i'm curious on everyone's interpretation of the Dunwich investigator's starting stats.

**spoilers**

now, obviously "Ashcan" Pete is special because his stamina/sanity add up to 11, but he gets Duke off the bat, which technically makes him =16 total, but at a risk of his stats.

on the other hand, the others all total to 15, as opposed to the core box 14 stam/san total.. i'm wondering if this is because they technically only get 5 additional cards, and aren't dual classed as the core box investigators are. is this to give them a bonus in one area, where they might be losing a bonus in another?

i really thought thematically some investigators would have worked better as dual classes more so than some of the investigators that came in the core set. for instance, Wendy does not go well with many of the rogue card thematically with the exception of some of the pickpocket cards/burglary ect. however, gambling? booze? not really a street kid's type of scene. Jim Culver on the other hand, would have fit perfectly into a Mystic/Rogue slot. the jazz player, in all the speakeasy mean streets, drinking, finding strange illicit dealings and such. Yet, he can at most have a max of 5 other cards from the Rogue set.

just curious on your thoughts, though i'll say I do love the entire set as a whole, do you guys see this 5 card option in place of the dual class a hindrance or a boon, even with the +1 to stamina or sanity.

Well, having been an older youth on the street, gambling and booze are absolutely in the lifestyle. For me, anyhow. I don't encourage or endorse it, but liquor is the US-approved hard-times-soother. According to Casa Palmera treatment center, by 8th grade some 40% of youths have tasted alcohol. We can't say that all of those cases are benign new years toasts, either.
At a wedding in louisiana, I witnessed a child demand beer until eventually served. Again, I don't encourage or endorse it, but it happens.

I do feel some investigators weren't well-served by having to comply to the character-mechanics of the set they were released with, but it still works well enough. I liked the little touch that Rex Murphy isn't allowed any Fortune cards in his deck

What really gave me hope though, was Marie Lambeau's card. Her deck building rules seem quite personalized, giving all sorts of exceptions based on the traits of a card, rather than just class.

As to whether I prefer dual-class to...dunwich-style, I honestly don't know. I think a lot of people make the mistake of looking at the Dunwich investigators as 'dabblers', or 'jack of all trades', but in many ways they are actually less versatile than the core investigators. 5 cards just isn't a whole-lot, and they're 0-level to boot. I'm not surprised that the designers felt the need to give them extra health/sanity.

^ What TheFool says. I agree entirely, and I think Marie (and the investigators released with her) are going to be the most interesting for people who like to deck-build.

As for what the Dunwich legacy investigators bring to the table that others don't? Well.. you're probably going to want to look at powerful class combo cards since you will not be able to select many and take duplicates of those. Or cards that synergize well with their abilities. They certainly will not be as versatile as the core set investigators though. Expect them to be even more pigeon-holed into their corresponding roles.

Ok first thing first, you can use dunwhich legacy to get remaining class to the table, with two dual classes and one one mono class you can play 3 players, all classes played with just one core set.

Secondly for two players it give you real taste of deckbuilding for people who own only one set. And it looks like it's main purpose. It make someone with one core set to consider whether they need to buy second core set or not. Building deck with 5 cards that you want, its a sea of possiblity that let you make many different characters.

Thirldy, it let you counter weakness you draw with correct out of class choices. Remember - you should know what weakness you draw, so you can deckbuild around it.

Fourthly , it let you get out of the inherent weakness of the class you have to play. For example skids is a bad at investigating compared to the others, green is about evading and resources, and blue is about protection and cooperation and raw damage. With only one core set, he sucks at it so much because he don't have many cards that help him with this task. It's all good - it's variety of the game.

But jenny can take for example arcane studies, and use her resources (that she have plenty) to be good at investigating. That way she counter her weakness. Skid don't have that choice.

Yes, you can give rex more cards that help him getting clues... Evidence! or drawn to the flame. But you can also instead make him good at evading, let him use magic, or make him good at combat. These characters aren't pigeholed - they are versatile in their own way.

I do get what you mean Soul31, but the problem is that if you build those 5 cards to address weaknesses you are sort of setting your deck up to rely on pulling them. Five cards out of 30+ isn't particularly reliable, and especially so if each of those five cards tries to fill a different gap. That being said, if you happen to pull them in a pinch they could turn the game.

I think the Dunwich characters (while having those few extra cards for versatility) won't be particularly better at solo-play because if they are terrible at investigating, other than for a couple rounds, they will still be terrible at investigating. What it comes down to is looking at the cards in your class and deciding whether they are really cards that you need in your deck. If it is overkill for you, you have the chance to throw in a few new tactics or possibilities to disengage or have a spell like scrying hit the table.

Those slots are more for utility I think than building strategies around. Sometimes they will probably turn a game in your favor, and sometimes they won't matter at all and might even wish you had drawn a different card based on all of the class cards you are currently trying to synergize with.

I do get what you mean Soul31, but the problem is that if you build those 5 cards to address weaknesses you are sort of setting your deck up to rely on pulling them. Five cards out of 30+ isn't particularly reliable, and especially so if each of those five cards tries to fill a different gap. That being said, if you happen to pull them in a pinch they could turn the game.

Depends on the card, really. For instance, Jim Culver could include two Research Librarians to make it easier to find his Book of Shadows (even swapping them in after buying the Book costs less xp than buying a second copy). And finding a card

Plus, if they are all geared towards the same niche, then you've actually got pretty good odds of getting at least one of them, particularly if you're willing to mulligan for them. For instance, let's say you want to give Zoey more options to get away from enemies (so that you can re-engage them the next turn for more resources/damage). If you give her 2x Blinding Light, 2x Elusive, and 1x Cunning Distraction, then that's five cards geared solely towards one-time disengagement events. With mulligans, you've got like an 88% chance of getting at least one of them in your opening hand.

As to whether I prefer dual-class to...dunwich-style, I honestly don't know. I think a lot of people make the mistake of looking at the Dunwich investigators as 'dabblers', or 'jack of all trades', but in many ways they are actually less versatile than the core investigators. 5 cards just isn't a whole-lot, and they're 0-level to boot. I'm not surprised that the designers felt the need to give them extra health/sanity.

I think it's a safe bet, too, that deckbuilding restrictions are slightly more restrictive in order to balance the extra health/sanity the dunwich investigators got to make them a bit more suitable for an 8+ scenario campaign rather than the 3+ campaign from the core box.

Thirldy, it let you counter weakness you draw with correct out of class choices. Remember - you should know what weakness you draw, so you can deckbuild around it.

You are supposed to draw a basic weakness after building your deck.