, didn't you read his post? He DID specify that he is calculating personal stories!

Solan said:

I don't see any mention of taking the PS into account. Renderfalls says they use the PS, which isn't the same as taking them into acccount.

Dam said:

In the first paragraph he said he was taking his own gaming experience into account, and in the second paragraph he described his gaming environment, including the fact that Personal Stories were used. I therefore thought it was pretty clear that he was including them in his analysis.

Solan said:

I agree with Avi then about Sister Mary and even more puzzled by Wilson's position in that case.

Mary is a tough call. I mean, boy is she hard to get started. Her only random items are 2 spells and a skill. Other than that you have some decent, but fairly limited equipment. No clues, no money, basically no place to start.

Story is great, but in order to pass you'll probably need to get a couple of trophies. That means either monster hunting or gate closing. With no clues and only a holy water for a weapon (spells may or may not give you some help here) you're probably left begging for scraps from other investigators. Which is okay, it is a team game after all, but nevertheless; logistics get in the way of getting her the stuff she needs.

BUT.... once she *does* get rolling, she can be unstoppable. With a decent enough weapon her low fight stats are easily compensated for by her blessing, and she has enough sanity to tank quite a few horror checks before needing to go to the Asylum.

Unfortunately, her ability is really next to useless. Sure, it's nice every once in a while, but it's not something that can help you on a turn-by-turn basis. Mark Harrigan's similar ability (in the respect that you dont really have control over when you use it) at least comes up much more often. You can even use Mark's ability to your advantage if you have the right equipment and are clever. (example, arcane insight and send him to the gate that will be opening in the mythos. Not delayed means he can spend 1 less turn in ow before sealing, no such hijinx with mary...)

Sorry, all, it took me a lot longer to do this than I thought it would. Hope it helps people understand my reasoning.

We’ve had one list ranking the investigators, and I thought I’d throw my hat into the ring. First off, this list is based on most powerful, most likely to win, in my own thoughts. I wish I could completely take my own perspective out of the picture, but there sometimes are ‘fine in theory, doesn’t work in practice’ cases, so I will be relying on my own game experience as well. Also, we each have our own favorite characters. I have tried not to play favorites, otherwise, Wendy, Finn, and Luke would be on top.

Now, on to my game enviorment. We play a four investigator team chosen from a randomly drawn six investigators, and teamwork is excellent. We use AH, DH, KH, and IH in our games, with randomly drawn GOOs. Most often we don’t use heralds or guardians, but we do use personal story cards and epic battle cards.

One last note: Due to the difficulty of fighting many of the GOOs in final battle, priority is given to gate sealers over combat characters, as you can kill all the monsters and still lose, while if you seal 6 gates, you win.

48. Vincent Lee. Slow, with a rather useless special ability, no unique items, and a mere one clue. Too many problems to make him worth it.

47. Sister Mary. Her personal story certainly gives her a leg up, but she wastes most of her starting equipment allowance on a blessing, a cross, and a one use magic weapon. Also, I’ve passed her personal story, and still lost her blessing, so I can’t rate her highly at all.

46. George Barnaby, the Lawyer. He also has a max of three move, no clues, and while the bail out power sounds good, we have managed to avoid the dangers of the Innsmouth jail for the most part. His other special ability is nice, but it depends on what you throw. It’s great if you need a success and you have a four, but not so much if you have only threes or lower.

45. Monterey Jack, the Archaeologist. I want to like him, but I can’t. His special is nice for shopping for unique items, but he is doubly cursed with no sanity and low will, without any real ability to avoid monsters

44. Harvey Walters, the Professor I consider combat characters to be the less useful than gate sealers or team booster characters. I consider 3 speed max to be too slow. I consider luck and lore to be the least important slider generally. Harvey has all these. Also, he has high sanity, but no will to survive fighting a monster, or no fight to be able to actually beat any monster with spells. Too many things just don’t work for Harvey.

43. Tony Morgan, the Bounty Hunter A bounty hunter, without a gun. Or even a measly little knife. His specials make him thrive on monster throphies, but what does he carry to fight off the might of Gugs and Star Vampires? Handcuffs. Admittedly, while his sanity is low, he actually has the will to stay sane. Too bad he doesn’t have the fight then to actually take out anything his handcuffs can’t already handle.

