Hiding Spot

Who wants to take this card?:

  • solo and , especially fast play ones who make use of shortcut or similar cards
  • any character filling a support roll
  • no

This card shines most in the upkeep phase, where it can be played to protect a crucial location or at a location from being tangled up by monsters spawning there. If a squishy needs more time to investigate a location this card will insure that they get that time without the need of a or investigator with high babysitting them. This frees up both actions and turn order for other investigators. Even if the investigator does not get a chance to move he will get an entire turn without being attacked. As a little bit of a bonus it can serve the same function as dodge against a hunter, but will not prevent said hunter from engaging at the end of the enemy phase.

As a card in a support deck, it can be placed at any location, even ones that have not yet been revealed. Not only does this allow the support range to take care of other investigators across the map, it means that locations that spawn creatures when they are revealed do not result in that creature immediately engaging the investigator that revealed it. Squishy investigators can spearhead into new locations fearlessly(sort of)!

The most fascinating use for this card is how it would pair nicely with cards that grant movement. In decks that make use of shortcut or pathfinder, Rex could conceivably clear a location out from under the noses of a group of non hunters without them even taking notice, bonus points if he can retreat behind a barricade.

tl;dr

  • Protects from the mythos deck dropping creatures on you
  • Works best with solo and multiplayer
  • Can get fancy with movement cards
  • and are made less efficient with this card
  • requires planning ahead to use effectively
Edited for readability and to make it pretty
stetson · 3
Official ruling on Hiding Spot from Matthew Newman regarding enemies spawning on investigator at Hiding Spot location. — sacrelicious2 · 44
If a non-Elite enemy would spawn at a location that has Hiding Spot attached to it, the enemy gains aloof as they are going through the process of spawning, and thus the rules for “aloof” kick in ("When an aloof enemy spawns, it spawns unengaged,” RR page 4). As a result, the enemy will spawn unengaged. — sacrelicious2 · 44
As further clarification this card will not do anything to break up investigators that are already engaged with an enemy, it must be used preemptively either in the expectation that the mythos phase will spawn creatures at the worst possible time/before moving into an enemy occupied location. — stetson · 3
I'm pretty sure you can't play it during the Upkeep phase? Fast events without specific timing window rules can only be played during a player's turn. — Winged · 1
Actually, only fast assets have the assumed ‘only during a player’s turn. Otherwise fast cards without specified Timing windows can be played during any Free Trigger Window. — Death by Chocolate · 1490
Aquinnah

With experience comes insight. Gladly, you followed the path of meekness instead of suffering from an inflated ego, my sweet friend! Your new powers make you an invaluable ally for any survivor character which i can recommend without reproach, especially for solo play.

The additional cost of 2xp have to be put into relation to the additional effect that the upgraded version has. So let us have a look: play cost is cheaper by 1, there is an additional icon for skill test commitment and the reaction has lost it's targeting limitation.

The strongest argument for Aquinnah(3) is her upgraded reaction ability. In comparison to her basic version, at least one enemy must be present at your location to trigger the reaction. It is possible to reflect the attacker's damage upon itself, eventually killing it. Because damage and horror are applied simultaneously, the attacker's horror still lands. Another bonus of the enhanced effect is that it is not limited to the Enemy phase (Step 3.3) anymore. With her, you can now enter a location with a foe being ready and perform any action - it's Attack of Opportunity will trigger Aquinnah's reaction and kill it.

The Forgotten Daughter shows off in boss fights - reflecting an Ancient One's massive damage onto itself is nothing to sneer at! Together with a powerful combo, e.g. Will to Survive, in the subsequent turn, Aquinnah reliably turns the tide of the most ferocious battle into your favor!

Her only drawback is the one-time use restriction per round, which can solely be circumvented by Ashcan Pete.

Pros

  • On it's own, Aquinnah comes with some good sanity and can always be used as an expensive sanity shield.
  • With multiple enemies at your location, Aquinnah can kill one enemy before it attacks.
  • The redirected attack can target any enemy at that location, even if it is engaged with another investigator.
  • Activated by a reaction. She can reflect Attacks of Opportunity with it.
  • Does work on any type of attacking enemy, including Elite and Massive.
  • Can be combined with "If it bleeds..." and Evidence!.

Cons

  • Occupies the Ally slot. There is a huge competition for allies.
  • Aquinnah has very low health.
  • Triggering the reaction exhausts her, so it can be used only once per turn.
  • Ability does not work on spoiler.
Synisill · 804
This card, especially in Pete and especially how terrible rank 1 is, might be the card closest to broken in the game! :) — Quilzar · 6
And with Inspiring Presence this card got even better! :) — Quilzar · 6
William Yorick

William Yorick is the one that I am excited about playing out of the box along with Sefina Rousseau (who reminds me of the way that Andromeda was played and provides you with so many options in the early game).

I think that he will play differently, and I can see him focusing on weapons that normally don't see a lot of play such as Knife, Baseball Bat and would likely also carry around a Gravedigger's Shovel or Lantern. He should be designed to stay resource light, but probably shouldn't be playing Dark Horse since he will need resources at a moments notice.

I think 2 good assets for him to consider would be Leather Coat and Stray Cat. These will be great cheap assets to retrieve after defeating an enemy when your Baseball Bat hasn't broken. He could even later be setup as a serious tank with Bulletproof Vest and Elder Sign Amulet if you so decide to go that route, but I probably won't do that myself.

