Alright, here is my ~200 characters review of Charlie Kane.

31/01/23 - Here is the long-time overdue changelog to this review!

• Burden of Leadership has been clarified by the design team.
• New allies/synergies are available.

For the sake of readability, the updates, including the new Scarlet Key cards and the latest taboo, will be written in red.

05/04/2024 - New update with the latest taboo and the FHV cards!

This time around, the updates will be in Green to spot them easily!

T L ; D R :

Go with and for a dedicated clue-getter, and / for a fighter build and and for Flex.

If you want an example of a deck, here is my "Forget the A-Team, here's the S-Team" Deck Guide, with an upgrade path for 0 to 50xp, and all the explanations you need to start playing with Charlie.

Character breakdown:

Let's try to understand better what makes Charlie Kane fundamentally different from any other investigator so far.

Stats:

1 | 1 | 1 | 1

With Preston Fairmont and Calvin Wright, Charlie Kane is part of the selective club of investigators that rely entirely on their Ability and Card Pool to achieve anything.

At this point, we can already guess that cards that "Add" a different stat the test being performed, such as Lockpicks or Spectral Razor, will most likely be weak with Charlie Kane. As this is an important part of the mechanic, a significant fraction of their card pool will be of little use to Charlie Kane.

Ability:

We have 3 additional Ally slots, making it possible to have 4 Allies on the table simultaneously without counting cards, increasing the number of Ally slots.

To compensate for the ugly stat line, we needed a strong ability. This one may not read that strong, but trust me. It is.

It basically reads: Exhaust one or more Allies you control: Add the matching icons to your skill value for this test, +1 for each Ally exhausted.

This Ability also means that you:

1. Need multiple Allies in play since you can only exhaust an Ally once (unless you un-exhaust them, which we will discuss later), which means that you cannot do much before you play your Allies. It is interesting to load your Deck with more than enough or with Ally searching tools like Flare or Calling in Favors.
2. Once you exhaust an Ally for their icons, you will not be able to use the Abilities that require them to exhaust. This concerns most Allies in the game.

Note 1: There is no limit expressed in the Passive Ability of Charlie Kane. You can use this Ability as many times as you want throughout a single skill test.

Note 2: You can exhaust an ally with no matching skills, like David Renfield during an investigation test. This will only give you +1 for your test.

Note 3: If you want to use the Lockpicks and you exhaust Gené Beauregard, you will only gain +2, (+1 for the Ally and +1 for the icon) since it says "that matches this test's type." at the end of the Ability.

Example: If during a basic investigate action, you exhaust 2 Allies with 1 each like Leo De Luca and Art Student, you get +4 (+2 each).

Implications:

• A consequence of this is that you have a limited chance to boost your skills each turn, and therefore Charlie Kane will rely on increasing the impact of his test more than trying to gain actions that would result in more tests.

• You still may choose to increase your number of Ally slots with Charisma or Rod of Animalism since the more Allies you control, the more you can commit to tests.

• Alternatively, you may want to look for Allies with 2 of the same icons or with a even though committing 2 Allies with only 1 icon is more interesting. icons are particularly good since they also help with tests during the mythos phase.

• Allies that bring a static boost on top of an icon of the same skill or increase your base value for a test will be very interesting.

Elder Sign:

Average strength: brings your base stat to 4 on the skill tested, which should very often lead to succeeding, and readies an Ally at your location.

This means that you can either use the Ally you just committed to that test another time or that you can use the Ally's exhaust ability.

Note: It refers to an Ally at your location and therefore can be used on someone else's Ally, which could be interesting if someone else has an Ally with a trigger that can be used outside of their turn, like Beat Cop (2).

Deckbuilding Restrictions:

Since we rely so heavily on Allies, it is evident that we would get good access, but wow, "Allies 0-5" is huge! That means every Ally in the game. Forever. This is already big with the current card pool and will age like wine. But not your supermarket wine. This is already a Saint Emilion Grand Cru and can only improve with time. I'm looking for the time of future releases in years when with every Ally revealed, everyone will be thinking: Is it good in Charlie Kane?

On the side of the Ally access, we can choose 2 classes and have 0-2 access in each of these classes. Of course, 0-3 access like Lola would have been sick since most cards that start to shine in each class are 3+, but that's only fair and already gives a lot of choice.

In my personal opinion, Charlie Kane is the Neutral investigator I had been waiting for. The perfect sandbox that can be built in 100 different ways, all roughly as good as the other. Some fantastic community members around this game will probably find ways to break the game with him, but until now, it also feels like there is no one-way to build him that would make the others look silly. That's a demonstration of mastering the arts of game balancing from the Game Designers!

Signature:

Bonnie Walsh is pure potency. The icons mean that you have a chance, once a turn to be 4 in any skill that you want.

Exhausting her will also ready another Ally, making it possible to exhaust one Ally twice in the same turn or exhaust an Ally and their exhaust ability on the same turn or even use the exhaust ability of an ally twice in a turn.

Example: A full turn with Lola Santiago, Dr. Milan Christopher and Bonnie Walsh on the table could look like this. Your base value is 3, since both Milan and Lola bring a static boost.

1: Exhaust Lola Santiago to investigate with 6 .

2: Exhaust Bonnie Walsh to investigate again with 6 . Ready Lola Santiago.

3: Exhaust Lola Santiago to investigate with 6 . Use Dr. Milan Christopher's tabooed exhaust ability to gain 1 resource.