42. Charlie Kane, the Politician. You are going to hear this from me a lot, but 3 move is bad. He does ok in the fight/will and lore/luck department, but he starts with no clues, and his special ability with the terror track is of limited use, best against Hastur or Glaaki, but certainly not worth two clues in most normal circumstances. Being able to get any ally is a nice bonus, as is starting with one, but he too often lacks what he needs to get things done, namely, clues, speed, and weapons.

41. Amanda Sharpe, the Student Amanda Sharpe, the embodiment of average. Too bad it seems better often to be good at one thing, rather than ok at everything. However, I have had some good luck with skills, so it’s nice to have three to choose from at the start of the game. She will be ok where you need her, but don’t really expect much.

40. Kate Winthrop, the Scientist I love her special ability. It’s really great when the science building tries to open first turn. Sadly, with Dunwich, Innsmouth, and Arkham all having gates, having her in the right place at the right time is highly unlikely.

39. Agnes Baker, the Waitress She does get wither out of the deal, and three clues, but most of her points are put into making her a great spellcaster. A great spell caster with only 5 sanity, and a max will of 3. True, she can burn stamina for spells instead of sanity, so that helps her go a little longer, but I prefer special abilities that aren’t there to cover weaknesses, but instead emphasize strengths. She will be useful verses mid range monsters, but most characters can deal with them already. She can do well in the other world, but I haven’t seen much to impress me in play.

38. Jenny Barnes, the Dilettante 3 speed. 0 clues. Spends the first half of the game getting a bank loan and then shopping, leaving her with a grand total of 0 clues to seal gates in the mid game. Sure, she may pick up some really good stuff, an elder sign or mi-go brain case. But I am of the opinion that money is the least valuable resource in the game, with clues being the most valuable. Innsmouth has made money more important, but you still need to spend the time turning the money into something else. Also, her personal story. I give it props for theme. Mechanically, I hate it, as it’s a lose lose situation.

37. Diana Stanley, the Redeemed Cultist. Boy, are the membership dues of the silver twilight lodge expensive. Sure, inner sanctum encounters are nice, but Diana is too crippled in terms of starting equipment for it. She does heal well, and get clues from the terror track, but it doesn’t make up for her starting equipment issues and speed.

36. Michael McGlen, the Gangster Sanity, ehh, who needs it? Another low will, low sanity character. He can take one heck of a beating, but he’s not equipped with clues for the other world, nor does he have the sanity for it. He’s best used as a street sweeper, but he can only challenge ones that won’t be draining on his sanity, and while his personal story helps with his sanity issue, you’ve got to activate it first.

35. Zoey Samaras, the Chef I really like a character who can downgrade immunities and resistances, and Zoey does that. She also starts with a lot of clues, and two unique items. Her weapons, however, leave something to be desired. She has to protect her fragile sanity by leaving her will high, but then that leaves little in the way of fight, namely, a knife. She needs a good weapon, but unfortunately, the unique item deck is less likely to supply her need than the common item deck.

34. Ursula Downs, the Explorer. I must apologize to Ursula for her place on the list. She may be better than I give her credit for, and I need to play her more. But my experiences with her have been with my brother starting her in Innsmouth, and visiting the unstable locations there, and then invariably using the clue she just encountered to nullify the encounter, for a net gain of zero. I suspect we still haven’t found how to use her yet, and I’d like to try her as a shopper, getting curiousity shop encounters as well as shopping, or going to locations that have gates open on them when visited, such as independence square and the woods. Then perhaps I could rate her more fairly.

33. Dexter Drake, the Magician Dexter’s personal story helps boost him a little bit in the rankings. That, and starting with a shrivelling. He lacks clues, but he can get around fairly well, cast fairly well, and thanks to shriveling, he can fight pretty well, as long as he avoids monsters with high horror checks. Also, his ability to draw an extra spell makes it more likely he gets some of the better spells, such as Shantek, Alchemical Process, or Mists.