I think he is one of the best people to take advantage of The Red-Gloved Man. He can recur him consistently after defeating enemies if he would like and has the resources to go grab him and bring him into play from survivor cards like A Chance Encounter or Flare even outside the turns where he defeats something. The only downside to bringing out The Red-Gloved Man with his ability is that it won't be for all 3 actions of his turn.

I do think he plays differently and I am excited to try him out.

Bronze · 187
Leather coat is awesome with him; I recycled it 4 times in curtain call. Stray cat is a interesting idea. Might try that. — AndyB · 957
All these concepts are still a bit untested to me, but I do like the idea of using the stray cat as a backup mechanism to get out of a situation or just put off dealing with a monster when it isn't necessary. It is also appealing to me in that if we are to take advantage of his recursion then we need to be able to afford what we are putting back into play. Stray cat is one of those easily disposable and retrievable allies. — Bronze · 187
If I had to choose I would go with fine clothes over the leather coat. The 0 costs of the coat is nice, but for a measly 1 resource you get both a damage and horror soak, and an ability that will serve you well if parley tests continue to be a theme for the rest of the campaign. — FractalMind · 44
Well, the fine clothes isn't always a horror and a damage soak, it's only that when you suffer both at the same time whereas the leather coat is always 2 damage soak. It's true though. Fine clothes is currently pulling some weight and might be a good alternative given the current path they are leading us down right now. It could easily be substituted in for leather coat. — Bronze · 187
Agreed - I'm also a fan of Fine Clothes for this. — AndyB · 957
Red gloved man sounds nice in theory, but you'll need at least 1 action to kill an enemy and maybe another to move to one. So he'll only remain for 1 additional action and mythos phase, i'm not sure that's really worth it. — Django · 5171
His ability may also save you actions by commiting assets early and playing them through his ability later. — Django · 5171
William Yorick

I am really struggling to see why you would want to play as Yorrick currently. Firstly, his is terrible so even with some Survivor shenanigans I don't see him being able to really contribute to clue finding. Sure, he has access to Evidence! and can potentially recur Gravedigger's Shovel to find clues but the former is shared by all Guardians and the latter is extremely expensive for what is a heavily resource-starved combination of factions. He does have solid , which is nice, but he is extremely restricted by his main class. Whilst he does have access to a good selection of starting weapons he is going to fall off rather spectacularly later on as he cannot upgrade to more powerful weapons such as Lightning Gun, Shotgun or even Chicago Typewriter so will be attacking the late-campaign power enemies with around +2 and +1 damage which is nowhere near enough. Survivor's main strength is consistency and mitigating unfortunate Chaos Bag draws which will certainly make Yorrick effective at dealing with weak to medium power enemies but an actual Guardian can do this almost as well whilst also being able to upgrade their deck to deal with the more powerful enemies the encounter deck will spawn. His ability is definitely strong, but it forces him to play the card he wants to recur and since he lacks any real economy options he is almost guaranteed to be poor a lot of the time and unable or unwilling to take advantage of it. Recurring Lantern and Beat Cop for additional damage seem like they are probably his best options but since better damage output could be achieved with better weapons this is really just an expensive way to bring him up to something approaching parity with better combat characters. If Survivors gain access to a Shotgun or better weapon then he is suddenly much improved but I don't really see that happening as Survivors don't seem thematically to fit with the firearms that Guardians and Rogues have access to. Of course, maybe I am just way off on this evaluation so if you disagree please let me know!

ksym77 · 91
You make some excellent points ksym77. I definitely think he is more suited to multiplayer rather than solo due to his abysmal intellect. I think to set him apart from the guardian class we must play to his strengths. Recycling assets like Elder Sign Amulet, Leather Coat, and the Red Gloved Man is so strong. Throw in "Let Me Handle This" and I can start to see how William could tank a lot of enemies if not kill them outright. — FractalMind · 44
His signature card is also pretty strong. In dunwich, you'd have 8 extra XP for the final mission, that don't cost any action or encounter cards, unlike "delve too deep". — Django · 5171
Lockpicks

Cthulhu forgive me my sins, but this must be said:

Move over Flashlight! there's a new king in town. Lockpicks allow Rogues to investigate locations at an insane base skill value of + (or other skill value, in certain cases). This is a really nice benefit, but to really illustrate the point consider the following comparison:

Flashlight is a strongly considered item in Expert because of the abundance of high-negative number modifiers that may pop up. While flashlight doesn't modify your base number significantly, for 2 shroud (or less) locations using flashlight lets you auto-succeed any non- token pull. If Wendy or Skids use lockpicks on a two-shroud location they are also almost guaranteed to succeed, bar a total modifier that is greater than -5!

Of course there are a couple downsides: Lockpicks is marginally more expensive at 3r and 1exp instead of 2r, and flashlight doesn't exhaust allowing you to drain a location very quickly in a low-stress turn. On the upside, however, lockpicks can be used almost indefinitely, depending on how often you're likely to fall below the succeed by 2 requirement. At a minimum they have as many charges as do flashlight, and in the off case you are investigating a non- location you can always use to boost lockpicks using Streetwise.

All-in-all an exceptionally good card who's sole real downside is that it cannot be used consecutively in one turn. While power-investigate turns do happen, with some intelligent forethought these situations can be minimized. A very unique and powerful addition to the Rogue card pool, and recommended as a 2x early upgrade.

Difrakt · 1327
Too bad ashcan pete can't play this card, for once it would be a good use of his smelling salts ability, besides readying scooby duke. — Django · 5171
also: 1 clue per turn is usually good enough in true solo or if you're a flex character rather than primary clue getter — Zinjanthropus · 231