The best Investigators?

By Shane Wintch, in Mansions of Madness

So I've played every scenario and love the game. I've also noticed certain Patterns with traits and abilities that are better than others. Who are your favorite Investigators and why do you feel they are better than the others?

One pattern I'm noticing is that Will is probably the most valuable trait because of Horror checks and constant use from the Mythos Phase. It seems that Sanity is dropped and smacked on way faster than Health. Also, actions are very valuable in this game as you do not have a ton of time to dink around, therefore I've also noticed that abilities that are actions need to be clutch or crucial to winning the game, or you will not use them or need them as there are so many other things more important. Passive abilities are typically better unless they are clutch.

Spells I feel are sub par to items for damage because they blow up in your face too much. I find that most of the time it's better to just shoot the monster or hit them over the head with a 2x4 than to use a spell. The non-damage spells are fine.

Here's my dream team.

Tier 1

Ashcan Pete / Duke - The dog is invaluable and saves so much time in his ability to free trade and pick items up and move them around. Also, Ashcan has a great stat lineup. Fights very well with high strength and agility.

Jenny Barnes - Her ability to dump Horror and gain clues is amazing and her stats are very well rounded where it counts.

Carolyn Fern - She is great as a support character because of her ability to dump Horror and great stats to balance her off while running with a warrior type such as Joe Diamond. Her high will and influence is very good while paired up.

Joe Diamond / Michael McGlen - Both of these feel basically the same spot, the monster killer. I've seen both do well and better depending on the items and weapons you start with and find in game play. You get brass Knuckles in Michaels hands or guns in Joes and they are great.

What are your thoughts and Why?

My impression is that spells can deal with monsters really quick, though, which can save you some peril; especially horror checks. You cannot drop them, which is nice. Also, sometimes they yield beneficial side effects, not just misfire. Attack spells are then probably best used when there's a though one in your way.

I really enjoy playing with Rita, especially when I want to steal victory by dashing through a scenario.

But in any case for me the answer is always the same: the best investigator is someone who still has to come. Really looking forward for something big coming for Mansions. I'm all in for big or small scenarios, expansions with tiles and monsters and DLC (for free or not); but what I really want for Mansions is something breaking the schemes. Thus, a campaign on the Orient Express. With a ton of new characters being recruitable in the different cities the train touches

I agree that Rita is very good for opening the board up and exploring and or using her for trade actions since she can close the gap quickly. One strategy is to give her the butlers ability before she moves away, giving her an extra action. In this way she could move 9 spaces in one turn. Crazy good. :)

I assumed that the Butlers action had to come as an interupt as it must be used during his own activation, no?

So he can tell Rita to move, or attack or whatever, but it has to come during his turn? Which isn't a problem if it is his second action, but if you wanted Rita to do something then use the Butler they would have to occur separately.

This is how it plays out in IA and Descent, not sure if it is the same for MoM I just assumed it was.

No you are right but she would still move 9 spaces if she wanted to because she would move 3 on the Butlers turn with his action, then 6 on her turn with her actions. :) I should have said 9 spaces in one round, not one turn. My bad.

My impression is that spells can deal with monsters really quick, though, which can save you some peril; especially horror checks. You cannot drop them, which is nice. Also, sometimes they yield beneficial side effects, not just misfire. Attack spells are then probably best used when there's a though one in your way.

I agree spells are great, I had one that ended up doing like 10 damage points last night! To nitpick though the listing for spells says

Spells are possessions. As such, they can be dropped, picked up, or traded using the trade action.

Spells are possessions but not items. Most (if not all) of the effects that force you to drop something uses the word "items". As a result you aren't forced to drop spells as part of that.

Spells are possessions but not items. Most (if not all) of the effects that force you to drop something uses the word "items". As a result you aren't forced to drop spells as part of that.

Hmm, not sure what I think of that actually. If I can trade it and not teach it then I must have something in my hands (a book or a scroll) in which case I should be able to drop it.

Spells are possessions but not items. Most (if not all) of the effects that force you to drop something uses the word "items". As a result you aren't forced to drop spells as part of that.

Hmm, not sure what I think of that actually. If I can trade it and not teach it then I must have something in my hands (a book or a scroll) in which case I should be able to drop it.

I get what you are saying but its more of a rules item than a logic item. If the rules say drop possessions, then they would be vulnerable. To make what I am saying clearer, you can drop spells, its just that effects that force you to drop items exclude spells.

RR Pg 14:

Possessions are a category of components that can be dropped, picked up, or traded with the trade action and other effects.
Common Items, Unique Items, and Spells are possessions.

RR Pg 11:

The word “Items” is a collective term that refers to both Common Items and Unique Items.
So if an effect says you must drop one random item, your spells are excluded.
If an effect says you must drop one random possession, than spells come into play.
I have yet to see anything that uses the phrase possession for dropping outside of what happens when a player is eliminated.