32. Hank Samson, the Farmhand Hank breaks one of the rules of arkham horror, the need to balance between fight and will when fighting monsters. As a result, you can fairly safely put his will at 0, and his fight at 5, and go to town on monsters. He also has an extra point of stamina, which is nice, but he’s still a monster killer, a category I rate the lowest, hence, he’s down at 32.

31. Bob Jenkins, the Salesman Bob lacks focus. Bob lacks clues. What Bob does have is a nice personal story to gain clues, good starting equipment, a really good fight/will slider, and money to fuel his clue gathering from his personal story. His special ability isn’t all that great, as many only shop at the curiosity shoppe, but he still comes with a good package of stats, equipment, and personal story success.

30. Trish Scarborough, the Spy I want to rate Trish higher. She breaks the mold on her sliders, and that makes her good at what she needs to be for any given turn. Not many characters can get a 4/3 split on fight and will, and none of those could have a 4/5 split on speed and sneak the next turn. She’s hindered in part by a low speed value, so if she wants to get somewhere, her other stats will suffer, and the one boosted with speed is luck, and whether you need that really is luck of the draw. She can burn stamina or sanity to increase this movement, but you can’t keep it up forever. She does have the advantage of always being able to burn all her focus for upkeep of skills or weapons, but she hasn’t performed great in our games, hence her place at 30.

29. Jim Culver, the Musician I must admit, I really like the theme of Jim’s personal story. It fits so well as an artist. Messing with the terror track, though, usually isn’t too important in a game. Jim’s stats are decidedly ok at best. He really doesn’t stand out well in any one area, and for a supposed spell caster, 4 lore ain’t much to brag about. His dead man’s stomp has often come in handy for us, often taking out a wraith or mummy in an unfortunate position. (now, despite the fact that there are three types of vampires in the monster cup, none of them are undead? Ok, I’ll grant you the star and fire variety, but just plain vampire isn’t undead? Huh?) His green other world ability is nice, but it may come up, or it may not. But it does give you more motivation to send him through a difficult gate, as you can take greens as well. He should be ready for a gate pretty quickly with 3 clues to start, and his golden trumpet is an important asset, often used to cover the weaknesses of other characters.

28. Norman Withers, the Astronomer Find gate as a starting spell? O yeah, baby! Being able to change the symbol of any gate to anything but a moon? Sweet! He starts with 3 clues? Awesome! Stormin Norman has potential. On the down side, he’s slow, can’t evade much, can’t beat much up, so monsters will give him problems. If he can make it through the other worlds, and get to the gates in arkham, he will do well. If he can’t, it might be better for someone else to get the find gate.

27. Luke Robinson, the Dreamer I have a personal fondness for Luke, so perhaps that influences my rating of him. Luke can be very much hit or miss. If an early gate opens in a rare unstable location, then he’s off to a good start. He can close it, grab another clue someplace in arkham, jump back in and seal the next gate he comes out of, hopefully grab an elder sign or a tome that gives him clues, and be on his way for the third gate, and his personal story, which can be great if you pull Bain or Prof. Rice. What makes me rate Luke so highly is his ability to generate clues, and his maneuverability with his gate box. A Devil’s reef gate opens? Luke can shut it down, especially if he’s already in the other world. Also, Luke really does well in Dunwich, as everything is three spaces away, so it’s easy for him to get clues and jump in gates, so his speed doesn’t hinder him. Luke gets his place primarily for two reasons, both relating to clues. Firstly, he rarely takes clues from the main board, he’s got his own in the other world to gain, so when you get to that point where there are few or no clues left in Arkham, Luke can still generate them. Secondly, few investigators can go into the other world with three clues, and come out with enough to seal a gate. Luke can, consistently. Despite his three speed, Luke is fast at sealing gates.

26. Gloria Goldberg, the Author Gloria excels at one thing, and that’s other world travel. Her ability to choose between two other world cards makes her better in the other world than any other investigator. Her stats are ok, except for her fight, but with two common items, and two spells, she should be able to handle herself fairly well. She’s still got to spend a lot of time in arkham, though, and there, she really isn’t anything special.

