With all the investigators now available, it is becoming possible to make teams built around trait "themes", like Team Misktatonic or Team Law and Order or Team Criminal and the like. Only Team Drifter and Team Performer can field a full team of 4 at the moment, others can get close. So here is a list of the currently available Investigators and their traits for anyone who wants to indulge the craziness, or at least just have a look at who and what is available.

Symbols
^ = Investigator is available in a Novella and not a campaign set.
* = Investigator has another trait. (2 total)
** = Investigator has two other traits. (3 total)

Investigators

by Trait

Agency
Roland Banks*

Artist
Sefina Rousseau

Assistant
Mandy Thompson*
Minh Thi Phan

Believer
Father Mateo*
Zoey Samaras*

Criminal
“Skids” O’Toole
Finn Edwards
Tony Morgan*

Cultist
Diana Stanley*

Cursed
Calvin Wright*
Patrice Hathaway*

Detective
Joe Diamond
Roland Banks*

Dreamer
Luke Robinson**

Drifter
“Ashcan” Pete
Calvin Wright*
Jenny Barnes
Luke Robinson**
Silas Marsh^
Wendy Adams

Hunter
Tony Morgan*
Zoey Samaras*

Medic
Carolyn Fern

Miskatonic
Daisy Walker
Norman Withers^
Rita Young

Performer
Jim Culver
Lola Hayes
Marie Lambeau
Patrice Hathaway*

Police
Tommy Muldoon*

Reporter
Rex Murphy

Scholar
Mandy Thompson*

Silver Twilight
Diana Stanley*
Preston Fairmont*

Socialite
Preston Fairmont*

Sorcerer
Agnes Baker
Akachi Onyele
Marie Lambeau*

Veteran
Leo Anderson*
Mark Harrigan

Warden
Father Mateo*
Tommy Muldoon*
William Yorick

Wayfarer
Leo Anderson*
Luke Robinson**
Ursula Downs

Investigators by Class

Guardian
Carolyn Fern Medic
Leo Anderson Veteran, Wayfarer
Mark Harrigan Veteran
Roland Banks Agency, Detective
Tommy Muldoon Police, Warden
Zoey Samaras Believer, Hunter

Mystic
Agnes Baker Sorcerer
Akachi Onyele Sorcerer
Diana Stanley Cultist, Silver Twilight
Father Mateo Believer, Warden
Jim Culver Performer
Luke Robinson Dreamer, Drifter, Wayfarer
Marie Lambeau Performer, Sorcerer

Rogue
"Skids" O'Toole Criminal
Finn Edwards Criminal
Jenny Barnes Drifter
Preston Fairmont Silver Twilight, Socialite
Sefina Rousseau Artist
Tony Morgan Criminal, Hunter

Seeker
Daisy Walker Miskatonic
Joe Diamond Detective
Mandy Thompson Assistant, Scholar
Minh Thi Phan Assistant
Norman Withers^ Miskatonic
Rex Murphy Reporter
Ursula Downs Wayfarer

Survivor
"Ashcan" Pete Drifter
Calvin Wright Cursed, Drifter
Rita Young Miskatonic
Patrice Hathaway Cursed, Performer
Silas Marsh^ Drifter
Wendy Adams Drifter
William Yorick Warden

Neutral
Lola Hayes Performer

It looks like the Cursed trait was introduced in The Forgotten Age, which must be the only reason that Rex missed out on it. I propose that for thematic purposes Rex Murphy be considered an honorary Cursed investigator.

I can just imagine a campaign log one day saying: 'choose this option only if an investigator has the Cursed trait or the text "no Fortune cards" appears in an investigator's Deckbuilding Restrictions.'

He is so cursed that even curses wouldn't want to associate with him.

If we're being honest, a lot of the investigator traits are pretty arbitrary, and several investigators are "missing" traits that logically should apply to them.

4 hours ago, Allonym said:

If we're being honest, a lot of the investigator traits are pretty arbitrary, and several investigators are "missing" traits that logically should apply to them.

I agree. And I thought about doing additional commentary on each Trait to note such things, but that would require a lot more work, and I did not want to spam 10 posts of infodump until I checked to see if anyone even cared about the subject.

