Obfuscation

Obfuscation

This card is weird. So incredibly weird that I don't have a good analysis ready at all for this, it's more prospective. Fast and 2 cost makes it a good Dexter Drake candidate just for feeding his ability, but when exactly does he care about dodging attacks of opportunity? Typically you avoid AoOs by fighting or evading, so I'm not sure what Dex would want to do instead of those. Maybe if you're caught without a fight/evade spell and need to play one? What I will say is that this card seems really nice for Trish Scarborough, who can investigate to evade any one enemy where she is, which would normally cause an AoO if that enemy is ready and engaged with her there. I can see this being a staple in Trish decks, especially solo.

Anyway, I'm glad this card exists. I'm not sure how many builds actually care about dodging AoOs, but for the ones that do, this and Narrow Escape seem like great picks.

StyxTBeuford · 13028
Preston would like to use this to move his money over without taking AoO. — Soloclue · 2604
Or, for that matter, to play Small Favor without taking an attack - it's really good testless damage for him, but the fact that it neither actually says Fight nor explicitly prevents the AoO has been an issue for me before. — Thatwasademo · 58
My first thought is that it's for "clue-getters". The investigator is engaged but has to get all the clues ? For 2 resources (and no action) you play Obfuscation, then you investigate twice and leave the location without a single AoO. And then the fighter steps in to kill the enemy. It reminds me of Delay the nevitable if used this way. — AlexP · 252
But wouldn't the enemy move with you when you leave the location? Cancelling the AoO does not break the engagement if I recall. — imerenserfud · 1
The enemy would move with you, yes, unless you happen to have a built in means of evading it. Trish, when she finds a clue, can automatically evade the enemy that earlier provoked the AoO that this card cancelled. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Sometimes your plan explodes because of a single mythos card or bad chaos token, and you are glad for a card like this to be able to take a beating. I just used this in Innsmouth to face-tank 3 attacks from a deep one, because I really needed 3 actions to clear 3 barriers for my team to escape. If you use it to avoid taking only 2 combined damage per charge, it is already better than many other soak cards. And it is also a slot which many rogues do not strongly care about. — casey080 · 25

Forbidden Tome

Forbidden Tome

As written you can heal your friends with this, since it only specifies that you're moving damage from "a player card at your location". This includes damage on your friends and their assets. Team up with a friend on Beat Cop (2) and start shooting down 2 HP enemies without taking a test, or healing best friend Mark Harrigan so he can draw more cards and boost his skill value further; all while helping kill enemies and not taking any skill tests.

Definitely consider Shrewd Analysis if you're running these books; Secrets Revealed is very good action compression if you can get to 12 cards, but at 8 it's action neutral if you move (which is worth it to avoid taking a test). This one though is up there for one of the best health healing cards in the game because it does something proactive when you do it. Most healing is very reactive and therefore doesn't help you win a scenario if you would not otherwise be defeated.

Swekyde · 65
Having played a campaign with this as Amanda, it can be extremely tricky to use this! Even if you have a big hand, it’s only one damage…And your allies might not have their Cop out. At the same time, as the seeker, you should probably be focusing on clues... and this doesn’t say “this doesn’t take an attack of opportunity.” Don’t go big hand just so you can play this card. — MrGoldbee · 1472
Does this take attacks of opportunity? Shouldn’t but looks like it does — Krysmopompas · 360

Nimble

Nimble

I have found (that I was wrong) that this card works pretty well with lockpic. Investigate with with feet and use Nimble to move after successfully clearing the location.

Using it in a Winifred deck with lockpic gave me a Ursula in reverse feel. But as most have pointed out. You rarely use more than one move.

