Daisy Walker
The Librarian

Investigator

Miskatonic.

Seeker
  • 3
  • 5
  • 2
  • 2
Health: 5. Sanity: 9.

You may take an additional action during your turn, which can only be used on Tome abilities.

effect: +0. If you succeed, draw 1 card for each Tome you control.

"I know of books so powerful, they can rewrite reality."
Magali Villeneuve
Core Set #2.

Daisy Walker - Back

Investigator

Deck Size: 30.

Deckbuilding Options: Seeker cards () level 0-5, Mystic cards () level 0-2, Neutral cards level 0-5.

Deckbuilding Requirements (do not count toward deck size): Daisy’s Tote Bag, The Necronomicon (John Dee Translation), 1 random basic weakness.

As a respected librarian at Miskatonic University, Daisy had always felt that books were the most important thing in her life. She explored in fiction what she abhorred in life: horror, violence, fear. Then, she stumbled across the John Dee translation of the Necronomicon. It was blasphemous, unholy, and too awful to be read. But given her studies in obscure and occult subjects, Daisy knew there was more truth than fiction within the book's pages. She began to wonder what other secrets the restricted collection of the Orne Library held...
Daisy Walker
Daisy Walker

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)
  • If you are instructed to lose 1 or more actions, you have that many fewer actions to take during your turn. This is referring to your normal three “full” actions. So if you are instructed to lose 1 or more actions, those must be the ones that are “lost” first. If you have no more of those actions to lose, then you start losing “additional” actions, of your choice. So, for example, if you are playing Daisy and an effect instructs you to “lose 2 actions”, you would have 1 normal action and Daisy’s special additional action left.
Last updated

Reviews

She likes big books and she likes to Scry

You other brothers can't deny

That when a girl walks in with a literary taste

And a bound thing in her case

You get sprung

Wanna pull up tough

Cuz you notice that book was stuffed

Safe in the bag she's holdin’

Those pages aint for foldin’

Oh, baby I wanna read with ya

See that preposterous picture

My tomeboys say its tainted

But that book she got

Make her so fixated

Ooh, you got Rumpelstiltskin?

You say you think you know the shelf?

Well show me, show me, cuz it aint that average library

__

I've seen books on chantin’

Some with romance in

She roams, reads tomes , gets goin like a turbo Holmes

__

I'm tired of magazines

Saying flat books are the thing

Take any bibliophile and ask them that

She gotta pack hardback

__

So Fellas (yeah), Fellas (yeah)

Has your girlfriend got a book (hell yeah)

Well read it, read it, read it, read it, read that hefty book

Baby got hardback

Baby got hardback

StartWithTheName · 63216
I think this ☝ might be the best thing I've ever read on the internet. — mythosmeeple · 434
This . . . is . . . awesome . . . — nimonus · 31
You've restored my faith in the internet. — tsnouffer · 1
You know this is good when you kill a guy dead sitting in his recliner reading up on investigators for a game he just got into :D — rhedik · 1

There's three ways to play Daisy Walker. Okay, possibly more, but these are the most obvious. :)

1) Detective Daisy! You can make her into Nancy Drew extraordinaire; backed up by a large amount of Seeker cards, Old Book of Lore, Dr. Milan Christopher and her amazing 5 Knowledge. In a campaign she'll probably eventually complete her Higher Education and figure out the Sordid Secret of the Strange Solution, giving her both great Willpower and some decent fighting skills.

PRO +The advantage of this build is that Daisy will be a great clue gatherer with access to both card drawing, extra resources and even a bit of combat. +It's a versatile and fun playstyle. Seekers tend to be a valuable party members and you can often help your friends (free cards! Medical assistance!) if you have spare time.

CON -Rex Murphy is arguably the better clue gatherer, while not being as versatile as Daisy. I personally think Daisy is more fun to play, but that's like, just my opinion, man. -Detectice Daisy doesn't have room for more than a few Mystic Cards. Ward of Protection, maybe even a Shrivelling and a Holy Rosary, but she can't really go Team Purple when so heavily invested in Team Brown. -Even with a few combat cards you'll never be a scrapper. Bring someone to babysit you and don't split the party (too much).