Note 1: Nothing prevents you from using Bonnie Walsh to ready an Ally you committed to the same test. If you use Charlie's ability to first exhaust Lola Santiago, then his ability a second time to exhaust Bonnie Walsh and choose to ready Lola Santiago, you could then use his ability again on Lola Santiago! You are now testing with no less than 11 !! Add Gregory Gry to the mix and get easy 3 resources.

Note 2: The "(Limit once per round.)" clause prevents you from using cards like Inspiring Presence to be able to use Bonnie Walsh's Ability more than once a turn.

Price-wise and in terms of soak, she's just average; nothing much to say here.

Weakness:

Burden of Leadership ranges from mild to just a dead draw. What's the worst it can do? Exhaust some of your Allies during the Upkeep Phase, making them useless for the next turn. At best? You draw it at the end of your turn when all your Allies are already exhausted and choose to exhaust them.

This has been since then clarified by FFG:
"Though there exists a rule under “Exhausted” stating that an exhausted card cannot be exhausted again until it is ready, this rule doesn’t have much bearing when there is also a rule for “Must” stating that its absence when choosing between multiple options allows the player to choose “an option that does not change the game state.” Thus, the rules of “Must” conflict with the intention of Burden of Leadership. For that reason, Burden of Leadership will be receiving an errata, where “must” will be included in the presented choice: “For each Ally asset you control, you must either exhaust it or deal it 1 direct damage and 1 direct horror.”

TL;DR: The rules as intended of Burden of Leadership have the word must, which in other terms, means that you need to exhaust your allies or decide to give them 1 damage and 1 horror. If your allies are already exhausted, you must give them the damage and the horror.

To decrease the impact of Burden of Leadership on your team, make sure that you draw cards as early as possible during your turn and that you first exhaust your allies that can handle a damage and a horror.

Interesting Allies:

Now that we know how Charlie Kane works, let's look at what cards he can use.

For the rest of the Review, I will write the Ally name in bold to indicate the best Allies for Charlie Kane.

Allies that give 2 of the same icon:

To have good chances to pass skill tests, it can be a winning strategy to look for Allies that can give you 2 of the same icons, which provides you with a base of 4 of that skill during the test when you exhaust them.

• 3xp:
  Lola Santiago
  Dayana Esperence
  Grete Wagner
  Nkosi Mabati
  Professor William Webb

• 4xp:
  Nephthys
  Girish Kadakia

• 5xp:
  The Black Cat
  Michael Leigh
  Chuck Fergus

Of all of these, only The Black Cat does not exhaust for any of its abilities, and Michael Leigh does not exhaust to collect evidence while investigating.

Allies with interesting abilities:

Another category of interesting Allies to Charlie Kane is those with exciting abilities. It's impossible to name them all, but I will name some that I've heard being named regularly or that I could see being used:

The Allies that only bring you something only once (either when played or when leaving play):

These are interesting since you can pack many of them in your Deck, increasing the set-up pace since Charlie Kane is useless before he has 2-3 Allies on the board.

• The Red-Gloved Man that boosts 2 of your stats to 6 while giving you a icon to commit for a +2 at any test using your Ability.

• Jeremiah Kirby of course, if you manage to get around 20 cards of either odd or even in your Deck.

• Mysterious Raven that is a cheap 1 icon and can be discarded for an auto-clue before you replace it.

• Art Student that gives you a clue when played and an icon to use during a skill test without sacrificing any exhaust ability.

• Laboratory Assistant for an ok draw and an icon to use with your ability on a test without any downside.

• Medical Student can be nice to heal one of your Allies (Bonnie Walsh if possible) after you had the Burden of Leadership. It also gives you a welcome defensive icon.

• Stray Cat can be good as it is improbable that you give any evade abilities to Charlie Kane.

• Brother Xavier that is more a one-off ability, and also helps you both with a static +1 and a similar icon. He could fit as an early upgrade in a oriented build even though his price is hard to justify.

• Tetsuo Mori that helps you investigating with an icon, and helps you finding your Items when leaving the game.

• Priest of Two Faiths for a blurse build, that offers the best soak/resource ratio, but coming with a disappointing icon.

• Anna Kaslow if you try to boost your stats with Tarot cards, that comes with a icon.

The Allies that do not exhaust to give you something:

• Miss Doyle gives you a icon to use at any time, along with 3 little kitties that do not have health/sanity and therefore are not affected by Burden of Leadership since you can still choose to deal them 1 Damage/Horror. Zeal, Hope, and Augur do not take the Ally slot yet have the Ally trait, so you can still use them for your Ability. It's a one-slot two Allies pack. There are 3 main uses for the cat crew. 1) Use Augur's ability to boost your to 5 during one of your investigation. 2) Use Augur's and Miss Doyle's icons during a treachery test to get to 5 . 3) Use Hope as a defensive card in case you draw an enemy during the upkeep phase. I think our Politician will be a cat lover.

• Speaking of furry balls, the Black Cat decreases the threat of Symbol tokens and helps you take advantage of the if you draw it when there is no Ally to ready. Also, it doesn't have any reason to exhaust, so it can be fully dedicated to your Ability. It is also a great soak to compensate for your 6 Health, 6 Sanity.

• Gregory Gry can be really interesting here. He exhausts for an icon and you do not need to exhaust him to bet the 3 resources. So if you exhaust him, Lola Santiago and Bonnie Walsh to the same test, you are investigating at 10 which should be enough to collect the 3 resources out of him reliably. Another trick to secure the +3 resources is to use the auto-succeed feature of Miss Doyle's cats.