25. Rita Young, the Athlete Pros for Rita. Good fight stats, with the ability to stay sane and still be able to fight. Also, her weakness in stats is in lore/luck, the least valuable in my opinion. She also has a few clues to start with, and a retainer. She can also reach a 3 speed/4 sneak, which is awesome when it’s needed, and when it’s not, she can move. Her starting equipment is good considering the retainer takes up a lot of it, but slightly substandard without the overpriced retainer. All and all, she’s fairly consistent, but not really exceptional, hence her place in the middle of the pack.

24. William Yorick, the Gravedigger Finally, a fighter who accomplishes something when fighting! Namely, getting pseudo clues. He gets two common, and two unique items, plus 3 monster trophies, which are the equivalent for clues. His purpose is to clear the streets, making travel easier for everyone else, and while at the same time, he’s accumulating clues to actually seal gates. He can also make sure problematic monsters don’t come back, a nice bonus. Downside? 3 speed max, 1 focus. He can’t clear monsters fast, and with all our extra boards, good luck him getting where he needs to be.

23. Ashcan Pete, the Drifter Ashcan Pete, the original sneakmaster. He certainly overpays for Duke, and only has a speed of three, but his sneak can go all the way up to six if need be, a nice bonus if you are coming out of a gate and can’t shut it immediately. He also lacks focus (1), so despite being a liked character of mine, he gets 24th. What helps him keep this spot is the abusability of his special ability. Buying back the King in Yellow or Old Journal makes for a very potent clue generating mechanic, and there are other abusable combos triggering off of his ability to buy from the bottom of the decks.

22. Tommy Muldoon, the Rookie Cop Your milage may vary with Tommy. For us, he invariably gets some clues, seals a gate, hands over his stuff, gets devoured, and a new character comes in with 5 extra clues and a gate token. Not a bad trade off, really. We haven’t had much of a chance to use his special abilities yet, but we still have found him very helpful to get. However, I can’t rate too highly a character who it’s best to get replaced as soon as possible, even with the benefit he brings, thus ranking Tommy at 22nd.

21. Mark Harrigan, the Soldier The dude starts out with a flamethrower! Too bad if he sees something scary, he’s running for the asylum. Starting equipment for Harrigan is excellent, and his stats are good, if you are willing to be sneaky with him, and not a one man army. His low focus keeps him from being able to use the most of his stats though, and his fight slider is usually stuck at it’s lowest value, to avoid going insane. This can make sealing difficult then, as his fight can’t move up very fast, and his lore is no better than his fight. Still, he’s great in the final battle, and he can really contribute to the team before the final battle.

20. Minh Thi Phan, the Secretary If Minh gets an ally, watch out. Even better for Minh, if her personal story gets passed, she gets to choose an ally of her choice, but that depends on what tomes the group has or acquires. Minh’s lore, however, doesn’t make book reading easy, especially with some of the more difficult texts. Starting with the king in yellow is great, but then because of her personal story, she often doesn’t want to read it right away, which can work against the good of the group. Also, it is fairly rare for investigators to be in the same location, so this part of her special ability isn’t going to see much use. All in all, she has a lot going for her. What she lacks, however, is synergy. She needs to read books, but doesn’t read well due to low lore. She has a great book to read early or pass off, but she can’t, or she fails her personal story. She works well with others, but it’s not a good idea to huddle together, as too many things need to be done. She can be a star player with good draws, but she takes luck and work, hence her place at 20.

19. Skids O'Toole, the Ex-Convict Skids starts out with some major disadvantages, namely the three will, three sanity curse. Also, three move. With this Triple curse, many may want to place him at a higher number, and I am somewhat tempted to. What saves him is his time in the school of hard knocks, as well as three clues to start. The clues are nice. The special ability, though, is a life saver. Too often, this ability has turned failure into success. A single one gives you a better than 50% chance of passing a failed roll. Roll two ones? You have four dice to get a 5 or 6. I like those odds. It’s a safety net, allowing you to take greater risks, and have them pay out. And may the ancient one help the monsters if he’s ever blessed, as he gets good stuff 66% of the time for each dice.