2) Witchy Daisy! You can play Daisy dual-class: part-time sorcereress, part-time detective. This will give her decent combat abilities in form of cards such as Shrivelling, access to plenty of powerful Mystic cards and still let her perform well in her role as a clue gatherer. You WILL need to add several support cards such as Holy Rosary and Higher Education to make up for her 3 Willpower, but it's doable.

PRO +So many options! You can Scry, you can Shrivel, blind your enemies and unravel the mysteries of the universe. And you can still investige better than most.

CON -I feel that the Mystic cards, while powerful and versatile, always have a high cost. They demand a premium of resources, actions and/or sanity. It's easier to cope with this if you specialize and Daisy will never be able to do that as well as her as her more arcane colleagues.

3) Helpful Daisy! Daisy is great at support - her Seeker/Mystic combination and free tome action ability is a really powerful combination. She can heal damage with Medical Texts and Horror with Clarity of Mind. She can let her friends draw cards with Old Book of Lore, she can Scry, she can use Ward of Protection. And if that's not needed, she can still investigate better than most.

PRO +No one can support as Daisy (at least not 'till The Path to Carcosa is released).

CON -The more support cards you'll include, the less useful Daisy will be on her own. -This game isn't really dependant on support characters. Time is of the essence, so why help other people do stuff when you can just do it yourself? You could argue that support-Daisy allows the other investigators to specialize more, but she's still spend precious actions on healing when she could be advancing the story.

In conclusion, I prefer option #1, as I think playing on Daisy's strength as a Seeker is the better choice. There's still room to dabble a bit in mysticism and support cards, so you have lots of variety. Options #2 is a completely acceptable way of playing Daisy as well; Witchy Daisy can be super-versatile, especially if she's the only spellcaster in the gang. PS: I would think twice before playing her in a Hard campaign - her 3 Willpower will cause problems.

Option #3 is a bit more complicated, as it's (obviously) multiplayer only. You'll need to design your deck to fit in with the group and your group need to design decks that actually need your support. It's a great option but for advanced players only.

If you're like me and tend to get bored with one-dimensional characters (looking at you, Zoey!), you'll love Daisy. Yeah, she's a seeker at heart, but access to a huge card pool and a free tome action each round gives her more options than most other investigators. And options = fun. :)

olahren · 3047
Nice review! Just wanted to add, that your option 2 (Daisy the spellslinger) makes Daisy a far more viable and more entertaining choice than Rex Murphey for true solo. — Scheckel · 107
Daisy cannot use Book of Shadows. It's a level 3 Mystic card, and Daisy can only go up to level 2 in Mystic. — MaxDamage · 1
Good point, MaxDamage! I've updated the review. — olahren · 3047
For option 2, if you play an old book of lore and an arcane initiate, you can "draw" 3 cards per turn. Use mind over matter for weak enemies and replace later with the fighting strange solution for bosses. — Django · 4859
All told, my most recent Daisy decks was a mix of the above 3 playstyles, each represented by what I'd call a 'core card'. For seeking, it's Dr. Milan Christopher; for spellcasting, it's Shrivelling (and later Higher Education), and for support, it's the Old Book of Lore. — MattyKaye · 7
Dammit, this is my first time commenting so I wasn't used to the controls : / As I was saying, I had a lot of fun playing the librarian, and it was especially satisfying for her to deliver the killing blow against Seth Bishop in the Dunwich Legacy . I was especially surprised by just how capable she was in combat, thus putting less pressure on the monster killer character (in my case, Roland) to pass every fight check. That said, my playthroughs gave me the impression that packing Shrivelling, Milan and Old Book of Lore was just too expensive, so I need to switch out one of these three core cards with something less expensive but equivalent. Shrivelling seems like the most obvious option to cut, but enemy management is such a core part of the game, and it's really helpful to have 2 characters who can reliably deal 2 damage per action. Removing Old Book of Lore feels like a non-starter given my hope to use Daisy's free action on tomes. So shock of all shock, if I had to do it again, I think I'll cut Milan and replicate his intellect boost with magnifying glass. It could have the added effect of unclogging Daisy's ally slot that will now consist of a platoon between Research Librarian and Arcane Initiate. But then again, I was really successful in my two-handed campaigns with Roland and Daisy, so maybe no changes to my original 'formula'? — MattyKaye · 7

Daisy Walker seems like a mild-mannered librarian, and in many ways, she is. But with a little bit of magic in her, she can be so much more.

