Self-Centered

Treachery. Basic Weakness

Flaw.

Neutral

Multiplayer only.

Revelation - Put Self-Centered into play in your threat area.

You cannot commit cards to other investigators' skill tests or affect other investigators with player card effects (except aspects that cause damage or horror).

: Discard Self-Centered.

Aurore Folny
The Dream-Eaters #35.
Self-Centered

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)

Q: I'm trying to understand what Self-Centered does or doesn't affect. For instance does it prevent the usage of events or abilities that (1) target an asset of another player (2) modify the deck, hand, or discard of another player in some way (3) target drawn encounter cards, (4) target treacheries (5) constant abilities (6) Cards that may be assigned damage/horror from other investigators? Are the following still playable: Medical Texts, Stand Together, Crack the Case?

A: Self-Centered prevents you from “affecting” other investigators with player card effects, except for aspects that cause damage/horror. In general, when resolving player card effects, you can think of yourself as the only surviving investigator in the game; any other investigators are essentially immune to your player card effects, unless they would take damage/horror from those effects.

More specifically, if you have Self-Centered in your threat area, you can’t use player card effects to:

  • heal damage/horror on another investigator
  • redirect damage/horror that would be dealt to another investigator
  • cancel, discard, or otherwise affect an encounter card another player draws
  • manipulate cards in a player’s hand, deck, discard pile, play area, or threat area
  • manipulate chaos tokens another investigator reveals
  • “choose another investigator” or “choose an investigator” other than yourself

These general rules should cover most cases where Self-Centered’s ability would be relevant. This does change our last ruling on Self-Centered, but we are much happier with this direction, as it should be a lot easier to resolve most player cards.

Also:

  • No, you can’t use the ability on Medical Texts to choose another investigator.
  • No, you can’t play Stand Together to give just yourself the benefits.
  • Yes, you can play Crack the Case after any investigator discovers the last clue, but you must take all of the resources it provides. You would not be able to play Crack the Case when another investigator discovers the last clue on a location; you could only do so if you are the one to discover the last clue.
  • Other investigators would be able to use your Pocket Multi Tool, since that’s an ability they resolve themselves.
  • If you use Cunning Distraction, then all enemies at the location would be evaded (exhausted and disengaged) because the card ability directly targets enemies, not other investigators. Also, you can fight an enemy engaged with a different investigator, so long as they aren’t using an ability that specifically targets “another investigator.”

(November 2023 / April 2024)

Last updated

Reviews

I love the thematic idea behind the card, because it's a personal failing that can hurt your team's chance of success. Still, it's easy for many decks to ignore. Some decks will be hurt a lot by it, such as [Carolyn Fern], but you can also just spend the two actions to discard.

I've seen some comments wondering how broadly "affect other investigators" applies. To me, it means that you can't target another investigator in a way that changes the game state of the investigator, specifically. You can't manipulate their cards in hand, their cards in play, their location, their resources, their clues, or their health/sanity (except to cause damage/horror since the weakness allows it.)

In this view, while you couldn't use [First Aid] targeting another investigator at your location, you could still engage an enemy which is engaging another investigator. Or, you could cancel a treachery that another investigator draws. Neither of those change the actual investigator's game state; they affect an enemy or a treachery card. If the restriction were meant to be broader than this, it would need some clarification.

Signum · 14
Best part is that the guy in the art gets to look at her underwear — Django · 5072
Disliked. — Signum · 14
I know I’m 6 months late on this, but Django, that’s just not okay, dude. — LikeaSsur · 43

I would consider this one of the weakest weaknesses in the game. I have been more than happy to let this weakness sit in my threat area during Dunwich for the entire 2-player campaign so far. The downsides are extremely minimal in 2-player as investigators will rarely be at the same location anyway. Perhaps it gets nastier in 4 player or if you are playing party support gators (Bob, Carolyn).

