Cheat Death

Event

Trick. Fated.

Cost: 1. XP: 5.

Rogue

Fast. Play when you would be defeated.

Disengage from each enemy engaged with you, discard all cards in your threat area, heal 2 horror and 2 damage, and move to any revealed location with no enemies. If it is your turn, end your turn. Remove Cheat Death from the game.

Antonio Maínez
Dim Carcosa #310.
Cheat Death

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)
  • Q: Can I use Cheat Death to avoid being defeated by "I'll see you in hell!"? A: Cheat Death does not actually cancel being defeated or replace being defeated; it simply provides you with a means of avoiding defeat (typically through damage or horror). Card effects that simply defeat you, such as “I’ll see you in hell”, will still resolve and will still cause you to be defeated.
Last updated

Reviews

If i have St. Hubert's Key in play and would be defeated by horror, can i choose to use only this card, the key or both to heal up to 4 horror?

Filler for 200 characters. Filler for 200 characters. Filler for 200 characters.

Django · 5070
I'd assume that using either of them would negate the conditions to allow playing of the other. — Sassenach · 179
At huberts key is a triggered action, so just choose not to trigger it! — Phoenixbadger · 197

Death prevention cards are probably worth a look in any build in the endgame of a campaign.

This one comes with a hefty cost, but I think most Rogues would normally consider 1x of this card regardless.

I kind of like it better than similar cards, like I've Had Worse because it provides healing after you take the damage, it allows you to disengage AND move somewhere else.

It also has a few edge cases for Rogues outside of just combat too, but they are pretty rare.

Anyway, I would always consider 1 and probably never run 2. I also don't consider it mandatory with the Obol, but it is nice to have 1. Some might say it lessens the impact of the Obol, but I think most rogues would try to take 1 anyway... so it kind of mucks with the math a bit.

Myriad · 1219
I feel like this card might look better than it really is. Don't get me wrong; I think this card is super cool. But thinking about usage cases, if you have 1 health/sanity left and take 3 damage/horror, it doesn't save you. Additionally, the forced move could actually be bad, or fizzle, which is annoying. I agree with maybe taking 1, and pairing with the Obol for synergy. — SGPrometheus · 809
Also it occurs to me that it discards Skids' weakness from play, as it discards all cards from your threat area and his weakness doesn't have a "cannot leave play" provision. — SGPrometheus · 809
Since it says remove cheat death from the game as the final provision... is that pertaining to that card... or all cheat deaths in deck? — Roakana · 1
I'm fairly certain you just remove the copy of Cheat Death. This is interesting, also, because Sefina could also use The Painted World to copy this, and theoretically play it as many as 5 times in a single scenario. I think you'd kind of have to be intentionally killing yourself off to be able to play it 5 times, of course. Probably worth it to get rid of those annoying threat area treacheries. — Zinjanthropus · 227
"I feel like this card might look better than it really is. Don't get me wrong; I think this card is super cool. But thinking about usage cases, if you have 1 health/sanity left and take 3 damage/horror, it doesn't save you." — GrandMasterJ · 2
That was annoying. But regarding this: "I feel like this card might look better than it really is. Don't get me wrong; I think this card is super cool. But thinking about usage cases, if you have 1 health/sanity left and take 3 damage/horror, it doesn't save you." — GrandMasterJ · 2
Okay, no line breaks or paragraph breaks, just endless text. Got it. That statement is not correct, however. You cannot overkill or be overkilled. Once you drop to zero, that's the sum total of the damage you will take. Cheat Death can be used to heal you back up to 2/2 and move you. — GrandMasterJ · 2
Congrats, you just took three tries to add something that is wrong to a 3 year old comment. — DerBK · 2016
Unfortunately I believe that @DerBK is correct (though the way he expressed it was rude and unpleasant). My reading of the rules is that you would place damage and horror next to your investigator card and it is entirely legit for it to have excess, at which point you are defeated. So playing this card will heal two of both, but only keep you in the game if you're then still above 0. Which is a shame, because it slightly undermines what's otherwise a beautifully thematic and interesting card. I'll still play it though. It makes for some truly memorably moments. — mythosmeeple · 448

It makes sense that you could fake your own death to wipe out hospital debts of any size. I can't think of any other card that can do this.

Naturally, just about any other weakness in your threat area can be wiped out too: arkhamdb search

(Except, sadly, you can't cheat away your hands turning into trees)

tercicatrix · 15
I used to be self centered... — MrGoldbee · 1443
You can also discard the Harbinger of Valusia if you have Entombed in your threat area to prevent you from being able to disengage from enemies — Zinjanthropus · 227