I find it hard to believe that no one has written a review of this, but here we are. It's probably best compared to the .45 Automatic, since that's where the game design was when they came out. Same ammo, bonus, and damage, but the .38 is 1 resource cheaper and has a chance at +2. If I am reading the FAQ right, the critical language is "on your location," so clues on enemies, cards attached to the location, the investigator, etc do not count for the boost. Anyway, it's a nice gun, especially in resource-starved Roland. However, nice guns are pretty common, and this one pairs with one of the nastier signature weaknesses, so is it worth it?

The "book" signatures are less good and less bad , so they are probably the choice for the risk averse. People who are willing to gamble with Roland's shaky Sanity might be satisfied with the "box" signatures or go for both sets.

This card, already struggling on release for anyone who wasn't Daisy, seems basically dead now. There are just so many other tomes and actions to take that seem more interesting and/or useful, even for Daisy. In a recent Card of the Day on Reddit over 40 different comments found slightly different ways to state how little they thought of this card. (Apologies to those just getting into the game, to whom probably none of this will apply.)

To me, this calls for an intervention.

My challenge: either legitimately come up for a decent use for the card as-is and make or have made a deck with it, or (more likely?) come up with a redesign.

I'll start with a redesign:

Action: Choose an investigator at your location and test [book (3)]. If you succeed, move 1 damage from that investigator to an enemy at your location. If you fail, move 1 damage from that investigator to an ally at your location. "Physician, heal thyself"

I'm not going to say it's any good, but it's much more interesting! Please critique, but the rule is, if you do, you have to propose your own!

Fancy duelists might kill me, but this is an offhanded blade. Unless multiple people are filling the bag with bless tokens every turn, your odds won’t go above ~40% of getting that extra damage. But if you’re a guardian with a gun or mystic blade, Yorrick with an axe, or have vicious blows...You can finish off an enemy and make the world just a little bit easier to deal with, every turn.

And if you’re rocking ancient covenant somewhere on the team, you make the world even better for yourself. When the bag is good, you can start out with the blade as a first hit, hope for the bonus damage, and strike again to replace the token.

Can’t wait to see the upgraded version.

This is a failure card that the queen of failure, Stella, only wants in certain circumstances.

Here’s when it’s most useful:

-You’re playing with characters who put a lot of curse tokens in the bag,

-You’re in a big group and other people will be using the bag enough to drain the blesses;

-It’s your third action and your fourth action won’t involve a skill test. (Maybe you’re doing a track shoes test with drawing thin.)

Probably not the best pick, but Silas can make good use of this card. Throw it in with another card at a skill check. If you succeed, take back the predestined. If you fail, take back that useful skill card. With ancient covenant, each of those tokens might be a future success. Predestiny indeed.

Since the reviews of this character were close to the game's release, they don’t mention the absolute perfect partner for Agnes: Carolyn Fern. In a duo that’s closer to a psych study than an adventuring party, the waitress can take horror four times a turn and the therapist can keep up and grow rich. (Every phase? Yes, because of the quick trigger of forbidden knowledge, and the fact you can have two. As well as pain pills. Of course, you won’t have to do this every turn unless you have a truly wretched encounter deck, bonded enemies, and weaknesses that spawn foes.)

If you’re going this route, ancient stones and solemn vows, as well as the big man on campus, allow a tremendous amount of healing. The new book of psalms means you can even fill the bag with beneficial tokens while getting paid.

It’s a breath of fresh air if you’ve ever played Agnes before, being torn between the horror you get from the encounter deck, shriveling, and enemies, and your natural urge to use your power. Send your foes packing as you spin into your delusions of being an ancient witch from an era undreamed of.

(For a really nifty combo, you can use dark horse and the resources Carolyn gives you to play costly cards on your turn, and get plus one versus anything in the encounter deck. It also gives you an outside chance of passing agility checks, which most campaigns have a few of.)

The duo can easily become a trio or quartet, but fill your ranks with saner investigators. You’re going to need a lot of personalized attention, and remember a therapist’s hour only lasts 50 minutes.