Scrounge for Supplies

Scrounge for Supplies

This card is fantastic and stands alongside Drawing Thin as one of the survivor cards of which other classes are actually jealous. I hope it doesn't similarly end up on the chained list of taboos.

Android Netrunner had Archived Memories for a similar cost and effect, except in that game the archives was a vulnerability rather than a potential resource farm. Still the card saw a lot of play.

The rules reference p5 cites a level 0 card as being one without any pips under its cost, but the FAQ errata for the core set investigator fixed cards makes it clear that you can't use this to return Nautical Prowess. So what can you do with it?

Well, Resourceful is an universally played card in survivor, but only returns cards. This is a proactive version of the same effect and happily returns cards from other factions. It is therefore especially excellent for characters who simply splash survivor, such as the Dunwich investigators. Being limited to level 0 cards is fine when it includes every card in your starting deck!

This card gives the ability to better spam something important like Ward of Protection or "I've got a plan!", recover a defeated ally or spent item, and turns treacheries that mill your deck into greater card selection.

Cross your fingers and pray for a 5 xp upgrade to this that returns any card. Or a Yawgmoth's Will, I'm not fussy...

The_Wall · 286
The intended rule is that signature cards and story assets have no level (and are not considered to be level zero). This can be seen from the card errata under the five core-set signatures in the FAQ, as well as from FFG's rules clarification reproduced on this site under those five cards. — Spritz · 69
I agree. They're also unable to purchase and haver no level printed as same as other Level 0 cards. — AquaDrehz · 204
I accept that errara; it needs an actual rule to back it up across the board, but the principle is there. The only truly great interaction was Nautical Prowess in any case. I'll modify the review - still a great card. — The_Wall · 286
I think it’s rather overzealous to put this in similar standing to Drawing Thin. This makes any level 0 card in your discard playable, but it costs an extra action and card to play. Works okay with fast cards, but you could’ve just included a more immediately useful effect. For example you could take this to recur Ward, or you could take Deny Existence and have more choice on what you cancel and how, and save actions in the process. Resourceful being actions-less and able to hit leveled Survivor cards (namely Eucatastrophe) is huge. This card if it even ends up in my decks, and I rarely see that happening, will get replaced once the deck gets heavily leveled. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
Just a correction from the previous comment: using this costs an action, but since the card is replaced with the card you retrieve, there is no loss of cards. So it only puts you down one action, which should be easy to overcome using the powerful card you brought into your hand. But don't use this to bring back economy cards like emergency cache, which will be diluted by the lost action. — jmmeye3 · 630
I'm with StyxTBeuford on this card. The extra action it costs is a huge drawback for an effect like this. And if you have XP cards this card gets worse and worse. — Nils · 1
I want to come back to this card actually now that we have Keep Faith. I wrote this on the Keep Faith review, but Scrounge does work exceptionally well with that card. It is fast, which I mentioned before is incredibly helpful in working with Scrounge, but additionally it's a very powerful level 0 effect you would keep in your deck all campaign long. Tempt Fate is similarly quite powerful for a level 0 card. — StyxTBeuford · 13043
Agree regarding Keep Faith. Shrine of Moirai and Favor of the Sun for recursive Will to Survive spread out across multiple cards. Lots of pieces but they all fit in Patrice nicely... — KenMonster · 28

Moonstone

Moonstone

The passive bonuses on Moon Stone are good. But how to play it?

There are two main ways:

  1. Specific card effects. The best are those printed on investigator cards that you start the game with: Wendy Adams, "Ashcan" Pete and Patrice Hathaway. The best non-investigator way to discard at will (there aren’t many) is Scroll of Prophecies.

