Hello all, I've tried looking through past threads and FAQ for an answer but am still confused about how Duke functions. I hope you all can shed some light on the situation, and pardon me for the incoming avalanche of questions.

What happens if I use Duke to investigate and have an asset in play that boosts my Intellect (for example, Dr. Milan Christopher or Dark Horse)? Does the +1 Intellect not apply to the test because Duke instructs you to "investigate with a base Intellect skill of 4"? Or does the boost still apply in this situation?

What happens if you have a Magnifying Glass equipped while investigating with Duke? Does that benefit apply, since it specifically states that it applies while investigating?

And finally, what if you have Arcane Studies in play while making the investigation check? Can you spend resources to boost Duke's effective intellect of four, or is that not applicable here?

Thanks for the insight!

base intellect is where you start before modifiers. All of these will work. The only thing that wont work is something else that is trying to change his base intellect, E.G. The Man with Red Gloves, or stuff that requires it's own separate action (which would stop you from using Duke) E.G. Flashlight.

There are three things to be be aware of when altering your skill value.

1) Plain boosts to skill value, like Magnifying Glass, Dark Horse and Arcane Studies, all add their bonus to the base value of the relevant skill, wherever that's derived from. So these work with Duke.

2) Some set your base value as something else, like Duke (or Red Gloved Man, as I now notice @awp832 has just added!). These are mutually exclusive as they both set your base value to something different, and so do not stack.

3) Special action cards that do something which includes the relevant type of skill test. Duke is also one of those, as it's a special form of the Attack or Investigate action which sets your base value to 4 with an additional effect. Another example is Flashlight, which is a special action, which includes Investigating, and reduces the shroud value of the location. Other options are spells that allow you to use Head instead of another skill. All of these are mutually exclusive too, as you must complete one action before doing another one, and there is at least one location in the game so far which requires you to do its own special investigate action. So you can't use Duke, AND use flashlight to reduce the shroud at the same time.

Hope that helps explain why that's the case.

I love the narrative this rule creates.

Pete says to Duke: "Good boy! Off you go, head into that room that we've not been in yet. Go see what you can get. There's a good boy.

Duke: "Woof?"

Pete: "Oh yes - here's magnifying glass, and Milan, can you go with him? I'll wait here. Thanks."