Scroll of Secrets

With taboo (2020-10), ability is changed into ability; thus, you can trigger that ability 3 times only with 1 play and 1 resource. When you select any investigator's deck, this card ensures 1 draw which can be discarded before any revelation abilities are triggered.

  • (pro) 1-cost, 1- card providing 3 cards; cheap drawing source
  • (pro) you may discard the card drawn by it before revelation. (Note that you look a card and then discard it. It's legal you discard weakness in deck, and revelation effect is not triggered because you do not draw it but just look it.)
  • (con) you only can draw 1 card for 1 round.
  • (con) this card occupies your hand slot.

Of course, investigators may not consider this because has several instant drawing sources such as Preposterous Sketches, Deep Knowledge and many searching cards. Also, they have some good assets with hand slot such as Magnifying Glass.

But, investigators may wish this card. does not have any good drawing card and mostly relies on Arcane Initiate. Also, the hand slot of investigators is less important than other factions. Additionally, this can be a good target for Sacrifice after you use all secrets on this.

elkeinkrad · 500
Also worth noting: it’s draw for any investigator, any where. That and the weakness safety make it very good. It can also be a makeshift Scrying... — AndyB · 955
Scroll of Secrets got a major buff in the latest taboo. I think you are right about Mystics using this quite often. It is still great for Seekers but they have competitive hand slots. One nice synergy is L1 Mag Glass since it returns to your hand so you can play this and then get your 3 draws on 3 turns. But the kicker is that you can just discard any weaknesses drawn. This is just a great card now. — The Lynx · 993
It's still pretty good for Seekers since if you're using the latest Taboo, Rook costs 4 xp -- this fills the same role of "one action to search for 3 cards over 3 rounds", but for a hand instead of an ally slot, searching 3 cards instead of 9, and discarding weaknesses instead of also drawing them — Thatwasademo · 58
On those lines, it's worth noting that even though Seekers have very strong hand slot options (such as several different ways of getting a boost to Intellect), they can also gain additional hand slots. I can easily see Mandy for instance running Arcane Enlightenment and Scroll of Secrets (0) in her starting deck to replace the now-Chained Mr. Rook. (And as a bonus, now you can have two sources (or four, depending on how you count) of fast search in your deck if you're willing to shell out the 4 or 8 xp) — Thatwasademo · 58
@Thatwasademo Just remember that Scroll of Secrets doesn't 'search', it 'looks' - so it doesn't trigger Mandy's ability OR research effects. They primary distinction between search and look effects otherwise is that search effects always shuffle the deck afterwords, but look effects typically don't.. — Death by Chocolate · 1489
Ah, you're entirely correct. — Thatwasademo · 58
Hand of Fate

Some cards you see and you underestimate. I felt that way about "I've had worse…"; if you’re playing guardian right, I thought, you should have plenty of money and not take any harm at all!

When I saw Hand of Fate, my mind filled with those horrible bosses that have 4/4 damage/horror. And if you put this on your deck and team up with Trish, you’ll once per campaign enable the play where she investigates to evade the main boss, you flood the bag with tokens and everything is hunky-dory.

But a lot of the times, you’re going to be with enemies that are 1 or 2 damage or horror.

Now, most cards go well with Diana, this one goes super well. You get a one buck refund, +1 will power, a card, and can save it outside of your hand (underneath her) and bring it back when you need it with Twilight Blade.

But most people associate any card that gives bless tokens with Sister Mary, and this one would be harder to fit for her. Guardians are already clogged with costly assets, so three bucks is a lot to carry around. (You likely won’t be able to get the cash when you need it, because opportunity attacks mean enemies, and if you’re sitting around collecting resources while an ally is engaged at your location...)

If you’re Playing Leo, you can bring this in with adaptable when you know you’re going to be facing bosses. With a rogue splash, you can certainly have three bucks for a fast event.

The best reason to slot this card is if you meet many of the following factors:

*You’re Diana.