Daisy's biggest strength seems pretty apparent: At 5 base Intellect, investigations are little challenge, and her passive becomes phenomenal when paired with any of the tomes in the game, with Old Book of Lore being the most useful. Combine this with Dr. Milan Christopher, and her resource game is set. Add in a Magnifying Glass for an even bigger boost, and if combat's going to be a thing, there's always Mind over Matter.

Her activation always seems amazing: Coupled with her passive, why not just load her up with all the tomes? Because it's horribly unreliable. Daisy seems like a card drawing fiend, but don't be fooled: choose your tomes wisely, and consider using a Research Librarian to get them quickly. Arkham Horror really makes you want those free actions!

Of course, Daisy isn't great at everything: She needs some serious back-up to fight or evade. The previously mentioned Mind over Matter helps in a pinch when fighting, but it's situational. At 5 health, Daisy can't slug around with ghouls and crazies like Roland Banks can. She would need some armor to even hope surviving the night.

This is where her Mystic dip comes into play: At 3 Willpower, Daisy has the wherewithal to cast some of the staple spells: Shrivelling and Scrying help make it so she doesn't have to fight something she doesn't want to (or if she does, it gets wiped out quickly), Fearless helps get The Necronomicon under control (Or can be used to make Forbidden Knowledge not so sanity intensive), and the Holy Rosary buffs her Willpower to make spells better at succeeding.

In conclusion, Daisy is a support character at her core. She's there to filter decks, warn the party of what's coming, and investigate the heck out of some places. She is nowhere near a front-line fighter, but a few smart card choices can help her deal damage when she needs to, and then get out of dodge. She is my favorite investigator by far, though, because when it's all hitting the fan, Daisy's investigating prowess is all the table needs to advance the agenda and make it out safely.

LikeaSsur · 43

Surprised to not see any comparisons between Core Daisy and her Read Or Die version.

The front sides provide you a clear choice: Do you want constant extra actions, or do you want constant stat bonuses? With two or fewer tomes, Read or Die Daisy (Front) is just a purely worse version of the Core card, so to get anything out of it you should plan to have 3+ tomes in play - requiring a deck full of tomes, plus the actions to play them, plus the means to hold more (Daisy's Tote Bag, naturally, plus Arcane Enlightenment). In return for this lengthy build-up, however, you can eventually reach high levels of Willpower towards the middle of the scenario. In a way, this is reminiscent of Diana Stanley, but relying primarily on investigation rather than combat to see you through the early game.

The two versions of Daisy's deck-building are intriguing in their differences. First the overlap: both can take Neutral cards 0-5. Core Daisy can further take Seeker cards 0-5 and any number of Mystic cards 0-2. Read or Die Daisy loses some functionality in both aspects. Her cross-class abilities get dramatically reduced, limiting her to only 5 level 0 cards (though these cards can come from Guardian now as well as Mystic, there is relatively little in Guardian that will appeal to many Daisy decks). Her Seeker options are also dramatically hindered; in exchange for losing access to most high-level cards of her class, she gains access to exactly 3 tomes which the Core version can't include:

Ironically the Read or Die front may combo better with the Core back of Daisy than with the Read or Die back -- in the quest to build Daisy like an investigating version of Diana Stanley, it would be a shame to be limited to only 5 level 0 Mystic cards.

