mageith
-
Content Count
733 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by mageith
-
-
adeangel said:
Hello. I was reading through the cards and coming across Implant Suggestion I was just a bit confused. You use it during your movement phase. If you were already in an area that had a monster would you still be able to do this or would you have have to face the monster first? I am just curious about the timing of when to cast this during the momvement phase since at the start of the movement phase if you are in any area with a monster I thought you had to contend with them first. Please inform me of which one would go through first. Thank you for your time.
It's not the start of the movement phase that triggers combat. It's ending your movement or trying to move out of that space that triggers combat. You can always cast movement spells before dealing with monsters as long as you are still in the movement phase. See page 6 bottom corner.
You'd probably have to cast implant suggestion before failing an evade check, however.
-
You write so well. It's difficult for me to finish an entire session report. My only disappointment is that you won in final battle. Abholth is a nemisis of mine. In fact I'm in a middle of a game against IT now and the double doomer "Mistrust" rumor just came out. On the Other hand, Monterey Jack was sent to the high house with enough monster trophies to become "changed".
-
awp832 said:
Speaking of wizards, I agree with the previous poster, that it's usually the Christians who have the issues. Actually it's always the Christians who have the issues. With wizards/witches as full-out main protagonists (any 'caster' character) other gods to be venerated (Bast, for example), unholy artifacts (all unique items), etc, etc, etc... you'll get the occasional person who might rant and wail. But these are generally the people who want to ban games like d&d and books/movies like Harry Potter for supporting witchcraft. They're silly too.A couple of decades ago I played D & D with a Baptist minister. He wouldn't play with anyone else. He had to park his car in back, so no one who might know him would see it and ask questions. He would not discuss any of the theological issues that came up in the game. The experiment only lasted 3 sessions, because he felt so guilty, he couldn't go on.
I also played with some Methodist ministers who always kept insisted on keeping the shades drawn. But that might have to do more with the beer than the theology.
-
GraaEminense said:
Hi all, first post hereabouts.
I've been playing AH for quite a while now, and I've noticed that while the game plays very well (and is often challenging) with 3-4 players, once you get above that it's just too easy. With more players, you have enough people to do everything without losing stride if one or two are busy healing up or item-hunting or whatever. The lower Gate and Outskirts limits and the higher Arkham Monster limit adds little to the challenge.
Boardgame nights being what they are, one can't always exactly control the number of people who turn up -nor do I want to. As a result, I've been toying with ways to increase the challenge with more players, but if possible I don't want to reinvent the wheel.
So my question is, how do you guys increase the challenge? Anyone have any good house rules?
I currently have the Dunwich and Pharaoh expansions.
Several things I've tried in order of effectiveness:
1) With experienced players above five we add 1 monster per gate for each investigator above 4. So with seven investigators, you'd have 4 monsters per gate. That should keep a few people busy. (I've played with this only with 6 investigators however not, 7 or 8)
2) I've played 2 games where we placed the Dunwich Horror herald was out from the beginning. That means someone has to gear up to defeat him, otherwise he'll add several doom tokens to the game. In addition, this will mean that whomever fights him will be sucking up clue tokens in preparation.
3) And/Or: We've played where yellow and blue bordered monsters in Dunwich move as black bordered. What this does is create a since of urgency and causes the terror level to go up faster. However the times we played with just this rule, we were able to prevent the Dunwich Horror from coming out but at least it should keep an investigator or two busy part of the time.
4) Always play with a herald. Since you only have two games, that means the Dark Pharaoh herald or Dunwich Horror Herald. I almost always play with the King in Yellow Herald against the easier to defeat Old Ones. But alas, you do not have it.
Your combination of DP and Dunwich means that monster surges as well as gate bursts will be rarer than normal since there are more gates and the minor gates come up more often. Probably playing with just Dunwich will be a tougher game (but probably still not tough enough.)
5) Or just play Glaaki all the time. (It would do it for me anyway!) (Actually this is the most effective for me!)