*Your deck makes a lot of money or your fellow investigators give you a lot of money.

*You have a lot of uses for blessed tokens, like Rite of sanctification, Ancient Covenant, and Radiant Smite.

*The card art reminds you of Alonso Quijano de la Mancha, and you loved the musical.

MrGoldbee · 1486
One thing I like about rite of sanctification is it has a sort of double synergy with this. It makes a lot of money that you can use to play this, and this adds bless to the chaos bag which you can use to power up your rite — NarkasisBroon · 11
3 ressources is a lot for most guardians, so it's really hard to play for most of them. Also bless tokens aren't really helpful if you don't have other synergies with them so take dodge instead. — Django · 5154
I dont even take Dodge except in Diana. So yeah, I dont see myself taking this ever. — StyxTBeuford · 13049
I think this is clunky even in Diana. She is already probably running two Dodges (a much better card) and, as much as she wants cancels, a much worse third and fourth version of that effect is not good. I would look elsewhere for cancels. — CaiusDrewart · 3183
Alternate Agnes can take it... not convinced she *should* — Timlagor · 6
I think everyone has the right idea. This just seems too expensive. Maybe can be justified at 2 cost. — fates · 54
.35 Winchester

Previously, the consensus on this card has been that while the +2 Combat boost and the 5 ammo are nice, the damage boost just isn't reliable enough to make it an effective weapon -- unless you have access to cards that let you pull multiple tokens, which basically means Olive McBride (Grotesque Statue occupies a hand-slot, unfortunately). With the new taboo list that was just released, this consensus needs to be reassessed. To give the conclusion up front, thesis-statement style: you still need Olive McBride to make the Winchester sing, but there are now ways to make its note even more... piercing.

For those who haven't checked the list, here's the change. In order to get the +2 damage from Winnie's attack, ANY token with a non-negative modifier will do. It doesn't have to be a zero, +1, or elder sign.

What other tokens have non-negative modifiers? Depending on the scenario, sometimes the special tokens will fit the bill. For instance, the skulls in The Gathering will often be zeros (assuming your location is ghoul-free). Same thing in The Untamed Wilds, until you have vengeance in the victory display.

But that's a minor, scenario-specific situation. The real change here is that bless tokens, with their +2 modifier, now score you the head-shot, too. Let's see how pumping the chaos bag with bless tokens changes the calculus.

For most campaigns, you start with around 16 tokens in the chaos bag. Usually four of those would trigger the original Winchester. That means that, pre-upgrade, you had a 25% chance to do 3 damage, and a 75% chance to do one damage or miss. (We're assumining that you're going to hit if you pull a zero or better.) Not great for a four-cost, two-hand weapon. Now, by adding bless tokens, you can improve those odds, though only to a point. If you fully load the bag with 10 bless tokens, you have about a 54% chance to do 3 damage, and a 46% to do 1 or no damage (this isn't exactly true -- there's a chance you pull a bless token and then follow it up with an auto-fail or a -5 for example; just not sure how to calculate that).

Those odds are respectable, but it's hard to earn them. Sniper Mary, I mean Sister Mary, would seem to be the only character capable of maxing out the bag reliably. Others would need either Sister Mary in the party, or a pretty massive commitment to bag-pumping via cards like Blessed Blade, Hand of Fate, and Book of Psalms, The first and last of those cards take up a hand slot, which can create timing problems unless you're sporting a Bandolier. (There are a handful of survivor cards that can pump the bag, too, but if you have access to them, you probably don't have access to the all-important Olive McBride. Those cards can still be helpful, though, if another player is running them).

And this brings us back to the original Winchester strategy -- drawing multiple tokens. If you can pump the bag AND draw multiple tokens, the story changes. Let's say you have Olive McBride as your ally and a certain number of bless tokens in the bag. Now you're turning into a true deadeye!