18. Lola Hayes, the Actress There are some amazing skills out there. Lola’s ability to cycle through the deck until she gets one can be extremely helpful. It may take awhile, but I’ve usually managed to get something I’m happy with, such as disguise or mythos lore. Her stats give her some potential with good speed, reasonable in combat, and ok luck/lore, and her equipment isn’t anything to complain about, but what sets her apart is her ability to gain powerful skills, and switch them if need be.

17. Roland Banks, the Fed Roland is almost the average investigator, only he has one extra will, one more stamina and one less sanity. And average usually means not very good at much. But Banks has an advantage, known as free clues and free train fair. Get him a few clues fast, seal a gate, generate a couple more, trade in the gate trophy, and grab an extra one, and you are ready for gate #2. Pass his personal story, and he can get up to four clues fast, grab an extra, and be all set. Clue generation drives Roland, and makes a real difference when there isn’t many on the board.

16. Leo Anderson, the Expedition Leader Leo pays in terms of starting items for his ally. Allies certainly can be helpful, or even a real boon in the game. Or, it can be a dud. Still, Leo is popular in our group, despite the ¼ and 4/1 split of his stats. What earns his realtivly high position, though, is his special ability. It may not seem like much, but over the turns, it keeps people healthy, especially in the other worlds. Many times Leo’s ability has kept other world investigators sane or healthy, allowing them to complete their trip through and seal a gate.

15. Carolyn Fern, the Psychologist Healer, heal thyself. That’s often what Carolyn does. And she does it well. She functions well as an occasional monster slayer with her ability to maximize her fight, and absorb sanity loss. She also does well as a spell caster, especially for something like Shantek or alchemical process. Her starting equipment is also pretty good, 2 commons and 2 uniques, plus $7. She does lack in spell, which is unfortunate considering her strength in this area. She’s also low on clues, but her healing ability and durability make Carolyn a solid investigator. The one real ding on her record is an utter lack of speed.

14. Finn Edwards, the Bootlegger Another of my favorite characters. There’s only one word for his starting equipment. Unbelievable. 2 commons, 2 uniques, 8 dollars and whiskey, as well as 2 skills. He has everything he needs, or he should. Beyond that, he’s the 2nd best sneaker in the game, ranging from a speed/sneak value of 3/5 to 6/2. Sure, he has terrible fight and will, and only average lore/luck, but if he’s fighting anything much more than a cultist or a rat thing, you are using him wrong. In addition, he has the ability to move as a moon monster, helping him get into and out of places more easily, and upping his already incredible move and sneak skills. Yes, he does lack clues, but he can gather them very fast, and quickly seal some gates, while being well equipped to do so.

13. Wilson Richards, the Handyman Some may question Wilson being here. Wilson’s advantages are summed up as the following. 1. Unlimited focus. What Trish tries to accomplish, Wilson succeeds at. His stats are always where they need to be. In addition, he can move his sliders, and still pay for any ‘spend all your focus to refresh items’. 2. He can go to Devil’s Reef, and lay out a dock, and not get in any trouble. He can venture into marsh refinery, or the Esoteric Order, and walk out again. No gate is going to open for him at Independence square, nor are the Sheldon gang going to give him trouble in the woods. He can choose to avoid the nastyness of any place in arkham, and gain a buck for his trouble. Kinda what Ursula would like to be, but can’t. 3. Starting equipment. Wilson starts with a motorcycle, and shotgun. He’s good to go, and the motorcycle is worth it’s weight in gold. I’ve been slamming slow characters throughout this whole list. He fixes that fault right there. And if he doesn’t need to give it away, he turns into a sneakmaster himself. Wilson is solid, good abilities, good equipment, hence he makes #13.

12. Joe Diamond, the Private Eye Lucky 12. I’m sure Joe would appreciate it. What doesn’t Joe have going for him? He starts with 3 clues, and one of the best weapons in the game. He’s got the speed to get anywhere, and the focus to be able to switch into stealth mode in a turn. His fight is good, but his will does leave something to be desired, but that usually isn’t too much of a problem for Joe. He starts with a bundle of cash, and his personal story gives him an option of even more if need be. And finally, clues mean so much more to him, and he will be spending half as many as any other investigator when they need to burn clues to pass a skill check, a very valuable, and abusable, ability (clue shotgun, anyone?)