Finally, it seems worth talking about the two Advanced versions of her signature cards (remember that unlike the alternate versions of her player card, the Advanced cards must be used together):

  • Advanced Daisy's Tote Bag gives you a powerful reaction that further optimizes the action efficiency of Core Daisy's use of tomes while also allowing Read or Die Daisy to assemble her library more quickly.
  • Advanced The Necronomicon has the same Revelation and removal text that the Core Necronomicon weakness has, but the effect while the weakness is in play is more varied. Instead of simply auto-failing tests, the Advanced weakness resolves all of the other negative symbol effects. This can at times be worse than simply auto-failing (some scenarios have pretty brutal effects for drawing negative symbols) but at times could result in doing nothing at all (for instance, in scenarios where symbols have a "-X" effect). Moreover, since the value of each negative symbol is known ahead of time, you could hypothetically plan ahead and increase your check value by enough to beat all three negative symbols combined.

Thus, in most cases, using the Advanced versions of her signature cards gives you both a higher ceiling and a higher floor, with the weakness only making life worse for you in certain scenarios.

jmbostwick · 11
Thank you JM! — MrGoldbee · 1388
It is a pretty silly extreme, but the Parallel back can only get up to 13 tomes in play while the original back can get up to 14 tomes in play, (but then needs a Familiar or two to actually benefit from the capped Willpower). — Death by Chocolate · 1364
(+1 for either of you are playing The Forgotten Age!) — Death by Chocolate · 1364
Thanks for the eval of Parallel Daisy, it's a bit cumbersome that there isn't a separate page here for her (tho I recognize that would only partially help since you can mix and match fronts & backs). Rather unfortunate that Parallel Back also excludes Abigail Foreman, further reducing means of getting Tomes out there. OTOH, Edge Of The Earth brings us True Magick, an L5 Mystic Tome that lets you channel spells out of your hand... spells which that same Daisy has fewer of, after losing access to L4-5 Seeker and L1-2 Mystic cards. Still, there might be some tomfoolery to be had there. Since this review it looks like she also gained access to Schoffner's Catalogue (slotless and resource-refunding, thus a free +1 Will) and Book Of Psalms for some utility. — HanoverFist · 657
(stupid autopost on hitting return!) I'm also curious if anybody has found any fun trickery to be had with Parallel Front's once-per-game tome-bomb, or with the improved Elder Sign ability. Silas and Yorick are absolutely worth trying to rig towards forcing ES pulls for their recursion. Daisy's seems far worse, being limited to Tomes and lacking tools like Eucatastrophe, but both backs still have access to Olive McBride and some sealing tech. (Also just saw that PDaisy gets access to Astronomical Atlas, which is nice I guess) — HanoverFist · 657

Daisy is my favorite investigator because she’s the best at two things: finding clues and searching through your draw pile to select the cards you need.

This review will focus on card choices that synergize with Daisy’s abilities and play style. If nothing else it can help new players appreciate some options available that play to her strengths. I’ll assume familiarity with the Core, Dunwich, and the Harvey Walters starter (which is a very affordable way to improve your card pool), and I’ll mention where other cards are found.

For what it’s worth I advocate a “light on assets” style for seekers. Given Daisy’s high and the inevitability of finding key cards, I feel decks for her ought not to be loaded down with many expensive assets. Instead they should feature impactful events and skills. Effort should be made to advance the act deck before treacheries and agendas take their toll on the investigators. So that attitude somewhat colors this review.

Here are some thoughts about card choice for Daisy [as of late 2023, before the release of the Hemlock Vale set].

”These Are A Few of My Favorite Things”

Old Book of Lore is the quintessential card for Daisy. As a tome, it gives Daisy a fourth action every turn, which is very very powerful. It must be a draw action (unlike the versatile Rogue card Leo De Luca), but that’s not a major drawback. And you aren’t likely to pull three weaknesses at once, so it’s a very safe draw. The upgraded version Old Book of Lore (3) grants free resources and free actions to play the cards as well!

Grim Memoir is a new option from Scarlet Keys, and it should be more popular with lower-intellect seekers. It sort of crams more instances of Perception into a deck. It’s a reasonable alternative for Daisy’s innate tome action. The inability find multiple clues with an action makes it less useful at high player counts. Even so, the free draw and test bonus is certainly worth considering from a pure efficiency standpoint.