6) I have a scenarios that I play with the easier to defeat Old Ones. You can just use the parts that work, since you don't have Black Goat. I haven't played these against all Old Ones, but it does make some of them very difficult. I actually developed "Cults" to work with the corruption cards.
Depending on the Old One cults can be very effective or just offer some juicy targets. In either case, it adds about 12 more monsters to the game which will take up an investigator's time.
CULTS: Many of the Old One have cultists. This Scenario stresses the work of those cults. Requires cards from Black Goat of the Woods expansion.
<left><b>Worshippers:</b> If the Old One has human followers or cultists (Azathoth, Cthulhu, Glaaki, Eihort, Hastur*, Ithaqua*, Nyarlathotep, Y'Golonac, Yig* or Yog-Sothoth), follow the rules below:
Remove all normal cultists and human worshippers from the cup and place them on this card. When a gate appears, place a worshipper from this sheet on that gate in addition to one normal placement. In all other cases, follow the rules for the worshipper on the Old One's sheet.<b>Mythos:</b> If a worshipper is in play at the start of the Mythos phase, the first player must take a <i>Corruption</i> card, Madness card or raise the terror level by 1 with the following exceptions:
If Hastur is the Old one, the only choice is to raise the terror level by 1.
If Ithaqua is the Old one, the first player cannot choose a Madness card, but may choose an <i>Injury</i> card instead.
If Yig is the Old one, the first player may not choose a Madness card, but may choose a <i>Curse</i> card instead. If a cursed investigator is cursed again, s/he is <b>devoured</b>.<b>Arkham Encounters:</b> <i>Subverting the Cult:</i> An investigator with any combination of 2 of those cards and tokens or with a Cult membership may draw a <i>Cult Encounter</i> when s/he is at the <i>Woods, Unvisited Isle, Wizard's Hill, The Causeway or Esoteric Cult of Dagon.</i> Place some cult encounter cards on each of those locations as a reminder.
Abhoth, Bokrug and Rhan-Tegoth do not have worshippers.
7) Again depending on the Old One The Monster scenario can be devastating (a turbo charged Cthonian in play almost every turn is not nice). But it will make every Old One with monster worshippers tougher.
THE MONSTER: Many of the Old Ones are worshipped by alien monsters.
<left><b>Monster Worshippers:</b> If the Old One is Atlach-Nacha, Chaugnar Faugn, Cthugha, Ghatanothoa, Nyogtha, Quachil Uttaus, Shub-Niggurath, Shudde M'ell, Tsathoggua, Yibb-Tstll or Zhar, follow the rules below:
<b>Monsters appear:</b> The first player removes one of the Old One's monster worshippers from the cup and places it on this sheet. When a gate appears, place one of the monster worshippers from this sheet, if any, chosen by the first player on that gate instead of one of the monsters normally placed.
When an investigator defeats a monster worshipper, the investigator receives 1 Clue token per toughness of the monster worshipper but returns the monster to this sheet.
Whenever any worshipper monster is returned to the cup in any way, return it to this sheet instead.
In all other cases, follow the rules for the monster worshipper as described on the Old One's sheet.
Abhoth, Bokrug and Rhan-Tegoth do not have worshippers on the board.8) Get Kingsport. According the statistics its the hardest expansion but its also the least fun IMO, but it should keep 1/2 an investigator busy.
9) Check out the statististics page on the difficulty of Old Ones and always play the toughest one you think you can handle. For you that would be Abhoth. With DP and Dunwich, there won't be as many surges, so don't play DP with him. I've never actually played him with the just the basic game. That might be interesting because there'd be more surges. I'll bet nobody has since he comes with Dunwich, why would you?
Next would be Glaaki. He's only the 14th most difficult, but he gets me most every time by just being him.
Then Yog, 13th most difficult. For me that's a big game between him and Glaaki. I don't usually have a lot of trouble with him.
I have more trouble with Tsathoggua (11th), but he guts down on fun a lot too for me since most of the locations are closed. He's the 2nd easiest but the 2nd hardest of defeat in final battle.