• Leo De Luca, our good ol' friend. The lion gives 1 additional action without exhausting and a nice icon! This one never stops being a good boy.

• The traditional power couple Jessica Hyde and Peter Sylvestre (2) do not exhaust to soak. They offer a lot of Static boosts (unfortunately no though) and / icons.

• Guard Dog does not require exhaust and can help fight. He could see play in a Fighter/Flex build using the Rod of Animalism to increase the Allies to use with Charlie Kane's Ability.

• Tristan Botley gives you +1 to two of your skills without exhausting and gives a icon. That could be good if you're going for a statball build or down the road.

• Familiar Spirit gives you an additional Arcane Slot while allowing you to use it for a test. The only reason to slot this little creature is if you go full in your build.

• Dr. Elli Horowitz that could hold a Relic while giving you a icon to use. Could see play in builds.

• Dario El-Amin for big money builds, also has 1 icon. I doubt that he'll see much play here. Maybe alongside Gregory Gry?

• Joey "The Rat" Vigil (0) and (3) does not require exhaust for its shenanigans, while allowing you to use both an and an icon. I also doubt he'll see play here.

• Gabriel Carillo gives a static boost and does not exhaust to give a card, so his icon can be used with Charlie Kane's ability. If Kōhaku and Bonnie allow it, we may have a love affair going on here.

Allies not mentioned above that are just good for Charlie Kane:

• David Renfield is perfect with Charlie. You can use his ability since you most likely do not care for the icon. The best is when you use Bonnie Walsh to ready him and use it a second time to collect resources during the same turn. That can bring ridiculous amounts. To get rid of him, you can use Calling in Favors, replace him with one of your many Allies, provoke an attack of opportunity or even choose not to boost yourself during an Encounter Test since your stats are all 1s.

  • Now that we have had the latest taboo, David Renfield has been a victim of Amina Zidane, and the 4xp are absolutely redhibitory...
  • With the latest taboo, as of April 2024, our friend Eschatologist is back! Just remember that you can't get more than 3 resources each time you use his ability, but if you manage to ready him with Bonnie Walsh, then he's good to go for another 3 resources.

• Dr. Milan Christopher for the Static boost, the icon and the reward if you didn't need to exhaust him earlier.

• Lola Santiago will be a staple for the Cluever Decks. Her 2 icons and Static boost are the best to him right now. There are multiple ways of abusing her ability by reducing the shroud of the location and using her ability during the skill test. Flashlight, Old Keyring, Lantern, Cryptographic Cipher and The Skeleton Key are some of the available options available to Charlie Kane. The BETA version of Alice Luxley (2) also offers a shroud reduction until the end of the turn.

• Grete Wagner (3) for her static boosts and the flexibility of the icons. She is a tremendous help both with fighting and investigating; her ability is more of a side effect.

• Summoned Hound is one of the obvious choices. You can play it ignoring the Unbound Beast by using A Chance Encounter (2) though it makes the combo heavier in XP and Deck space. It gives you an extra fight/investigate each turn with a base of 5, which is good. Also using Bonnie Walsh's ability to ready it gives you a 2nd action.

• Trigger Man works fantastically with a fighty Charlie Kane. Attach a weapon with no ammo to him like a Switchblade (3) (allowed in Charlie Kane because of how the Taboo list - Chained/Unchained works) and enjoy the ride! This could also work with the Lockpicks but to a lesser extent. Another good option for a weapon is the Mauser C96 (2) with its many ammo.

  • Ready him with Bonnie Walsh to have 2 attacks per turn, with a base skill value of 4! You need to sustain this expense with for instance, a Lone Wolf.

  • Don't forget that you need to have both the Trigger Man and the weapon you want to attach to it in your hand simultaneously for you to attach it to him. There are many ways to help putting the Trigger Man into play, but you need your weapon in your hand. Backpack or Black Market won't help in that case.

Recommended Allies for a cluever role:

Here are Allies that I would recommend starting your Deck with if you are trying to throw your first Clue-getter Deck together.

0xp Allies:

• Dr. Milan Christopher for the static boost, the icon and the bonus resource if you didn't exhaust him.

• Gregory Gry for the icon and the money that he can bring on turns when you only need to investigate once, giving you the tools to pay for better allies to replace him with.

• Jeremiah Kirby, Leo De Luca, Art Student and Laboratory Assistant for the icon with no reason to exhaust them.

1-5 Allies:

• Miss Doyle for Augur and the icon.

• Lola Santiago for the 2 icons and the static boost, probably one of the first purchases with XP. Either use her icons for a high score or if you have money, simply buy the clue during an investigation with the Flashlight.

• Gabriel Carillo is extremely good but comes with a hidden tax of 2xp most likely, for a Blasphemous Covenant, though since Charlie can so easily overshoot a skill value, he most likely won't mind the so much.

• Granny Orne (3) brings both an and a static boost, with a built-in mini Lucky!.

• The newly revealed Field Agent offers a test-less clue and an icon. When you are ready to replace her, you can also finish her with a last clue before playing a new Ally.

Recommended Allies for a fighter role:

0xp Allies:

• Beat Cop is a neat level 0 Ally since it gives a passive +1 and doesn't provide anything that would exhaust them, so you can use it for your ability.

• Grete Wagner is a bit like the Beat Cop except that her Ability can be helpful for just 1 more resource.