  2. Discarding cards due to maximum hand size. Anyone can do this, but it could be difficult if your hand tends to run low. So other than the investigators listed above, Moon Stone would probably only be used by investigators that really want the willpower and agility bonus and have no better or more reliable accessory options.

jmmeye3 · 630
It's a relic so you can grab it with Elli. The best non-investigator way to discard it at will is probably Cornered, which fortunately is in-faction. — Yenreb · 15
True! I should have said “best level 0 non-investigator” for scroll of Prophecies. — jmmeye3 · 630
Cornered is also pretty good. However i don't think the card is good outside specific combos (bow) and mystics cause the stats don't help win the game, just make the player harder to kill and just slows you down. — Django · 5148
I believe you could also play this off of the discard from Blood Rite. Take extra card draw so that you a) are more likely to draw Occult Lexicon or b) can discard it to hand size as a backup. Might be worth considering in TFA at least — Zinjanthropus · 229
And I think Backpack is, too, a ways to 'cheat' this into play. — Lateralis · 7
Backpack is very clever. I wonder if there'll be a ruling on that. You could also use The Council's Coffer to play it, though there are probably better ways to use that card most of the time. — Zinjanthropus · 229
You could also get it into play with Amnesia. I think you could play it with "You Owe Me One!" because it wouldn't be from "your hand." Would take some group coordination though that might be better expended on a different card. — Zinjanthropus · 229
Dr. Elli Horowitz can get the Moonstone into play without much ado. — dlikos · 160
I don't think backüack works cause Moonstone says it must be discarded from your hand but backpack only says the cards are considered in your hand for the purpose of playing them. So the moment backpack is discarded, moonstone is not in your hand (and not considered to be there either). — Django · 5148
If you overwrite the backpack with another card taking up a body slot, then you discard Moonstone, allowing it to be played. — clydelucy · 6
Oh derp that doesn't work, Moonstone must be discarded from your hand. — clydelucy · 6
Pelt Shipment can help discard. — littlisk · 1
I think backpack would work because the card says "cannot play from hand" and backpack says "Cards attached to Backpack may be played as if they were in your hand", Moonstone only cares about if it is in your hand, so being attached to backpack would do the trick — Wasindear · 1

Tetsuo Mori

Tetsuo Mori

Absolutely great.

Survival is a problem even for beefy characters, Tetsuo is a 2 - in - 1 combo that tanks a couple hits and then hands you a gun with which you can now avenge him.

An ally card with 2 and 2 life is worth 1 resource already (see: allies) and Tetsuo backs that up with a slightly better form of Prepared for the Worst as well. At 3 resources he's a tiny bit hard to fit sometimes but you'll never regret taking the space and time to get him into a deck and onto the table.

Absolutely check him out if you're going for a big gun build.

Tsuruki23 · 2568
There's nothing slightly better about his Prepared for the Worst effect! His one can affect other investigators and can check the discard pile to return spent items, which is huge. Good review though. — The_Wall · 286
He's not like prepared for the worst in your starting hand cause he needs to die first and then you need to play the weapon with an enemy in your threat area. But he's great for searching your next gun, in case your current one runs empty. — Django · 5148

Gregory Gry

Gregory Gry

He's as good as he seems, but forget not the risks involved.

faction characters have typically struggled for good ally options that dont lead to bankruptcy, Leo De Luca is nice but he's inconvenient in many decks, Lola Hayes and Delilah O'Rourke are 3 XP and drain your resources pretty much immediately. The other in-faction people are rather... disappointing.

Enter: Gregory Gry.

  • Sanity tank. Check.
  • Resource generator. Check.
  • Manageable price. Check.
  • Throwaway. Check.

Yeah this dude is definitely something you should try out, especially in a "succeed-by" archetype. Just a little pointer though. Dont go crazy with the 3-resource gambles, do it piecemeal with 1 or 2 resources unless you have a pressing need to fund a big gun or something.

IS he better than Leo? Leo is probably better overall, but you can fit Greg into way more deck archetypes or even both characters together, once you've got all the money off-of Greg you'll be glad to take some more damage on him, unlike other characters that you'dd usually cling to like Ashcan to his dog.

Tsuruki23 · 2568
Greg + Lola are a good team. Tony approved! — StyxTBeuford · 13043
I would use him with any status boost card and success "more than 2" cards — AquaDrehz · 204
He gets easier to trigger the bigger your investigator's main stat, making his ability more reliable. — Django · 5148
Am I correct in reading that the “by at least that amount” clause means if I “bet” 3 resources on a skill check and succeed by 2, that I would get nothing? Or would I get 2, and lose the third resource? I’m just curious if it’s an all or nothing kind of bargain. — LaRoix · 1646
@Django: Also, don't forget Lockpicks. Shouldn't be too hard to win by two when you're testing at 7-10. — Zinjanthropus · 229
@LaRoix When I read the card literally, I understand it to be an "all-or-nothing" approach, making it a bit of a gamble to bet 3 resources. — snacc · 1008
I'm really liking this guy in Winifred, with Delilah and Charisma. 1. Helps fund Delilah, 2. Helps turn on Money Talks earlier for willpower tests, 3. can tank deck-cycling horror to avoid the tempo hit that is losing Delilah (Losing Leo is probably even worse). Have only had Charisma for 1 scenario, however, and only just adapted Greg back in, so we'll see how it goes. — Zinjanthropus · 229

.35 Winchester

.35 Winchester

Let's do the maths again.