10) Innsmouth and Kingsport add some much tougher Old Ones.
-
I found a few online (maybe just one, Luke). But what I did was scan the originals. It worked OK. I did have to type out the back stories, however.
-
Christianity is stronger in the game than in the books. The Blessing alone makes a strong presence. Gaining a Blessing by killing may bother some pacifists. OTOH the mythos regularly defeats the priests and ministers of earthly religions in popular culture.
-
The only thing I sort is Mythos. I seldom play more than 2 expansions at a time based on their Mythos cards. The monsters are stronger from the expansions but the expansions also give you stronger ways to deal with them, so I think that's as balanced as anything else in Arkham Horror.
-
The newspaper is a good place to get a job (retainer) as well as other money.
The administration building has a few jobs and money making opportunities.
You can sell your trophies at the River Docks, though I don't remember every doing that.
I've made money at Hibb's roadhouse and Velma's Diner, but I"ve also lost money there.
With all the late breaking news about aliens wandering the streets, the newspaper is the best place to go.
With the expansions there are other opportunities, but the newspaper is never surpassed as the go to place.
The Bank Loan is dangerous, as you point out. At 5% interest per day you can end up losing everything pretty quickly. If you are going to borrow then you better be sure you're going to get a job. On the other hand, Jenny always gets a loan!
-
One size fits all. We once went to Nyarlathotep's last red card. Only Emily was left. She had a chance to join him, but she didn't. Since she were still alive until the last card you know what that was. Croak!
Other than that the Epic Battle cards haven't impressed me much. Their OK for the 4 or 5 weak AO's from the basic set. Most of the new ones are beyond reach anyway since we don't gear up.
-
avec said:
Nghtflame7 said:
Any Phase: Jim may spend one or more Focus points to move his skill sliders at any time except during combat. He may use this ability before resolving the effects of a gate card or a location card.
For a while Jim, for us, could demand the next green card whenever he was in an other world. He's back to normal now since he's my sons favorite investigator. It's the horn.
-
Hannibal Rex said:
1) If I had a quick and easy fix, believe me, I'd post it in an instant. If I could send the designers back to the drawing board, I'd have them reduce monster awareness almost universally. Above, you give an example of having 3 dice for the evade check. Now, if a completely average 4/4 investigator tries to sneak past a Dhole, one of those supposedly tough-but-easy-to-sneak-by monsters, he'd have to reduce speed to 1 to even get those three dice. (And he'd probably need focus 3 for that.) The reward is that you can keep moving? How exactly do you move past a monster when you have speed 1?
2) Maybe I'm disregarding items too much. But to me, it seems a lot easier to get decent weapons (and max will) than it is to get enough sneak/speed items to make a difference. (That might change once I get BGotW, and its military motorcycles.)
3) The problem I have is that I don't see how you would ever voluntarily attempt to sneak past a monster with any but the few top tier stealth investigators. I'm sure as hell not trying with one or two dice for the check. Just go somewhere else entirely instead of decreasing speed, and wait til the street sweepers have done their job. The speed argument seems to disregard that there are multiple investigators around. If you evade the monster, you have to evade it again and again, until eventually someone will fail their check. (That, or you manage to close a corresponding gate) But if someone kills it, not only does he get the trophy, but all other investigators are able to move full speed ahead.
1) Perhaps an average 4/4 investigator needs help. He is average after all. If I just had to face a dhole I'd calculate the changes of killing it vs. sneaking by it. I'd look at the number of clue tokens I had to spare and I'd take the chance that gave more the best odds. There is supposed to a danger and investigators are calculated to fail from time to time.
2) It is a lot easier to get decent weapons and that's probably a bone FFG threw to players to sell their game. The main reason I like this game is that a lot of the rules are there to model the "reality" of the literature. I have a sears catalog from about 1926. Most of the costs are OK except for weapons which are much cheaper in the game than in the catalog. In addition, if an alien monster is coming at you, how many shots would you really get with a double barrelled shotgun? All monsters should not actually be killable, IMO. Arkham Horror is partly a puzzle that needs to be figured out before time runs out. Can I afford to allocate clue tokens to sneak by this monster and save a turn but risk losing more than a turn?