• Lonnie Ritter gives you a static and a icon when you do not need her passive for healing purposes. Recommendations on what to bring with her further down the Review.

• Guard Dog for the icon and the defensive damage that doesn't require exhaustion.

• A pack of Sled Dogs, since you don't need to spend any XP to play them all. As a side note, Charlie Kane could actually run the 16-Sled Dog dream with 2 Charisma and Rod of Animalism and a team full of Teamworkers.

1-5xp Allies:

• Upgrading to Beat Cop (2) is logic to access the test less damage. Add Bandages, Trusted and Inspiring Presence to your Deck and you have a reliable damage engine.

• Grete Wagner (3) with her static and her 2 icons available is fantastic. Plus her exhaust ability is not always needed, making her an ideal target for your ability, that Bonnie Walsh can ready if need be to collect the clue.

• Nephthys brings some solid icons, and justifies by herself a combat build.

• Aquinnah (3) could see play in a fighter build. I doubt that anyone would build this, but you never know!

• The Jessica Hyde/Peter Sylvestre (2) that gives you nearly unlimited soak, Jessica's static an a similar icon for the passive ability, and Peter Sylvestre's defensive stats.

• Trigger Man with a weapon attached boosts your base skill value and gives you a action. He is a bit of a struggle to set up but worth it.

  • Note that he is not unique, so you can have 2 in play at the same time!

Recommended Allies for a flex role:

0xp Allies:

• Madame Labranche for dark horse builds.

• Grete Wagner offers a static but more importantly both a and an icon for your ability.

1-5xp Allies:

• Miss Doyle for the flexibility that it offers.

• Summoned Hound for the free action that can be used to fight or investigate with a base 5.

• Michael Leigh boosts both and and rewards you for doing both.

• The Red-Gloved Man for the +5 to 2 of your stats during one turn and the icon. Pack 2 Daredevil as the only skill in your Deck to unlock the fast Deck cycling to see The Man more often.

• Girish Kadakia gives a +2 and a icon, as long as you can provide a steady flow of damage/horror to him, with a Meat Cleaver or Spirit of Humanity for instance.

• Jacob Morrison has the particularity of readying by himself if you draw a token, and brings a to the table. I guess it's hard to generate enough to make him reliable, but it's also good to know that he's the only card that Tommy Muldoon cannot access in a solid build. Bring 2 Favor of the Sun to ready him at will.

• Alongside Jacob, Tristan Botley can find a spot, bringing +1 to 2 stats that you choose based on your needs, while also coming with a icon.

• Anna Kaslow to use, for example, Ace of Swords and Death • XIII (they are not unique so that you can have 2 copies of one of them online at the same time).

• Abigail Foreman would hold an Encyclopedia could also be a lead to explore. Maybe with Leo De Luca to compensate the needed?

Interesting 0-2 cards from each faction:

Let's now explore cool potential cards and synergies for Charlie Kane in each class. This is a non-exhaustive list, and if you have any other ideas, feel free to let me know in the comments!

Cards :

Overall good Cards:

• Motivational Speech was tailored for Charlie Kane to the extent that he appears on it. This card single handedly makes a significant better choice for him as when I initially wrote this review.

• Well Prepared was one of my first thought when seeing Charlie Kane. Get another boost based on the icons of your Assets (including your Allies). This helps boost one test much higher or pass more tests during the same turn, especially before Bonnie Walsh shows up.

• Ever Vigilant is probably going to see play in a lot of Charlie Kane Decks since he is rather Asset heavy, and Allies tend to be an expensive type of allies. Also, he does not only need it during turn 1 since he will most likely replace a certain number of Allies throughout a scenario.

• Glory if you decide to kill enemies.

• Vicious Blow as usual

Cards for specific builds:

• Cards that heal give you more uses of your Allies that require damages like Grete Wagner, Beat Cop (2), Guard Dog, the new Field Agent, Aquinnah (3). These cards are Emergency Aid, Kerosene, Inspiring Presence, Trusted (not really, but almost the same), Soothing Melody (bonded to Hallowed Mirror) and Medical Student.

• Rite of Sanctification, .35 Winchester and Radiant Smite if you go with Nephthys down the road.

• Testless cards to overcome the 1-1-1-1 statline, such as Evidence!, Scene of the Crime, Mano a Mano (1) & (2), Lesson Learned or why not Dynamite Blast.

Cards

Overall good Cards:

• Dr. Milan Christopher of course, as usual, even with the taboo. His Static +1 is just too good. Either get a resource or use his icon to investigate.

• Jeremiah Kirby as a one-off draw, static boost and that you can use without sacrificing anything else.

• Art Student/Laboratory Assistant are a good examples of simple cards that bring a bonus when played and then can be exhausted each turn to help with , and later replaced by a stronger Ally.

• Burning the Midnight Oil and Crack the Case as good economy cards that are fast. Good to pay for clues with Lola Santiago.

• Deep Knowledge or the newly revealed Captivating Discovery for card draw.

• Inquiring Mind is always good when you have low stats and plan on investigating. Especially as it also covers defensive stats like or .

• Magnifying Glass, Pathfinder, Shortcut, Eureka! and Deduction as usual. Deduction is excellent here since you are trying to pass little tests since you only have a few chances to boost them. Increasing their impact is the way to compensate and gain tempo over the Mythos.

• Pendant of the Queen of course, doing things without a test is always good with Charlie Kane. If you are going there, you can think of adding Whitton Greene/Whitton Greene (2) to your Deck, and Astounding Revelation.