Malakai1234 · 13
Unfortunately, you can't commit Nimble to Lockpicks as it is an Intellect check, not an Agility check. However, I had similar succes as you described with Pilfer. — Nenananas · 258
Sorry to be the spoilsport, but you cannot commit this to a lockpic-check, as you can only commit lore-icons to lore-checks and nimble does not have a lore-icon. — trazoM · 9
Sadly, you can't actually commit agility icons to Lockpicks because it's still a intellect test. Agility is just added to intellect. Otherwise that would make this skill much better than it is. — Zinjanthropus · 229
However, you CAN commit this to a Pilfer or Backstab test, so keep that in mind. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
True, or an agility treachery — Zinjanthropus · 229
Movement doesn't provoke an attack of opportunity correct? — CrabbyTerror8 · 161
It's not a move action just a move effect, so yes it doesn't provoke AoO. — Killbray · 12063

Voice of Ra

Voice of Ra

With most chaos bags, this has a reasonable chance of being Emergency Cache. With Jacqueline Fine, Olive McBride, Dark Prophecy, and/or either of the Grotesque Statues, you can have increasingly good odds of netting 7, which is a very good resource swing. This is one of the very few cards where you want to see a . Probably mostly for Jacqueline decks, but Chaos Bag Jim might like this, too.

On further consideration, it seems like Olive (and Jacqueline under very specific token pulls) might push your "scoring" tokens above 3 for even more money. If you used both of them with this card, you might draw 7 tokens and resolve 5 (assuming you at least 6 symbols including the ). Would that give you 11 resources? It would be overkill, but funny to do once....

LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
Even better if Jacqueline has Dark Future out! — toastsushi · 74
Yea but do you really want to spend all those cards and resources just to gain 3 or so resources? I don't know. I like the idea behind Voice of Ra, but the jury is out how useful it's going to be. — LaRoix · 1645
I think for Jackie this simply replaces Emergency Cache, especially if you've got your ability up (or arbiter of fates). Anyone running Olive probably prefers it too, but beyond those cases it's probably worse/even. — SGPrometheus · 821
On average it's going to be at least Emergency Cache. If you haven't had a reason to use your ability or Olive that turn, it'll become much better that E Cache, at the cost of very rarely whiffing. It's definitely worth it imo over Uncage the Soul or E Cache. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
So I guess in order to match E Cache, you'd have to draw 3 symbol tokens, at which point there are 3 less symbol tokens in the bag. so yea, you'd have to draw more tokens with Jacq and Olive, but at some point you will run out. Also the Elder Sign will not help you (though Jim can make it a Skull and Jacq can benefit from canceling it). Those points alone elevate the card quite a bit because you're basically forcing a pain-free skill test and who knows what else you might activate in combination. Eldrich Inspiration? Jewel of Aureolus? Of course, if I have all that up, what do I need the resources for? — LaRoix · 1645
To match E Cache you have to just pull one token. It’s 1 resource by default and 2 per symbol. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Also, easily missed point, neither E Cache or Unage are spells- this is. Arcane Initiate can grab it. So even non Olive builds benefit from it imo. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Also, it has a Will pip, so unlike Ecache, it is still useful if you already have enough resources. — Death by Chocolate · 1485
Replacement Emergency Caches are one great thing that has come out of the Starter decks. Not only are they more interesting but there are some deck builds that need more than 2x ECache at the start of the campaign and now there is the option for that. And these have little benefits like this one having the Spell trait. — The Lynx · 980
So I need to admit something super embarrassing, but I played this card thinking I'd get only 1 resource for each token - that's it. So I used Jacq's ability to draw 3 (instead of 5) and didn't get any symbols. Then I felt justified in thinking this card was terrible. Dang, I must be getting old. But that aside, yea, since you get 1 resource and 3 tokens, odds are pretty decent you'll get at least one symbol and notch the missing 2 resources that an E Cache would have given you. So... yeah, this card's pretty decent... and I need to read the freaking text on the cards instead of spacing lol. — LaRoix · 1645
How this card interacts with [Eldritch Inspiration](/card/05033)? For example, if I revealed 2 skull symbols and used Eldritch Inspiration, how many resources it gives at total? — error · 34
[Eldritch Inspiration](/card/05033) does not interacts with this card, because this card does not contain any word "when", "if", or "after". — elkeinkrad · 499

Familiar Spirit

Familiar Spirit

Another entry in the "Mystics turn all slots into Arcane slots," this is a cheap, fragile way to get an extra spell into your rig.