11. Akachi Onyele, the Shaman Let me be blunt. Akachi has some good abilities, especially with regards to sealing gates. But she’s here for one reason, her imitation of Prof. Rice. That’s a game changing ability, and since she starts with a gate trophy, it shouldn’t take her too long to get two more, and then the clues rain down. She’s a clue machine in that moment, and can change the momentum of the game. Also, she seals really well, which fuels into her personal story, so she just misses out on the top ten.

10. Darrell Simmons, the Photographer In general, an investigator is going to spend more time having arhkam encounters than having other world encounters, usually at least three arkham encounters to pick up clues vs two other world encounters. Also, I play with Kingsport, so having encounters in Kingsport is fairly common. Hence, Darrell’s ability rates higher than Gloria’s. Also, there are some really good otherworld encounters, but most of the time you are just trying to get through to seal. Arkham encounters give you the potential to get allies, remove doom tokens, get items, etc. Wilson can ignore dangerous places, while Darrell can benefit from good ones, as well as mitigate the effects at bad locations. His stats also are fairly solid, with enough focus to be flexible as he needs. Darrell with all his advantages has done well for us in the games we have played, so he gets spot 11.

9. Lily Chen, the Martial Artist She’s unarmed, and can have a combat value of nine. Sure, she might take sanity damage, but she can heal it. Lily is weak on starting possessions, but she isn’t in greatly need of a weapon. Lily is very self sufficient, and is often able to deal with troublesome monsters that no other investigator, can, such as Colours out of Space. Her personal story is also interesting, and could make the different between success in final combat and failure, and we haven’t had too much trouble keeping her sane. But what brings it home for Lily is her martial arts and healing ability.

8. Marie Lambeau, the Entertainer. Marie has a potent ability, to remove a doom token once at will, a rare ability. Pass her personal story, which isn’t hard to do, and she can do it again, and each time she does it, she gets spells for doing so. This works well with her third eye ability, and that complements her enchanted knife, a rather nice magic weapon. She’s not exactly strong in the fight department, but her third eye ability should cover her here. She does start out with something of a dud of a spell, Voice of Ra, as well as two other spells, which could be great, or almost worthless. What puts Marie in the top ten, though, is her extention of the doom track. How often has the game come down to the doom track filling just before the ancient one awakes? Marie can turn those awakened ancient ones into seal or close victories, a very worthwhile ability. What keeps her high on the top ten though, is that she, as a spell caster, has a lore of a mere 4, too low to be dependable for most of the -1 casting cost spells.

7. Rex Murphy, the Reporter This reporter has been doing well for himself. He has 1 common item, 2 unique items, 2 spells, a skill, 3 clues, and $4. He comes close to matching Finn in starting equipment. O yeah, he also has a curse. That, and he gets one extra clue token every time he gets one. If that wasn’t enough, his personal story, while costly, can pay off in the long run, and does the job in uncursing him. His stats are solid, except will, so he can be whatever he needs, whether it’s a spellcaster, a fighter, or sneaky or fast. His curse, while a pain, doesn’t undo the massive advantages of Rex, and is fairly easy to lift early on, either through a gate trophy or a few monsters at southside church. His best ability though, is his clue generation ability. If the science building has a clue on it, and he has a gate trophy, he can go from 0 clues to 5 in one turn, ready to seal next turn. Clues are the most important resource in the game, and he gets more of them than most in the game.

6. Silas Marsh, the Sailor Silas, playing with just Arkham Horror basic board, would probably be a good investigator. Playing as we do with Innsmouth and Kingsport, (as well as Dunwich) and Silas is an incredible character. He benefits firstly from being able to move from one aquatic location to another. Normally, Devil’s Reef is a pain to reach and get back from. Not for Silas, as he just swims out there, so gates at Devil’s Reef, normally so very dangerous, are dealt with quickly. Also, any monsters there had best watch out, due to his +2 to both fight and will (4 will, 7 fight, or some similar such numbers) His stats are also very solid, with a very strong fight value, and suffient speed and sneak (especially at aquatic locations) What finishes off this masterpiece is his personal story. When he collects the clue tokens, gate and monster trophies he needs, he can seal any gate at the cost of his life, and this often gives us the sixth seal we need to win the game

A quick note. Any of the ladies from spots 2-5 could be easily switched. All are extremely powerful, and I could see myself doing this list again tomorrow, and getting a completely different order in these spots, so treat them as a very tight 2-5.

