(1)

vs.

(2)

vs.

My take: With all the respect for focus, 90% of the time I don't even use it. The only times I use it are: 1. To close gates. 2. To sneak past a monster. 3. To raise my fight to deal with difficult monsters. And that's it. The rest of the time my speed is on highest, my will is ony highest, and if I'm a spellcaster my lore is on highest otherwise my luck is on highest. In my honest opinion Brazier of Sould is pretty much strickly better than Fetch Stick for as I said my focus remains unused for most of the time anyway.

Now, onto the second part of the debate: Flamethrower hands down. Unless you're Jenny, 2$ are alot of money imho. What about you?

Older Greate Debates:

The Great Debate #1: Shotgun vs. Tommy Gun

The Great Debate #2: Dread Curse of Azathoth vs. Spectral Razor

The Great Debate #3: Ally vs. Skill

I like the Fetch Stick more, as the Brazier requires all of your focus, not just one, to refresh. The extra one die is not that big a deal.

And definitely Flamethrower over Elephant Gun. Not only is the one extra die not that huge of a deal, but I don't have $2 to kick around all the time to reload it when Flamethrower reloads for free.

I think a better comparison would have been Elephant Gun or Tommygun.

I'd go for the brazier. An extra (magical) die and an extra dollar. I can afford to occasionally dump my focus (especially if it's given to a low focus character— and it's a renewable resource).

I'd go for the flamethrower. An extra physical die is not worth paying probably an extra 7-9 bucks over the course of the game. I'd much rather use that for shopping for something else. I strongly dislike the elephant gun and would not consider paying for it— although I don't mind drawing it at random ;') especially if I can pawn it.

Am I the only one here who finds focus useless most of the time? I thought my game strategy is a common one...

-1st skill slider is set to highest speed (only moves when evade is necesarry)

-2nd skill slider is set to highest will (only moves if you have weak weapons, if you need to defeat a tough monster, or to close a gate if you're not a spellcaster)

-3rd skill slider is set to highest luck, unless you're a spellcaster in wich case it's set to highest lore (only moves if you're stuck with a tome as a non-spellcaster and you really want to read it)

I'm surprised- isn't that how everyone plays?

kroen said:

Perhaps you should start a Focus thread as well ?

I tend to tweak sliders pretty much every turn, based on where I'm going and what my experience has lead me to see as the most likely checks in said location.

Maxed Speed, why do this, if you need 3 movement points to reach where you're going, might as well have some Sneak. Max Will, actually for all but the loony-3s (Mark, Michael, Monty), I tend to keep Fight maxed (or near max), Will minimum. If I have decent weapons, then middle ground for both. Luck/Lore is the one I least tend to move. Non-spellcasters start with Luck maxed and never move it, spellcasters start with around 3 Luck, in case the "All Quiet in Arkham" (going by memory to name here, the one where each investigator rolls for Luck to be Blessed) hits pre-game. Yeah, I know, looooooong odds (1 in 171 - # of Rumours), but doesn't hurt to be prepared (there is also the one Mythos where the first player rolls against Luck or gets Cursed). Also, if spellcaster doesn't have the need for Lore atm, might as well have higher Luck.

kroen said:

Even if it was, closing a gate is something that ultimately everyone has to do. It takes 2 or 3 turns to traverse an outworld, A Focus 1 Character can't go from maximum Luck or Will to maximum Lore or Fight in 2 turns. It takes them 3 turns to get there and 3 turns to get back. The difference between Focus 1 and Focus 2 should be incredibly noticeable even with your supposedly focus-light strategy.

In fact, the difference between 2 and 3 should be incredibly noticeable as well.

And that's even before we note that there are genuinely different skill check distributions in different places or that oftentimes the best solution to a particular monster is to jack Fight and just let the Horror check fail. Having higher focus characters around when the Color comes down is a big help.

-Frank

kroen said:

This is one of the reasons why I dislike investigators with focus 1. They just aren't flexible enough for my taste and will often encounter bad things while a skill slider is in transition from one end to the other.

I like to have a couple points in all my skills for encounters so I can avoid getting beaten, devourered, hit by trains, going nuts, and what have you

kroen said:

Essentially yes (in my case), but I do tweak my skills around based on expectations for encounter frequency at various locations and other world colors. Not too much though.

Fetch Stick just barely over the Brazier. If refreshing the Brazier was one Focus, I'd take it instead, but all Focus is really tough, especially because it can be tough to anticipate if you're really going to need to move your skill sliders the following turn and if that will or won't effect your need to combat the next turn - without the Brazier.

Flamethrower over the E-Gun. Like I mentioned in another similar thread, paying for upkeep is teh suxxor.

Prefer the Brazier over the Fetch Stick for the reasons outlined above. Finally that focus gets some use! Also, the image and the idea of the Brazier is absolutely fabulous while the Stick is... well... a stick? The picture doesn't help make it more interesting either.

I also love the Elephant Gun, but it's more of a "love the idea" relationship. The Flamethrower is vastly superior.

kroen said:

Euh, you have to make a FIGHT check to close or seal a gate. Not a Combat check.

Gijs said:

Umm that's why I use it... to max my fight.... which is normally on lowest...

kroen said:

Yep, I get it now. I didn't understand the focus-part.