Down the Rabbit Hole

More a Question for a FaQ

lets say I have a legal starting deck with bloodpact, but then, upgrade it to bloodpact (3), would down the Rabbit hole trigger when I add a new card to fill out the one that has been lost? in addition would this only trigger with level 0 cards or could I sneak in a level 3 card in without paying any extra?

The rule say if you fill up your deck you can purchase new level 0 card for free. If you purchase a higher level card you have definitely pay the additional point of experience. For new level 0 card I suppose it depends on how you interpret the grim rule. Technically this card says you have to pay the additional point of xp (if you have at least one) for every level 0 card you purchase to fill your deck. — Tharzax · 1
I think you wouldn't need to pay one more to fill with a level 0 card, as you are not technically purchasing a new card, just filling adding a new one so your deck has the minimum number of cards, but if you were actively purchasing a higher level card, then you'd need to pay the extra 1xp. — Gsayer · 1
According to the rule for deckbuilding you actively have to purchase the cards. There is an exception for the costs that says if you do so to complete your deck your are able to purchase the new level 0 cards for 0 xp. So from the wording of DtRH the costs increase since the effect of cards need to be resolved if they can. Compare the rules for abilities and deckbuilding. — Tharzax · 1
The grim rule is only a temporary solution to speed up the game if you can’t find a rule, it’s not for deckbuilding — Django · 5108
The words seem clear but I didnt see the question in the FAQ. DTRH specifies "cards you upgrade" for costing less, so it inclues customisation. BUT, it says that "the new card you purchase" cost 1 more, meaning that should excluse customisations, since they are not new cards. Would that be a loophole to spend extra xp without the drawback or am I missing something? — Beta · 1
Sorry, was meant as a new question and I can't delete this.... oups! — Beta · 1
Seal of the Elder Sign

It is funny that nobody mentioned two of the most powerful elder signs reactions.

Jim Culver: take out an elder sign a transform it in a skull (0). With this you can force multiple reactions, like getting another clue with sixth sense or an additional damage with either****.

However, the most effective combo I got was

  • Song of the dead plus eldritch inspiration for a 5 damage without test...
  • An additional card as I activated crystal pendulum...
  • Heal an horror with the trumpet.

Wendy parallel: the additional two curse tokens and a +2 (w/o effect). It could be extremely powerful.

  • Do you have Armageddon 4xp? You get two additional damage (for a total of 4) or two additional charges.
  • Do you have eye of chaos 4xp? Two clues plus another two somewhere else.
JordiC · 85
I have a question. I'm new to the game, so i'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but the card says to not reveal a token for this test and then says to treat the revealed token as an elder sign. it's like: dont do this, but after doing what you shouldn't have done, treat it as an elder sign. LOL. I don't get it. Hope someone can help me. Thanks! — Onoorb · 1
Underprepared

Pulled this card with Darrell and have no real way of getting rid of it as I have no way of spending excess resources or using excess cards. Though it is not that problematic as normally I am reducing skill tests rather than having to commit. If I had a card with 1 skill icon could I still commit it as it doesn't drop down to 0 until it is committed?

Yea, think it would be "cards in your hand or committed are considered to have 1 fewer matching icons" I think the intent is that you can commit your hand to clear space. — Zerogrim · 295
Quick Getaway

Quick Getaway is a card that tries to do a bit of everything, and unfortunately falls flat. Let's go into some of its different aspects.

Cancels an enemy attack

Stops a monster from taking a nasty bite out of you. The problem is you pay 2 resources for a chance to cancel the attack. In comparison, Dodge costs one resource less, can protect anyone at your location, and guarantees the attack is cancelled. Dodge may be in a different class, but many fighting rogues (e.g. Skids, Tony, Jenny) are able to take Dodge anyway.

Grants you an extra action on your turn evade

This is useful for cards that care about how many actions you've taken e.g. Pay Day. EDIT: As pointed out in the comments, I believe this is not true.

However, you would need to play this during your turn, which usually means taking an AOO, which is something that can often be avoided to begin with. The bigger downside is that for this purpose, Quick Getaway is completely outclassed by Swift Reflexes, which can be used to do any action, including evading with an asset or event, and even has the same cost and icons.

Triggers on evade effects, including exhausting the enemy

This is a nice benefit compared to Dodge. With this, you can trigger all those on evade effects that you didn't get a chance to do earlier. The most common scenario is when a hunter enemy moves into your location. (since, if it was during your turn, you could have done a regular evade instead, and the card you are looking for is Swift Reflexes). When the friendly next door monster wanders in, you can immediately evade it, empty its pockets, shoot it in the face, stab it below the belt, and finish up by calling in the nice cleaning lady. This is a very nice play, and can save you some move actions if you play it right, leaving you free to spend your turn at your current location doing more ..profitable things.

