Wendy Adams - Lone Wolf Cluever

Below are the semi-organized thoughts that went through my head while I was putting this deck together. I've used this for the first scenario of Carcosa and the deck treated me very well.

Scrapper

Rather than take up a deck spot w/ Scrapper, just add it as an upgraded card. That way you don't need to pay to add a different level 0 card.

OR

Take that as an opportunity to add Cat Burglar

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Leo DeLuca vs Other Allies and the value of going heavy on evade abilities

I love the extra action LDL gives--it has served me very well in the past. However, other allies boost stats: Granny Orne gives +1 to a failed test (so effectively adds +1 across the board), Pete Sylvestre adds +1 to evade (and +1 to brain in the upgraded version, Cat Burglar gives +1 to evade and allows automatic disengagement and movement afterwards (that's an automatic success + an extra action). Also, LDL is very expensive--even his upgraded version is still 5 resources!

The point here is that in this deck Wendy is the clue-finder but is also well-positioned to be a great evader. That second trait should be leaned in to.

Bonus: Scrapper + Peter Sylvestre/Cat Burglar = 6 evade (also worth noting that Scrapper(3) has great synergy w/ Lone Wolf). Also, Scrapper helps out Lockpicks, effectively added +1 Book when Lockpicks is used. Between Granny Orne, Scrapper, and Lockpicks, Wendy could effectively investigate at 9 (10 w/ updated Granny Orne, 11 with both updated Granny Orne and Cat Burglar/Peter Sylvestre). Only an auto-fail could take that down, and even a -5 would still keep me from breaking Lockpicks on most locations

Heavy Evade Bonuses

• By shoring up evade, Survival Instinct becomes more viable
• Waylay becomes very powerful (tho I think that makes more sense in solo-mode
• Scrapper also increases evade, which will also then boost Lockpicks.

Newspaper vs Flashlight

Because of Lone Wolf, Wendy can afford more expensive cards. Since Flashlight can always be used, seems like the better route in this deck.

Cunning Distraction vs Survival Instinct vs Elusive w/ Cat Burglar"

• Once Cat Burglar enters the deck, Cunning Distraction, Survival Instinct, and Elusive lose their power.
• Cunning distraction is also quite expensive
• Considering the cost of added level 0, there's an argument to be made for including Waylay instead of Survival Instinct, Cunning Distraction, or Elusive within the context of having a high evade value and Cat Burglar: CB does what Cunning Distraction does automatically as an action; also, high evade from CB+GO or GO+PS means that making use of Waylay is highly viable (just needs two subsequent
• Cunning Distraction + Waylay is the ultimate, but that costs 8 resources.
• Survival Instinct + Waylay is really good too
• Elusive is automatic, but becomes redundant w/ Cat Burglar
• Maybe replace Cunning Distraction w/ 1x Survival Instinct
• Once Cat Burglar is in the mix, replace 1x Elusive w/ 1x Survival Instinct (2) to avoid the extra XP cost (and eventually upgrade the other survival instinct). Elusive still adds +1 evade if committed instead of played. Or maybe add Bait and Switch.
• Maybe pay the 1xp to add Burglary in place of 1x Elusive
• Both Cunning Distraction and Survival Instinct give +1 to evade. In that respect, even tho CD is very expensive, it could come in more handily than SI.
• -Once Cat Burglar is in the mix, remove 2x Elusive and add 2x Survival Instinct
• -Cunning Distraction is effectively Dynamite Blast for the Survivor class
• -If CD is just too expensive, find a way to include Burglary into the deck (maybe in place of 1x Survival Instinct)
• The reality is that once Charisma is obtained and two allies are in play, Survival Instinct will be less important, esp w/ Cat Burglar
• Here's the path: upgrade Peter Sylvestre to Cat Burglar(1), obtain Charisma, add Burglary in place of 1x Elusive, add either Survival Instinct (1) or a second Cunning Distraction in place of 1x Elusive."
• -This path synergizes w/ Waylay and reduces redundancies.
• -This path also synergizes w/ Scrapper/(3)
• -However, it adds undue XP costs: 1 XP for second Cunning Distraction (0) and 1 XP for Burglary (0)
• -Maybe it's better just to start w/ these cards, or at least remove 1x guts and add 1x Cunning Distraction (for a total of 2)

Burglary and Efficiency of Investigating

If Wendy ends up being extremely efficient at investigating, Burglary would be a great way to gain resources to pay for cards like Cunning Distraction and Waylay.