I also checked for player cards that shared these Traits while reviewing this, and I noticed a few peculiarities there as well. For example, Handcuffs have the Police Trait. The Police Badge does not. Even though the Police Trait was used on the Beat Cop in the Core Set along with the Police Badge.

So like with Rex who is cursed but not Cursed, they may need some other quirky text to account for "missing" Traits on Player Cards at some point.

It's the same story as the LOTR LCG. Early on there was a lot of weirdness with traits. There's a single card with the "Archer" keyword (none of the other cards who obviously use bows, from Legolas to Haldír to Galadhon Archers, had the keyword and there is zero support for it). Denethor gets the "Steward" trait, which doesn't do anything. Dain Ironfoot doesn't have the Noble keyword despite literally being a king. And so on.

There's not been much in the way of keyword support so far in the game (and unlike LOTR it's far harder to create keyword support due to the nature of the game) so I think it's probably best to see it as a bit of a curiosity.

Surely more will be done with the Serpent trait in Return to The Forgotten Age, right?

We need an investigator that's a serpent person in disguise.

41 minutes ago, phillos said:

We need an investigator that's a serpent person in disguise.

You mean Charlie Kane? (Obligatory politician joke, forgive me)

3 hours ago, Allonym said:

It's the same story as the LOTR LCG. Early on there was a lot of weirdness with traits. There's a single card with the "Archer" keyword (none of the other cards who obviously use bows, from Legolas to Haldír to Galadhon Archers, had the keyword and there is zero support for it). Denethor gets the "Steward" trait, which doesn't do anything. Dain Ironfoot doesn't have the Noble keyword despite literally being a king. And so on.

There's not been much in the way of keyword support so far in the game (and unlike LOTR it's far harder to create keyword support due to the nature of the game) so I think it's probably best to see it as a bit of a curiosity.

I noticed that in LTOR too and I felt it played a little flat, maybe partly because of that.
But the way this game plays with its versatility and layers, traits have a lot of untapped potential. I hope they continue to tap into them more and develop them more fully.

44 minutes ago, Soakman said:

You mean Charlie Kane? (Obligatory politician joke, forgive me)

David Icke notwithstanding, this trope has a source in pulp weird: Robert E. Howard's Kull story "The Shadow Kingdom."

Hopefully they would have errata for traits if there is ever a use for them in the future.

Aside from Rex picking up Cursed, which characters do people think are missing existing traits?

I could see an argument for Jenny gaining Socialite, for example.

William Yorick Actor?

Miskatonic for Mandy Thompson and Scholar for Norman and Daisy? And maybe Ursula?

You may say Luke's a dreamer. But he is the only one.

8 hours ago, dysartes said:

Aside from Rex picking up Cursed, which characters do people think are missing existing traits?

I could see an argument for Jenny gaining Socialite, for example.

Logically, William Yorick should be a Performer, Carolyn Fern should be a Dreamer, Mark Harrigan should be a Hunter, Finn Edwards and Silas Marsh should be Wayfarers, Norman Withers and Ursula Downs should be Scholars, Daisy Walker should either be a Scholar or an Assistant depending on how you interpret her role as a librarian (probably Scholar).

It would also make sense to merge Performer and Artist into just Artist, and to merge Miskatonic into Scholar unless they change Wilson Richards' backstory or something (all investigators associated with the Miskatonic University are scholarly). Unless they want to bring out some more in-depth trait synergy, like an ally you get a discount for if you are Miskatonic-traited, but the traits as they are seem haphazard enough that such mechanics probably wouldn't work too well.

I mean Rita’s not a scholar really. I mean not in a defining way. Despite attending MU.

10 hours ago, dysartes said:

Aside from Rex picking up Cursed, which characters do people think are missing existing traits?

I could see an argument for Jenny gaining Socialite, for example.

I can understand Rex not having Cursed. I mean, he is cursed, but that's represented by him having a Curse in his deck. His curse is that he's unlucky. Patrice's curse is that she's got a stalkery fan who happens to be an inescapable five-dimensional horror. Calvin's curse is that he's sold his soul to Nyarlathotep and might or might not be a reanimated corpse. Like, there are curses and there are Curses, y'know?

Jenny getting Socialite is a pretty obvious one, though. I guess you could counter-argue that she's young and hasn't established herself yet, but she'd probably have gotten that trait if it existed back in Dunwich.