Odds of a critical hit with Olive and X Bless tokens, assuming a standard 16-token bag:

0: 61%. 1: 68%. 2: 73%. 3: 77%. 4: 81%. 5: 83%. 6: 86%. 7: 88%. 8: 89%. 9: 90%. 10: 92%.

Of course, with Olive, there is now a slightly higher chance that you find a token you want but still fail the test. In most cases, if you draw a zero or a bless token, you're passing, but if you have to pair that zero with a -4 because of Olive, you may fail. Still, the math is now firmly in your favor, even if you're only lightly padding the bag.

What's the upshot? The new and improved Winchester is now a legitimately good card for a particular kind of character -- namely, one who is blessing the bag (or has a partner who is) and who has access to Olive McBride. It still has drawbacks of course -- until you get Olive out, Winnie will be hit-or-miss, and mainly miss. But once you do, the advantages are substantial -- huge damage for a level 0 weapon, plentiful ammunition, and a very handsome boost to combat. And there are upgrade paths that make it even better: Custom Ammunition brings you up to seven, highly impactful shots; and Telescopic Sight could create an interesting playstyle as well, as long as you are not the tank. So, who can make it all come together? From best to ok, I'd say:

1) Sister Scary, I mean Sister Mary. She checks all boxes. The Winchester also converts her mediocre 3 combat into a very respectable 5, without the need for a Beat Cop or skill card.

2) Jim Culver is a sneaky candidate, since he treats skulls as zeroes always. Even without bless tokens, as long as he's rolling with Olive McBride, he has a massive 79% chance to trigger Winnie's effect -- though if you want him to be able to bugle while he blasts, you'll need a Bandolier.

3) Diana Stanley is another character who might benefit from the strategy, since it usually takes a few turns to get her to a spell-worthy Will value. The new Hand of Fate, which cancels an attack and adds bless tokens, is doubly effective for her if she goes this route. It fattens the bag, making Winnie more accurate, and it can be placed under her investigator card for a draw, a resource, and a Will boost. Like Jim, though, Diana will likely run into hand-slot issues: her signature asset occupies one, too.

4) Zoey Samaras. I don't know that she has any special synergy with the Winchester, but she has access to all the cards you need to run this strategy. She doesn't need the +2 Combat as badly as the characters above, but it's still nice to play one asset and suddenly be at a 6. Also, Zoey's Cross is an accessory, so no difficulties with hand slots there.

A great review. Detailed and interesting analysis. I do have one negative comment, if you are playing The Gathering, and there are no Ghouls at your location, you are pretty unlikely to be firing a Winchester hoping for a 3 damage hit :-P — NarkasisBroon · 11
But what if they need 2 money on their Relentless when they shoot a rat! :P — Death by Chocolate · 1489
Haha! Yes of course, @NarkasisBroon, it was rat sniping for money that I had in mind... ;) Also, another card I should have mentioned in the review: "Eat Lead!" A handy one to have in a Winnie deck. — Mordenlordgrandison · 463
one question about the taboo.. if I draw a bless token, am I safe for the extra damage, no matter what? Or did the sum of all drawn token need to be zero or higher? (all token that count for the test that is) — SgtWinter · 16
You'd still get the extra damage in that case, @SgtWinter. The taboo reads "if a chaos token with a non-negative modifier is revealed." That condition is still fulfilled even if you follow up your bless with a -4. — Mordenlordgrandison · 463
Sharpshooter

I've been rambling quite a bit in the comments of the other recent review of this card, and I think it's time I actually write up my own review.

This card was printed in Winifred Habbamock's starter deck, alongside a few very strong firearms, a context which makes the other review of this card wrong on all three counts.

1) Having to have a firearm in play is really not a huge burden. You already weren't going to be fighting enemies with your fists given you have 3 (and basic attack actions are also just ... never good anyway, given the game pretty much expects you to always deal at least 2 damage per action). The resource cost is also actually quite cheap for what you get: 2 resources, paid once, for +2 to one test per round forever without occupying a slot. Only using the card on attacks isn't that troublesome, either: in a multiplayer game, there's usually a pretty steady flow of enemies coming out of the encounter deck, and you can't get away with evading and ignoring most of them.

