Because we could do with a little Stan and Ollie in Arkham.

This is one of the tricky ones. Potentially he can be a really powerful character, but he starts out weak. I'm thinking of updating so that he can discard two Skills instead of spending a clue token. I think he also needs to start with a little more, so I'm thinking of giving him a Colt (Exhuast: +4 to a Combat check) to match the picture. The Akeley Farmhouse can be replaced with the Witch House for general Arkham games.

I loathe the forum technology FFG are running with, so rather than try and faff around trying to add the Personal Story (the picture editor inevitably adds them in the wrong order regardless of what I do, and I'd rather not subject the walls of my study to another bout of tourettes), so just follow the link: http://s1113.photobucket.com/albums/k506/jabie1/Investigators/Personal%20Stories/

This is the other complicated one that probablty needs some play-testing. This one uses an abnormal Focus technique.

Hey, it's been awhile since I made some customs. These character ideas came to me, of all places, while I was doing dishes. Both of them have the root idea of "What exactly, in the lore, is a trophy?" Well, these two characters have their own definitions for their trophies.

One more I remembered I wanted to do. He kinda skirts the lines of being 'based on' an existing character - there's lots of clues, can you figure out where he's from? But he continues the "What are Trophies" theme. Enjoy!

To be honest, I don't really like any of those, unfortunately. The zoologist can evade a 3 toughness monster and then gain its copy automatically? Too easy to get good trophy points in that case (and/or clear out some nasty monsters from the cup), and especially when the trophies are also worth more (which is just a dupe of Tony's Clean Takedown).

And the first part of the second one is interesting, where she can start in the second location of an Other World if she has the same gate trophy. I like that. But then she also gets a huge bonus to close/seal it, and gets half off the price (essentially) for an Ally or Deputy, etc.? Tone that stuff down or replace it and she would be good. And I don't think the ability for "extensive mapping" really matches the name. I saw a great idea for a postman investigator on BGG where his ability was something like: "Shortcuts: The postman may move directly between two locations in the same neighborhood, or may spend 3 movement points to move directly between two locations in neighborhoods connected by a street area." It's a unique ability that may not be useful that often, but once in a while if you're stuck somewhere from a nasty monster in your street, you can get around it. I think something like that, which provides some kind of special movement ability, would fit better for "extensive mapping."

The filmmaker, on second glance, isn't bad, and the abilities are nicely thematic, but I'm not sure how much fun it would be to play that character, who essentially has to tag along for everything and presumably do a lot of evading just to be able to "film" the proceedings. It is interesting, though, and much better balanced than the first two, IMO.

Grudunza said:

For the Zoologist, clearing out monsters from the Cup is actually part of the intent - he's a character that requires a good knowledge of the game to properly use (and now HOW many Formless Spawn are in there?) And it's not a dupe of Clean Takedown - he adds one to the total of all the toughness (IE: If you only had 9, he could spend it as 10). Taking another look at his stats though, I think I need to make him have a lower fight and luck, he's supposed to be a lousy fighter (and that Evade power is really supposed to be the way he can get Monster trophies).

The idea behind Helen is that her Gate Trophies are the maps she draws of the Other World. That's the reason she gets the bonus for those things - she comes in with her evidence and sprawls it out all over the table, it's so much info that it might as well be two. But the thing is, if she spends her gate trophies, her primary ability becomes weaker - yeah she can go to town with allies and the deputy, but then she won't have the Gate Trophies required to use her other ability - keep in mind how often Gates come up and how many different Other Worlds there are. She's a juggling act.

As for the closing bonus, neither her fight or lore are that good, and it's specifically designed to let her get those extra trophies she wants.

And again, the Producer is designed to be that way. He's a tagalong, but his trade off is well worth it. Again, he's a strategic character.

I've got two more characters coming up for what I'm currently calling this 'Trophy Pack' as they continue the theme, and I'll be working on them right now.

I really like the first half of the cartographer but I'm with Grudunza on her discount ability for the cartographer. Most people would stuff the Personal Mission and grab a decent ally first move of the game. I understand why it's there, but it's far too powerful for my liking.