5. Wendy Adams, the Urchin More, perhaps, than any other character, Wendy is the most focused investigator. She’s the master of one thing, and fairly terrible at most other things. But her excellence in this one area, evading, should mean she never really has to do anything she isn’t good at, namely, combat and terror checks. Wendy starts with an elder sign, the single best starting equipment in the game, and 3 clues to boot. In a turn or two, she will have five, and can go into a gate. Most investigators are in trouble if they lose a clue or two in the other world, but Wendy carries her sign with her, so she doesn’t need to fear this setback. She is kinda jipped for starting possessions other than the elder sign and clues compared to other investigators, and her sanity and stamina total is lower than anyone else’s. But the monsters pretty much can’t prevent her from going wherever she wants. Normally, there are places that tough monsters guard, and heaven help the investigators if it’s the train station. This doesn’t stop Wendy as she just breezes on through. Also, those Innsmouth cops don’t even believe that Wendy exists, especially if she’s smart enough to stay in the street. The other world could be difficult for Wendy, but the most dangerous common encounters are monsters, and Wendy should be able to evade pretty much any monster she meets. I do like to carry a small weapon (+1 or +2), for cultists and rat things, and leave her fight maxed. Just try and watch monsters attempt to stop her, because they have to find her first.

4. Daisy Walker, the Librarian. Daisy, what a spellcaster should be, namely not always depleting oneself casting spells. With Alchemical Process, she’s literally a gold mine, and with her tome, she can be guaranteed to get it, and the unique item deck is quickly pillaged of all the elder signs. Her ability to do this, and consistently, earns Daisy #4 on this list.

3. Mandy Thompson, the Researcher Mandy is insurance. The ability to reroll a dice roll is anything from a nice bonus, to a life saver. When Mandy is on the team, more people make it through the other world, because they made that skill check they needed to, or passed the horror or combat check that would have sent them lost in time and space. More investigators sealed their gate the first time, allowing them to get on instead of having to waste time at a gate and hoping no nasty monsters come out. More critical allies or equipment is acquired, because of passed skill checks. Besides these benefits, she starts out with 4 clues, ready to seal soon, and she can also sneak with some degree of speed. These benefits earn Mandy place number 3 on the list.

2. Jacqueline Fine, the Psychic I expect much disagreement with this one, but that’s fine. Just like Jacqueline, cause she’s so fine. Anyways, enough with the humor. What causes the investigators to lose the most? The mythos deck. It comes up with the wrong gate, or even worse, a gate burst on a sealed location. It spawns a rumor that will cripple the investigators. It awakens the ancient one by filling up the doom track, or the deep one rising track. Only one investigator can change these events, and that’s Jacqueline. Much of the time, the game is fairly close, and one mythos phase, one more turn, is the difference between life and death, success and failure, Arkham as is, or a giant hole in the ground where it once was. The cost definitely is pricey, but to keep a seal, or to keep all the clue tokens on the board is well worth it, and well deserving of 2nd place.

1. Patrice Hathaway, the Violinist If I need to explain this one, you must not have played with her much. Earlier, I called Akachi a clue machine. Patrice isn’t a clue machine. She’s the origin of all clues, and she has had them all already, she just lets others play with them from time to time. Playing with her means running out of clues to place on the board because they are all on her character sheet. She makes it so investigators can sneak past rat things with a 0 sneak, seal gates with no clues and no elder signs, and other ridiculous events. Dunwich horror has awoken and all I have is a knife? No problem, I’ll just drown him in Patrice’s clues. In between her easy to pass personal story, and clue generation from the doom track, investigators can do whatever they need to seal away the ancient one. I shudder to think of a game with her and Jacqueline on the same team. The mythos phase becomes a game of ‘Mother May I’ for the ancient one, with a fair amount of ‘No’ being heard by the ancient one. Yeah, she’s broken.