2) Wini has 3 and 5 . 3 is enough to be decent with a gun in hand especially given Wini's focus on skill cards (in case you can't find this card or have to make multiple shots in the same round), but the difference of 2 is a fairly hefty base boost. Then add on top of that the fact that if an enemy has lower evade than fight you can choose both options, so you sometimes get even more. And on top of that, there are a couple of Rogue skills that have agility icons and good effects, and the Rogue tarot card boosts agility... And it's not like that boost is going to waste if you were already going to pass the attack, since the guns FFG clearly wants you to run with Wini and this card give bonuses for over-succeeding. (for instance, turning the Beretta's 7 in Wini's hands to 9 sounds excessive, then you realize you want to be succeeding by 4 if possible, or maybe the enemy just has that high of a fight value...)

3) All of the alternative cards listed simply don't work as well for the job this does. Delilah O'Rourke takes up your ally slot (whereas this is slotless -- basically a dealbreaker when you're trying to make that sort of a direct comparison), costs one more resource, and gives half the boost (admittedly to every test, but then that also includes tests made with Sharpshooter?). Hard Knocks ... sucks. You pay the same 2 resources, and same play action in advance, to get the same +2 boost. Without getting to use the enemy's evade value if it's lower, or those agility skills I mentioned. And to do it again, you have to pay the 2 resources again. The only upside is that you can use it multiple times in the same round, if you can afford to throw away money that frivolously (a hard ask with Wini's card draw rate). Well Connected is a card that I love dearly... for Preston Fairmont or Jenny Barnes. Banking 10 resources for a +2 boost is probably also doable for Wini, but it takes more effort than just playing this card and immediately using it. It is a level 0 card though... maybe look into starting with Well Connected and upgrading into this card later? There is one card that was mentioned in the comments which actually stands a fighting chance against this: High Roller. One fewer XP, same resource and action cost, just as free to repeat if you succeed, and can be used on any skill test. It has its downsides which I think are just barely worth more than the 1 XP and added versatility though: You have to hold on to those 3 resources (not nearly as onerous as Well Connected's requirement, but it can bite you). If you fail the test you use it on, you lose 3 resources. You don't get more than +2 against enemies with low evade values.

In short, while this card is fairly niche (the 3 5 statline that makes this card shine like it does with Wini is pretty rare, though it might be okay for a 2 4 rogue?), it is, in fact, the best there is at what it does. Conveniently, as an investigator starter deck card, you have the cards to run alongside it and make it work included in the same pack.