Granny Orne (3) vs Peter Sylvestre (2) and Cat Burglar (1)

• Granny Orne is expensive not only in terms of experience but also resources. However, she does add an ongoing +2 to book (effectively) once per round and effectively +1 to evade (again, only once per round)
• The question is whether or not this will have an impact in the context of this deck. Wendy's role is cluever and so optimizing book should be the route (instead of evade).
• However, Lockpicks automatically adds 4 to investigate because of Wendy’s evade value, meaning that with just that one card Wendy investigates at 7. Add in Flashlight or Old Keyring and that becomes 9. Add in Peter Sylvester and Cat Burglar and that goes to 11. 11 is pretty high as it is, so adding another +2 (for a total of 12) to book may not be necessary, while adding another +1 to evade could be extremely useful. Tho it’s worth keeping in mind these high values are only once per round. Realistically, 2 out of 3 investigates will only be at 6.
• -It's worth pointing out, tho, that Granny Orne's ability adds +1 to any failed test, so that means that she is also effectively +1 to evade.
• -It's also worth pointing out that in Standard difficulty, the maximum negative modifier is typically about -5 (obviously auto-fail is a different story), so even if I were to investigate a location with shroud value of 6, 11 would still get the job done.
• -However, that ability can only be used once per round
• Benefits to high evade: Burglary becomes more viable, which in turn makes Scrapper more viable, which makes evading more viable. It also makes Cunning Distraction and Waylay more viable.
• Ultimately, it's a toss up but if I ever use this deck in a campaign, I would start with Granny and Pete, upgrade Pete, and replace Granny with Cat Burglar, esp since Cat Burglar has that great special action.
• The question is whether or not Cat Burglar’s special effect is worth it vs getting +1 to Book w/ the upgraded version (and an additional +1 once per round)
• Ultimately, maximizing Investigate potential is huge, but being able to easily evade is not only important, but could also come in extremely handily.
• Also worth noting: cat burglar adds +1 evade, so once per round it effectively adds +1 Investigate because of Lock Picks
• After adding Cat Burglar, remove Elusive and add Bait and Switch
• Granny Orne's upgrade seems hard to pass up because of the +1 Book. With that in mind it comes down to the special traits of Peter Sylvestre and Cat Burglar: instant evade plus move or heal horror? The instant evade plus move means that Wendy can effectively bypass a location with enemies. This could speed up the game a lot. Healing horror is fantastic too, tho. Because of Wendy's medium-level sanity and access to allies with decent sanity, Cat Burglar wins. Also, this frees up Peter Sylvestre to be used by other players.

Extra Burglary Thoughts

• In some ways doesn't make sense: 2 actions plus one resource to gain 3 resources (for a net of 2 resources). Well, you can gain 2 resources w/ 2 actions and don't need to worry about the test.
• In this context, Burglary is only worth it if it gets used at least twice: 3 actions plus one resource for 6 resources (for a net of 5 resources). I.e., 2 actions were potentially saved.
• -At three uses this becomes 4 actions plus one resource for 9 resources (for a net of 8 resources). i.e., four actions were potentially saved
• With Lockpicks in play and investigating a 1 or 2 shroud location, pretty much only an auto-fail would keep Burglary from working.
• With Scrapper(3) in the mix, Burglary could help boost Wendy's ability to investigate (if Lockpicks is in play) or evade

Upgrade Route

• 2x Lockpicks → Lockpicks (1)
• 2x Peter Sylvestre → 2x Cat Burglar(1) or 2x Peter Sylvestre(2) (depends on preferences and what other investigators are in play)
• 1x Charisma (3)
• 2x Granny Orne → 2x Granny Orne (3) or 2x Cat Burglar (1)
• 2x Lucky → Lucky (2) → Lucky (3)
• Add Scrapper (3)
• 2x Look What I found → Look What I Found (2)
• 1x Elusive → 1x Burglary (2) (could go for just Burglary(0) and pay 1 XP)
• 1x Elusive → 1x Cunning Distraction (1 XP)
• 1x Guts → 1x Waylay (0, 1XP) (Cunning Distraction is effectively the same as Guts when committed, so it wouldn't be strictly necessary to have Guts in this deck. Also, how often will it be possible to use CD more than once in a round? BUT having it available offers that possibility). Also, once Lucky is fully upgraded, it then also functions like Guts (but only needs to be committed to a failed test)
• -Oh! And both CD and Waylay are events, which means that Wendy's special ability can be activated w/ them (which isn't possible with Guts).

Total XP: 25–27 (depending on allies taken) (For context, while playing through Night of the Zealot I accumulated 20 XP for all three scenarios. This may or may not be normal, but gives an idea of what is possible within 3 scenarios of a campaign.)