3) Again, its a matter of calculation for me. It only takes one success to evade past a monster. It usually takes more than one success to fight a monster. Or as you say, go somewhere else or call in the marines. Kill or evade or ignore is a tactics question. Since its a dice game, notthing is guaranteed. And I love it!
-
Hannibal Rex said:
That poster was me. And I stand by my point that the sneak/speed slider, as implemented, is a flaw in the game design.
I find it interesting that you reference Wendy and Mists of Releh in your post. Mists is a great spell, (as is Summon Shantak, btw) and serves very well to show how powerful evading monsters is. But it's so powerful only because it allows you to avoid the normal sneak/speed mechanic. The same goes for Wendy's special ability, which is what makes her such a good stealth character.
...Now, to strike a more reconciliatory tone, I have to agree that stealth can't be too easy. If every investigator had the chance of becoming a Wendy with just an item or two, it would be a much more serious balance issue. The terror level, and therefore, the monster limit, being as negligible as they are most of the time, (and probably worthy of their own design flaw discussion), it would break the game to have one or more investigators each game who can just ignore all monsters. Still, the designers missed their mark in the original game, and you can see by some of the new expansion additions (elusive monsters, Innsmouth curfew, Wendy, Finn, Trish) that they've tried to adjust it.
And lastly, I'll give a hands on example to illustrate my point; a couple of days ago, we played our first Kingsport game, against Atlach-Nacha. The game took 12 turns (all gates closed, De Vermiis Mysteriis ftw!), there were 4 players. Apart from Wendy, sneak was only used once, well twice, technically. Charlie Kane moved from the Witch House, where he had closed a gate, to an open gate in the STL, evading a maniac and tcho-tcho priest on the street. (the priest could've killed or seriously injured him). As he had a motorcycle, and a +1 sneak environment was in play, he had 4 dice, and succeeded both times. Of the three non-Wendy characters,only one guy ever used sneak, in one of twelve turns, and that was a game where we deliberately kept our eyes open for stealth opportunities. (We killed about 10 monsters, and the terror level rose once.)
Mists of Releh is the same mechanic as evade. It just opens up that mechanic to lore characters and only once. I guess the difference is that lore user doesn't have to slow down to use it? On the other hand, you do have to give up your luck or most of it to use it.
I still can't quite put my finger on your complaint. It seems obvious that you have to slow down and be more careful to evade past something. Perhaps if you said how you'd fix evade?
If you have 3 dice, you'll evade 70% of the time. The reward is that you can keep moving. The penalty for failure is that the monsters bite you then you have combat. Another penalty is that if you are very far away, you might not make it and end up the streets or an intermediary location.
If a monster has 2 toughness it takes 6-7 dice to have the same chance (65%-74%) in addition you will need to take a horror test. In order to have the same chance as evade with 3 dice. You'd need 4 horror dice (80%) and 7-8 (80%-86%) combat dice to go unscathed. Of course, if the monster isn't too horrible you can take the sanity hit. Your reward is that you usually get a monster trophy. The downside is that your movement ends. You lose a turn if the monster is in the streets. No character comes out of the gate with those kind of dice. Just like for evade, help is needed and available.
You say there are few really good evaders. From my experience with many, many different players, however many there are is too many. If given a choice, almost all will go a mediocre fighter over a good evader. I've yet to see a player get Wendy on their first play through and Finn players almost always speed their $8 on a magic weapon if they can get one.
Many people, myself included, think the most important stat in the game is speed (movement). A speed 3 investigator will waste several turns a game in the streets and will usually find it impossible to evade and get anywhere. In order to gain a decent evade one has to give up his very valuable speed points.
But still, I'd really like to see your fix for speed/sneak.
-
awp: I'm not saying I totally disagree with you here, but let me voice devil's advocate for a moment.
