If you make a solemn vow to Carolyn to give her a piggyback for the rest of the evening while she whispers bible verse in your ears, you will find yourself much refreshed.

The usefulness of this card is limited by the fact you have to be at the same location at the tank or healer, but Safeguard does a ton to offset this. Because it's 0 cost and Fast, it's also a very polite inclusion in your deck, as you don't have to mulligan for it, as you know that most often you can draw it whenever and get it out.

I'm enjoying it a lot in Carolyn, as she likes centralising the party's horror, so she can deal with it on her own terms.

What happens to the Relic attached to Dr. Horowitz when she leaves play? I think its discarded.

Anyways there are some nice combinations like:

• Ornatebow not using any Handslots
• Like you can have Boxinggloves into play combinded with another Weaopen like Relic Blade.

If its really worth picking up the Ally-Slot + Dr. Horowitz is not allowed to die. I`m not sure.

So I am coming around on Silas, the same way I did on Mary, and for the same reason: more cards were released in their campaigns, and those cards play to their strengths.

Many new cards, like signum crucis (now 0xp), give you benefits before you commit them. That allows you to add a ton of bless tokens to the bag every round, either for one action or as part of the mythos phase, and with Drawing Thin, the numbers can get substantial. In a bless-heavy strategy, Unrelenting can either majorly increase your chances of success (Most of the tokens that would make you fail, including numerical tokens, out of the bag), or you can put additional blessings on it, draw cards, and let it ride.

Silas can supplement his stats in odd ways with level two Defiance, Steadfast, or advanced Guts/Manual dexterity. Want to spend money as fast as you make it? Use inspiring presence with Madame LeBranche to power either dark horse or the Mariner's compass. There’s even solo potential, with the compass, sharp vision, and Granny Orne, true understanding, or the survivor suite of fail-to-win.

I am playing with Silas and Ursula through TIC currently*, and speed is more important than the ability to dole out violence. Track shoes, quick thinking to grab enemies off of pals during their turn...it's Arkham at a sprint!

I’ve left my previous review below, but consider this one the most accurate.

*We won. Old review: [[[Silas is a signature character for the Innsmouth Conspiracy. For a cycle all about bless tokens, it’s currently hard to pin down if he can do much that’s more effective than William Yorrick.

Obviously, Marsh will have a better time with the frequent dex checks the campaign asks for. But six boxes into the game’s life, survivors have slim pickings in terms of weapons, and if you don’t buy the Stella set, you’re stuck with the old hunting rifle and that’s about it. (Silas could be confident with the bow, running shoes, Peter, and even Dark Horse, but he has no additional action economy to make the bow effective.)

Being able to second-guess skill checks is useful, but it’s extremely hard to build out combat versatility without guardian access. Your ability to boost your attack and to do extra damage is minimal.]]]

If you want to play as Silas, try the Eldritch Horror third edition expansion, where one of his items is a shirt that keeps getting torn off.

Looks like David Renfield has written his memoir ("A Doom of One's Own"?). Like David, this card becomes more powerful the more doom you add to it. Unlike David, it looks devilishly tricky to manage.

The advantages of the card are obvious. Unlike most Mystic attack cards, the Tome neither takes up an arcane slot nor relies on limited charges -- nor is it a one off event. The ability to fight with EITHER or opens the card up to more investigators, and may provide handy flexibility if you happen to be high on both stats (eg Norman Withers). And while the card is all about flirting with doom, you can always use it to plink an enemy for one damage and never add any doom at all -- maybe handy for finishing off an enemy you've softened up with Shrivelling. But of course, that's not what we're here for! We want to load this sucker up with doom and make as many +3 skill value, +3 damage attacks as we can. The problem, obviously, is that your scenario is going to be short-lived indeed if you simply binge-read the Abyssal Tome.

ABUSE IT 'N LOSE IT

The best way to work the Tome is to build it up and then get rid of it before the agenda advances. This can be done by playing another hand asset over it, sucking it back to your hand with Library Docent, discarding it with Dexter Drake's ability, or discarding it with some card like Sacrifice or Act of Desperation. If you want to keep it in play, Moonlight Ritual is there for you. Sounds easy enough: the problem is that it takes several turns to power up the Abyssal Tome. Even in an ideal situation, when you use the tome for the first time right after an agenda has advanced, and then use it the next two turns as well, you'd need the agenda to have a doom clock of at least 5 not to have advanced it early. And again, that's assuming you were able to use it every turn, no other doom appeared on the board, etc. In many if not most situations, you'll be looking to dispose of the tome before you've had a chance to fully charge it. Unless you're good at...

SPEEDREADING

There are two ways I know of to get two doom on the Tome in a single turn. Knowledge is Power lets you trigger the ability for a free action without exhausting the Tome, allowing you to use it for an action later in your turn. That's nice, but the lady who really loves this tome is the Misses of Abysses herself, Abigail Foreman. In this situation, she's as good as a Knowledge is Power every turn. The first turn you use her, you're looking at two attacks for a total of 5 damage -- all for one action! If you use her the next turn as well, that's two Abyssal Missiles for a total of 8 damage. Unfortunately, Knowledge is Power and Abigail Foreman are both cards, and the latter is level 4. Plenty of investigators can take Abyssal Tome and Knowledge is Power: Daisy Walker, Gloria Goldberg, Jim Culver, Luke Robinson, Marie Lambeau, Norman Withers. But only one, Daisy, can take Abyssal Tome and Abigail Foreman.

Many other cards besides the Abyssal Tome itself have been discussed here, and that's kinda the point. It'll take some commitment to make this card work. For best results, you need cards to help you ditch the Tome before it advances the agenda, and other cards to help you pile multiple doom in a single turn. AND, since you've invested all those card spots in doom-management, you probably want to get full value by including other doom-hounds in the deck, like David Renfield, Arcane Initiate, and maybe De Vermis Mysteriis. This is the kind of card that comes close to dictating an entire deck.

Is it all worth it? Especially when you can just, say, use a pair of blessedly simple Shrivellings for your damage dealing needs? I'm inclined to think an elaborate Abyssal build would prove finicky. Finicky, but fun! The best reason to run this card may be that you just like roleplaying a mystic who is tapping into dark forces for extraordinary power, forces that may end up proving difficult to control...

So, if I read this correctly this card does not interact with non-skill cards committed to the test. Makes you think how many skill cards you need to run in a Silas deck to reliably hit for 2 with this.