Finn Edwards - Smuggling Clues (advices are welcome!)

I have been playing the game for a while now, but this is my first published list, and one of my first attempts at deck-building, as I usually netdeck (THANK YOU, @starwiththename). That being so, all insight shall be much appreciated :)

General Concept

Ever since I bought the game (alongside TFA), Finn stroke me as a particularly cool investigator, because of his excellent splashes and various possible builds.

So I have finally decided to try to build Finn from scratch. This build is intended to be the main clue-gathering investigator in a 2 player game. It is particularly geared towards TFA ( due to its less punishing encounter deck for low investigators), though I would love to make it work in other cycles as well. It should be most effective when paired with a fighter/generalist character that can protect Finn from some nasty based treacheries.

Overview

Granted, there are more effective investigator for clue-gathering than Finn. But this list is designed to make Finn an independent and somewhat mobile clue-gatherer, that can evade (or sometimes even defeat) most enemies thrown at him, while continuing to pick up clues. This way, our fighter/generalist partner can keep doing whatever he deems most important, without us begging "hey (any name), come help me pleeeeease".

The deck gets really up and running when you get both copies of Lockpicks and Pickpocketing, because, besides being a consistent investigation tool, Lockpicks allow us to reliably trigger Lucky Cigarette Case; whereas Pickpocketing grants us a cash and/or draw engine to find our most important tools and to fund our expensive assets and utility event suite.

Later on, we must grab Lola Santiago, for testless actionless clues and buffs to both our main stats, and Streetwise, for some added consistency and a way to dump our extra cash.

Card choices

• Fingerprint Kit: I think what hinders Finn the most as a cluever compared to, say, Ursula Downs or Rex Murphy, is his lack of tools to consistently grap multiple clues. Hence the importance of Fingerprint Kit, which we shall probably mulligan for.

• Lockpicks: I am sure I am not the first one (actually, I am most likely the last one) to acknowledge this but, this card is basically tailored for Finn. 1- it is a cheap tool that allow us to investigate at 8 base value (6, if you consider the need to suceed by 2 or more). 2- it can be tutored or brought back with Smuggled Goods, which increases the consistensy of the deck. 3- it greatly sinergyzes with Lucky Cigarette Case 4- Lola Santiago boosts both agility and lore, making our base investigation value 10 (8, to be honest)!

• Peter Sylvestre, Logical Reasoning and "You handle this one!": it is no great achievement to identify that finn´s major weakness is his low . These cards are here to make sure we do not die.

• Sleight of Hand: Our cluing potential is reliant on item charges. Thus, we use Sleight of Hand to make sure we can squeeze some extra charges if needed, and to enable some power turns. It is also pretty good with Finn's Trusty .38.

• Lucky Cigarette Case: specially after we bring in Lockpicks, this card starts trigerring alot. Besides, Both our allies give us boosts to , which allows for this to trigger in some evasion attempts.

• Double or Nothing: this is mainly here to work as a Deduction. Our investigation value is so high with Lockpicks that we are likely to succeed without having to commit much else. It can also be used to contribute to killing a boss in a 6 damage attack with Backstab.

Upgrade Path

*Charon's Obol: we want to hit Lockpicks, Pickpocketing, Lola Santiago and Charisma as son as possible, so the extra xp is handy.

• 2x Lockpicks 2x Flashlight (see the above section)
• 2x Pickpocketing 2x Pickpocketing (resource generation that comboes with the cigarette case)
• Lola Santiago Manual Dexterity
• Charisma
• Lola Santiago Perception
• Streetwise

The general upgrading guidelines here are:

• Get the core investigation tool before anything else.
• Get the cash engine (Pickpocketing) before the cash sinks (Lola Santiago and Streetwise)
• As Lola Santiago boosts both our primary stats, she can replace some skill cards

Cards I am still pondering:

• Think on Your Feet: seems specially good in a 3+ player campaign where there is a dedicated enemy handler.
• Slip Away: extra protection against enemies that comboes well with finn´s stats and lucky cigarette case. This could get included.
• Waylay/Sneak Attack: both are good enemy-handling events that sinergyze well with finn´s statline and extra evade action.
• Track Shoes: if the splash slots were not so valuable for glue-gathering and encounter-deck protection, I would definetly include these. They grant us a great stat buff, some extra mobility and a actionless test that can trigger Lucky Cigarette Case. Do you guys think I should include it?

Alternate builds:

• Scavenging can enable an asset oriented build, but Lucky Cigarette Case already rewards us for our great capacity to over suceed, so I think it is better to spend this slot elsewhere.
• Dr. Milan Christopher: allows for a more squeashy and fragile build, but even better at investigating.
• There is probably a fighting finn build out there. I would be curious to see how to build it.