In the base game, with Kingsport, and BG, and Cotdp, .... you're probably right. Sneaking can be very very effective because you can 'save' turns and therefore do more stuff. The reason for this is that with these expansions killing monsters really isn't all that important. It's secondary. monsters get in the way, and that's why they need to be taken out, but if they're not in the way, no problem.
KiY and Innsmouth, however, make killing monsters very, very important. So does Glaaki and to an extent, Hastur. Dunwich also has this trait to a lesser extent, if you use the DH herald. Basically, whenever you're playing with something that has an effect directly tied to the terror track such as the KiY or Father Dagon heralds, sneaking starts to look a lot less good. Not only is killing necessary up in Innsmouth, but if you play with Father Dagon (which I always seem to be doing these days) than your group had better be very efficient at killing monsters, and sneaking by them just won't do. Monsters that you're *not* killing will pile up in arkham, leading to terror rises and very nasty trigger abilities.
If everything worked for every investigator all the time then the multitude of investigators and Old Ones would be waste of paper. This discussion for me is in the light of an assertion from another thread that sneak/evade is so useless it's a design flaw. Glaaki is my nemesis. I hate his/her servants. Wendy is always good no matter who's she's up against. However, against certain AO, she may be devoured or less useful. In certain parties, the same fate has awaited.
Now sure, sure, some characters are better at sneaking, some are better at fighting. You can still use characters who are better at being stealthy in stealth mode sometimes, but probably the case is going to be that just one dedicated monster killer isn't going to cut it. Your sneaky characters are going to have to fight some of the time, and when this comes up their lesser fight stats hurt them.
Depends on how many players. We play from 3-6. Our third player, Jennie goes both ways. She's OK with stealth but not afraid to get her sword bloody or even cast some appropriate spells. If we play with more, ALL but one of them, wants to fight!
Surprise and Ambush monsters weaken evade further. I know there is a cotdp ow encouter where the God of the Bloody Tounge surprises you: take that, Wendy!
Been there, died that.
But maybe the killer is that if you fail your combat check, providing you can take the loss of stamina and the other monster abilities (if any) dont take you out of the fight when you fail a combat check, you can try again to kill the creature. With sneak, one dice boop up and you have to stop moving, which was probably the entire point of you trying to sneak by the monster in the first place.
Evading is both easier to do and harder on an investigator if s/he fails. Make sense to me. All in all, I think I've been rendered insane or unconscious more often from a monster I should have defeated rather than a monster I should have evaded.
-
@Dam:
Yeah I was taking into account PS. While nearly all PS are helpful, many are not so helpful that they are worth doing, unless the downside is pretty bad.
Wilson's downside is pretty bad,but we usually just ignore Wilson's and hope to use his clues up before the doom hits 6. Usually we do. I don't see it has that big of drawback. Where would you put him then?
Marie: Yeah doom token removal is big, then what else is there? Perhaps in the overall scheme of the things she is really a powerful (but boring) investigator. But don't several others now remove a doom token when she always did remove 1 anyway. Are you saying she's in your Elite 8? I'm not sure I see drawing and keeping 2 spells as that easy, though probably worth it.
Jenny's great to have with Wilson. Then he passes and she pay's. I'd have to see to do ab/use Bank loans and usually that ends up with Jenny having some great cards. We also ignore Jenny's PS, though passing it is helpful in the speed department, but usually not 5 clues and a lost turn helpful. Is Meh higher than 38?
-
jgt7771 said:
mageith said:
Just how does he do all the Evading with a Flamerthrower tank strapped to his back?It's actually just a bottle of rotgut and a book of matches.
And, of course, all of the above could be completely moot with thoughtful assignment of tasks amongst the players. One leaves the monsters for the Investigators that want them (Tony, William, Michael), and let the stealthy ones win the game. (Rampaging Deputy Emily and trying-not-to-be-seen Mageith come to mind.)
A molovov cocktail smells funny and Mark smokes (both not conducive to evading past monsters), and a flamethrower is an actual weapon from WWII. (I reexamined the picture and think that's what's there) All the little green soldiers have (had) at least one in their platoon as well as a mine sweeper.