I disagree with you about Michael McGlen. Not about his rank but about the reason. His Will is not low, you can easily put his slider on 3 Fight 4 Will. The reason why he's so low is because he's just a monster beater (though one of the best against the medium dangerous ones).

I also disagree about Marie Lambeau. Her ability sure is powerful, but that's it, I'd definitely not rate her top ten. She's good, but not that great.

Oh, in the german version of the game the standard vampire is undead. Maybe it was a misprint in the first edition of the english game?

Other than that, I think the list is pretty good and your reasoning is really great.

Renderfalls said:

Wait, so its least valuable, but gold mine suggests money is good .

Renderfalls said:

Care to elaborate on that last part? Why wouldn't she want to read the KiY right away? It's not like she has to read all 3 Tomes on the same turn, so only thing I can think of is that you fear she'll go insane while she is hitting the OW sealing possibly the first gate of the game, since Minh can jump into a Woods (or Historical Society/Science Building) gate on turn 1, if she reads the KiY successfully and have the Clues to seal.

Two I would put higher on your list actually, lower is better so lower I guess.

Daryll Simmons, the Photographer

Leo Anderson, the Expedition Leader

Both largely for their special abilities.

The one thing I want to comment on is Harvey Walters. I definitely wouldn't put Harvey in the bottom five; that lore of 6 lets him close even gates to R'lyeh consistently; he doesn't mind horror checks much since he won't take as much damage from them and he has the sanity to take whats left even from monsters with high sanity damage; give him a good weapon (or even better, Storm of Spirits but I think you are not using KiY) and he makes a great street sweeper. He also has a high enough Sneak to be able to handle Innsmouth after Martial Law has been declared.

I also think he works very similar to Carolyn Fern, especially once Harvey completes his Personal Story (which I find easy to do). So I would rank those two very close to each other.

Renderfalls said:

Three to choose from?

Have I been playing it wrong? I always thought that starting possessions don't count as draws. Are you suppose to draw extras for Amanda, Bob, Dexter, Monterey, and get to pick with Ashcan? If so, would Patrice auto-pass her PS ?

I think most people dislike Speed 3s and Focus 1s. Ashcan has both. Yeah his sneak goes up to 6, but he needs 2-3 turns to get there, and more turns to get out. He needs Speed 3 or at least 2 most of the time to get anywhere. He's got decent sneak to go with that, so that's a plus for him.

If you can pull off abusive combos with Ashcan, great. After all, abusive is what makes an investigator 'good.' But when I consider the money you need to get to him (Cause he's got none), the items worth redrawing appearing, and the window of time you have to get to the store before that item gets displaced with other discards and the terror level closing up shops, I can't see it happening often enough. You can camp at the newspaper to get money and you can then camp near the shop to save time, but that doesn't sound very fun for the person playing him.

Not that it matters much, but he's PS is likely to fail. I haven't calculated the odds, but it's not very high that Dreamlands will come out before the 2nd doom, not to mention he has to get there. If you play with all the OWs, the odds are even lower. Barring 'lucky' monster surges in the early game or 1 turn OWs, he's not not getting that +1 Speed and Luck.

I think he's ranked higher than he should be, though you might have good experiences playing with him.

mzonic said:

Abilities work on starting possessions. All you listed get extra card to pick from and Pete can check the bottom before drawing. Starting possessions don't count for "draw" PS (though count for "have" PS).

mzonic said:

However, IIRC, starting equipment doesn't count for personal stories (I might be wrong about that, though).

jhaelen said:

Starting equipment counts if you're supposed to have "X of an item." If someone passes a personal story when he owns 3 Tomes and begins with one, it counts.

However, starting equipment doesn't count for "draw or gain" personal stories. Someone who has to "draw a unique item" twice would begin counting after receiving starting equipment. It should be pretty obvious that Patrice doesn't automatically pass her story.

"Draw" in this case means, "draw and obtain." You have to draw the item randomly, and choose to keep it when possible (I'm looking at you, stores!) You also can't get an investigator to trade the item to him/her: that's not drawing.