Take Heart

Skill

Innate.

Survivor

Max 1 committed per skill test.

You may commit Take Heart to any type of test.

If this test fails, the performing investigator draws 2 cards and gains 2 resources.

Andreia Ugrai
Heart of the Elders #201.
Take Heart

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)
  • Q: Player A is performing a skill test and commits Take Heart to the test. In the same test, Player B commits Self-Sacrifice to the same test. If the test fails: 1. Could you pick the order of the cards triggering (since they have the same trigger point), so if Take Heart triggers first Player A gets the draw/resources? 2. If Self-Sacrifice is triggered first (either by choice or due to 'must'), would Player B gain the draw/resources from Take Heart as part of of the failed test? A: Because the abilities on Take Heart and Self-Sacrifice have the same triggering condition, they can be resolved in either order. If Take Heart is resolved first, then yes, Player A (the performing investigator) would get its benefits, and Player B would resolve any other effects of the failed test and chooses who draws 2 cards. If Self-Sacrifice is resolved first, Player B resolves all effects (of the failed test, the card draw, and the resource gain). (Rules Form, December 2023)
Last updated

Reviews

IMPORTANT: DOES NOT WORK WITH TRY AND TRY AGAIN

The card is added to the effects of step 7, while checking for failure/success is step 6. Super unintuitive, but that's how it works.

Still good though.

Walker · 29
I’d like to see an official response FAQ about that. I completely understand your logic, but there is still a strong argument for it working because TaTA says ‘after’ which means ‘after the triggering condition has fully resolved.’ In this case, the effects of failing a skill test includes step 7. When occurs before and after after all other timing conditions which presumably includes ‘if’ timing. That said, if the timing you propose for TaTA is accurate, it can also allow for a very amusing and unique ability to fail a skill test by a negative amount by returning either Double or Nothing or Dreams of the Deep. — Death by Chocolate · 1447
completely counter-intuitive and a little disheartening, It's been a few months that I play with a combo and a deck that doesn't work! I'm fed up with those games where everything is open to interpretation! And we were a lot like this on the different forums saying it was a pretty good combo and no one told us it did'nt work! It stains my campaign and I'm rather angry! — mogwen · 254
This comment is completely correct, and there's no rules ambiguity. Try and Try Again is triggered after the failure of the skill test, which is Step 6 of the skill test resolution framework. Take Heart is not a response effect triggered when the skill test fails, but like other Skill cards instead modifies the consequences of the skill test, which are resolved in Step 7 of the skill test. This is made clearer in the FAQ. As such, if you Try and Try Again to return Take Heart, it will be removed from the skill test before it is able to resolve. — Dai · 1277

One thing I had failed to notice with this card at first is that "the performing investigator draws 2 cards and gains 2 resources", which makes it a fantastic support card! If your friend Finn is facing rotting remains, a test he will probably fail, you can help him recover a bit. He will draw 2 cards and gain 2 resources which is a good compensation. The fact that you can take it back with true survivor and true survivor with resourceful (another innate card, see a pattern?) just makes the survivor a well oiled machine! Silas and Calvin will like it a lot. Now the survivor can alleviate others failures too, that's fantastic!

P.S: English is not my native language, so sorry if I make mistakes.

mogwen · 254
Additionally you can „try and try again!“ — Django · 5072
Looks like it works! I thought (Why?) you couldn't get its effect and bring it back to your hand but if that's the case that's wonderful news given how many times you can fail in a game! — mogwen · 254
Are we 100% sure that combo works? It's super-intriguing if so, but I'd want confirmation that the returned skill card actually triggers. — CaiusDrewart · 3126
Take Heart triggers "if this test fails". As per rules reference, "if" triggers resolve before "after" triggers, which is what Try and Try Again is, so there's no reason why it wouldn't work. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
Thank you for this clarification, that's just too good! Minh will definitely like it, among others! — mogwen · 254

Cool card. Mathematically similar to Emergency Cache.

You can play Take Heart in three different ways:

A: You find an action that's safe to fail and intentionally fail it, ideally an investigate action or something that wont bite you after failing it, in this case Take Heart comes out exactly one action superior in action economy to Emergency Cache, granting 2 resources + 2 cards for 1 action and 1 card rather than 3 resources for 1 card and 1 action. Note that many survivor builds favor cards over resources.

