The Man in the Pallid Mask

Not a review, more FAQ. Anwser from Matt Newman: Corpse Dweller will discard The Man in the Pallid Mask, since he is a humanoid enemy. Note that this does not count as ‘defeating’ the Man in the Pallid Mask for the purposes of chasing the stranger though.

Time Warp

"It's just a jump to the left

And then a step to the right

With your hands on your hips

You bring your knees in tight

But it's the pelvic thrust

That really drives you insane

Let's do the Time Warp again

Let's do the Time Warp again"

- The Rocky Horror Picture Show

(Someone had to post it...)

AndyB · 955
Calling in Favors

Looking to use this in a Lola Barns deck, but I am not sure how it interacts with her role restriction.

Question: Can Lola Barns play a non-neutral ally that does not match her current role using Calling in Favors?

Daerthalus · 16
Lola's card restriction prevents her from playing cards that do not match her role. Calling in Favors lets you "search your deck for an Ally and play it". That's a pretty clear interaction to me. — pneuma08 · 26
Any card that says "put into play" works with lola regardless of class (like flare), but cards that say "play" do not. — crayne · 3
Jenny Hayes cant do that. — aramhorror · 709
"I'll see you in hell!"

Should you take trauma to defeat non-elite enemies? Probably not. As a Guardian you will very rarely need to take such drastic measures to defeat these kinds of enemies. Every once in a blue moon you'll be caught in a gigantic swarm of enemies, and maybe playing this would help your teammates win a scenario. But that's incredibly rare. The vast majority of this time, this event is not going to help the team win. And remember that many scenarios impose really nasty penalties on defeated investigators, which can make playing this event even more dangerous than it first appears. The physical trauma might not be the full extent of the punishment you take for activating this event.

So what's the point of this card? I see two possible upsides. First, it has two Combat icons, which is generally what Guardians most want to see. I wouldn't run this over Overpower or Unexpected Courage, both of which offer extra perks that are a heck of a lot more useful than I'll see you in hell!'s event, but Guardians who are looking to hit more reliably (probably on higher levels) could run this in addition. I think the Guardian card pool is deep enough that you can probably do better, but still, there are worse things to have in your deck than a cheap +2 bonus to one Combat check.

The second way you could possibly use this card is to avoid mental trauma. Guardians tend to have a lot of health and not very much sanity, so they greatly prefer physical over mental trauma. So, theoretically, you could play this card if you think you're about to die from sanity loss, and instead take the more desirable trauma type (perhaps taking out an enemy or two in the bargain.) This is a cute idea, but I think in practice you would almost always be better off just taking more horror healing cards if you're that worried about mental trauma.

All in all, I don't think this card is all that useful as things currently stand. Its theme is pretty cool, though.

CaiusDrewart · 3185
Perhaps, in situations where you are going to get defeated anyway, it might be worth having at least one of - just to sell your hide as expensively as you can. — H0tl1ne · 83
There is at least one scenario where a lot of enemies can suddenly spawn in one location, depending on how you performed in the previous scenario... — Goodlake · 37
I'm considering including this in a Calvin Wright deck as an alternative to Overpower. Yes, you lose the card draw which will almost always be more useful but Calvin is one of the few investigators who doesn't mind starting with trauma. — franzel · 22
Arcane Insight

This card shares some similarities with Flashlight: It has 3 charges and reduces shroud by 2. However it costs 4 XP, is a free action and can also help other investigators.

It's so much better:

  • Flashlight stacks with this card, which makes it very powerful on Hard and Expert, as you can reduce shroud 4 to 0, for nearly auto success (only auto fail)
  • Any test that is based on shroud benefits here (some enemies depend on local shroud, like spoiler)
  • As a Spell, can be searched with Arcane Initiate (only Daisy Walker at this time)
  • Can be used to trigger Rex Murphys ability more often
  • Can be Recharged

  • Not sure about it, but i think if several players have this card at same location, they can stack it's effect. It think the limit on the card is player specific, otherwise i'd have to be "Group Limit once per turn"
Django · 5161
Akachi and Marie can use it, very good for Akachi. — Kamalisk · 335
and Rex can take Arcane Initiate, though he has less reason to. — Difrakt · 1325
Also, Daisy can recharge it via the Book of Shadows (1). That's a tempting looking combo right there. She could become a sort of portable universal flashlight.... — AndyB · 955
Im quite sure it only affect your own turn. Since in the Round Sequence helper card, it says each investigators take a turn. Also this card doesnt say until the end of this phase. — Euruzilys · 14
Disregard my previous comment. Didnt occur to me that multiple investigators can activate their own in the same active investigator turn. This could really help bringing down high shroud location to nothing and quickly drain all clues dry. — Euruzilys · 14
I never noticed this before until now, but the card says "Your location" gets -2 shroud, so the shroud reduction can work to help another investigator by reducing the shroud, but it has to be at your location. I'd previously always read it as "Their location gets..." — slothgodfather · 7
This actually combos pretty well with all xp versions of Archaic Glyphs. That might actually be worth it. Recently I wanted to evade a boss enemy as Ursula, but the shroud was too high for it to be worth using Prophecy Foretold with my extra action. This could have saved me an action in that case. — Zinjanthropus · 230
Card says you activate it on your turn. It lasts till your turn ends. Thus it can’t stack. — Gulnaga · 358
If you happen to get 2 copies out at once, is the restriction per copy of the card? In other words, could you free trigger both to lower the ground by 4? — soakman · 37
@Gulnaga You're incorrect. That activation is a free trigger which can be used "while AN investigator is taking their turn". @soakman: The rules on limits state "Each instance of an ability with such a limit may be initiated X times during the designated period." In this case, X equals once per turn, for each instance (copy of the card). So yes, if there are multiple copies in play, whether being used by one or multiple investigators, they can be stacked. — MiskatonicFrosh · 344