More situational cards:

• Encyclopedia can be good to overcome the 1 at every stat, though it's a bit slow when you're not Daisy Walker. Add Abigail Foreman, and you can get a case for it.

• Fieldwork is not necessarily the best when you do not need to move like Ursula Downs or Monterey Jack, but it can still help every time you move to a new location.

• Shrewd Analysis if you are going with Synergy cards since it doesn't have any downside.

• Mind over Matter for scenario tests like Locked Door.

• Occult Invocation for fighting with the 2nd copy of your Allies.

• Working a Hunch is an excellent way to get a clue without taking a test.

Cards

Overall good Cards:

• Lola Santiago for the reasons explained earlier.

• Lonnie Ritter gives both a static and a icon for Charlie's ability. You can pair her with Leather Coat if you run a Dark Horse or Scavenging Deck, Leather Jacket if you run a big money Deck, or Heavy Furs if you play with Spells like Shrivelling and Rite of Seeking, or if you want to use the Baseball Bat. The newly revealed Improvised Shield could also be healed by Lonnie Ritter though we do not have enough info yet to know how it can be any useful.

• Gregory Gry as explained extensively earlier.

• Faustian Bargain is the best resource-maker if you choose

• Lucky Cigarette Case is a classic staple, doubling your drawing rate if you succeed by 2 or more at least once a turn, which should happen regularly in this Deck.

• Quick Thinking, "Watch this!" are always good for tempo and resources.

• Eye of the Djinn is perfect here, especially in a heavy generating Deck since it can bring your base stat to 5 multiple times per turn!

• Leo De Luca since he doesn't exhaust to provide the extra action. The price is rough, so maybe take Flare with him.

• Switchblade (2) is one of my favourite weapons if you can reliably boost your . Even if you use the Taboo, they cost 3xp but are still considered level 2, so accessible by Charlie Kane. After all, what's more like politicians than stabbing one another in the back?

• The Skeleton Key is one of the best ways to bring down the shroud to an accessible level. It is action-heavy, though. I would only consider this with Leo De Luca, Lola Santiago, Eon Chart (1) and Scavenging (2).

• Black Market is one of the best draw engines today while it ignores your weakness, which is quite wicked!

• "You owe me one!" is good to compensate for your base of 1 in defensive stats.

• Hit and Run is also very interesting in many Charlie Kane decks, just because of the large number of allies. It becomes better with the allies mentioned earlier that give you something when you play them.

More situational Cards:

• Geas are good in this type of Deck if it is built around them, by including 0 skill cards, for example (which is also favourable for Jeremiah Kirby).

• Crystalliser of Dreams can be good like in any other Deck, but I don't see it shining here.

• Lone Wolf is an easy way to increase your income.

• Well Connected and Well Connected (3) can be reliable ways to increase your stats if you go big money. High Roller works well in the same type of Deck.

• Sneak Attack, Decoy, Intel Report, Small Favor and Counterespionage are good ways to leverage the money for testless actions, though Charlie Kane is probably not going to be nearly as good as Preston at doing this.

• Three Aces if you have enough draw to be sure to see the 3 of them. An automatic success is nothing to sneeze at when your highest base stat is 1.

• Chuck Fergus can be good with his icons if you go full Tactic/Trick. But probably not his best home either.

• The Red Clock is not necessarily that optimised here, but still lovely for the +3 at a test when it has only 1 charge, the rest being the icing on the cake.

• Priest of Two Faiths as a cheap soak and generator.

• Easy Mark is always good to thin a Deck.

Cards

Mystic seems to be the least considered class for Charlie Kane. The reason is most likely the lack of 2 that can also have a good use or the fact that it's hard to match the power of a pure mystic.

• David Renfield and Summoned Hound as explained earlier.

• Living Ink could be a good option to bring static boosts to Charlie Kane.

• Summoned Servitor is also interesting with the additional action with a base skill of 4. It is not an Ally though, so you are limited to 4 boxes.

• Ghastly Possession could be interesting in Charlie to refill half of any given asset.

• Your suite of spells like Clairvoyance, Shrivelling, Sixth Sense, Rite of Seeking. Rite of Seeking is actually the only upgrade of the basic suite that he can take, providing a built-in +2 .

• Ward of Protection/Deny Existence, no need to explain.

• Holy Rosary for the boost and to absorb the horror from the Spells mentioned above.

• Uncage the Soul if you go this way.

• Arcane Initiate for the tutoring and the icon.

• Familiar Spirit, as mentioned earlier, is good because it gives an extra slot and doesn't exhaust, so it is easy to use.

• Enraptured can be good to add charges on your Clairvoyance. Use it on investigate actions with Summoned Hound or Augur.

• Scrying Mirror is interesting to decide which Ally to exhaust according to the Chaos Token you revealed.

• Promise of Power and Prophesy for the big amount of that they provide fit especially well in Charlie Kane's Decks.

• Recall the Future is an easy way to prevent yourself from failing while pulling the token with the worst modifier (let's admit it, it's much less stressful to draw a Chaos Token when there is only the that can make you fail, and not a rogue -5).

• Ikiaq could see uses in some enemy-management builds since you can use them to store the weaknesses of you and your party, without impacting your and . Doing so will prevent you from passing any and tests, which can be challenging for your survival.

