Fern Story

My take on for a solo play of Carolyn Fern for The Path to Carcosa. Originally I had in mind Night of the Zealot (my usual solo trial) but I liked the idea of this deck that I just jumped right in.

I believe Carolyn has potential but her growth over a campaign currently is extremely limited. To Fight the Black Wind is actually pretty debilitating over the course of the game with no way to really rid of it. In a multiplayer, Carolyn I feel is forced into a genuine support role in her current iteration. In solo or two player however, she becomes less one dimensional. Of course this may change when her "first" version will be finally released, with both original character boons and treacheries, but that will not be soon.

BASICS
Some card choices are fairly obvious with her and I think other Carolyn builds found on ArkhamDB explore deeper but quick reasons for most of the choices:

Magnifying Glass - For investigative purposes. I think this is fairly self-explanatory.

St. Hubert's Key - Carolyn's high starting Sanity means the -2 Sanity does not signify a massive handicap. Add in the bulk of the Horror healing that Carolyn has access to, I rarely found myself dipping below 5.

Peter Sylvestre - The resource combo between this card and Forbidden Knowledge is powerful. However, I recommend Peter highly even if you forgo Forbidden Knowledge. The +1 Agility helps Carolyn evade combat situations. With her low health, I tried to avoid most enemies in the beginning.

Fieldwork - Should be self-explanatory, powerful Seeker card that was very useful in the beginning. I found that later in my campaign play I was not overjoyed with seeing it. I used it actually when I wanted to evade enemies. Move into a location with an enemy and a clue, evade at a much higher skill, then move out (or Shortcut my way out).

Forbidden Knowledge - Was addressed with Peter Sylvestre. Not a whole lot more to add.

Delve Too Deep - Since I am soloing and avoiding enemies who may give me victory points, these were a good card to draw into to gain some early experience.

Dodge - Powerful Guardian protection card. No way I am not including it.

Dynamite Blast - It is probably discussed elsewhere but the abundant amount of resources that you do gain actually make this card worthy of taking. I found myself never really needing it but it was useful one game. Only one of for the deck though, it was more a Get-Out-Of-Jail/Suicide card if I found Carolyn in a sticky situation.

No Stone Unturned - Card finder for a) opening hand and I did not mulligan into Peter Sylvestre or Forbidden Knowledge; b) if I needed to find a specific card (Magnifying Glass or St. Hubert's Key); or c) I wanted to find the The Man in the Pallid Mask.

Shortcut - Another powerful Seeker card, no reason not to take it. It also frees up some action so I can use a heal card of some kind.

Ward of Protection - Standard Mystic card that I typically include in my decks when I can. The added benefit is it combos with Peter Sylvestre when you are not using Forbidden Knowledge.

Skills are more to taste. Fearless should be a no-brainer but I know others may use Inquiring Mind as well. I wanted to be completely dependent on clues being around and since I was planning to evade my way around, opted to go with Unexpected Courage instead. I feel this can be filled in with whatever preference you may have while playing.

DEBATABLE
Machete vs. Shrivelling
Knowing my intention is to evade combat, there comes a time where I may actually need to fight. Yes, Carolyn's Willpower is higher than her combat, but in case I had to fight repeatedly I opted to avoid a situation where I run out of charges (or ammo). Machete is the best choice for me in this case. Additionally, taking Shrivelling would mean I would have to re-work my other Mystic and Seeker choices. I was already running tight so this helped tipped my choice.

First Aid vs. Clarity of Mind
To me, First Aid is a better choice. It addresses Carolyn's lower health stat and gives me flexibility to decide what I heal on her. The upgraded version allows both and Ally healing as well, which could have been important depending on the experience tree I would take (it actually did not matter). There were actually times though First Aid was a lifesaver, since I took some hits while engaged with enemies trying to finish the game. This is the same debate also against Liquid Courage although you could apply it to allies (it is not necessary).