In all my calculations, I make the following hypothesis :

  • Chaos bag of Night of the zealot, on standard difficulty
  • gives -1
  • gives -2
  • gives -3
  • gives +2

Comparison with .45 Thomson

On Standard difficulty level, if you aim at +2 (you organize your play so your skill value is 2 above the difficulty), the average damage done by the Winchester is 1.25, against 1.5 for the Thomson. If you aim at +4, it's 1.44 versus 1.88. So Winchester makes roughly -20% damage par attempt for a -33% resource cost. Not that bad

(on Easy difficulty level, Thomson makes roughly the same damage. Still for a -33% cost.)

Comparison with .45 Automatic

The comparison with .45 Automatic has to be different because .45 Automatic has a fewer bonus. Let's make raw comparisons, with no strategy in mind.

On standard difficulty level, if the difficulty of the test if 2 above the base skill value of the investigator, Winchester delivers 0.75 damage per attempt on average, while .45 Automatic delivers 0.25. That's +200% for Winchester.

Ok, difficult tests like this one are uncommon. But Winchester is still +113% when the difficulty is 1 above, +11% when equal, -8% when 1 lower and -18% when 2 lower.

(on easy difficulty level, the numbers becomes : +200%, +92%, +18%, -4% and -10%)

Thomson takes two hands but has 1 ammo more.

Conclusion

The first question is : can you afford two hands to fight ? If the answer is yes, Winchester is interesting versus Thomson if you struggle for resources. It is also interesting versus Automatic if you are a good fighter and have a team mate who can take care of the critters, or if you are a mediocre fighter who wants to shine on the battleflied from time to time (Skid ? Jim ? Diana ?)

If the answer is no. Well, you can't take Winchester.

Okami · 41
Things are going to get much dicier on Hard or Expert, though. On Expert there might be one "0" token and zero "+1" tokens! Also, it's not just average damage that matters, but reliability. Although it's certainly not always true, generally speaking, I would prefer a gun that reliably hits for 2 damage than a gun that might hit for 1 or for 3, because it's just much easier to plan out an effective turn with the former weapon. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
On Hard or Expert it would probably require a lot of chaos bag manipulation to make this card worthwhile. But on Easy or Standard it looks kinda fun. Requiring two hands does hurt. — Yenreb · 15
Get some Jim/Diana token manipulation, on Standard that should be perfect for 5 fight. Lovely! — StyxTBeuford · 13043
@CaiusDrewart : "Also, it's not just average damage that matters, but reliability". This point is perfectly valid for comparison with Thomson. But if the difficulty equal you base skill value, .45 Automatic gives 2 damage for 9 tokens, and 0 for the other 7 ones. In this scenario, Winchester gives 3 damages for 4 tokens, 1 damage for 8 more, and 0 damage for only 4 tokens. Which one is more reliable ? (on standard) — Okami · 41
This thing is horrible, as the chance of dealing more than 1 damage is too low. Take Overpower instead. — Django · 5148
I think this card might one of those cards designed for a future investigator that has the ability to manipulate tokens on weapons. We'll see when the next Deluxe gets announced, I guess. :) — iceysnowman · 164
It would be interesting if this card turns out to mark the beginning of an archetype in which Guardians are looking for "good" draws from the bag. No other class does that, so this could be a new design space for the Guardians. Though it wouldn't scale with difficulty level very well. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
Don't forgert that "Eat Lead!" is effectively Guardian chaos bag manipulation. Team up your Guardian with a Mystic who can Seal tokens and have Premonitions and Dark Prophecies, and you'll own the chaos back. Also, Jim loves this card, and I can't wait to play it with him. — ArkhamArkhanist · 10