Sometimes I'll thoughtfully defeat my share of monsters but Emily is very consistent in her bloodthirsty desires.
-
@ Dam Wilson #13 is a great all around investigator. He always always helps. I'd say about right.
@Renderfalls: Thanks for this. I love this stuff.
I'd be interested to know you strategy that makes you so high on Jacqueline #2? She's above average but not in my Elite though sweet 16.
I also don't see Marie in the Elite 8? What are you seeing that I don't see?
Lily at #9? Are you playing her by her card or by her change? I like her either way, but 9's a little high, but definitely in top half.
Minh #19 on the other hand is really good, expecially with her personal story. She's in my elite 8.
Luke at #27? Too high! He's one of the most lovecraftian, but I surely haven't gotten him to be much of a contributer. What's your strategy?
Hank Samson #32? Maybe. He doesn't look that bad, and he starts out really good for us, but in the end he usually isn't on the winning team. Perhaps too min maxed?
Jenny # 38? Everybody here loves to get Jenny. First move is a bank loan. Her slowness doesn't effect her when she's shopping for the first 3-5 turns. This will usually turn up an elder sign, some weapons and something to move her along. She's in my sweet 16, for sure.
George the lawyer at #46. I guess others else have worse experiences than I do with George. He's not a top, top investigator but he never disappoints. Pushing top half, maybe. A lot depends on how long his retainer lasts.
Amanda at #41. For our last three games we've let the players choose her two skills and even maxed out, everyone has been disappointed. They've tried to make into a fighter. We're going to try one more time and make her into an evader. But skills aren't worth $10 or even $8. #41 might be too good for her.
-
Renderfalls said:
Sneak isn’t the end all be all of the game. There are times when you need to go guns blazing. But it is an important mechanic to the game to master if you truly are going to use characters to their best advantages. Several characters cry out for the good use of sneak, such as Wendy, Finn, and Mark, and the proper use of it can lead gates being closed more quickly, and clues collected more effectively. This in turn leads to a better chance of a seals victory, and a better chance for you to save the world.
Quite excellent review of Sneak and Evade.
Mark especially is a fooler character. Just how does he do all the Evading with a Flamerthrower tank strapped to his back? Instead of "One man Army" he really is a One Man Special Ops. "Most people think Mark Harrigan is crazy."
-
avec said:
It might be more realistic, but it sounds like it would be a lot more dice rolling. A mechanic like that could really slow down the game.
There'd me more dice rolling if there were fliers in the sky, but I think overall there'd be less fliers in the sky because some investigators would pull a Muldoon and deliberately stand in the streets waving their arms to bring down the nightgaunt, byhakee especially mi-go. So overall the result would be just little more total dice rolling. The main slow down might be that fact that a Servitor or Wraith could attack anytime and investigators would move their speed down to get through the streets, especially if drawing a flier means an immediately battle or triggers another evade check.
On the other hand, there'd be a lot more successful evading from rule 1 which could speed up the game.
-
Hannibal Rex said:
Talking about house rules, here's two things that have been floating in my head lately;- If you fail your evade check, combat starts normally. You only get damage if you try and fail to flee from combat.
- The first time you move into the street each turn, you must pass a sneak +0 check, or the flying monster with the highest (most difficult) awareness rating moves to your location.
The first point addresses the problem, as I see it, that sneak attempts are high risk/low reward most of the time. If your preferred destination is blocked by a monster, there's usually three choices. You can fight, you can sneak, or you can go somewhere else. To reliably sneak, in many cases, you'd have to lower you speed so much that you can't get where you wanted to go anyway. In such a case, fighting is preferred if you have a decent chance of success. Or, you can't hope to beat the monster in a fight. Then, if you fail the sneak check, you'd most likely end up insane or unconscious, so going somewhere else entirely is preferable, leaving the monster for someone who hopefully can take care of it.
Normally, I'd only choose to sneak if reaching to location is so urgent, that it's worth the likelyhood of having to burn multiple clues. Having to get into a gate to seal would be such a case, but we rarely have so many clues that we can afford burning 2 or more, and still have enough left for a seal.
