The Beguiling Countess:

Alessandra Zorzi Review and Deckbuild

With the impending release of the Hemlock Vale Investigator Expansion, it's about time to take a look at the rather interesting Rogue from the set, our Countess Alessandra. She comes with a very restrictive cardpool and a very targeted once-per-round ability, but she is given thirteen stat points in compensation, putting her in the same category as Akachi, Mark, and Rita. Let's have a deeper look:

The Traits

Alessandra has the Drifter and Socialite traits, essentially a blend of Jenny Barnes and Preston Fairmont. So a high-society Jenny or a slumming Preston? Could be an FAQ candidate.

The Stats

Willpower of 3: This is quite strong for a Rogue, helping to combat the Rogue's traditional weakness to Treacheries like Frozen in Fear, Rotting Remains, and the surprisingly debilitating Lost in the Wilds. Difficulty 3 Willpower tests are one of the most common tests Arkham Horror will ask investigators to make, and so one question I ask of every deckbuild is "What is your plan for one?" Thankfully, Alessandra's Willpower of 3 puts her in striking distance of being able to pass them with a single committal of Guts, Unexpected Courage, Savant, or with asset skill boosters like Well Connected, High Roller, or Moxie rather easily. Very good stat to have!

Intellect of 4: Alessandra's Intellect of 4 really pushes a contribution to the group as a cluefinder. It's refreshing to see an investigator with a 4 in Intellect but without access to the usual Easy Mode Seeker tools. This makes Alessandra a prime user of tools like Lockpicks and the ever-a-staple Breaking and Entering to push the game forward.

Combat of 2: This largely wasn't necessary, as it might as well have been a 1. Combat is arguably the weakest, least-needed stat in the whole game, and Alessandra has very few ways to leverage the additional point. That being said, it does mean that her Savants yield three icons instead of 2.

Agility of 4: Agility really shines here, as Alessandra has good values for both "defensive" stats. She's not all-in on Agility like Kymani Jones or Winifred Habbamock, so she won't be needing to use card slots on things that let her use Agility in place of another stat (like Thieves' Kit), which frees up space to concentrate.

Health of 7 and Sanity of 7: Nothing special here. Alessandra has balanced stats among the three stats that matter for her, and her Health and Sanity are balanced as well. No vulnerabilities here.

So to sum up, Alessandra has Ursula Downs's stat line, which is historically very capable. The 13th point could have been better used on a 4th willpower, but we can't have everything we want, and at least it makes her a good Savant user. The combination of Intellect and Agility both at 4 is well-supported by the Rogue cardpool ever since the release of Lockpicks in Path to Carcosa, and we have Breaking and Entering L2 from the Winifred Habbamock Starter Deck as an every-turn action-compression engine.

The Ability

Alessandra's ability does nothing in and of itself; it relies on either a scenario Parley: action or a player card effect to provide opportunities to use it each round. So, what this means practically is that I'm going to consider her ability in a package with her three copies of her signature Beguile, as if her signatures were an extension of her ability. I'll get to Parley options provided by her deckbuilding later.

So, our Countess's ability can be thought of on a base level as having three Beguiles that can be triggered for free once per round. Let's have a closer look at Beguile...

The Signatures

This is the really important part about Alessandra Zorzi. More than most other investigators, she is really tied to signature events in her deck, and she's most often a blank investigator without them (barring scenario Parley: actions, naturally).

Parley enables Alessandra to spend an action to do one of three things:

• Scoot an enemy to a revealed location. This can virtually eliminate non-Hunter enemies, but it also acts like some of the Summoned Servitor functions from Scarlet Keys. There's some synergy here with the other two options in positioning the enemy for Investigates and Evades, but at a base level it sends a threat away testlessly.
• Perform a basic Investigate. This right here is a pretty solid fourth action each round. Since it's a basic Investigate, it doesn't let Alessandra use effects like Lockpicks or Breaking and Entering, so she'll need to find other means to boost her Intellect (or lower the shroud), such as Lola Santiago, Perception, Streetwise, High Roller, or the new Fox Mask.
• Perform a basic Evade. This is actually a pretty flexible defensive option, even though it's pretty sketchy rules-wise. Evade actions specify that "an investigator can only perform an evade action against an enemy engaged with him or her," ("Him or her?" How dated!) so by a strict reading, this doesn't really do a whole lot. But if we ignore the rules and assume that remote-evading unengaged enemies at other locations actually works, then there's a lot Alessandra can do with this function, like block Hunters from approaching, rescue threatened friends, or achieve endless Pickpocketing triggers. Arkham rules are kind of a mess nowadays, so go with your Guts on all rules questions, I say.

Hol' up!

This is the part where we need to talk about Fine Clothes. Not only does this body-slot asset give a two-point swing to all parley tests, but it lowers their difficulties; this means that all Investigates and Evades from Beguile are at -2 difficulty, which can drop difficulties down to zero or one pretty reliably. And at that point, we really don't need many boosts to Alessandra's Intellect or Agility, only occasional skill committals or Fox Mask uses.

And now the bad news...

None of this works without an enemy present. Alessandra is thus reliant on the Mythos to provide her a friend to Beguile or other scenario-specific opportunities to use her ability. Plus she has to draw a Beguile or other parley card. This is significantly more narrow than, say, Jenny Barnes's or Ursula Downs's abilities which provide a similar amount of value (an extra action) but without needing to find the pieces to do it. In all, this puts Alessandra behind the baseline, so she will need to really draw value from the parley opportunities she can arrange in order to catch up.

The full domain

So what we're going to do now is have a look at every single player card that interacts with Alessandra's extra-parley ability, with a pretty straightforward objective: which ones are worth taking? For this purpose, I'm going to examine each card's parley function in terms of action-equivalents, and compare them to Beguile. It's a pretty simple cutoff, really; why spend deck slots on something less action-efficient than Beguile? I'll order them by XP value, and then by type (asset, event, skill) to keep things tidy.

0XP parley cards

Bianca "Die Katz": Bianca is one of very few ways to use Alessandra's Parley without needing an enemy to be on the board, which is noteworthy in itself. For pure resource gain, Gregory Gry is actually more efficient for actions spent, but if you're attempting an Alessandra deck that really wants to load up on enemy weaknesses so you can turn them into friends or intentionally fail Parleys to bring out the British Bull Dog, Bianca does have a role here. Consider.

Blackmail File: requires a test and basically does the same thing as a single function of Beguile, but slower. Skip.

Fake Credentials: Essentially a once-per-round asset that acts like Lockpicks but requires an enemy at the location. Alternatively, does the same thing as a single function of Beguile, but without the remote-investigate opportunity. Skip.

Speak to the Dead: This does something so different to what Alessandra's cardpool usually covers that I'll put it aside. This might be useful in a very specific deck. N/A

Hold Up: A combat skill test on an event that costs one resource and an action to get a discount equal to the succeed-by amount? Pretty garbage for Alessandra and her combat of 2. Just play Sleight of Hand instead. Hard pass.

Interrogate: With the Taboo adjustment, this becomes a one-use Parley for two clues in a single action, albeit requiring a combat test. Could be useful when used on things that are due to be defeated. Consider.

Motivational Speech: Essentially four Resource actions and a Play action, given to whoever needs it, though only to play an ally. Not bad. Nice!

Persuasion: With the Taboo adjustment, this becomes a single action to defeat an enemy outright, using Intellect. Blech, it's a Seeker card.

Stall for Time: Essentially a variant of Slip Away, except this one keeps the enemy engaged with Alessandra. Alessandra's stats really favour Slip Away, but I guess if hanging onto the enemy is of benefit, this has a place, as it does provide essentially two Evade actions for the price of one rap battle. Consider.

False Surrender: Essentially a variant of Sleight of Hand, but leaves the weapon in play after the turn is up. I guess if you really want to make a combat-focused Alessandra, this has a place, but you lose out on the Sleight of Hand synergies. Likely skip.