Also, the art is hilarious, especially as I've been playing Lily Chen with this in the deck. Martial artist or self-centred scrambler? Who can tell?

fiatluxia · 65
As some who actually helps my team still don't see Self-Centered as being bad, the more people are gathered together the higher chance someone can just spare two actions and clear it. — Zerogrim · 292
Devastating on Minh or Carolyn. Less so for mages. — MrGoldbee · 1450
As a I read it, Ward of Protection (2) cannot save other 'gators, so it is quite nasty for mages. Maybe rogues are less affected. — chrome · 57
It is possible for Carson Sinclair to have both this card and Selfless to a Fault in his threat area. I have no idea how that one works. — General_Ferere17 · 2
@General_Ferere17 Self-Centered prevents you from avoiding the condition in the forced effect — Signum · 14
(Misclicked post) so Carson has to take the horror and shuffle Selfless to a Fault into the deck. It's not that there's a deadlock between conditions, it's just that you aren't capable of meeting the condition to avoid taking the horror. — Signum · 14

cheeky question: is Heroic Rescue affected by this? It does cause damage and horror, as the player playing it will take damage and/or horror when trying to save a fellow investigator. I'm sure it doesn't work but thought I'd ask lol.

Krysmopompas · 358
Should be fine - Heroic Rescue doesn't affect the other investigator. — TheNameWasTaken · 3
I strongly disagree with TheNameWasTaken: you are taking an attack, another investigator would have to resolve instead otherwise. This should not work for sure with Self-Centered in play. — Susumu · 366
as per FAQ, you play as if you are the only investigator in the game. Ergo, there is no "other investigator" to heoricaly rescue — Adny · 1
This is analogous to Crack the Case from the FAQ. You're simply reacting to a timing window caused by another investigator, which is allowed for the same reason you can play Crack the Case on another investigator's clue discovery. Nothing about Heroic Rescue affects the other investigator, it purely affects the enemy. — suika · 9406
You're not allowed to "manipulate cards in a player's ... threat area" or to "redirect damage or horror that would be dealt to another investigator" (which I presume includes redirecting attacks), so the only thing Heroic Rescue could possibly do is the 1 damage. The question is whether the "except aspects that cause damage or horror" clause works if the damage or horror is being dealt to an enemy rather than an investigator or asset. — Thatwasademo · 58
Oh, except the card uses the word "Then", so because you're not allowed to do anything before "then", you can't do the damage -- so the card's effect wouldn't change the game state, and you can't play it. — Thatwasademo · 58
you can play crack the case, because the trigger is the removal of the last clue on a location. It doesn't care how the clue was removed. But you cannot choose another investigator, which is part of the trigger on heroic rescue — Adny · 1
I wasn't aware there was a FAQ for this. With the way the FAQ is laid out, both of the pre-then aspects of Heroic Rescue do count as affecting the other investigator, so you can't do them. — TheNameWasTaken · 3

I believe this is one of the best card in the game and a must grab for multiplayer games because of one other specific card: Delve Too Deep. As mentioned in the the FAQ, you cannot affect other players' interaction with encounter cards, so.... you cannot make then draw encounter cards! Essentially, at the cost of 1 action, 1 resource and 1 encounter card, the team gained Victory 1.

Now, how to "add" the card to your deck? Well, first of all, if your house rule is to pick any weakness at the beginning of a campaign instead of drawing random weakness, you are already set. On the other hand, if you obey the default rules, well, there is no penalty if you stop playing a campaign before it starts, wink wink. So hard reset the campaign until you get Self-Centered and Delve Too Deep in the same deck. (Any gacha game player can refer to the concept of the initial X number of free draws, and uninstalling and reinstalling until you like you initial free draws.)

Now this is my philosophy, a weird loophole( I like to find and exploit those ^^), and for "hardcore" gamers who want to maximize experiences on reruns. If you want a nice story, some decent challenges, please ignore all this and just enjoy your Arkham Horror.

shirusagi · 1
You make a funny point and it’s a well-written review. Unfortunately, the interaction doesn’t work the way you describe. The final clause on Delve Too Deep begins with “Then,” so if you don’t fully fulfill the pre-then effect of everyone drawing an encounter card, you cannot perform the post-then effect of putting Delve Too Deep in the victory display. The net effect of playing Delve Too Deep with Self-Centered is that you pay one resource, draw one encounter card, then throw away Delve Too Deep. Not exactly a game-breaker. — Holy Outlaw · 268