What can't it hold? Empower Self, Empower Self, Empower Self (either singly or as a set); Enchanted Blade, Enchanted Blade (3), or Enchanted Blade (3); or Mind's Eye Since it's a level 0 Mystic, the Familiar can get around and refuse to hold: Arcane Enlightenment, Borrowed Time, Double, Double, Dream-Enhancing Serum, Farsight, Flesh Ward, Haste, Rite of Sanctification, or Spiritual Resolve. This cat is sort of finicky.

The Familiar is cheap, it plays into a low-resource deck that wants to pay for spells with Robes of Endless Night and Shining Trapezohedron. It is also Fragile, easy prey for Ally-sniping Treacheries or Location effects. It occupies the hotly-contested Ally slot, but a low-resource deck can get by without David Renfield, so maybe that slot became a little less contested. It might help keep a Sixth Sense or other spell available while your own Arcane slots are full of Mind's Eye.

LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
I personally think this card is just terrible. Ally slots are way more contested than Arcane, and I would much sooner play Sign Magik over this (which I already rarely do). Initiate, Olive, and David are all just so much better. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
Imagine a Body Arcane skit, though. What would that be like? — LivefromBenefitSt · 1067
Eh, probably still a fair step worse than Robe. The reality is that arcane slots are not really needed outside of very specific builds, like Seal. — StyxTBeuford · 13028
I don't know, I think this card is pretty awesome. It's a cheap way to get an extra arcane slot, which in multiplayer is incredibly useful if you're doing token sealing or you want something like mind's eye. It's cheap so I would actually play it in a deck with a bunch of expensive spells. It's also a little soak which is good for when you've spent all your charges. FS is not meant to sit on the table the whole game. Also, just get charisma if you want another ally. Mystics have good allies, but they still don't have THAT many to choose from that it isn't rare for me to be waiting for them to show up during a game. — LaRoix · 1645
I could see this working with two Protective Incantations. To me, that's a great card whose bigger drawback is the arcane slot rather than the resource upkeep. — Pinchers · 131
...and disregard my above comment. Protective Incantation is a ritual, not a spell. I just want to have a mystic who keeps two of them running without locking up the whole character... — Pinchers · 131
@Pinchers, Familiar still works well with Protective Incantation - you can just have the Protective Incantations take up your regular two arcane slots while your spell takes up the slot from Familiar Spirit. I like Protective Incantations in Carolyn as she typically has a lot of money to spare :). — iceysnowman · 164
I think the Familiar would combo well with Arcane Initiate. Play the Initiate early to dig for cards and then play the Familiar later to remove the Initiate from play and allow for an extra Arcane slot cheaply. This would require a build that wanted to use extra Arcane slots but I could see it being useful. — The Lynx · 980
I think, it is useful for mystics, who have charged spells each for fight, investigate and evade. You don't need to have the cat hang around all game. Imagine, you have one or two chagres left on your Shrivelling, a full RoS in play and the Mists in hand. You can play now the Familiar and the Mists and, once the Shrivelling is empty use the soak. It's probably less important with the upgraded robe, which lets you play spells engaged without AoO, but it gives flexibility. Also, you could "convert" Charisma into an extra Arcane slot. But I would only do that with at least 3 different allies, in particular, if one of them is acumulating doom. — Susumu · 371
I feel like it's designed to be played over Doomed Acolyte (0). At the time you need the spell slot you have much less use for the Acolyte. If you're running the Acolyte it can be tricksy to include a reliable Ally in the same slot so you probably can't overplay them efficiently. — Rack · 1