Dropping clues has always been a bit of a weird archetype. One that, I believe, is like the opposite of doom archetypes for Mystics.

In almost every scenario, getting clues is a MUST to progress at least some part of the scenario. In some scenarios you'll even need EVERY clue on the board. This means dropping clues is like undoing your hard-earned progress. Reverse action economy if you will. In a way, it's the opposite of doom archetypes since those eat your future actions, while this one, in a way, eats your past actions. (Altho Doom can be taken care of before it fucks you up).

Then, comes Press Pass. Now returning clues to their location is no longer such a lost of progress when you can LITERALLY gain an action to get it back. Hell, using Deduction or Other investigation tools, you can actually get more than what you lost!

Absolutely stupid with Butterfly Swords(5).

You can hit and exhaust the Butterfly Swords for a 3 damage attack combo, and then string it again for each Galvanize you have provided you hit the attacks. This card has the potential to do 3 damage fast in that context. Which is extremely good.

I'm playing Lily Chen in Edge of the Earth right now, and the boss stomp combo is Balance of Body into Fang of Tyr'thrha (blink to boss), Butterfly Swords (attack twice), Sweeping Kick (evade), Butterfly Swords, Butterfly Swords (exhaust), then drop Galvanize(s) if I think I can finish out in one round. It's 13 damage if everything hits (sans the Vicious Blows), and Galvanize adds 3 each.

The burst is unreal.

Poltergeist's balancing seems really weird to me. On the one hand, if you bring investigators who fight with Spells or Relics regularly, like Agnes Baker or Sister Mary, these things basically serve as Ghoul Minions with 1 extra fight, barely a roadbump on the way to victory. On the other hand, if you don't bring those investigators, these things can form a significant time suck, requiring you to Parley with them, chanting "Go away, go away, go very much away" until they're gone. And if you didn't bring those investigators and the investigators you did bring have some non-traditional way of gathering clues, like Lockpicks, Drawn to the Flame, or Grete Wagner, meaning that you can usually afford to go without high base , these things become a nightmare, a slog almost like the infamous Base of the Hill from Where Doom Awaits. On the bright side, the Geists can be evaded, but even that's a bit of a tall order at 4 evade, especially since you might have to do so multiple times if you have to double back to where you left it later in the scenario.

The worst part, to me, about these three different difficulty levels ("easy" if you pack Spells or Relics, "somewhat troublesome" if you don't but pack high investigators, "evade because that's virtually the only way you can interact with these things" if neither is true) is how much it feels they penalize players with a limited collection. Yes, it is possible to tech around Poltergeist if you have the full card pool, but, as the Spartan's legendarily said, "If." If you're a new player who's heard good things about Carcosa, bought it, and is facing it with just the Core, good luck. On the other hand, if you're a veteran with a full collection you have so many options for dealing with this things that it basically isn't a challenge anymore. It's not fun when you're starting out because your options are too limited and it's not fun when you're settled in the game because, without its invulnerability, the Poltergeist is incredibly basic.

I believe I understand what FFG was trying to do with the Poltergeist; prevent s from mindlessly going "I attack the enemy" every time they draw an enemy, while also allowing s to provide at least a bit of support in combat. But the way they executed those ideas in Poltergeist just makes me scratch my head and wonder if Striking Fear would be a good replacement set for The Pallid Mask, as it would be more interactive with my current card pool.

一、奥图尔角色分析：

奥图尔的、和属性都比较优秀，可以执行大部分种类的任务，其中4点的技能意味着奥图尔可以在大多数环境下进行躲避。奥图尔的专属技能为花费2点资源额外执行任意1个，效果为+2，如果检定成功，额外获得2点资源。

奥图尔的专属卡牌「在逃中」On the Lam 可以躲避一次非精英敌人的攻击，但是主要用途是可以提供1点知识、1点敏捷和2点任意能力的检定加成，可以应付一些难过的检定，或者从高隐藏值地点获取线索。

奥图尔的只有2点，理智等级也只有6点，较易陷入疯狂，需要在卡组中重点关注相关卡牌。

奥图尔的专属弱点为「医院债务」Hospital Debts, 类似于罗兰的「掩盖罪证」Cover Up，玩家不希望将资源花费在解决弱点上。

I was the first one to be a bit low on this... until I really decided to check it seriously.