Now, with that first point, you can try to sneak with almost no drawback, if you can fight the monster. You only have to make sure you actually have a positive sneak after the awareness modifier, which means lowering your speed. That should be enough of a drawback.
The second point is a bit less elegant, and might do with some further tweaking. But it would make sneak checks a lot more common, make flying monsters more of a nuisance since they can now frequently hinder your movement, and it'd help clear the night sky when you're near the monster limit.
If you fail your evade check, combat starts normally. You only get damage if you try and fail to flee from combat.
Sounds more "realistic," but will make the game slightly easier. There will never be reason not to attempt an evade check. However the evade, take damage first out of order response to evade checks confuses lots of newbies. OTOH hand it does make the Nightgaunt encounter more "realistic." You will now have to face your Horror before crawling onto it's scaley back.
The first time you move into the street each turn, you must pass a sneak +0 check, or the flying monster with the highest (most difficult) awareness rating moves to your location.
Also more "realistic," If you are going for realism, perhaps it should be each time you enter a street space. If the flyer enters your space, do you get to attempt another evade check or does battle begin? If so, it would be a tricky way to bring the flier down for someone else to dispatch.
I really like these rules, but I think they should be used together.
-
What I meant was that pairing speed/sneak is a more natural pairing that fight/will and espcially luck/lore though I think the overall mechanic is good. I'd like to see more investigators like Trish with different pairings.
To answer your question, I'd rather have a faster investigator. Speed is the most used skill and so a speed of 3 handicaps an investigator nearly every turn.
To go further than your question, I'd rate the importance of skills in this order: speed, sneak, luck, will, fight, lore.
Without regard to special skills and fixed items, I'd say the best investigators based on their stats alone are Wendy, Finn, and Rita. These are quite playable without any special skills and/or items.
At any rate, you said you had some house rules in mind to make sneak more prominent.
-
awp832 said:
Ithaqua, Yig, Hastur, and Nyarlathotep are the AOs generally complained about being too easy. That's under 1/4 of the 20 base/dunwich/innsmouth AOs, which seems to imply to *me* that people are seriously screwed in the head for getting all upset over a handful of AOs being on the easy side, while final combats that are near impossible are actually more common.... Epic battle might 'fix' Yig, Nyarlathotep, Ithaqua and Hastur, but it's going to put all those borderline AOs securely into the 'way too hard camp'. This is why I am not impressed with epic battle, despite generally good reviews.
Thank you. I was beginning to think no one else saw it like I do. We too often throw in the towel and if we don't, we generally only use Epic battle against the AO you list. That hasn't been a formal decision, just the way we've done it.
-
Teydyn said:
Hank was the "i run around at 5 fight - 0 will" farm boy? Way over the top.
Not as much as Wendy though. 4 Clues, fast as hell, nearly unstoppable, oh, and an elder sign on top.
In our 5 player games she is often responsible for 3 seals.
Hank is very good and certainly an above average fighter but I don't think over the top. The reason is that defeating monsters does not win you games. If somehow you could have investigators that never needed to fight a monster, you'd win easier and faster.
OTOH, if Wendy is getting 3 seals per game in a 4 investigator (or more) game, that might almost qualify as Over the top. You've clearly figured out her secret. In addition, Wendy doesn't even need Hank to do it, since she doesn't need anyone to clear the way. Also, I think Wendy only starts with 3 clues.
As I said I put her in the first 3. The others are in order of over the topness: Patrice (definitely OTT and self teaching one trick pony), Daisy (with the right spell) very probably OTT* (several trick pony) then Wendy (one hidden trick pony). Mandy comes in 4th.
The good thing about Daisy and Wendy is that their OTT is not readly apparent and its fun to watch casual players figure out the OTT strategy. Usually they don't. Patrice on the other hand is so broken, its hard to miss her OTT.