Thatwasademo · 58
First you need to get it and a gun played tho. For 1xp I might take it, or 4-6xp as a permanent. — MrGoldbee · 1486
"You have to play the card to gain its benefits" is a really weird reason to dislike a card, and I already mentioned that you want to have a gun in play anyway. — Thatwasademo · 58
to be fair, if you are playing Winifred, you won't have much of an issue digging it out — Zinjanthropus · 229
Yeah. And it's also fine to not have it immediately since it's more of a value engine than critical to your success -- you *can* always just pass combat by throwing your skill cards at it. What this does is save you a card or two every round that an enemy shows up, which is well worth a play action and 2 resources at any point up to the last couple rounds. — Thatwasademo · 58
It seems that almost the negative reviews of this card don't consider the fact that you can have 2 Sharpshooter in play at the same time, which is something that you can't do with Well Connected, for example. I played a game with Winifred, with 6 total firearm cards, and Sharpshooter. It was really worth it, especially when I fought Nightgaunts with 1 Evade value. When I got 2 sharpshooter in place, the exhausting effect didn't matter anymore. But moreover, why do people think it has to be either Sharpshooter or Hard Knocks? I had both. In the end you can't just rely one 2 cards on a 33+ deck, even if you have the amazing card draw of Wini. By having different means to boost your attack, you can perform much more reliably. Sometimes instead of having both copies of Sharpshooter, I had one copy of it plus Hard Knocks, and I only used Hard Knocks if I needed to boost a second attack. Which didn't happen that often, as I mostly used committed cards in those cases to save resources and trigger Wini's ability. Is Sharpshooter the best card ever? No, but it's far from being the awful card that some other comments here depict it as. It is a bit overpriced for what it does, admittedly. It should have costed 2 XP instead, and that could have made it viable for Wendy too. — Killbray · 12357
I agree with this review — shruti · 1
I want to really emphasize how amazing this card is with Rogue guns that want you to over-succeed. Running a #Mauser C96? Great, you can earn back the cost of Sharpshooter in 2 turns, and have extra money left over. Running the old #.41 Derringer workhorse? The first time you over-succeed, the card action pays for itself, then enjoy your extra action each turn. The one-handed guns also synergize well with #Lockpicks, if you need a true flex. This card makes extra damage much more reliable with bigger guns like #Beretta or #Shotgun. And THEN we get to the part where additional bonuses to both strength and agility count. If after all that, you still aren't confident about over-succeeding? Go ahead, commit either feet or fists to the test. This card also broadens the range of skill icons you can commit to the test. — shruti · 1
Drawing it isn't a huge problem either. Wini probably draws her entire deck before the halfway point. If you're running Lucky Cigarette Case, you can tutor for it. — shruti · 1
Thank you, I read the other review and thought I was at the Twilight Zone or something. This card is solid, if you use it in the right deck, but that’s pretty much how this game goes, cards are only as good as your deckbuilding in the end of the day. — DakonBlackblade · 9
Showmanship

I'm wondering: is it possible to double up on this card's bonus and get +4 to all skills for one or more tests?

There's no limit on Showmanship's ability, so if you put multiple assets into play in the same round, you can apply the +2 bonus to each. But under normal circumstances you won't be "resolving a triggered ability" on more than one asset at a time.

But suppose you play Haste and, say, Shrivelling in the same turn, triggering Showmanship on both. Now activate Shrivelling twice (getting +2 from Showmanship each time), and then exhaust Haste to activate Shrivelling a third time. Do you get the +2 from using Showmanship on Shrivelling and the +2 from using it on Haste? I would think so, but I'm not sure.

Granted, this is a lot of effort to go to for an extra +2 on a single test, but maybe there are other ways of accomplishing the same thing that I haven't thought of. The best I could come up with was to use De Vermis Mysteriis to play Knowledge is Power (via Versatile) and activate Shrivelling as above ... but that's even more effort for the same minor benefit.

I think +2 is the maximum benefit. In this case, the resolution of Haste's triggered ability is to get the opportunity for a third action of a type, not to take that action, so there is no test to get a bonus on. So you would 1. Play Haste, 2. (probably) Use Dexter's reaction ability to overwrite something with Shrivelling, 3. Shrivel at +2, 4. Shrivel at +2, 5. reaction trigger Haste to get a 3rd activate action. 6. Shrivel at +2. trigger — LivefromBenefitSt · 1083
Not sure what that rogue "trigger quote is doing at the end there — LivefromBenefitSt · 1083
Hmm, I'm not so sure. Haste's effect is "Take another action [right now]", not "You may take an additional action [during this turn]". — RhialtoTheMarvellous · 7
Ah! Haste states that you take another action of that type. Since you aren't resolving a triggered ability on haste with this action, but rather resolving a triggered ability on shrivelling. You get the +2 for shrivelling but no more. — ironbrw · 17
Haste's reaction is itself a triggered ability, though: https://arkhamdb.com/rules#Abilities_Triggered "A triggered ability is any ability prefaced by either a <span class="icon-free" /> icon, a <span class="icon-reaction"></span> icon, or an <span class="icon-action"></span> icon." — RhialtoTheMarvellous · 7
Err, pardon my failed HTML ... — RhialtoTheMarvellous · 7