I haven't played much games yet but when I try to introduce the game to friends I just realized the idea of adjusting your stats using your focus is just... doesn't matter? in most cases at least.

I am going to go to another world and I have no idea what kind of check they're going to ask me. How the hell would I know that the next encounter is going to use my Lore Check or my Fight Check or my Sneak Check? it just seems too random to even bother with using the focus every turn. But that's why I'm posting this I just might be missing something?

It is true there are times when you go to fight a monster, you pump your fight stats (reducing your will) or if you want to travel long distances and you don't need to sneak (or have a bonus to sneak skill/item) you'd pump your speed..etc but there are many cases (drawing encounters) where it asks me to do some checks that I think are too random to even bother with adjusting your stats.

yewsef said:

Well, not knowing what's going to happen is one of the thrilling things of the game ::smiling::

Anyway, a couple of ideas... many OW encounters forces you to check your Luck, so a good thing should be entering an OW with Luck = 2 (at least). When you come back from an OW, you probably have to check your Lore or Fight in order to close / seal the gate you are in. So you have probably to adjust sliders, and the use your Focus again.

Just focus on the thing you have to do; you're going to cast a spell / read a tome / seal a gate? Then pump up Lore. While if you're going to have an encounter in a location / OW , then it's better to lower the Lore stat and increase your Luck.

A high Fight value is a good thing while entering combat with a monster, but in some cases, when the monsters aren't really tough, you could prefer to pump up the Will, in order to keep some sanity points.

If you roam through the nefarious Innsmouth after martial law is declared, then Sneak starts becoming vital, and you'd probably prefer sacrifice some Speed.

As a general rule for encounters, try to have at least 2 points in every stat; in this way, you should have at least one die, if the penalty is no greater than (-1)

As you get more experienced, you will also find certain locations do tend to use certain stats over others. As mentioned, luck is the most common stat for encounters so always good to have.

Generally most rounds I alter my speed as needed, and only adjust the others when the time is right.

I found early on I was focusing on fight too much. With the right weapons most monsters can be killed in a single combat round, and sanity costs tend to me more frequent overall. It hink its better to pass more horror checks and then fail the occasional combat check and lose some stamina then to get drained of sanity in every fight.

Other worlds can be hard to predict. But like Stalker0 said in Arkham there are several locations where you can anticipate the required skill. The administration building is quite likely to require a Lore or a Will check. The bank and the black cave are likely to require Luck checks.

Stalker0 said:

Agreed. I find that after I receive new eapons/items I tend to reduce fight to compensate. Also, If I am in the ow, I will usually reduce speed. You may have to sometimes make checks based off of it, but it's less useful.

You might find this useful:

www.geekdo.com/filepage/43768/arkham-horror-location-encounter-statistics

Nyogtha said:

As the author of above mentioned file, let me say that it definitely lends itself to more tactical use of you focus, both in Arkham and Other worlds. For example, if you are using the base game only and are traveling to R'lyeh, then 45% of the time your OW encounter will require a skill check of some type. Of these checks made, the most likely is speed (37%), the next most likely is Luck (26%). Makes sense: If you aren't fast and/or lucky, then Cthulhu will munch on you!

ricedwlit said:

Some might argue that if you are fast and lucky, Cthulhu will munch on you ! No prolonged suffering and insanity.