Astounding Revelation (in the Dream-Eaters set) grants free resources if you stumble upon it doing a search. Or a freebie way to recharge secrets, potentially opening up greater benefit from secret-fuelled cards like Feed the Mind, Cryptographic Cipher, or Grim Memoir. In either case, Daisy’s constant searches means you’re very likely to draw them for free via searching rather than during the Upkeep Phase.

Research Librarian is a soak ally whose major benefit is to fetch the all-important Old Book of Lore. In any deck that includes Revelations he’ll find one of them when he enters play. Then he can valiantly die like a red shirt on Star Trek.

Whitton Greene is an ideal ally for Daisy. Whitton aims to be your partner who grants free searches that pull relics, tomes, and Revelations. This is a stark contrast to the Librarian, who you want to immediately use for soak. The experienced version of Whitton (2) improves Daisy’s and searches through more cards. But if you’re not using lots of those things then opt for the more generic Milan Christopher as your partner ally.

Charisma (3) or Miskatonic Archaeology Funding (4) solves Daisy’s “soak ally vs partner ally” dilemma, letting you have multiple allies in play. This can avoid the early game dilemma of being reluctant to play Whitton or Milan because you're hoping to draw the Librarian to fetch your key tome. Or being reluctant to overwrite the Librarian with a better ally before he’s found a valiant death. In short: these makes the most out of much-needed soak. The drawback of Archaeology Funding is small enough that most prefer that, but prevents throwing allies under the bus efficiently.

Scroll of Secrets (3) is an underrated tome from The Circle Undone set. Awhile ago this was tabooed to have its trigger changed from to . Importantly, it can be used to remove weaknesses from the bottom nine cards of your draw pile without requiring any sort of combination. And note that Daisy tends to “kick the can down the road” with weaknesses seen by Old Book of Lore, so there really is a high chance of removing weaknesses. That’s in addition to searching to get three free cards.

Daisy's Tote Bag (from the free print-and-play release Read or Die) is the advanced version of her signature card, which must be paired with the advanced weakness . Given that the weakness isn’t that much worse, it’s worth considering that playing tomes saves several actions in a deck with lots of tomes. And avoiding opportunity attacks is nothing to sniff at.

Ward of Protection is a staple to defend against stuff like Ancient Evils, Crypt Chill, or whatever you can’t cope with. Almost certainly use two copies in every deck.

Down the Rabbit Hole (from the Edge of the Earth set) is an overlooked path to free experience. So many of Daisy's staple cards can be upgraded: Deduction (2), Disc of Itzamna (2), Higher Education (3) Mind over Matter (2), Occult Lexicon (3), Old Book of Lore (3), Perception (2) Scroll of Secrets (3), Ward of Protection (2), and Whitton Greene (2). This lends itself to decks that don’t change options much, but your card flow sure goes faster.

True Understanding (from the Forgotten Age) is overlooked as a way to generate free clues while doing scenario-specific stuff like parley tests or overcoming treacheries. Free clues for stuff you’re already doing are a gift.

Staples that are awesome but have no special affinity for Daisy: Deduction, Delve Too Deep, Perception, Pathfinder (2), Burning the Midnight Oil, Enraptured, and Crack the Case.

Enemy Management Options For Daisy

When it comes to dealing with enemies via conventional evade or fight actions, Daisy has terrible stats. She usually has to opt for alternative, niche methods:

Persuasion (from the Forgotten Age set) is an underrated trick that works well against a surprising number of enemies. Regardless of how much health the enemy has they leave the board if you can pass a moderately challenging test.

Mind over Matter was made for Daisy. She can punch low-health enemies to death or evade tougher ones. It can also counter treacheries like Locked Door, No Turning Back, or Through the Ice that enter play and test her weak stats. It lasts for an entire round, so one failed test doesn’t waste the card. Every Daisy deck should probably have two copies of this staple.

Explosive Ward (from the Scarlet Keys set) is a simple way to deal 2 testless damage. If you want to build around it consider Binder's Jar and Eldritch Initiation, both in that same release.

