Tristan Botley
Fixer for Hire

Здобуток. Ally

Ally. Criminal. Cursed.

Cost: 5. XP: 2.

Спритник
Health: 3. Sanity: 2.

After your turn begins: Choose two skills. Until the start of your next turn, you get +1 to each of those skills.

After any skill test ends in which a total of 3 or more or tokens were revealed: Play Tristan Botley from your hand, at no cost.

"Nothin's ever gonna be the same, Vito."
David Hovey
Horror in High Gear #194.
Tristan Botley

FAQs

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Reviews

Tristan is expensive, but Preston doesn’t mind expensive. For some, he can function simply as a Darkhorse that provides soak. (And they stack.) But the rogue card people associate most with two stats is lockpicks, which Finn and Trish would appreciate a perma +2 with. Playing him for free will require a table wide commitment to fill in the bag, or not trap all the tokens for other uses. At worst, it’s a little upside when someone pulls three blessed tokens in a row. If someone has two Favors in play, the trigger becomes “when a test involves a blessed or cursed symbol“ which is inevitable.

MrGoldbee · 1389
Good in Sefina if you're running a lot of the Mystic and Rogue stat-adding events. Olive can help you trigger his reaction ability. LCC (3) can reward you for overachieving — Zinjanthropus · 223
A stabby-shooty-Dexter may like this to get a rare +1Will / +1Combat combo, if you prefer that over the +1 stat / (utility ability) that most of his allies offer. — HanoverFist · 659
The problem with Tristan and Lockpicks is that Lola Santiago already provides the two stats you need. Tristan might have an added 3XP tax on him in many Rogues for that reason(Charisma). However, someone like Leo Anderson might really like Tristan. — StyxTBeuford · 12918
In an all Rogue Party, Lola's taken! — MrGoldbee · 1389
Interesting econ card when paired with Calling in Favors? — dubcity566 · 108
Smart, Dub! — MrGoldbee · 1389

In case you haven't noticed, this guy does not have an ally slot symbol printed on him. Which makes him really great in my opinion. Yeah he is expensive, but you can pair him with other allies without needing charisma

flooze · 7
Dunno where arkhamdb gets its card images, but he does have ally slot in the release article (he didn't when the article first came out but it was fixed a few days later) and I believe he does have an ally slot in print. So I'm afraid he does take an ally slot — NarkasisBroon · 10
I check my copy, and he has ally slot. I guess that the draft omited his slot and fixed, but draft version was upload at cardgamedb. — elkeinkrad · 468
Maxime confirmed he’s supposed to have one as well — StyxTBeuford · 12918
Well it would have been too much I guess. Hopefully someone here can change the image — flooze · 7

Some rough math on Tristan's reaction ability, ignoring bag-manipulation/Favor/Covenant/etc effects:

With 10 total bless/curse remaining in bag during the current test, there's about a 5% chance of triggering him.

With 15 total, there's about a 10% chance.

With all 20 in the bag, there's about a 15% chance.

(For a base 16-17 token bag.)

===

(Personally, I've only ever seen him get played full-price, but even then the effect is quite strong and flexible, and is an especially reasonable choice for small-collection investigators looking for a generically-useful ally.)

anaphysik · 94
You can somewhat engineer it using cards like Favor of the Sun/Moon — StyxTBeuford · 12918
Also if it's 5% per test the investigators take that adds up quickly. There's a better than 50% chance you will be able to put him in for free over 14 tests. Which in for player is potentially just like 2 turns — NarkasisBroon · 10
Only assuming you don't draw any bless or curses during the 14 tests except the one you succeeded on. In practice you'll be depleting the blesses and curses in 1s and 2s. — suika · 9254
@suika Correct, which is why I focused on a simple at-this-very moment calculation. If the group can consistently keep the bag stocked with both bless and curse (keeping it stocked with only one is worse odds than relying on Elder Sign / Autofail on your tests), THEN repeated-test probabilities play a role. But that's a vastly more complicated analysis. — anaphysik · 94
It’s relevant though because groups can very easily keep the bag filled. — StyxTBeuford · 12918
My group saw him played for free 3/4 scenarios he was in. In 4 player with dedicated bless and curse tech, he will show up with a little patience. — LaRoix · 1628

With the release of Parallel Jim and the introduction of his SPIRIT DECK! I think it's worth considering Tristan in a new way. Para Jim provides curse payoff by recharging your assets and when you're going all in on Curse you may get a free play of Tristan.

However, I want to talk about the spirit deck. Every turn, Jim flips the top card and puts it into play WITHOUT PAYING ITS COST. Granted, if you're ever at 4 allies in play attached to The Beyond you're likely to discard him. Even so, you get to put him into play for nothing and get a +1 to two skills of your choice.

We can actually game this with allies like Beat Cop, Stray Cat, Mysterious Raven, and Priest of Two Faiths whom we can discard on command we can stretch the amount of time Tristan is in play for.

So for parallel Jim I'd say this: If you're going all in on curse, main deck this man and his dog, if you're NOT going all in on curse, turn him and his dog into helpful ghosts!

Neifarious · 41