Swift Reflexes cannot be played during the enemy phase, so this is one area Quick Getaway wins out, if you are planning an ambush tactic. But again, here it is completely outclassed by another card, namely Honed Instinct with the Killer Instinct upgrade. Honed Instinct may cost more xp, but just does the job so much better.

One niche that Quick Getaway has is that it can disable a hunting massive enemy before it attacks. Dodge will only cancel one of the attacks, while Killer Instinct cannot trigger, since massive enemies do not have a moment where they actually 'engage'. But you run the risk of drawing the and having the monster smack each investigator around. Moreover, hunting massive monsters are fairly rare. I would rather avoid the risk, and disable the monster during the player phase instead.

Trick traited

Finally, something that sets this card apart. All the usual synergies apply i.e. Crafty, Chuck Fergus and Rita Young

Which deck wants this?

Quick Getaway is a card that is an odd mix of Dodge, Swift Reflexes, and Honed Instinct. It tries to do a little bit of each card, but so inefficiently that you'd be better off taking those other cards instead. I normally like flexible cards, but this one doesn't make the cut. A conditional attack cancel is just very, very bad; evading during the player phase is much better because if you fail, your team still has other chances to neutralize the threat.

The saving grace is the Trick trait, and this makes it viable for Rita Young, who cannot take any of the other cards. Rita already has a built in on evade trigger, and is often strapped for actions. Together with Crafty and Dirty Fighting, you could put this card to good use, although I suspect it will get shuffled out with some XP. But without supporting cards, it is just not strong enough on its own; the effect is situational, unreliable, and the cost is prohibitive.

jemwong · 96
Yeah, it should cost 1 or 0 and probably keep the enemy exhausted through one upkeep phase. Even with Rita, its upside is limited by her ability being once per round rather than phase. — housh · 171
I'd run it in Monterey Jack, too, since he can end up easily drawing an enemy weakness at the end of his turn and nothing else can really react to that properly, at least in solo or if he's taking a turn last in higher counts. — SSW · 213
I don't think this counts as an extra action for the purposes of Pay Day or other cards (Take The Initiative, Calculated Risk). It's just a fast evasion test that is prompted by an enemy AoO which is prompted by an action you started to take. — ArkhamArkhanist · 10
After reading the card again, I think you are right about the action. I'll update the review. As for Monterey, Disc of Itzamna is an alternative, at the cost of the valuable accessory slot. Unless you are so unlucky as to draw into Silver Twilight Acolyte though, I'd probably just resign myself to tanking one hit. — jemwong · 96
Quick Getaway is probably the only piece of decent tech we have for enemies who are massive and ready themselves like Umordhoth and The Experiment. Do I take this card every time? No but I'll definitely adaptable it in for specific scenarios when I know there's an annoying enemy who can really mess me up who I can't deal with during the investigation phase. — bowzo · 122
String of Curses

With 42 cards to spare, this is barely a speedbump in Patrice's deck. It commits for agility, which might come in handy at times. It lets you handle pesky cultists quickly and efficiently to possibly offset an agenda flip. The best pay off for it though? It's an auto evade of the Watcher from Another Dimension. Sure, you place the doom on it, but that gets immediately discarded when the Watcher does. It's an easy button for your weakness.

scg · 1
Bad symbols tho. — MrGoldbee · 1470
'Automatic evasion' doesn't mean the same thing as 'successfully evade'; the latter requires a skill test that String (and Stray Cat, by common proxy) bypass, so it won't ditch the Watcher for you. — Teag · 52
Do we know for sure this works with watcher? Watcher says it can be evaded or attacked as if it were at your location, but I don't think it's "at your location" for any other purposes (like to be a target of the parley ability on string of curses). — FarCryFromHuman · 1
What Teag says. It had been confirmed in FAQ, that Patrice could evade the Watcher with Hope, even the discard ability to auto-succeed, but could not use the Stray Cat, because this is an auto-evade, not an auto-success on an evasion attempt. So "String of Curses" won't work either. — Susumu · 371
That said, as FarCryFromHuman notes, you cannot even play the card, while the Watcher is in your hand, as it is not Fight/Evade — Adny · 1
Yes, that's on top of that. "Your hand" is an out of play area, so not "at your location". Hidden cards can only be interacted with the way, that is printed on the card, in this case, it's fight or evade, and does not include a parley action. — Susumu · 371