Prophesiae Profana

I too think it's broken. I assume we will see it on the next taboo list.

No one has mentioned it yet but it seems also interesting against massive enemies: they CAN perform attacks of opportunity but CAN'T follow you when you leave their location, right ? Which means this card allow you to go through a massive enemy's location without consequences. It's quite niche but fun to realise.

If you have the possibility to influence the construction of both decks of your team (2-handed solo or an agreement with your friend), you can make a [good seeker] + Trish duo for this combo:

You now have a 6 intel and 6 agility Trish who can play investigate / discover clue actions in locations with enemies without triggering the AoOs (and so getting a second clue once per round each time instead of automatically evading the enemy) and who can then move out of the location and use Gené to send the enemy back.

P.S.: is there a way to make the fight/intel/... symbols ? I thought but can't remember it.

AlexP · 285
So a 8xp, 4 card, 9-11 cost combo combo to slightly beat Obfuscation, Handcuffs or Narrow Escape? Too Broken! — MrGoldbee · 1492
I think the card by itself is too powerful now, even before the combo. Regarding the combo, 1 card (Research librarian) isn't mandatory and the 2 that cost XP (Prophesiae profana et Gené Beauregard) are good by themselves so can be used before the combo is finished, to investigate better and to teleport players. And finally the number of cards and the total XP is divided between 2 decks: 2 cards and 5 XP in a seeker deck, and 2 cards and 3 XP in a rogue deck. — AlexP · 285
I agree with MrGoldbee here: Its a 5 cost card that is giving you a VERY specific effect that while potentially very useful for some scenarios isn't going to generally break the game. The specific combo you made isn't just a 8 XP, 4 card, 9-11 cost combo, it is also a combo two players have to build around, which isn't really going to ever happen and costs you such an absurd amount in terms of opportunity cost of both investigators (assuming we are talking two hand solo and the bad feels of one player being the other's combo engine aren't in play, even) that you are almost certainly better off just... doing things normally. There are already pretty trivial ways to turn resources and XP into very safe (Higher Education+Guiding Stones, for example, will let you casually scoop up an entire location's worth of clues whenever you want) that don't involve this much effort, and ways for seekers (and especially Trish) to trivialize enemies and to hit 6 evade-6 investigate. While I am a huge fan of jank combos, the jank combos need to achieve something you otherwise are not capable of or create novel scenarios, and this combo just doesn't do that. — dezzmont · 222
As for your last question, AlexP; try writing a dollar sign. That will bring up a meny aka the # one, just for icons and symbols. PS: Doesn't work for comments, just for reviews and deck building notes. — olahren · 3567
I agree this is too strong. Even without combos, it basically allow seekers to investigate in god mode throughout the game. — liwl0115 · 42
Backstab

This card doesn't have many reviews to it, but it seems to me that now that we have Monterey Jack, with his high agility but low, low combat, this card feels suited to his playstyle. Three cost for one fight action is pretty tough, but the ability to deal 3 damage with his base of 5 agility often can take out a non-elite and makes it feel worth trying out.

Giffdev · 85
Monterey Jack could play Sleuth and so get free resources and/or skill boosts for Grisly totem, Occult lexicon, Prophesia, "I've got a plan !", Practice makes perfect, Followed, Sneak attack, ... So a lot of uses ! — AlexP · 285
Monterey Jack also has money to burn which makes the 3 cost much less an issue, seen someone else use pilfer to great effect and think backstab would be equally effective in jack. — Zerogrim · 295
Kukri

After 4 years, I finally spent some time figuring out how this card works. The maximum damage you can deal is the same as with basic attacks: 1 damage per action. But attacks only deal damage when they hit, and the Kukri increases the odds of hitting, in some situations more than others.

This would be easier with a chart, but lacking that option, here is the INCREASE in average damage per action that the Kukri gives you over a basic attack, using the standard difficulty Night of the Zealot chaos toke pool with one ghoul at your location:

A. Only 1 action used (attacking once only and not using the extra action effect)

  1. -2 BASE combat advantage over enemy (e.g. 2 combat investigator against a 4 fight enemy): 0.0625
  2. -1 advantage: 0.125
  3. 0: 0.375
  4. +1: 0.1875
  5. +2: 0.0625
  6. +3: 0.0625
  7. +4: 0