2 hours ago, Allonym said:

Logically, William Yorick should be a Performer, Carolyn Fern should be a Dreamer, Mark Harrigan should be a Hunter, Finn Edwards and Silas Marsh should be Wayfarers, Norman Withers and Ursula Downs should be Scholars, Daisy Walker should either be a Scholar or an Assistant depending on how you interpret her role as a librarian (probably Scholar).

It would also make sense to merge Performer and Artist into just Artist, and to merge Miskatonic into Scholar unless they change Wilson Richards' backstory or something (all investigators associated with the Miskatonic University are scholarly). Unless they want to bring out some more in-depth trait synergy, like an ally you get a discount for if you are Miskatonic-traited, but the traits as they are seem haphazard enough that such mechanics probably wouldn't work too well.

• Does Yorick actually have an acting job? He's classically trained, but it's not his main form of income or anything. Makes sense that he doesn't have the Performer trait since he hasn't actually broken into that social milieu. Besides, Performer was introduced in his cycle, so I doubt they just overlooked him.
• Carolyn Fern has some experience with the Dreamlands, but she's far from an expert dreamer.
• The Hunter trait predates Mark, so it's probably deliberate that he doesn't have it. I think it's because Zoey and Tony have specific targets they're tracking down, while Mark mostly goes goes out looking for trouble.
• Wayfarer seems to be about exploring uncharted regions. Finn and Silas don't really do that.
• Miskatonic and Scholar can't really be merged, because there are Miskatonic characters who aren't scholars of arcane lore (Rita, Kate, Amanda), and vice-versa (Agatha).

2 minutes ago, rsdockery said:

• Does Yorick actually have an acting job? He's classically trained, but it's not his main form of income or anything. Makes sense that he doesn't have the Performer trait since he hasn't actually broken into that social milieu. Besides, Performer was introduced in his cycle, so I doubt they just overlooked him.
• Carolyn Fern has some experience with the Dreamlands, but she's far from an expert dreamer.
• The Hunter trait predates Mark, so it's probably deliberate that he doesn't have it. I think it's because Zoey and Tony have specific targets they're tracking down, while Mark mostly goes goes out looking for trouble.
• Wayfarer seems to be about exploring uncharted regions. Finn and Silas don't really do that.
• Miskatonic and Scholar can't really be merged, because there are Miskatonic characters who aren't scholars of arcane lore (Rita, Kate, Amanda), and vice-versa (Agatha).

Perhaps I was unclear.

My point is not "FFG screwed up in the traits given to those investigators and here's how they should fix it!"; one could argue the minutiae or come up with justifictions (what is the measure of a dreamer?). My point is instead that the traits and their delineations are somewhat arbitrary and the purpose and reasoning behind the traits is unclear.

I could counterargue all of those points, but the reality is that neither of us would be right or wrong.

As Allonym said, musing about "errata" is all well and good, but the cards are what they are.

As I said, I made the list to set up themes, and while it revealed some "peculiarities" that we can muse on endlessly, it was for building peculiar teams.

Maybe FFG will do that - add Ultimatums and Achievements based on Traits.
"Complete Return to The Dunwich Legacy with all Wayfarers"
"Investigators may not use cards, including Investigators, with the Police trait"

For that matter, maybe some players will make up a bunch. Like those. 😛

Funny, with all this discussion about traits as we were re-playing The Essex County Express last night. In the intro it says that we decided against going to the police with our story, so I kind of said it seemed funny to have Beat Cop in my deck!!

That detective is so stubborn he has followed me into my dreams!

8 hours ago, Mimi61 said:

Funny, with all this discussion about traits as we were re-playing The Essex County Express last night. In the intro it says that we decided against going to the police with our story, so I kind of said it seemed funny to have Beat Cop in my deck!!

Now imagine playing it with Tommy Muldoon and Roland Banks.

I know! Our first time through Dunwich when we only had the core set cards and the cards as they were coming out in Dunwich, my husband was Roland Banks and I was Daisy. I remember at that juncture, Roland startlingly revealed that the Arkham Police Dept had some dirty cops and he didn’t trust them.
Even as newbies we were trying to work around the traits!!

What about Duke or Guard Dog in Ulthar? “Any canine ally in Ulthar is immediately exhausted and doesn’t refresh until leaving Ulthar, as they will be chasing (or are being chased by) cats during your stay.”