Cards

Overall good Cards:

• Flare seems to be a must-have for Charlie Kane. Pay only 2 for your expensive Allies and search for them in your Deck! Good to know that Flare doesn't exile if it doesn't find any Ally while searching.

• Unrelenting as a good draw accelerator or a way to exclude the nastiest tokens from the bag.

• Dark Horse with Madame Labranche, Mariner's Compass and Fire Axe can be terrific!

• Rise to the Occasion will see a lot of play here since it gives +3 to any test that is 3 or more which happens frequently.

• Take Heart is easy money and cards since you can fail a test at more or less any time, and it will happen during an encounter test whether you want it or not.

• Pocket Multi Tool could be interesting for its versatility.

• Grizzled could be interesting with both traits Monster and Humanoid to cover most enemies in the game.

• Bandages to heal your Allies.

• "Look what I found!" and upgrades to empty low-shroud locations. Sames goes with Old Keyring.

• Jury-Rig to use on 1 test to get +6 or multiple tests to get 3 Unexpected Courage. Helpful when your stat line is so poor.

• Grit Your Teeth, Fight or Flight and Trial by Fire are good ways to boost your skills for 1 turn.

• Lucky!, Granny Orne (3), Live and Learn and all the suite of anti-fail cards. Live and Learn offers the advantage that you can commit Take Heart, then try the test again with +2 and exhaust an Ally. Other than for that use, Lucky! is better since you exhausted Allies for that test, and you'd rather succeed that test than take another one.

More situational Cards:

• A Chance Encounter (0) if you plan on using some "when played" Allies like Jeremiah Kirby.

• A Chance Encounter (2) can also be used to play Summoned Hound from your discard pile without having to deal with the Unbound Beast. It is also great if you are using Short Supply.

• Signum Crucis is really good here for a Deck. Get advantage of it with Practice Makes Perfect and Resourceful. With Keep Faith, Jacob Morrison and Ancient Covenant, it is the pack. Maybe add Spirit of Humanity if you have Peter Sylvestre and Jessica Hyde for a shower of tokens.

• Unexpected Courage (2) could be decent here, even though I personally don't really like it since I try to pass every test that I start, and if I succeed, it's just a 2xp Unexpected Courage.

• Resourceful is also always good to increase the use of one of your best cards.

• Newspaper (2) offers a good boost when you do not have a clue. I am a big fan of this card, and it surely has a place here.

• There is definitely space for a sick Scavenging (2) build, recycling Old Keyring and Flashlight to reduce the cost of buying clues with Lola Santiago, and Schoffner's Catalogue to pay for the items.

• In the vein of the previous point, we can think of Short Supply to speed up the set-up pace. A Chance Encounter (2) can bring back Allies, including Bonnie Walsh from the discard pile. Resourceful finds back Miss Doyle, A Chance Encounter (2) and Scavenging (2) that itself gets you back Old Keyring, Flashlight and Schoffner's Catalogue. It is a bit of a risky approach and is really challenging at 0xp, but it can be really worth it! It also decreases the number of cards in which Flare and Calling in Favors have to dig, increasing your chances of finding.

Neutral and Multi-Class Cards:

• Calling in Favors. This feels like a second signature card. Charlie Kane has a 28 card Deck since 2 of them are Calling in Favors. Good targets for Calling in Favors are any single-use Allies like Jeremiah Kirby, Art Student, or David Renfield when he has too many Doom on him, or even Miss Doyle if you are not happy with the cat that you pulled (meaning if the random process didn't give you Augur).

• Rod of Animalism can find a nice spot in Charlie Kane. Don't you already have 4 Ally slots, you'd ask? Well, having 2 more slots is neat because it allows you to exhaust multiple Allies on the same test. Sled Dog, Miss Doyle, Guard Dog, Familiar Spirit, Stray Cat and Mysterious Raven are all Creatures. This is the cheapest way to increase your Ally slots though it is not permanent.

• Charisma of course, since it displays Charlie Kane. The more Allies you get, the more you can boost your Skills.

• Protecting the Anirniq is excellent since you have a lot of Allies. It is as many reasons to lose a few, throughout a scenario, especially with Burden of Leadership.

• The Red-Gloved Man looks like the best way to spend your extra experience when you are done with your priority upgrades.

• Divination and Brand of Cthugha are quite good because you can use or the normal skill for the test, so you can exhaust a wider range of Allies, let's say David Renfield first and Beat Cop for the second fight action with Brand of Cthugha.

• Taboo Scroll of Secrets is worth considering for Synergy purposes and is a 1 cost, 1 action, draw 3. You can also discard a weakness if you find one at the bottom of your Deck. It's rare but joyful when it happens.

• Flashlight is always excellent, perfect here since Lola Santiago likes the decreased shroud. You can use Emergency Cache (3) to add Supplies to your Flashlight, turning every supply into 2 resources saved when using Lola Santiago, so effectively making Emergency Cache (3) saving 8 resources!

• Sled Dog can benefit from the extra Ally slots. And as 2 of them use 1 Ally slot, it makes +4 with a single Ally slot.

• Favor of the Sun is important in any Deck, so why not.

• Moon Pendant allow you to 2 Tarot cards for each of your primary skills. It requires a lot of Deck space, though.

• The Fool • 0 (0) is fine since you play a lot of expensive Assets. It is relatively slow, and you'd need to play 6 cards to break even with Emergency Cache (0). It could work, but it is hard to slot in.

• Hyperphysical Shotcaster could be a decent option because of its versatility.