Maybe, when she trades in gate trophies, she could receive dollars equal to twice the number on the gate trophy, in addition to the standard effect. ("Hey, kid, these freaky maps of yours are interesting. I'll give you a couple of bucks for 'em") This still gives her a minor benefit over J. Q. Random Investigator, but isn't quite so overbearing.

Jake yet again said:

Would "When she trades in Trophies she gets double the rewards" be too powerful? Maybe if I limited it to trading in 1 Gate Trophy?

Or maybe "If she has two of the same gate trophy, she may spend 1 of them as if it were two"?

Here's the final batch of the Trophy Investigators.

And here are the first two rebalanced. Better?

Still not convinced about the doubling effect, I'm afraid. 1 Gate = 4 Clues at the Science Building. That's only one clue shy of a self-sealing engine. I'd give her a different bonus such as cash or San/Stamina refresh.

I really don't like either of those options because it doesn't fit thematically with what I'm going for with her. The idea is supposed to be that her mapping skills are so good that when she turns in her trophy (as in, her maps), that its information is more valuable. Why would she suddenly get healed for it? Why would Father Michael at the church give her money for a Map of R'Yleh?

Maybe it be best just to remove the second ability all together, but then I feel that she's a little weak (as her ability is highly situational - if there aren't any gates she has a trophy to on the table, she's really a rather average Investigator).

Maybe she could discard gate trophies to reroll failed seal checks. Her expertise regarding the other worlds gives her a better insight into how seal dimensional portals.

Jake yet again said:

Hrmm. What about "She may discard a Gate Trophy when Sealing to remove 2 Clue Tokens from the Sealing cost"? In essence, it would let her spend a Gate Trophy at the Science Building without taking the time to go there. It's not quite as thematic, but it's a good ability that still fits with her Gate Theme.

-edit- One second thought, that makes it ridiculously easy to seal gates to places she has a Gate Trophy for already (as she jumps into the second part of those gates).

Maybe instead, I'll just bump up her bonus to close gates and make it the second ability. Something like "If she already holds a Gate Trophy to a location, she gains two die to the closing roll (as if she had spent 2 Clue Tokens)."

What do you think of the other 4 Investigators?

Not too sure about the Hunter's "summoning" ability. Anything that searches through the monster cup tends to disrupt the game and should be discouraged. Maybe he could automatically track down Elusive / evade Stalker monsters instead.

I'd change the profession of the Artifact Thief to Cat Burglar. I like her name - a subtle gag. The ability is pretty nifty though.

I'm not a big fan of the artwork. I don't care for black and white photographs, though I appreciate that google is terrible at distinguishing watercolours and paintings from photos and it takes a long time to find suitable artwork for Arkham Horror.

Jake yet again said:

The Hunters Summoning ability may require searching the Cup, but it's a very strategic ability - it costs a good investment (2 Clue tokens is nothing to sneeze at) and which monster to get requires some forethought - do you use the ability now and get a weak monster on the board? Or do you try and remove all of a big monster from the Cup with his personal story? Or do you get a medium monster which syncs well with his ability? It might slow the game a bit, but the strategy and thought behind it is what makes it interesting, which is a trade off I'm willing to keep.

I didn't make the their Cat Burglar because I thought that would be TOO obvious. But that probably does make it a bit less awkward.

The art was, in all honesty, an afterthought - most of them were snagged off first page Google searches. I might give the art another pass later.

Check out my latest project:

Her comes her personal story:

That's a very interesting idea, though I think using Stamina for Skill Checks may make her a bit too powerful. What if you limited it to Combat checks instead (IE: She's drawing on the power of the blood to help her defeat monsters)?

Had it ever happen to you wasting all your clues and still 0 successes?

This group of Investigators goes with the Circus Institution I put in the Institution thread. There's 7 of them, and all are fairly different and (I hope) interesting. Here's the first batch. Let's start with the Balanced Stat ones.

Here's the next couple with the 7/3 Investigators.

Finally, here are the pair (!) of 8/2 (!!) Investigators!