Let's compare it to its obvious rivals: Rite of Seeking and Clairvoyance:

• Cost: Tie

• Icons: Tie

• Trait: Dowsing Rod << Clairvoyance/Rite of Seeking

  • Item is interesting with Backpack and shenanigans like Scavenging, Schoffner's Catalogue, Salvage, "I'll take that!", etc..

  • Charm is interesting with Sleuth though this is probably one of the weaker one of the series

  • Spell, on the other hand, benefits from cards like Uncage the Soul, Word of Command, Recharge, Prophetic, Words of Power and Grounded (3).

• Slot: Dowsing Rod >> Clairvoyance/Rite of Seeking

  • Hand slot is known to be quite uncompetitive for . Sword Cane and Sign Magick (3) are some of the best uses for that slot, and I personally enjoy Scrying Mirror. You will want 2 tabooed Ritual Candles in a deck.

  • Arcane is the core slot of . It is highly disputed, and most mystics even consider using other important slots, pay, use deck slots and experience to increase their arcane slots with cards like Sign Magick, The Hierophant • V, Familiar Spirit, etc... One thing to mention also is cards that mind your Arcane slots like Meditative Trance, Dragon Pole, Explosive Ward and Eldritch Initiation.

• Action compression: Tie

  • Dowsing Rod gives you 2 actions for 1 activation: move and investigate. This is interesting as it allows you to move to a location with an enemy and investigate at that new location without generating an Attack of Opportunity (AoO).

  • Rite of Seeking/Clairvoyance gives you 2 actions for 1 activation: 2 clues instead of 1.

• Flexibility: Dowsing Rod >> Rite of Seeking/Clairvoyance

  • Not only the Dowsing Rod allows you to also use your , it gives you a +1 skill value. This makes it interesting for investigators with access and high intellect like Daisy Walker, Luke Robinson, Marie Lambeau.

• Drawback: Dowsing Rod >> Clairvoyance >> Rite of Seeking

  • Dowsing Rod adds a doom which can be extremely rough if you are not able to get rid of it fast. You can pack Elle Rubash and potentially Sin-Eater to mitigate this. In 1 player, it will be difficult to use it as the action that adds the doom also empties the location. In 2 player counts, you will get the best out of the Rod by moving, investigating and emptying a 2-clue location in 2 actions without any drawback. If there are 3 clues on your location, you will spend 3 actions to move and investigate 3 times, which is still on par with Rite of Seeking and Clairvoyance. In a location with 4 and more clues, the best is to combine it with an event like Read the Signs or Drawn to the Flame or even Clairvoyance.

  • Clairvoyance will deal you horror, which is fine in almost every as they tend to have a lot of sanity and their assets tend to offer even more. It can end up being a lot with Shrivelling and Ward of Protection.

  • Rite of Seeking is by far the most punishing, always requiring you to investigate during your last action.

• Uses: Dowsing Rod >> Rite of Seeking/Clairvoyance

  • The Dowsing Rod exhausts and adds a doom to move. Since you probably will not want to move to another location before you empty it, we can consider that there is almost no limit to its uses.

  • Clairvoyance/Rite of Seeking will have to be renewed and paid for every 3 uses unless you dedicate efforts to recharge them.

Conclusion:
Some will argue otherwise, but it seems to me that when looking at it from a bit closer, Dowsing Rod could be a solid contender for the investigation tool for future mystics, even without any doom management tools like Elle Rubash and Moonlight Ritual.
It is especially good in 2 and 3 player counts when it is as efficient as Clairvoyance without ever running out of charge. It also works especially well combined with Clairvoyance or with events like Read the Signs and Drawn to the Flame to get rid of the doom faster.