Avi_dreader said:

Actually, I'm a very, very shallow person, so nobody tops Mandy . Also, I have a soft spot for Sister Mary, as investigator and as a back-up for Mandy .

Dam said:

::laughter::

But this got me thinking how many times an Investigator ends up playing against his "profession". The Professors in Lovecraft tend to be spellweavers, but Harvey can be played as brilliantly as Michael the Gangster as a Monster Slayer. (Age matters not.)

Mark the Soldier comes loaded for death with a flamethrower, but is painfully ineffective at actually getting to use it on the huge beasts that need such a weapon because he can't attempt the Horror Checks safely. However, Mark is an superb Explorer, able to bypass potentially game-killing stalls, especially in Kingsport and off-world, where delayeds fall like rain.

I think this is true of most of the strong fighters. 3 Lore is lousy.

Dexter the Magician is a lousy spellcaster, not having as much Lore as you'd wish for Checks, or enough Sanity to spend for costs. But he is an excellent Spell GATHERER: combined with a true Caster like Carolyn or Daisy, he becomes the Supply Sergeant to make his teammate the powerhouse that Dam hates so much.

Anyone else?

A little child shall lead them. My 8 year old granddaughter played her first game (6 player game) and I gave her Wendy and I told her the whole world depends on her. "Don't to that to me Grandpa." Well, she sealed 3 gates and was First Citizen. Too bad her first question was "How long does this game take?"

The ONLY good spellcaster is Daisy and I agree she's too good. Carolyn has to find her spells and somehow I never get around to casting spells. Besides with all iffy spells available now, its hard to come up with a good combo. Daisy has that covered too. After all, Carolyn's not really a believer -- not to begin with anyway.

I always have a good time with Jenny. I guess she really is supposed to be a fighter with two automatics in her picture but she still has to find them or something better and she usually does. A bit slow though.

Rita is one of my new favorites. Speedy enough to be a good evader and her scholarship usually provides some additional goodies.

Heh... Wendy is a superninja, one of the top five investigators imo.

A real necro-post this, but I couldn't find it discussed anywhere else, so bear with me.

MrsGamura said:

Is this correct, that the cost of reading a tome is concidered a loss (in regards to Walter's strong mind)?

What is the distinction between losses and costs? Is it only spells that cost sanity?

Played Walters recently and realised it didn't really know - only that reducing the sanity cost of spells is a no-no.

Losses are prevented, as per his ability but not costs.

If something says "cost" or "spend," then it is a cost and not a loss . Spells have a printed sanity cost .

Tomes make you lose sanity when you read them. I can't think of any tomes, from any expansion, that require a sanity cost to use.

That simple then. Great, I can live with that.

Glad to help. Oh, another thing to look out for:

Use of the Elder Sign or Flute of the Outer Gods incurs a loss of sanity and stamina. This means that it's preventable, and it also means that you don't have to have the prerequisite amount in order to use the item (that is, you don't need at least 3 sanity and 3 stamina to use the Flute).

It's funny really; I've been playing this game for years now and still there pop up stuff like this. Maybe Walters hasn't been the most popular guy in my groups…

Please ignore this post

How in the world did I never notice that Tomes incurred a sanity lost and not a sanity cost? Sheesh.

Personally, I think Harvey is one of the better spellcasters, precisely because of his affinity for retaining sanity from other sources. It means that his sanity can work solely as a resource for spells, rather than needing to be hoarded for rough encounters, and he has less to fear by spending his Sanity. Spellcasting in general, however, is a dubious tactic in most games (except for Daisy of course).

I do agree, though, that Dread Curse of Azathoth is a terrible spell. It's beaten in its awfulness only by Fist of Yog-Sothoth and Spectral Razor. FFG seems to not realize what a gigantic practical difference exists between a sanity cost of 1 and a sanity cost of 2. In the case of Dread Curse, it is not substantially enough more powerful than Shriveling (especially when you consider the hands and failure rate) to justify its higher sanity cost.

But, of course, Dread Curse and Fist/Spec are better to have than nothing at all!

In an extraordinarily rare situation, Fist and Spec can be pumped to extreme power. You need high lore, Spell bonuses, and a blessing, but when the stars align Spec can be the most powerful attack spell.