New Investigators based on Dark Corners of the Earth

[Musha Shukou 17]

So, I'm working on my own custom cards based on the video game Call of Cthulhu - Dark Corners of the Earth.  So I would like to submit my 3 investigators to this community to get your opinions.

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[guest455987 15]

I'm not familiar with the video game, but from an AH perspective...

I think Jack is pretty overpowered.  One Clue Token with every Mythos draw is a lot over the course of the game.  You might consider that with every Mythos card drawn he makes a Lore (-2) check and gains a Clue token if he passes.  At least then it's not a guarantee.  And +2 against all of those monsters is pretty huge, I think.  If anything, knock that down to +1 and reduce the pool of monsters, for simplicity's sake if nothing else. Also, for the sake of space I would remove the Guided by Yith ability and just give him a higher Luck range, or give him the Skill that gives you +1 Luck.  His starting condition, being delayed, and then going to the Asylum and being delayed again, may fit the video game narrative somehow, but it's a sucky thing to play as a character.  I hate being delayed as it is, much less twice in a row before you get to do anything else.  I would suggest finding something else to represent that or disregarding it altogether.  If that's meant to be a negative offset for

The Yithian Crystal is pretty cool.  The wording might be a little funny, but I like how it functions.

Lucas seems pretty good.  The only thing is you should clarify whether Information Sharing means that the First Player may gain one of his Clue tokens (what I think it should be) or just gain one.

I like Rebecca quite a lot.  The only thing I can think to change is to remove the comma after "investigator" in the Devoted Conviction ability.

[Musha Shukou 17]

You don't think Jack's powerful ability is balanced by the delayed and the suicide? It was my intent to be as true to the video game as possible while trying to maintain a balance.  I have reduced his skill check bonus to +1 though.

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Musha Shukou said:

You don't think Jack's powerful ability is balanced by the delayed and the suicide? It was my intent to be as true to the video game as possible while trying to maintain a balance.  I have reduced his skill check bonus to +1 though.

That's only 2 turns of the game, and then 20+ free Clues for every Mythos Card drawn and +2 (or +1 even) to many monster attacks thereafter.  And on top of that, the double delay is annoying from a player's perspective, so as a negative offset it's a particularly tedious one.

What is the narrative of the video game that you're trying to emulate?  Maybe we can suggest something else.

[Musha Shukou 17]

Well, for the delayed part, you should keep in mind, that he's really only delayed once.  The first delay is simply to allow him to have an encounter in the City of the Great Race instead of immediately leaving the OW back to Arkham (just like when you're sucked through a gate) .  It doesn't count as a delay at all, but keeps you from skipping ahead in the game.

So in the video game, in the prologue, you find a portal to Yith (the City of the Great Race) where you are enlisted to join the Yithians in defeating Cthulhu.  To that end, a Yithian swaps minds with you and comes back to our world in your body, where you are put in the Asylum for some time.  (Go directly to Asylum and are delayed). 6 years later, your mind is put back together, but you don't remember anything, except that you have these "premonitions" or "hunches" because of the Yithian's power.  (Thus the +1 to luck)

Also, in the game, you fight lots of monsters, including a flying polyp (hexagon), lots of deep ones, deep one hybrids, priests of dagon, star spawn (all pluses), and a shoggoth (diamond).  Because of the "powers" you have been given by Yith (triangle), you are able to defeat these things. I could have the guy start out with a Yithian lightning cannon, but that would be too powerful. Instead, I gave him an ability similar to Silas Marsh's "Able Seaman" ability. He gains +2 to all skill checks versus those 4 dimensional symbols (recently changed to just +1), which are some of the most uncommon symbols, at least when it comes to monsters.  So just like Silas, he gains a bonus, but it is conditional.

With the Yithian's help, you become the master of the mythos, so I wanted to give him an ability that corresponds to that.  Then because of the power of the ability I came up with, decided to balance it out with the suicide.  This happens in the game, too.  As your sanity decreases and you are wielding a gun, sometimes you'll shoot yourself and end the game.  So I integrated that into this investigator sheet as an attempt at balance.  Every time his Sanity reaches 1, he is immediately knocked uncionscious.  So he runs the risk of stacking up the injury cards and/or losing half his clue tokens more than any other investigator.  And to build that pressure, I gave him a Sanity of only 4.  This also means, that should his Sanity ever hit 0 (past 1) he would immediately be knocked unconscious (0 Stamina) and would thus be devoured.  Which also makes thematic sense with the video game as, at the end, you go insane and you kill yourself.  Because of the increased risk of being knocked unconscious and being devoured, in order for him to do the most good in his statistically low amount of time, I made the ability every mythos card rather than every gate opening (like Patrice Hathaway).

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Musha Shukou said:

Well, for the delayed part, you should keep in mind, that he's really only delayed once.  The first delay is simply to allow him to have an encounter in the City of the Great Race instead of immediately leaving the OW back to Arkham (just like when you're sucked through a gate) .  It doesn't count as a delay at all, but keeps you from skipping ahead in the game.

Ah, okay.  I see what you mean now.  In that case, sure, he's okay.