Jenny Barnes is: Lara Croft, Tomb Raider

Card draw simulator

Odds: 0% – 0% – 0% more
Derived from
None. Self-made deck here.
Inspiration for
Lara Croft for Standalone 1 1 0 1.0

LeonardQuirm · 33

I'm sure I'm not the first person to spot that Jenny has a few similarities to Lara Croft: specifically, a dual-pistol wielding sophisticated heiress seems she may even have taken a couple of pointers when being originally designed.

However, surprisingly this is nearly the first published deck featuring the more modern Tomb Raider: the charismatic, streetwise bow-wielding version from the recent trilogy and film!

This is designed as a build for multiplayer stand-alone scenarios as an investigator who can do a bit of everything - and in particular, might not do lots of those things, but will be very high impact when she does.

The starting point, obviously, is the two copies of Ornate Bow, with Dr. Elli Horowitz to help find and hold it. We've also got a Tooth of Eztli and The Skeleton Key as viable other targets in case Dr Horowitz can't find the weapon.

The Skeleton Key and the bow are both wonderfully supported by Lola Santiago, giving agility to help hit with the arrows and an ability to buy clues for a single resource a piece when the Key is attached.

To help double and treble down on the agility boosts, Streetwise gives an outlet for Jenny's riches and an alternative for helping out on investigation/intellect tests, and Cat Burglar is present and provides a get-out clause for when you can't quite notch your arrows fast enough to deal with enemies. Alternatively, with the you can evade the old-fashioned way, in which case Pickpocketing, Sneak Attack and Eavesdrop let you get value out of your quick moves.

Even so, sometimes you'll just want to fire arrow after arrow into the boss, and for that you have your very own manservant Winston, on hand with a quick re-notch.

With this much agility focus, not taking a Lockpicks would be rude, and a Bandolier allows us to hold that alongside either our Ornate Bow (if Dr Horowitz isn't holding it for us) or Jenny's own pistols.

And of course, with this many allies, Calling in Favors is a great pick. It's got a lot of potential applications here: as well as simply finding another ally and resetting any damage/horror on the recalled one, it can reset Winston's arrow supply, or give Dr. Elli Horowitz a second chance to find a Relic. Even better, if she finds The Skeleton Key the first time, you can move it from her to your location and then Calling in Favors Dr. Elli Horowitz to try and get a new, cheap ally and a second Relic with her!

There aren't many remaining cards, but for completeness:

  • High Roller is another great way to use Jenny's resources, especially since she's much easier to keep above the threshold than most characters.
  • Emergency Cache and "Watch this!" help keep the economy up (there's a lot of expensive cards here, even allowing for Jenny's income!)
  • "You handle this one!" is a small safety valve for when you draw the Will-test treachery or an enemy while your bow is un-notched.
  • Narrow Escape is generally fantastic and is possibly even better with the Bow (if it's un-notched, dodge the AOO as you load it; if it is notched, it's two agility pips anyway!)
  • Double or Nothing is basically mandatory for a high-impact character, and works wonderfully with High Roller and "Watch this!".
  • Manual Dexterity and Unexpected Courage because double skill pips are good and drawing cards is good.

Disclaimer: I haven't actually played this yet. I built and played a similar Lola Hayes deck based around several of the same interactions, but the Crisis of Identities proved too much. As I was searching around for an alternative home for the agility-focused Horowitz/Bow/Venturer deck I realised that even better than an actress playing the role of Lara Croft was the lady who simply is Lara Croft.

I'm planning on taking her into the The Labyrinths of Lunacy this weekend. Wish her luck!

1 comments

Jan 08, 2019 Django · 4879

I like the idea of Dr. Elli Horowitz to search for The Skeleton Key and Ornate Bow, never thought of that. The key in particular is pretty strong but exceptionel.

But the deck seems rather inconsistent with only 1 of so many important assets. You might want to adress that by removing lower priority cards and adding a second copy plus some card draw and/or tutoring?

Card's i'd remove: Cat Burglar, Tooth of Eztli, Bandolier, Pickpocketing, Eavesdrop, Sneak Attack

Card draw: Lucky Cigarette Case, All In, Preposterous Sketches or Eureka!

Tutoring: No Stone Unturned, Backpack