I
-
awp832 said:
Certain heralds: KIY and Dagon, make terror a lot bigger of a deal. Dagon especially is a wrecking ball when the terror increases, and he gets worse the more players you have (since you'll lose more clues, and the chances that one investigator is clueless and a doom will be added increase with every player).It seems kind of odd to me that the sneak boosts are so few and far between. I mean, we have the Pallid Mask and the Dark cloaks (both from the base set) and the military motorcycle (bgotw). Not counting itmes that bypass the need for evade like the Silver Key, Mi-Goh brain case, etc... can we think of any others? I suppose the Shroud of Shadows spell from cotdp. So, when we talk about things to help you in your ninja endeavors, what we generally talk about is things that actually increase *movement*, not evade. Like the map, motorcycle, etc. These only increase your ninjability by extension, since you can afford to have your sneak in a higher position, but they do little for characters whose sneak maxes out low anyway.
Maybe this is intentional. If you're a bit of a clutz, there aren't too many items that can make you less of a clutz. whereas, if you're an old man with a cane, you can still hop on a motorcycle and go a lot faster. Nevertheless, it does tend to put sneak squarely in the camp of those investigators who have the stats for it.
The OP Hannibal was is saying that stealth is little used in his group and that's because its a design flaw. IMO, it the best designed pairing of the three. If you want to be sneaky, slow down. If you want to evade (get past fast) the monster jump on a motorcyle.
Evade is much used in my group, mostly by me, but there are others too. I usually don't have any more problem getting evade or sneak boosts than I do getting enough guns to go around. Sometimes there's plenty and sometimes there's none. We are to make the best use of what we have.
I think you named lots of things that aid evade and I think there won't be a game where at least one of those items pops up (probably in the same group as a shotgun).
Case in point: Wendy is almost broken she's such a good evader and investigator. It took a long time for folks to see it or believe it. When someone in one my groups is forced to play Wendy, they first complain about her sanity and stamina and then about how few items she gets. I saw one guy jump for joy when she got a flamethrower. Instead of seeing her possibities, we try to turn her into something she's not.
Another favorite of mine is Rita. She has crap power but she's very well built. With a little nudge she can be a great fighter (5/4) or great evader (6/4). I'll bet most folks try to make her a fighter but she's naturally a better sneaker/evader.
-
jhaelen said:
Well, I don't get out of my way to kill monsters. However, cultists are monsters with the moon symbol, which you cannot get rid of by closing gates. When the terror level starts rising because of monster floods it is a good idea to start getting rid of _some_ monsters.Additionally, there are investigators who are very good at killing monsters. Using them for anything else would often be a waste. If they make it easier for the rest of the team to move across the board and close them gates, all the better.
Terror Level? Ordinarily that makes little or no difference in game except for points, does it? A few Old Ones key on it and the King in Yellow (voluntarily used) herald might make you think twice, tho.
Those excellent monster killer investigators can make things easier, I agree. If there is one in the game (of 3-4 investigators), s/he can save the others a lot of time and turns by clearing the way. But like excellent sneakers, there are few excellent killers. Most of the investigators simply lean toward a particular specialty. Even with the abundance of weapons in the game, its hard to make a non killer into a killer or even to make a killer with a faint heart (low sanity/will) into a really excellent killer without a lucky draw or skill.
And eventually that excellent monster killer is going to accrue a pile of trophies and will tempted to be spending them for clues and then is off world for serveral turns and by then the monster population is back up.
All in all, I prefer sneakers (evaders) to fighters, but that's OK because the majority of my group enjoys combat and that makes it even easier for my gal or guy.
[FRENCH PLAYER QUESTIONS] Stable/Unstable locations?
in Arkham Horror Second Edition
Posted
Dietch said:
Tibs said:
Another great example of card design. They might have add a word or two on those card to explain how to deal with. Another entry for the soooo wanted FAQ now...
Actually it's answered in the rules...Page 8, last paragraph:
"Monsters and gates cannot appear in sealed locations,
even if this is directed by the text of a card."
Or not. I guess we can say "appear" and "move to" are different instructions. But to me, this rule, pretty clearly says No New Gates.