B: You play it on a "free" test you're content failing, this would most often be a treachery test, for example Rotting Remains. You need to be careful in this case but the "1 card = 2 cards & 2 resources" actionless trade is a very large tempo boost.

C: You play it on a test you intend to fail, in order to trigger a "Look what I found!"/Dumb Luck/Oops!. And here we have the kind of deck you absolutely should take Take Heart in, the kind where you're able to turn failed tests into greatly successful ones.

At this point you might be thinking "So, its a better Emergency Cache?", not quite. The Emergency Cache is always only an action away, minimal effort for a reasonable gain, Take Heart might actually get held up by gameplay circumstance, no "Look what I found!" to combo with, no risk-free actions on the map (perhaps due to risky token effects) and no treacheries that you don't mind failing (Remaining sanity too low, risky effects), maybe even no investigates you can reliably fail (not to mention the occasional accidental success (Damn you +1 token!!).

Regardless, the survivor faction can replace Emergency Cache or even supplement it with this economy option, suddenly the "scrounger" faction has become one of the most economically healthy factions in the game.

Edit: P.S. Play this for 100% chance to draw a positive token and beat any test ; )

Tsuruki23 · 2527
Add any version of "Try and try again" and you can take many hearts. Both can be used on other player's tests as well. Just be careful of the scenarios special token side effects, when a test is failed. — Django · 5072
D: You can hedge your bets. If you're stuck with a tough enemy and no good way to kill it, make an attack that requires a +1 or elder sign to succeed. Success? got rid of an enemy. Failed? might have drawn the tools you needed to kill it. — poeticmatter · 65
It's all to common for Rita to pass an test that she's trying to Take Heart on because her Elder Sign is +2. This is especially frustrating considering how often I seem to fail Track Shoes tests with her even when she's at +2 (from Track Shoes and Peter). — Zinjanthropus · 227
With Live and Learn, Drawing Thin, Rabbit's Foot, Look what I found! and Dumb Luck you can make a really interesting deck themed at failing! — Venti · 1

This is kind of a thought-provoking card.

Normally you don't want to fail tests, because failing tests means you lose anything you contributed to the test (skills, resources, items, actions, etc.) in addition to suffering the consequences for failure. Does Take Heart make it worth failing a test?

I think failing a test is normally bad enough that it's not worth deliberately failing in order to get cards and resources. So, I don't think this card will see a lot of play on its own merit. However, I think it has good interactions with the following cards:

Calvin Wright is a natural fit for this card - his low stats guarantee that he is going to fail tests, and so using this card in the beginning will help him get his early-game engine going. Silas Marsh also may want this card because he can contribute it to a test and then pull it back to his hand using his ability if the test succeeds unintentionally. Lastly, Live and Learn can let you fail a skill test, collect the benefit of Take Heart, and then let you take the test again with more cards, resources, and a +2 bonus. That's really good.

I don't know if it's worth a card slot on its own - conventional wisdom is that playing cards to avoid failing tests altogether are normally better than cards that let you salvage something out of the failure - but there are some interesting interactions that I think make this card effective if it's used thoughtfully.

ArkhamInvestigator · 303
This card is actually good if you play it right. The only real con is that in some scenarios 1 or even 2 of the chaos tokens punish you for failing (the punishment can be allot worst in higher difficulties). I have been using this card on STANDARD difficulty and in my experience this is as good as or (depending on your deck) even better than Emergency Cache... And it is always more fun to play. — Alogon · 1118
Well... Take Heart analysis without even mention about cards like Look what I found? — KptMarchewa · 1
I'm thinking of splashing one for Finn. Just depends on how reliable I think it'll be. I can play it against any mythos card that's testing willpower, is that enough? Maybe evade something with high fighting, then try to attack it without a weapon/help. But that would cost an action. — bigstupidgrin · 83
"Failing" the test here is accidentally succeeding the test. Otherwise it means "spend an action", at least for investigation tests. 2 Ressources + 2 cards (3 with the rabbit foot synergy) is such a great ROI, I would regard it as one of the best cards in the game and not getting hung up on the "failure". — jcdenton · 10

An incredible card when teamed up with my current investigator: "Ashcan" Pete. He often gets a free test he doesn't care about when Duke takes him off to go off investigating at other locations. (When he uses the Duke investigate action to move to another location and investigate, he is effectively using one action to "move", but if there are no clues there, he still investigates, and only minds failing if there is a nasty chaos token - he's just indulging his trusty dog, who's going off sniffing around the place.)