Build ideas:

I will leave some space for your imagination, but I think it's always nice to have some inspiration for where to start with your Deck.

Cluever Deck:

For a Cluever Deck, I would recommend and . Both card pools have amazing cards that both help with getting more clues and compensate the 1-1-1-1 stat line.

• A Dark Horse Deck, which I personally used did fantastic, with only 9xp. Upgrade to Emergency Cache (3), Deduction (2), Perception (2), Flare instead of Calling in Favors and you have a solid off-the-shelf Deck to start playing with Charlie Kane.

• A Deck using Summoned Hound including some resource generation and scavenging of Old Keyring and Flashlight to take the best out of Lola Santiago's Ability.

Fighter Deck:

For a Fighter Deck, I would opt for and since these are the 2 most fighty card pools, or and for the same reason as above, is great at leveraging low skill values and includes a high amount of great level 0-2 cards.

• Here is an example of a Deck that uses the Eye of the Djinn to bring you base value to 5 at least once a turn, with a clear target of at least twice or 3 times if needed.

Flex Deck:

and is an obvious choice for this category. could also work but it's hard to compete with dedicated Mystics. is also terrific as a flex faction.

• A Joe Diamond kind of Deck with a weapon in one hand, Magnifying Glass in the other, Grete Wagner (3), Michael Leigh and Well Prepared. Here is what it could look like.

• Use his capacity to bring Allies of any colour to build a synergy deck. For the classes, I would probably choose and to access Gang Up and Cheat the System, or for Close the Circle.

• Here is a more flex Deck using and .

Conclusion:

You will have fun, Charlie Kane feels good to play, not too hard once you get the trick, yet still engaging.

But you are going to LOVE Charlie Kane if you are into Deck building. He is unlimited fun, bringing tons of combinations, and the length of this Review says enough.

One nice little quirk not mentioned in the other review:

Several scenarios have story assets, normally with an encounter card back, that often rather represent a liability than being of actual use. Poster children for these are Helpless Passenger or Innocent Reveler, but also Harold Walsted or Joe Sargent, who are of some use, can be seen as an example. None of these have any icons, but this does not stop Charlie from exhausting them for the 1 from his own ability. With the notable exception of Mr. Peabody, they usually don't cost an ally slot, so they are a completely free bonus for him! Just be aware, that your weakness might kill your free allies off, if it hits you, while they are exhausted.

There have been been some particularly nasty investigator + basic weakness pairings in the past, and with the introduction of Charlie, a new one rises to the top of that list.

Stubborn Detective shuts down the front of your investigator card. For Charlie, this includes not just his ability ... but also his 3 additional ally slots. Drawing this weakness could lead to you losing up to 3 allies at once, along with their skill boosts, abilities, and soak. (and the resources and actions to put them into play). You can go from being completely secure, to being defenseless and 1/1/1/1 in the mythos phase.

For other investigators, the detective's effect is temporary e.g. Calvin can get his stats back by walking out. Unfortunately, as Charlie, your discarded allies don't come back. Another problem is that you don't have to be the one to draw Stubborn Detective; another player's Detective zaps you simply by being in the same location.

I think, once you see this guy show up on the table, you will need to make some adjustments to your deck to mitigate the carnage. Charisma shoots up in priority, obviously. If you have the correct classes, deck scrying (Scrying, Parallel Fates etc) can help, as can ally recursion (A Chance Encounter, Protecting the Anirniq). Maybe put in some non-Ally defense/soak, and skills as well. If another player has the Detective in their deck, you will be taking a great risk being at the same location, so you may wish to split up until the detective arrives and is dealt with.

This combination is on par with Lola Hayes' pre-Taboo weakness, in terms of how devastating it can be, and the amount of dread it makes you feel every time you draw a card. But at least it does make for great stories and memorable moments..?

There are some great campaign allies to get with Charlie. Usually they all have a and an extra incon.

In my opinion, one should consider the campaign allies when building a Charlie deck, so let's review what's available.

Spoilers incoming !

• NoZ : sadly Lita Chantler has no icons. Same for the Wayfarer allies from Edge of the Earth (only Anyu may be considered, but she has already a nice exhausting ability and won't get extra value from Charlie's ).

• Carcosa is the only campaign where you never get an ally. No, The Man in the Pallid Mask doesn't count.

Outside those campaigns, the other present you some nice options :

• In Dunwich, you have a lot of allies, notably Dr. Henry Armitage and his (he also generate ressources, which is great for Charlie who has to pay for all his allies), or Naomi O'Bannion (you like or ?) if you manage to earn her. Even with two Charisma you will not be able to take every available ally (Dr. Francis Morgan, Professor Warren Rice, Earl Sawyer and Zebulon Whateley) !

• Forgotten Age : even if you don't side with Alejandro Vela or Ichtaca, you can take Veda Whitsley, probably one of the best possible ally for Charlie : 1 cost, 3 health/horror, and a fantastic icons !!

• Circle Undone : a few possible allies but late in the cycle. Interesting part is you can focus on Penny, Valentino, Gavriella or Jerome depending of your role. Erynn MacAoidh is probably better for a real mystic.

• Dream Eaters : Randolph Carter (or Randolph Carter) is a solid ally. You will also encounter some allies without icons but they also don't take an ally slot (Virgil Gray and Richard Upton Pickman).

• In Insmouth you can have Elina Harper or Thomas Dawson depending of the scenarios. Elina's ability doesn't require to exhaust so it's full benefit.