Hyperawareness
I theorized that with the resources I would be getting, I would have plenty to spend to fuel Hyperawareness. It added a pump tool for me to successfully investigate (minor benefit) but also address Evades that may have been too difficult. In actual game play, Hyperawareness saved my rear multiple times until I branched into a slightly morphed build mid-campaign.

THEORIZED GAMEPLAY
Look for Peter Sylvestre, Forbidden Knowledge, No Stone Unturned, and Fieldwork or St. Hubert's Key. Mid-game you can No Stone Unturned if you had the other cards in your opening hand for Hyperawareness or Machete, depending on what you need. During the game, just move around, Investigate, Evade when needed, and just try as quickly as possible to Resign. If you have time and not overwhelmed, definitely Investigate locations that give you Victory Points (and therefore Experience). I did this in most games, even if it meant in beginning taking unnecessary damage. You want to get as much experience early on so you can leisurely go about your business later in the campaign.

TO DATE & EXPERIENCE
So I am about to start Black Stars Rise with 33 experience. Some choices I have made are questionable. I also got really lucky in some of the earlier games with minimal enemies showing up (especially in Echoes of the Past). The major boosts to Willpower have allowed me to avoid some brutal Treachery cards that might have accelerated my demise. I have no issue with defeating The Man in the Pallid Mask by his action and I simply Evade the <a href"Stubborn">https://arkhamdb.com/card/01103">Stubborn Detective. When To Fight the Black Wind has come out, it has though nearly capsized the game. It is brutal, simply brutal. Since I have not upgraded to Charisma until now, Foolishness has never seen game play. I have instead used Foolishness as a third Unexpected Courage.

Mulligan per my theory more or less worked out as planned, although there was one game I did not see Forbidden Knowledge until mid game. I still did well enough by evading when I needed to but I think I burned more cards to those skill checks than prior.

Experience was not necessarily spent in this order but if I had to redo this again, this is the path I would take with the list:

1. Stick to the Plan - First choice out of the gate, it gave me 2x Dodge or 2x Shortcut early on. It then paired well with Ever Vigilant.
2. 1x Ever Vigilant - Quick start, getting Peter Sylvestre, Fieldwork, and/or St. Hubert's Key out turn one. Later, Pathfinder drop as well.
3. The additional Willpower and higher Sanity health with the upgraded Peter Sylvestre is tremendous and you should look to upgrade him to this version.
4. However, if you feel like you are doing fine, Pathfinder then should be more useful. The free move, coupled with the Evade and starting Shortcut under Ever Vigilant makes Carolyn very mobile. 3 & 4 are interchangeable, really depends on how much Experience you end up with I guess.
5. Add Keen Eye. At this point, I should be past Echoes of the Past and Unspeakable Oath. Both of these I was able to Evade fine but I found in Unspeakable Oath at some point I had to engage in combat more and more. Keen Eye helps tremendously with that. I also found that after I added Keen Eye that I never used Hyperawareness again since I Evaded enemies with lower Evade checks and just fought those with middle-to-average Combat checks.
6. Upgrade to Fearless for the extra Willpower and extra heal.

At this point unless the card was an upgrade, I have dropped entirely Delve Too Deep, Unexpected Courage, and 1x Hyperawareness. You are counting correct - I only added three cards to the five drop since I went with the following below. Again, this was not the order I added, just what I would add. After the above, it really is up to you. I had added (again in the order I would now add):

6. 2x Emergency Cache was added after I found myself poor in a couple of games towards the end (for Hyperawareness or Keen Eye. Using this upgrade gave me also a draw card mechanism I was previously lacking.
7. Magnifying Glass may have been a mistake, but I upgraded to it simply because of the free cost.
8. Most recently 2x Beat Cop since I am a bit more combat driven and for the free damage.
9. Since I added Beat Cop, in order to play both Beat Cop and Peter Sylvestre, Charisma was taken. This also permits me to play Foolishness without major penalty.

Given my Experience tree, there is another version of Carolyn I want to try at some point that could be fun and a wonky way to play her.