Occult Lexicon (from The Circle Undone) gives access to 3 copies of Blood-Rite, which is a powerful spell. It deals testless damage, draws cards, and cycles dead cards out of your hand all at the same time. It’s upgraded version Occult Lexicon (3) lets you deal more damage and if it leaves play (for example, because it was bumped out by Daisy's signature weakness) the spells remain in play.

Occult Invocation is a poor-man’s version of Blood-Rite. A solid option for those using a smaller card pool.

Spectral Razor (from Dream-Eaters) does up to 3 damage, but Daisy’s stats don’t often make the test easy! Viable if you enhance your , but a sketchy choice otherwise

I've Got a Plan! is just okay if it’s one option in a suite of cards to manage enemies. But you’d better have a few other options in case you don’t happen to have a bunch of clues and cash on hand. And hoarding those isn’t always an option.

Overrated Cards Often Seen in Daisy Decks

Mystic combat assets like Shrivelling are not in Daisy’s wheelhouse. Daisy’s willpower is just average. These assets are expensive, they run out of charges, and they can self-inflict horror or worse. Instead try any of the enemy management options mentioned above.

Disc of Itzamna (2) gets a similar unfavorable view. It's expensive, used only once, and you must pre-install it. If you're playing with a small card pool and fetch this relic via Whitton Greene it could be worth playing, but generally you've got better options.

Any evade that’s not Mind over Matter is probably not worth it in terms of resources, actions, and deck space.

Shortcut is no substitute for Pathfinder. It’s a Roland card that safely moves him to a clue location while engaged with an enemy.

Working a Hunch is another Roland Banks card. Daisy has a high , she should be playing more impactful cards

Medical Texts is just awful. Even in a very small card pool you’re better using allies for soak. In a larger card pool consider Earthly Serenity (1) if you must have healing. Or if you plan to run Charisma (3) then try out Medical Student, who has a little healing and also soak.

Encyclopedia (2) isn’t worth the experience cost. The 0 experience version could be worth considering if Daisy decides to eschew combat cards on account of a guardian connected at the hip via Safeguard. Then she supports their fighting for entire rounds.

None of the versions of Strange Solution are worth playing. All of them demand a steep 4 XP, and the only real benefit is they don’t use any slot. Restorative Concoction is a mediocre healing card. Acidic Ichor has been tabooed to a 2-damage attack. Freezing Variant is little better than Mind over Matter. And Empowering Elixer no longer makes sense as an economy card when Burning the Midnight Oil and Crack the Case save actions and are available from 0 experience.

Eureka! (from the Carcosa set) is usually redundant for Daisy, and it doesn't move the needle much for skill tests.

Higher Education (3) is a great card, but not the high priority most players make it out to be. It is powerful, but not mandatory as an early upgrade unless you have a certain combo (cough Guiding Stones (3)). Or are playing a campaign with monotonous treacheries (cough Dunwich Legacy). Very useful, but overestimated by most given Daisy is starting at a 5

Research Notes (from Scarlet Keys) can be amazing, but it’s suited for investigators who have lower or affinity for evidence tokens.

Thanks for reading! What other cards do you think deserve mention as being especially good for Daisy?

MoM is "Fast. Play only during your turn til end of round." No help on most mythos tests. — MrGoldbee · 1388
@MrGoldbee: Thanks for pointing that out! It's not able to help against treacheries that force the test during the Mythos Phase. It is mostly limited to the treacheries that attach to locations: [Locked Door](/card/01174), [No Turning Back](/card/04228), [Sickening Webs](/card/06103), [Song of the Magah Bird](/card/06153), [Stone Barrier](/card/07299), and [Through the Ice](/card/08699) — An_Undecayed_Whately · 838
I would caution against using all of the advanced seek search effects on a new player. All the shuffling between searches and trying to figure out which card to keep can lead to paralysis through analysis. Limitless options are the bane of the indecisive. If you want to keep new players I believe it’s best to go straight and simple. Just my take so take it as you please. — Staticalchemist · 1