Norman Withers - Arcane Researcher

Overview

This version of Norman Withers was designed to see how well he would play with the recent release of Arcane Research. I think it has the potential to change his progression - it limits his starting Mystic options up front, but lets him accelerate into the higher-level spells, which is where I think he wants to be. Is it worth the trade-off? I think ultimately the answer is yes.

I had initially written off Norman due to his inability to level up into Higher Education (which seems really unusual since he's a professor at Miskatonic University) leaving him instead with Blood Pact as his available stat-boosting permanent card. This leaves Norman in the unenviable position of being the only Seeker who can't take Higher Education as of The Boundary Beyond. However, with Arcane Research, I think he can hold his own.

Card Inclusions

With only 5 level 0 Mystic cards, it's best to start our focus there. Right out of the gate, 2 of these slots are for Arcane Research. That leaves 3 spots. That means we're taking only the essentials: 2 copies of Shrivelling and one copy of Holy Rosary for potency. Ultimately, the goal will be to level up the two Shrivelling copies to make room for a second copy of Holy Rosary.

For Seeker and Neutral assets, it's just the basics. Magnifying Glass, Flashlight, and Dr. Milan Christopher are intended to reinforce Norman's primary strength, which is investigating with his stat. Painkillers are there to add some durability - while Arcane Research makes Norman essentially starts off with even sanity and stamina, one Grasping Hands can take out half of his health due to his poor , whereas his higher protects him more readily from horror. Shrewd Analysis is honestly in there because there is no reason for him not to take it.

The events are where you get more combat options and general utility. Emergency Cache is great to help pay for cards. Mind over Matter and "I've got a plan!" are good combat tricks to keep enemies away when they pop up. I find Shortcut is generally just a good card to run in general - a fast movement for any investigator in your location that doesn't trigger attacks of opportunity is normally useful during at least one point in a scenario. Logical Reasoning can heal the starting trauma and otherwise be a good support card for mentally fragile allies. Rounding it out is Guidance, which offers flexibility in multiplayer with both its ability and its icon.

Conventional wisdom says Norman should not use many skill cards. However, without a great resource-to-skill conversion option, I think that a lot of his skill-boosting options actually have to come from committed skill cards. With Guts and Perception being there to help Norman with those critical and tests that he will no doubt end up making. Deduction and Eureka! are there to help accelerate Norman's game by getting extra clues and cards, respectively. Skill cards have anti-synergy with his ability, but I don't think the ability is valuable enough to justify omitting strong skill cards - it just means he won't be benefitting from his special ability quite as often.

Card Exclusions

• No Stone Unturned - the deck-searching ability is nice, but at 2 resources and one to play, it's just not efficient. We use Eureka! for a similar effect with a much milder cost.

• Arcane Initiate - The doom makes this card a bit too difficult to manage, and there are only two targets for its ability at the start of the campaign. Some Mystic investigators require spells to be effective, but Norman has more mundane options to make him useful both at investigating and fighting, so he doesn't need to rely on magic quite as much. We also want to save the ally slot for the esteemed Dr. Milan Christopher.

• Scrying and Alyssa Graham - Norman's ability to look at his top card is nice, but I don't think it's valuable enough to build the whole deck around it. These cards are generally too slow to be effective in this build.

• Rite of Seeking - There is no room for it with the current level 0 Mystic cards, and I also don't think it is good for Norman since he actually searches better without it. He should keep Mystic cards primarily as a combat option. I decided to pass up on Mists of R'lyeh for a similar reason - normally fighting is better than running.

• Expose Weakness - This combat trick is neat, but I think it's not as good as "I've got a plan!" or Mind over Matter. With these cards as the primary answers for combat along with Shrivelling, Expose Weakness is not really necessary.

• Delve Too Deep - The extra experience is really nice, but this build banks on the consistent experience from Arcane Research instead. Including copies of Delve Too Deep as well would be too much and be too restrictive on the level Mystic cards.

Strategy & Mulligan

The cards you are going to want to mulligan for are:

• One -boosting card/investigation tool (Magnifying Glass, Dr. Milan Christopher, Flashlight)

• Shrivelling

• Holy Rosary

If you get any of these cards in your hand, keep them and mulligan the rest of them. The goal is to get your good assets at the beginning! The skill cards and events will be more helpful after the setup.

If there is a skill card on the top of your deck, draw it if you have the spare for it. That will help keep things moving and make sure you have the maximum amount of options.

Upgrade Path

The first two purchases should be as follows:

• Shrivelling to Shrivelling (3) (1 experience)
• Guidance to Holy Rosary (1 experience)

So far, this is just a net saving of 1 experience.

Next scenario, the purchasing should be the following:

• Shrivelling to Shrivelling (3) (1 experience)

Now we're at the flat 2 experience point saving for 3 experience points saved total. From here on out, You can upgrade both Shrivelling (3) cards for free if you space them out between scenarios. That can be pretty powerful.

Grotesque Statue is a good choice as well, naturally, if you want to buy cards that can't benefit from Arcane Research. Higher-level Mystic cards are quite powerful, so Norman has a lot of options here.

Conclusion

I'm not sure how effective this build is yet. I'm about to test it soon. I'm definitely open to some feedback and suggestions on this one. Norman Withers seems like he's an investigator with a lot of potential and I'd to be able to maximize that.