Pete The Beastmaster

Ever wanted to be a homeless guy with an army of cats and dogs? Look no further. I forgot to click in the thick of it, but starter cards should be In the thick of it, Rod of animalism, Miss Doyle and Dauntless Spirit.

Overview (level 0 deck gameplay)

-Miss Doyle is a creature and occupies an ally slot, her soldiers Hope, Zeal and Augur however do not. They can be discarded to automatically succeed at their respective tests and revive one of their fallen companions.

-The auto success of the cat soldiers makes them prime targets for Vicious Blow and Deduction, and sets up a non elite enemy for Waylay (as does Stunning Blow).

-Duke is a creature, and does not occupy an ally slot. His basic fight is a standard weapon against Swarm of Rats and other easily beaten early encounter enemies. He can be retriggered by discarding a cat soldier.

-Rod of Animalism is your only item in play. (Backpack used to find it, the other copy used as fodder for your investigator ability).

-You'll always be at the optimum for Able Bodied and this can augment your Waylay or Duke's fight.

-An ungodly amount of soak. Your tanky dogs can take a ton of damage and Scrounge for Supplies returns them from death (with Resourceful returning Scroung). Don't piss off the cat though, she needs to be protected at all costs.

-Double Drawing Thin on your auto successes for massive card or resource economy at no cost (because its an auto success).

Upgrades

-These are going to be slow to start and will need about 14 experience to fully get the deck rolling. In order, Charisma for the ally slot (nothing to put in it at first), followed by The Black Cat (sub out a stunning blow), and then Eucatastrophe x2 (sub out able bodied).

-Eucatastrophe treats basically any failure (which you'll experience with Pete's abysmal stat line) into an auto success and heals the cat so you won't lose your doggos anymore.

-Rest of the upgrades are focused on you helping fellow investigators with Ancient Covenant and Signum Crucis. And if you're really bored Scrapper to capitalize on the insane resource generation you're going to have with this build (~5 per turn without doing anything).

Power plays

-When using the dogs (duke or the sled dogs) fight or for Duke, fight or investigate, use Practice Makes Perfect to find the respective card. This also gets you an extra use out of said card. This also saves the skill pips for the pups that need them.

-Use the auto success melee cat with vicious blow for guaranteed 3 damage.

-Use the auto success investigate cat with deduction for guaranteed two clues.

-With all 4 Dogs up you have a once a round 4 damage attack with a base stat of 6 (can be boosted easily with Able Bodied). Early on with Eucatastrophe you dramatically increase your odds to succeed with this, and later once you have The Black Cat its basically an auto success, even on a tentacle.

Attacking Turn (Example)

-Action 1: Use all 4 sled dogs for 4 damage with the above modifiers for 4 plus damage, more if you get lucky and find Vicious Blow with practice makes perfect. -Action 2: Use melee cat with guaranteed success on the vicious blow you just found for another 2. -Action 3: Use Duke for another 2.

Investigating Turn (Example)

-Action 1: Use sled dogs to move where you need to be (can move up to 5 locations in one turn with dogs + duke). -Action 2: Investigate with Duke and practiced makes perfect deduction. -Action 3: Auto success cat with the deduction.

Evading Turn (Example) -Action 1: Use auto success evasion cat (or, duke with Stunning Blow). -Action 2: Waylay with Able bodied (or later, eucatastrophe) for an instant kill. -Action 3: Do whatever you want!

Final Notes:

-Obviously not going to be a meta build, but I mean... you'll be a homeless guy with a cat/dog army.

-The Black Cat is not technically a cat (check the card) and doesn't benefit from Rod of Animalism, which is why you shouldn't spec into him until you have charsima.

-Ms. Doyle really doesn't like getting hit. Don't let her get hit. If you're playing in a campaign that likes to do damage to every ally (Polar Vortex, Claws of Steam) consider getting Spirit of Humanity as an early upgrade to keep her in play.