Royal Emissary

This enemy has a combination of rule that maybe problematic for an inexperienced player like I was.

  • Massive :
    • A ready enemy with the massive keyword is considered to be engaged with each investigator at the same location as it.
    • An enemy with the massive keyword cannot be placed in an investigator's threat area.
  • Hunter :
    • During the enemy phase (in framework step 3.2), each ready, unengaged enemy with the hunter keyword moves to a connecting location, along the shortest path towards the nearest investigator. Enemies at a location with one or more investigators do not move.
  • Prey :
    • If an enemy that is moving towards the nearest investigator has a choice between multiple equidistant investigators, that enemy must select among those investigators the one who best meets its "prey" instructions.

So

  • Prior to this point it looks like Hunter enemy stops moving because someone move it from the map to threat area, which is intuitive to understand. In this case Massive monster does not enter anyone's threat area, but still Hunter stops working due to Massive "considered" engaged.
  • If the lowest tries to lure it away, but there is someone with higher nearer, Prey does not matter and it moves to the nearest investigator anyway. (With large map like The Midnight Mask a misunderstanding like this goes uncorrected, until this scenario.)
5argon · 10996
Yea Prey is the biggest confusion point I had with the game, just having to remember it only ever breaks ties, if there isn't a tie prey is meaningless. (besides stuff with prey "only xxx") — Zerogrim · 295
Analysis

When i first saw this card, like many others, i thought that it was good but not as good as Hyperphysical Shotcaster which is a bit broken, but still strong. Now when i have seen it in action many times, i have to conclude that this card is just broken, and that FFG has again managed to push Seeker even more over the top. So this card has a wild symbol, is practiced, of course you are running Practice Makes Perfect because it is the strongest skill-based card in the game and just makes you double-up on Deduction and Perception, and now on important tests you do not even care about ? Wow! It takes Rogues 3xp to put Justify the Means in their decks, 6xp for 2 copies, and Mystics need 10xp for Seal of the Elder Sign which is basically this card + a bit of power depending on your . Survivors have some tricks like Eucatastrophe but these cards are kinda swingy when it comes to consistency and it takes some tricks to use their cards to their fullest potential, but Seekers do not have those obstacles and they just spam clues right off the start. Picking up your clue after this test if you draw an autofail is non-important, because you already have atleast 5 INT or even more, so it is just an action or sometimes you do not even pick it back up if it is not on a location with a victory. This card needs some serious tabboo right now and it needs to say that it can cancel anything except because this is just too strong for already the strongest class in the game, it is just absurd. Maybe players with a limited collection will not understand its power, but playing with a full collection, yeah, printing cards like this in literally every expansion just makes me wonder why the hell do Seekers get the most powerful stuff all the time? Are they not broken enough?

Blood&gore · 435
The Thing That Follows

Relevant "prey" + "only" rule for reference :

If an enemy's prey instructions contain the word "only," that enemy only moves towards and engages that investigator (as if it were the only investigator in play), and ignores all other investigators while moving and engaging. Other investigators may use the engage action or card abilities to engage the enemy.

  • Non-bearer cannot stand on its way to get the engagement. It is also costly to help because you need an engage action.
  • If the bearer got eliminated/resigned from the campaign it simply stay still and everyone else can pass through.
5argon · 10996
"It is also costly to help because you need an engage action" suggests you have misunderstood something: Enemies that don't have Aloof but aren't engaged for some other reason (Prey Only, being evaded earlier in the turn, etc.) can be freely attacked by investigators in their location. So, for example, if you happen to be in the way of The Thing That Follows as it hunts its bearer, that gives you an opportunity to take a swing at it fairly cheaply. — Thatwasademo · 58
Oh no, I really mix it up with the Aloof rule here. Now it is somewhat less annoying to get rid of! — 5argon · 10996
Gang Up

This card is bad with Lola (its like they don't want her to be viable), but is extremely good with Charlie, especially late game. Charlie can very conceivably have a card from all classes up given his extremely diverse card pool (e.g., typical pick is guardian and survivor for his card class. In an enemy handling deck, you could then grab David Renaut, Delilah and a Med Student. You now have all five classes in play).

That translates into a +5 attack that does six damage, a serious boss killer card.

As others have said you're going to want to sit on this card a bit, especially Charlie, to get the full effect. But once you've got a rainbow assortment of allies on the table, fire at will and watch the cackling politican send his army of free lancers into the boss' maw.

drjones87 · 195
With Charlie it is especially flavor-accurate as he literally has his gang instead of just amount of class Synergy from other physical assets.. — 5argon · 10996
With the new multi classed Bruiser/ Prophetic/ Crafty series of cards Lola can get all 5 classes represented relatively cheaply, especially if she's running 1, 2, or 3 permanents from differing classes which are always counted as in play. Think Miss Hayes deserves some more love after her errata fixes. Her weakness ain't that bad, very manageable with address in play, and her getting the extra Action ability on her getting side, is great for switching roles when needed. Having heaps of fun with her. Probably the most fun I've had deck building this far. — Quantallar · 8
I've been mulling over a Lola deck and I think that she should indeed get all 5 classes represented very easily. If I'm not misinterpreting the rules. Gang Up says that you need "cards you control", it does not require assets to be in play. While you control cards in your hand, they are not in play -- however, when you play Gang Up then it will be in play should give you the Guardian class, right? Switch to a Survivor while you are resolving the ability and commit a survivor skill card into the test and you'll have Survivor class also covered. Seeker, Rogue, and Mystic have good permanents that you can take at deck creation. So, as long as playing/committing a card from a class counts as a "card you control", then that should easily allow Lola to play Gang Up at +5/+5 virtually every time. — Belinik · 1
Professor William Webb

In addition to @olahren review: William has a nice interaction with Mariner's Compass, Fingerprint Kit, Archaic Glyphs and other multi-clue cards. If you find yourself investigating a location with one clue, you can now grab that second one from somewhere else.

Weges · 92
No, it does not work that way. This replaces the result of your investigate action. If you aren't discovering any clues at your location, you cannot discover ADDITIONAL clues at your location.. — Adny · 1
@Andy: Webb's effect only replaces discovering "a clue" (like seeking answer(0)). We can still discover additional clues at our location. This is different from Burglary, which replaces discovering "clues" = the succussful result of investigation. — elkeinkrad · 500