B. 2 actions used (attacking twice and using the extra action ability when possible)

  1. -2: 0.117
  2. -1: 0.219
  3. 0: 0.492
  4. +1: 0.264
  5. +2: 0.117
  6. +3: 0.092
  7. +4: 0.029

C. 3 attack actions

  1. -2: 0.131
  2. -1: 0.234
  3. 0: 0.482
  4. +1: 0.248
  5. +2: 0.104
  6. +3: 0.083
  7. +4: 0.021

D. 4 attack actions

  1. -2 advantage: 0.138
  2. -1 advantage: 0.245
  3. 0 advantage: 0.50
  4. +1 advantage: 0.265
  5. +2: 0.118
  6. +3: 0.092
  7. +4: 0.029

As you can see, with this example the extra damage over basic attack tops out at around 0.5 damage per action. The extra damage is mostly due to the +1 combat bonus, and is maximal when your base combat is equal to the enemies fight. The extra action ability does add a bit more average damage (compare A. to B. above), especially when you are at a bigger skill test disadvantage. These statistics are specific to the Night of the Zealot chaos token pool since there are lots of -1 tokens, so this needs to be modified for each situation, but should give you the general idea.

How do these statistics compare to other weapons? The most reasonable comparison would be against another 1-handed weapon with only non-expendable uses, such as the level 0 switchblade, which deals the following extra damage per action over basic attacks:

  1. -2 combat skill advantage: 0
  2. -1: 0
  3. 0: 0.0625
  4. +1: 0.125
  5. +2: 0.25
  6. +3: 0.625
  7. +4: 0.8125

In this comparison, the Kukri deals a bit more damage (up to about 0.43 extra damage per action) when your base combat is equal to or lower than the enemy fight value (where you are dealing ~0.2-0.8 damage per action), while the Switchblade deals more damage (up to about 0.8 damage per action more) when your combat is higher than the enemy's fight value (where you are dealing up to 1.75 damage per action). So the switchblade is more useful in the hands of a high combat fighter, while the Kukri helps the low combat investigator more.

Others have often compared the Kukri to the Knife, which is more difficult since the knife has a one-time effect. I will just summarize by saying that the extra action ability on Kukri does increase the average damage slightly over knife, so the choice depends on whether you want to have the single powerful knife effect or slightly more damage over time and a weapon that stays in a hand slot.

jmmeye3 · 632
Unscrupulous Loan

I wish they'd made this Campaign Mode Only.

For standalones, this is a no-brainer. 10 resources with no consequence is broken. In standalone any other Rogue economy card is pointless compared to this.

I've played a few Rogues in standalone since this card came out and decided I'd house rule it to be Taboo in standalone.

acotgreave · 887
I'm pretty sure the precident is to only have that clarifier on Basic Weaknesses. You can always choose not to run exile cards in Standalone because they will always be undercosted for a single scenario without drawbacks. For the most part, Exile cards are worth twice their xp value for a standalone. So how does this compare? Considering Hot Streak gives 5/7 resources for an action at 2/4 experience, a 3xp version would give 6 for an action and a 6xp would give 9. This gives 10 and you aren't allowed to put a second one into play - which can be a real drawback for some truly expensive rogue decks - plus there are no icons on it so the second copy is totally dead if you run it. In short, I think you'll find exile cards to be fine in Standalone if you just double their xp cost. — Death by Chocolate · 1489
It's not totally dead with Cornered. But other than that, I agree. — Susumu · 381
Also, in the same vein: shouldn't Roland, Skids, Zoey, Jenny, Akachi and Preston be "campaign mode only" investigators? Because their signature weakness is also just a lost draw in standalone mode. — Susumu · 381
Jake Williams

Jake Williams saved me from bad starts already two out of the four scenarios that I played with Ursula Downs. I bought Miskatonic Archaeology Funding first, so I can run Dr. Milan Christopher and Whitton Greene at the same time. Last scenario I had all three of them out at the same time. One move action yielding two cards, a clue and a resource? yes please!

The first ability just adds security in multiplayer games. Often I would say "Don't worry about enemies spawning at me, I'll bring them to you!" This saved quite some actions where one of the fighters might have come over to safeguard. The ability is good with Archaic Glyphs to also investigate and evade after a move. Great flexibility there.

Weges · 94
How does he make bringing the enemies over efficient? Once you spend an action on that you still have two where his ability doesn’t help. — Whitemage · 3
An enemy *might* spawn, where the fighter would otherwise move with me. This depends on your play style of course. — Weges · 94