It is especially strong when teamed up with a few more survivor cards, such as one or two Drawing Thin, to "improve" the chances of failure, by making the test 2 or 4 steps more difficult of the test, and add further economy to a test that effectively didn't even cost an action. I love the way it turns the game on its head and you really don't want to draw an elder sign, in case you waste your card.

On top of that, that you can use it with the upgraded Grisly Totem to return Take Heart to your hand afterwards, and do the same thing again next round!!

I'm currently playing my (non-taboo) "Ashcan" Pete deck and have just upgraded my Grisly Totem. Together with Rabbit's Foot; Relic Hunter, and two Drawing Thin. I'm looking forward to getting them all out, using a "free" action to investigate and deliberately fail. If i get it right, for the cost of exhausting a few assets and moving, I'd get 6 resources(2 from each Drawing Thin, 2 from Take Heart, draw 3 cards and get Take Heart back into my hand. (or using the other choice for Drawing Thin, gain 2 resources, draw 5 cards and get Take Heart back).

Do that combo for a couple of turns in a row and your hand is full of cards, with resources worthy of a rogue, ready to boost the skill checks you want to succeed with Scrapper; Fire Axe; Plucky or Dig Deep; and all those lovely skill cards you just drew.

Phoenixbadger · 197
Duke exhausts to investigate, just like he does to fight. Why are you wasting Duke's investigate on just moving, rather than moving first and then Duking it to a location you do want to investigate? Or if you don't want to investigate, save Duke for a fight. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
you don't always need to fight or investigate, early in the game you might want to play cards, late in each scenario you are often moving around with clues already hoovered up or no longer relevant. Sure if you anticipate a fight, then don't play take heart. If you need it then use it, but if you don't need it, then it is a free test that you don't mind failing. Its like having track shoes and not needing to move two spaces - its an opportunity to fail a free test and benefit from Take heart and Drawing Thin. — Phoenixbadger · 197

If i fail a test with Take Heart or Rabbit's Foot by 2 or less and draw Oops!, "Look what I found!" or Live and Learn through them, can i immediately play them without taking another test? This happened during our last games a few times, just making sure i didn't play it wrong.

Django · 5072
I'd say no to most of these. I think Rabbit's Foot, Oops! and LWIF all trigger during ST.6, but Take Heart, being a skill card, triggers during ST.7. Live and Learn is an exception because it explicitly triggers after a test ends (i.e., at the end of ST.8), so you can play that off if you just drew it with Take Heart. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
Rabbits foot would work with all of these. Take heart only works with live and learn.If you drew Look What I found — Olimarrex · 1
Whoops pressed enter too early. If you drew Look What I found with rabbits foot you're still in the same window of step 6 and can play it. — Olimarrex · 1

Ever fail so hard you win?

Take Heart + Try and Try Again = Fail

Drawing Thin + Rabbit's Foot = Even Better

(My review needed to be two hundred words to post. So I wrote a useless blurb on the bottom of my review. Honestly this process seems kinda of silly all things considered. I mean If someone can articulate a thought in a concise way without a long winded review wouldn't that be superior.)

redtitan · 54
Don't forget Oops!, "Look what I found!" or Live and Learn for a double win! — Venti · 1

I feel that other reviewers are missing what this card is. This card is not about failing a test on purpose, it is about earning a consolation when you fail a test that you really wanted to succeed.

Imagine you are facing a vital test for the scenario, but you can't ensure success in all cases (damned auto-failed). Of course you will invest all ressources you have to pass the test. If you additionally commit this card, it allows you, if the test fails, to earn cards et resources which will help you to cope with the consequences of failure.

This card is an insurance, it brings consistency to the game. It is not a circumvoluted Emergency Cache.

Okami · 41
If you succeed, then this card does nothing. But you'd almost always want to succeed on tests that you initially planned to succeed on. You described the most general use case for this card, and everyone knows that. But what this card generally excels in is building tempo, especially in the early game, when the need for cards and resources are at an all-time high. — toastsushi · 74
That probably was the initial design of the card, but it is so overtuned that it turns out it's worth failing an action on purpose for it. — Valentin1331 · 69034
If I success in a test were I commited take heart, then this card is basically a promise of power. — Jota · 6
I also disagree hard with Okami. If you use Take Heart this way you waste a lot of its potential. Remember it eats a deck slot and the action you drew it with like any other card? — AlderSign · 272