Backup Has Arrived (Charisma Build for Roland)

Roland Banks: Backup Has Arrived

Designed with solo play in mind, with cards through The Essex County Express.

This is a Charisma-focused build for Roland that I put together with the intent of trying out some of the new cards from The Miskatonic Museum and The Essex County Express. I had my eyes on the following new cards:

• Charisma: Since the plan is to purchase Charisma early, I'm using a higher than usual count of allies. In the past I've mostly stuck to Beat Cop with Roland so it was appealing to be able to experiment here with different allies without having to give Beat Cop up.

• Art Student: I wasn't initially interested by this card, but since I was doing Charisma I thought I'd try it out and see how it did. It gives Roland a little extra sanity and acts as a "slow" Working a Hunch. (From a flavor standpoint, I guess Art Student could be Roland's sketch artist?)

• Brother Xavier: Another card that I'd written off before due to the competition for the ally slot. I thought I'd try it here.

• Emergency Aid: To refresh either Beat Cop or Guard Dog.

• Pathfinder: I've run this in Daisy and Rex already, so I knew it was great.

• Smoking Pipe: I considered adding Smoking Pipe but I decided against it (I figured Art Student's 2 sanity should help Roland keep it together instead).

I usually run a higher count of skill cards for Roland, and I ended up cutting a lot of those to make space for the new cards. Other changes from my usual Roland build were dropping down to 1 copy of .45 Automatic and removing a singleton of Dynamite Blast.

Here's the early upgrade path I had in mind:

1. Buy both copies of Pathfinder.

2. Buy a Charisma.

3. Upgrade both copies of Beat Cop to Beat Cop (2).

4. Another Charisma.

5. Buy both copies of Brother Xavier.

6. Play by ear from there.

Testing it Out

I tested this deck by giving it a run through the Night of the Zealot campaign on standard difficulty. Here's how it went:

1. The Gathering - Achieved R1. A nice play was getting to Shortcut from the Hallway to the Parlor, which let me reach Lita and parley her without having to evade the Ghoul Priest first or take an attack of opportunity. I ended with 7 experience, including 3 awarded by the resolution. With Roland I usually do not burn the house (to avoid the mental trauma). I stuck to that here, but I realized later that getting Lita Chantler is probably worth it now if you're using Charisma. I spent the 7 experience on 2 Pathfinder, 1 Charisma, and 1 Beat Cop (2). I got rid of 1 Evidence! and 1 Guard Dog for Pathfinder.

2. The Midnight Masks - I wish I had recorded this one. Roland just smoked the cult, nabbing all 6 cultists and clearing all 4 victory point locations. I was able to get 2 copies of Pathfinder into play fairly early which proved to be extremely good in this scenario. On top of saving me a ton of actions moving around the town, another minor benefit of Pathfinder was that it helped me play around False Lead. Before the end of my turn I could scoot myself off of locations with Victory 1 or high shroud in case I drew False Lead in the Mythos phase. I think Pathfinder gets most of the credit for how well I did, but there was a combat where having Beat Cop (2) and Guard Dog out together was nice (I believe I was up against The Masked Hunter and Hunting Nightgaunt at the same time). I earned a whopping 11 experience in this scenario which is the maximum (barring something like Delve Too Deep). I bought another Charisma, the other Beat Cop (2), both Brother Xavier, and a Shotgun. I believe I dropped Guard Dog, .45 Automatic, and a Deduction (knowing Devourer would mostly be 1-clue locations).

3. The Devourer Below - And then it was my turn to get destroyed. I did not get an ally early and Roland's sanity was quickly wiped out by 2 draws of Young Deep One followed by a failed Rotting Remains. I was only able to pick up 1 clue before I died. I decided to reset the scenario and try again. On the second attempt things went much better and I succeeded at disrupting the ritual. I believe that's a first for me using Roland solo (and I've made plenty of attempts before). But the new cards - Charisma included - didn't seem to play a huge factor in this win. Art Student did come in handy clearing a location, but I don't think that I ever had 2 allies in play simultaneously for Charisma to matter. Pathfinder would've been great if I had it early but I didn't draw it until I'd already finished Act 1. I will say I was fairly lucky at the end with my Chaos Bag pulls to disrupt the ritual (I went 2 for 2; I think I got a skull token once and all the monsters were dead, and a -1 or -2 the second time and I'd committed a willpower icon).

Parting Thoughts

Just a couple closing comments on the cards:

• Art Student: This worked out pretty well. When I drew it, it tended to get played. I would stick with this one if I knew I was planning on Charisma.

• Pathfinder: Again, it's really good.

• Brother Xavier: Still too expensive. I probably shouldn't have bothered with him in solo anyway (since his damage-sharing ability is meaningless).

• Emergency Aid: I think I pitched one to a test when I was picking up clues at the Ritual Site, but I never drew one when I would have been able to play it.

Thanks for reading!