Wróg

Creature.

Mity
Fight: 2. Health: 1. Evade: 4.
Damage: 0. Horror: 1.

Aloof. Hunter.

Each investigator at Whippoorwill's location gets -1 , -1 , -1 , and -1 .

"It is vowed that the birds are psychopomps lying in wait for the souls of the dying..." H. P. Lovecraft, "The Dunwich Horror"
Maggie Ivy
Dziedzictwo Dunwich #90. Lelki kozodoje #1-3.
Whippoorwill

FAQs

(from the official FAQ or responses to the official rules question form)
  • Aloof + Hunter means that this enemy will follow you around, but will not engage you on its own accord.
Last updated

Reviews

The humble Whippoorwill, a bird whose sole purpose is to annoy you as much as possible. Hunter + lowering all your stats by 1 while it's near you means you want to kill it, but it having aloof (and lowering your combat slightly) motivates you to maybe just ignore it or run from it. And that core conflict this card presents has inevitably lead to many groups being chased around the map before reluctantly taking up a round or two stabbing these birds to death. But the annoyance of this card transcends gameplay. First off, it's kind of a pain to spell it out: W H I P P O O R W I L L. Why two P's, two O's, and two L's? Why do I always seem to forget one of the P's or the O's every single time? Second, it's in the ArkhamDB twice. Here, check this page if you don't believe me: Whippoorwill. See? They couldn't even be contained in one set, let alone one campaign.

Anyway, there are certainly good tools to help deal with these now. Tony Morgan can put a bounty on them, which is hilarious and incredibly satisfying. You can get their attention with a makeshift bird call. Or you can just go full Mystic overkill and Spectral Razor or Storm of Spirits them to death. In one scenario, our Carolyn Fern chose to Dynamite Blast a room full of Whippoorwills, which is probably a triumph for the field of psychology, as it certainly relieved a lot of our anxiety that day.

Side note: Please describe to me exactly the situation in which you would ever evade one of these. Seriously, I doubt anyone has ever evaded a Whippoorwill in the history of this game. Not one person. I really want to know what situation would arise where someone would try to evade it instead of just punch it when they've presumably already purposefully engaged with it.

StyxTBeuford · 12985
Oh no! I'm seeing double! Does that mean it's a -2 to everything? — LivefromBenefitSt · 1052
Hope you brought your umbrella, because it's time for a Storm. Of Spirits. I'm... I'm gonna play Storm of Spirits to kill the birbs. — StyxTBeuford · 12985
There are worse uses for Storms.... — LivefromBenefitSt · 1052
Here's a situation where you would evade a Whippoorwill: it's nearing the end of the scenario, and you have an Unspeakable Oath (Cowardice) in hand. — suika · 9406
Two more: to intentionally fail a test for Take Heart or something, or to exhaust it to play Sneak Attack (0). — suika · 9406
It's high evasion prevents you from eavesdropping on it for clues! — John Keel · 9
The final part of this comment aged poorly with the introduction of Dirty Fighting — HeroesOfTomorrow · 49

I have recently begun playing Arkham Horror, and Whippoowills are quite easy to deal with as Agnes. I either engage it or use Forbidden Knowledge if available, and then deal 1 DMG when I get the horror.

Seems way too easy so, can anyone confirm this is legit? Agnes' ability says 'in your location', does aloof mess with that?

Nope. It's a good power. — MrGoldbee · 1450
@MrGoldbee : thanks for the answer! I appreciate! — Neothechosen · 2
Also, Zoey, if she has her cross, can engage for an instakill. — RFreitas · 45
@RFreitas: thanks for the tip! — Neothechosen · 2