Sefina Haste-Makes-Wasted Baddies (Full Upgrade Path)

Apparently there is some Matt email that suggests that the Ornate Bow + Haste trick doesn't work. If the Fight keyword is included in an Activation it's no longer an activation (which sounds inane to me) and instead is a Fight or whatever.

I'm still hoping the FAQ clears that up because it makes sense that Haste + Bow should work.

Thanks for the heads up @wedgeex. I'll keep an eye out and if anyone runs into a link with more info please share here.

i dont think it works this way and it does not make sense that bow and haste should work together. as i understand haste, it gives you one additional action for free if you take a action twice in a row. for example if you move and move again, you can move a third time for free and have a last third action to do something else. with the bow the two actions are: fight and then reload, so you will basically never take the same action in a row with the bow because there a two different actions on the bow card. sadly.

otherwise i like the deck! i think the bow is great on sefina and always wanted to give it a go. i will try your deck. maybe Swift Reload could be an option for Haste? its an event so you could copy it with her. (and basically with Swift Reload you could use Haste but for the third action there would be a missing arrow so it doesnt work...unless you play another Swift Reload? Swift Reload is a fast action so it doesnt count as an action).

Love the feedback and theory. I do 100% agree that as worded, Haste has very few limitations and could be mutated, clarified, or otherwise restricted in the near future.

I spent quite a bit of time in the rule book (pgs 4,24), and so far everything lines up. A Player Triggered Action is indicated by . The result/outcome of the activate seems irrelevant. In theory you could Activate an action printed on your location card, then Activate the on Sefina herself to draw an event, then to trigger an asset you have in play.

Let's say it doesn't work how I think, or it's just buried at the bottom of your draw deck. Leo is going to get us a bonus action. Lola's clue gathering is actionless. LCC is free card draw that should trigger often. Double Double if you go that route. Elusive is also fast. The spell events are multiple clues/damage per action. Most of the back half of the upgrades are about getting more money way faster than the Resource Action. There should be plenty of extra actions sitting around to reload - more so than most other characters or even other decks I've seen with Sefina.

PS Swift Reload only works with firearms. Venturer is the card that is usually mentioned, but doesn't go with Sefina. Ace in the Hole could be fun, but way overkill and one-time.

The ‘getting two icons out of “Watch This!” ‘ trick also doesn’t work. When committing skill icons to a test they only contribute the icons matching the test type. Spectral Razor adds to but it is still a combat test.

I'm going to need a full time referee to keep me in line =].

I agree that icons need to match, but this suite of spells includes willpower. I see it the same as using Holy Rosary to get a boost. I'm adding to my willpower with the skill card.

I feel like "I'm open to be proven wrong" is turning into my tag line. Ha ha.

@TaevusFrom the rules (Skill Test Timing):
An appropriate skill icon is either one that matches the skill being tested, or a wild icon. The investigator performing this test gets +1 to his or her skill value during this test for each appropriate skill icon that is committed to this test.

Therefore you don't add all icons to your stats :-/ Holy Rosary works different, though.

Check out the new FAQ entry for Haste. Matt responded and the Haste + Ornate Bow trick does work!

@wedgeex Wahoo! Looking forward to seeing how this plays out in a real scenario. We're going to power through TFA for the first time next week, I'll update here how it goes!

@Taevusok, sorry. i didnt know that to activate an card ability counts as an action itself. good to know. and yeah i overlooked the firearm trait in Swift Reload... it should read ranged weapon i thought. looking forward to your experience update. cheers!

The majority of recurring enemies (ghouls and ghosts, snakes and cultists) tend to have 3 or less hitpoints. Then you spend one action fighting&killing them and one action reloading. With Haste you now have a free item activation/fight action, but what are you gonna spend it on? I see the point if there's 2+ enemies at your location, but that not that usual in my experience (Disclaimer: I play with 3 players, and haven't started on Dream Eaters yet - that campaign have more enemies I think). And while Haste will give you an extra attack (if you miss or the enemy have 4+ hitpoints), wont you take an Attack of Opportunity when you reload?

Thanks for your thoughts!

First: If you are engaged with an enemy and Activate the 'reload' trigger, yes you cause an Attack of Opportunity. Shoot, Suggestion, Reload, Shoot can be a three-turn round with Haste (no Leo De Luca needed).

Part of why I like Haste is that you have some real flexibility in how you use that extra action, but it's not as unrestrained as Leo De Luca, so it takes actual thought. You might use the extra activate to draw an event from under Sefina, trigger an action on a location or agenda card, trigger Suggestion, etc. And yes, it might get wasted from time to time - no card fixes everything.

The semi-rare case where you have a 6-or-more-hp baddy that you are engaged with is why I never came around to ditching that one copy of Narrow Escape. Elusive and Ethereal Form can also help in those situations (the first two are fast, but the latter wont benefit from Haste in this scenario. And don't forget you have a couple copies of Deny Existence to cancel some damage.

You could play 3 events from your hand for the cost of two actions: Spectral Razor, Ethereal Form, Read the Signs for example (if that's really what you wanted to do for some reason).

All in all, as the flex (non-main monster fighter) it feels pretty strong.

So I tried a build very similar to this in two handed Dunwich (with Joe Diamond) and I found that I very rarely had the opportunity to chain 3 activates. Her ability, the Bow, and Suggestion somehow weren't enough sources to really take advantage of Haste- I found too often I needed to play an event or move in between those actions for one reason or another. I think I managed to get maybe 4 or 5 actions total out of Haste since picking it up? (At Where Doom Awaits now, probably picked it up at Miskatonic Museum). I'm curious to know if there's any particular sequences you took advantage of most often, because I'm having a hard time seeing them or having the chance to use the ones mentioned. Shoot into Reload into Shoot is really painful in terms of AoO for her (with her meager 5 health). Shoot into Reload into Draw Event is probably the most I've gotten use out of it, as Suggestion actually kind of conflicts with wanting to use the Bow.

@StyxTBeuford Thanks for asking. Let's just say our trip into the jungle (TFA) was not what I had anticipated, and I swerved pretty hard on the actual upgrade path. Despite wanting Haste and Ornate Bow to be my first upgrades, I never made it to Haste (or the final scenarios). The play testing will need more time...

Watch This doesn't give +2 to Spectral Razor, please correct ;)

Greate Deck! It seems after 18 XP Sefina becomes great in everything without exceptions.

I have a question here, is it enough to have only 2 bows as damage assets? I am thinking about adding additional Shrivellings to make it 4, or she doesn't need more? What do you think?

@Otki Thanks! I specifically tried to steer clear of spells that required pure , because then you need to try and boost that stat, which takes a lot of work. Spectral Razor was a good addition and helped me get by until I drew the bow. I wouldn't be your group's main fighter (Silas was a great companion in TFA), but she definitely for the job done.

@jd9000 Yeah I was educated later on that. It's some pretty fine print that an icon doesn't add to your agility. I was at least vindicated on my interpretation of Haste, which worked well. I will say that in our TFA run Suggestion (1xp version) was king. Will use again every time.