• The Scarlet Keys can give you Inspector Flint, Agent Ari Quinn and Dr. Dewi Irawan, but one could prefer keeping the exhausting for their abilities. Siding with the Coterie during the finale can also grant you a ton of slotless (and iconless) allies for free.

• The Feast at Hemlock Vale's Residents are not Allies. You could get Helen Peters and Dr. Rosa Marquez, who bothe have nice icons and a flat bonus.

You can also play independant scenarios, consider playing those :

• The Blob that ate everything : Pet Oozeling doesn't take an ally slot. Pick it and forget Lt. Wilson Stewart.

• Machinations through time : Ezra Graves and Nikola Tesla are both great, especially if you are the cluer.

• The Midwinter Gala looks like perfectly tailored for Charlie. Full of 4-icons allies to talk with, and you can keep the best suited for your deck after.

Abbess Allegria Di Biase (Carneval eof Horrors), John & Jessie Burke (Guardians of the Abyss) ,Lady Esprit (Rougarou), Sergeant Monroe (Excelsior) cost a bit too much imo. Keep your money and your slots for better allies (see the other review)

Obviously no one is going to top Valentin1331's review of Charlie Kane. Having played a flex-Kane in the Scarlet Keys campaign I want to highlight a couple of character dynamics. I approached Charlie in a pure ally fashion--no hand slots were used in the [redacted]. Obviously if you want to play Charlie differently some of these thoughts will be less useful.

First, ally economy. Kane is pretty inept until he gets allies out and even then it can be hard to safely get him through more than two tests a turn because he's exhausting his allies. You can get out of this by having a lot of allies on the field (i highly recommend rod of animism and charisma, especially once your primary cards are in the deck), exhausting allies (Bonnie Walsh is a perfect signature card and drawing the elder sign with Charlie is pure joy), or changing your base stats. To this end, I believe Miss Doyle and Summoned Hound are perfect additions to a Charlie Kane deck.

Miss Doyle provides two ally slots in a single ally slot, plus her kitties allow you to take a test with a base skill of 5 rather than 1. Even if you play the wrong kitten, the fact that Doyle has ? icons and that each kitten has two icons rather than one means they are almost always high benefit exhausts. Summoned Hound on the other hand is almost never exhausted for benefit. Rather it lets you do one of the main activities in the game with a base score of 5 as a fast action. If you get Bonnie and the Hound out at the same time this can lead to investigating or fighting with a base of 5 twice (and once with a minimum score of 4) three times for the price of a single action (fast action Hound, action do a test where you commit Bonnie, fast action hound). Have a few more allies out and/or cards to commit and suddenly Charlie Kane can be a secondary guardian or seeker.

Second, Rogue/Survivor Charlie. What is a politician, if not a roguish survivor? Their job is to shake hands, smile, grease wheels, and weather scandals. Kane is no different, and I actually think in multiplayer play this is a better pair for a flex Charlie than Seeker/Guardian as it helps you play, search for, and sometimes abuse your allies. On the Rogue side, Hit and Run is a wonderful card. Every time you add an ally into a Kane deck I recommend considering how it would interact with Hit and Run--by the end of my campaign Hit and Run was the only rogue card in my deck and I had no regrets about my class choice. Though I only did it one time, playing Hit and Run and Calling in Favors on the same card is exceedingly satisfying, and can save a few precious resources if you're really lucky. More impressive are the Survivor cards. Flare alone makes me think Survivor should be considered for every Kane deck. Adding A Chance Encounter (with or without experience) and Resourceful (to get back Encounter, and some of your high value allies like Miss Doyle and Peter back) to the card pool and...well, I promise it is fun. Remember, Chance Encounter(2) and Flare both put Summoned Hound into play so you don't need to drop the bonded card in the deck.

Overall I think Charlie is a super fun and satisfying investigator. His card pool opens up all sorts of wonky interactions (ESPECIALLY if you have oodles of experience or are playing off taboo). If you like allies, animals, and confusing turns, give the old man a shot.

Charlie is a disabled old man with a cane and a bad smoking habit, until you play him off taboo.

Off taboo, he's a machete wielding lunatic who swarms his victims with a pro football player, dogs, a literal assassin and his trusty secretary. He uses Dig Deep and Drawing Thin to ace will/evasion checks, physical conditioning or combat training to buff his machete and loves explosives. He's even ever vigilant for eldritch horrors, and has no problem going Toe to Toe.

Don't count this guy out, unless you play taboo. I'm not sure how to play him without the ridiculous resource generation from Drawing Thin.

Tldr

Off taboo, starter deck should be In The Thick of it, Drawing Thin x2, Ever Vigilant x2, Jessica Hyde, Peter Sylvester, Physical Conditioning x2, Machete x2, Guard Dogs x2, Dynamitex2, Hallowed Mirror, Dig Deep then whatever you want.

This mitigates his biggest problem which is playing assets, and let's you do one (1) really good combat check per round. He's otherwise extremely tanky, but due to the fact he only gets one "good hit" hes dependent upon card effects that guarantee damage.

That's not enough to be a solo mob healer imo, and he will usually need to be paired with someone who can handle enemies just fine on their own (i.e. trish) but his strength comes from being able to do anything really, really well, one time per round.

I found a little interesting combo. First, for deck creation option choose a survivor. Then, get Leather Coat, 2 Scavenging(2), Joey "The Rat" Vigil(3). Now the old man can get 4 resources per turn, if he's enough good at investigating.