Grift: Essentially a worse version of Emergency Cache, because you have to reveal a token and thus end up getting 1-2 resources a lot. Note that Fine Clothes can't reduce the difficulty below zero. That being said, it does have the Illicit trait, so this can be used to fill out an Underworld Market if absolutely necessary. Skip with an exception.

Stir the Pot: Essentially a version of Storm of Spirits. I can see this being useful in multiplayer when enemies start stacking up and your group doesn't have a monster slayer. Consider.

Vamp: Very little benefit compared to just using a Beguile instead. Skip.

Drain Essence: Two points of healing and two points of damage in a single action... not a reliable offensive weapon, as Alessandra needs both a target and some damage to move, but not bad. Nice!

Power Word: I'll get to this one later.

String of Curses: A single action for an evasion and a testless clue is very efficient. Use this on things that are not long for the world. Nice!

OK, so far we don't actually have a whole lot of good Parley tools to work with, since we have Bianca, Interrogate, Motivational Speech, Stall for Time, Stir the Pot, and String of Curses looking worth considering so far when compared to using Beguile's action every round. We do have two damage tools in Interrogate and Stir the Pot, that's noteworthy, as well as two tools that don't require an enemy around in Bianca and Motivational Speech. Let's have a look at what XP can buy us.

work in progress; more to come!

The Decklist:

Note: a few cards haven't made it onto ArkhamDB yet:

• Cat Mask is Fox Mask
• 21 or Bust is Bank Job
• Stick to the Plan is Bewitching

The real power of Alessandra comes from the setup of Fine Clothes, Beguile, and Pickpocketing L2. That's your engine, and Rogue has several ways to dig it out of your deck with Underworld Market, Bewitching, and Friends in Low Places for Items. Parleying every round for an Evade against difficulty 0 yields a lot of return on succeed-by-2 stuff, like the Lucky Cigarette Case. Now, a few observations from my notes:

• If you own Fine Clothes, Well-Dressed isn't necessary. You're Parleying against difficulty 0-1 a lot and Well-Dressed doesn't help you against treacheries.
• Grift isn't very good in practice, because you have to pull a token and you end up getting 1-2 resources a lot. Might as well run Emergency Cache. That being said, Grift is Illicit and thus useful for padding an Underworld Market.
• Bank Job, however, is pretty sweet.
• Going 2x on Eldritch Tongue is a trap. You only need 1 if at all, and honestly the only uses I've had for Eldritch Tongue so far is recurring the amazing....
• String of Curses is gas.
• Lockpicks is just better than Fake Credentials. Alessandra is a base of 8 on those. Same with Breaking and Entering.
• Fox Mask is excellent. Since you're evading stuff reliably, you can recharge the Mask. Also, you need ways to pump important tests, like Backstab or a big Breaking and Entering.
• Underworld Market with Bank Jobs in there is pretty awesome draw and economy.
• Vamp L3, Snitch, and Breaking and Entering are your big action compression cards.
• Power Word is kind of a trap. So the problem with Power Word is that you suddenly have three Beguiles and three Power Words to work with, and you don't want to put both on the same baddie. So you'll likely end up with not enough targets for them and for Power Word to really get going, you have to have 2-3 of them out, after you've spent 10xp, and on top of that you have to take Willpower tests at a difficulty greater than 0 to activate them. So you end up spending 10xp for essentially a less-reliable set of Beguiles.
• If you really want to go down the Power Word route... you can probably do better with a focused Marie Lambeau build that stacks Willpower and has other spells to use it with.
• Meanwhile, Beguile is 0xp, and it's a Trick so you have the Bewitching search engine at 6xp, so Beguile is really the thing to lean on here, using XP to support that angle.

To sum up... Alessandra herself is okay. She has an Ursula stat line, which is very strong, and she can perform like a more-limited Marie Lambeau, but if you squint hard enough, her real ability is coming in with 3x Beguile to turn enemies into friends, and friends into Pickpocketing triggers and infinite Flashlight charges!