Deckbuilding w/ Alessandra, The Parley Rogue - Arkham Horror Investigator Discussion

[@leomoreira8737]

I'll be running Friends in low places to find my fine clothes and later add "trick" to help me find the parley cards too (you will probably want the word "spell" instead). Hopefully we will get more parley cards that help her investigate.

[@rupert7565]

How about bianca die katz as eco and an enemy to begile/power word? Also how are you running sparrow mask in her?

[@CiristheGecko]

Hemispheric Map could be a helpful way to get the brain boosts. 2 copies cost the same as Black Fan and you don't need to go as heavy into economy. Backpack is also a good way to find things. Can find the Map and the Fine Clothes and there are enough other items that it'll be nice. Map does compete with the Cigarette case, but early XP into Relic Hunter(s) to allow both. Sure the Map isn't always online, but that's not very common and it occasionally will give you +2.

[@RatherIncoherent]

First thought: Which card? A what now? Second thought: Actually not bad. I'm not sure if it'll be where I end up going, but it's 100% on the table.

[@fivifivia1146]

I'm not gonna lie, i never thought of Hem map. That actually sounds pretty damn good

[@martintomov7576]

Power Word no longer heals though. It's basically only useful for the fact it keeps monsters busy that can get you clues without tests, but you are at a -1 action per turn for it. It's a weird trade off that doesn't seem all that good to me, unless we are talking about major baddies that have a lot of negative effects to kill.

[@RatherIncoherent]

As I said, this card has entirely too much text. Losing the healing definitely makes power word less insane, but probably still worth.

[@martintomov7576]

@@RatherIncoherent well, after seeing the card in action in Edge of the Earth campaign, I cannot say I am impressed. We tried it on a mystic and it felt way too cumbersome. If you compare how many turns you have lost commanding monsters, it's probably more than it would take to kill them + discover clues the normal way. Assuming it takes some time to get 3 of them going. Only difference is you are forced into this playstyle of constantly having 2 turns per round instead of the normal 3a, which presents a whole new challenge. It might work on a rogue, but it's a card that definitely requires a lot of consideration, because it does look too good on the surface, but it's quite the investment and the returns end up feeling rather meh. Reminds me a bit of the meme snow dog build, where you invest a ton for an engine that's only sub-par in most situations.

[@radunicolaeburbea3875]

The title is interesting

[@shaxberd7211]

Maybe Alessandra is running those Fake Credentials after all. 🤷

[@RatherIncoherent]

Copy paste, change the details, whoops missed the title. Thanks much lol

[@TheShanicpower]

Description is quite interesting too.

[@DakonBlackblade2]

Persuasion is tabooed, it's any non-weakness enemy now.

[@Bsli81]

I've played a lot of test scenarios (probably 30+) with Alessandra, ran half a Carcosa with her as well. I ABSOLUTLY love her theme, love rogues, so she is S in that regards for me. My issue is (and the reason the Carcosa run was cut in half in the asylum) she is VERY slow setup and very heavy on setup. Even with Beguile you need an enemy, you need fine clothes, and you need Beguile itself. Now if you add parley cards that are willpower related, and cards that boost willpower, you will have an even slower setup. My problem is that with Power word, you are banking your whole upgrade path and deck on getting fine clothes, an enemy, power word, 20 money, Geas and 10 exp to do what you want to do. In the other version you are banking 10 exp on you being able to make 3v1 tests. So far I feel like she is better of with preparing for scenarios where she doesn't have enemies or fine clothes out. But as the Carcosa experiment shows that doesn't work all the time either. I still want to find a reason on why to play her, other than "I just like her theme". Since I play exclusively 2handed solo, or 2 player my problem is its hard to find a reason to play her instead of Trish tbh. They compete for a VERY similar role, and the only advantage I see is the 3 willpower and that she can play Confound. Other than that, Trish can do everything she can, just better :( Not to mention Zamacona is a tough weakness compared to Shadow Agents. (destroyed my first couple of turns at The Last King)

[@ren6175]

Why does she have to take Power Word? I think you’re leaning too hard into the Parley. To me she plays better as a rogue with Thief Kit, Lola Santiago, and Leo Deluca. Then you manage enemies with Beguile and use Parley Events as bonus actions when appropriate.

[@RatherIncoherent]

If I can convert that parley into a clue/round, the character is top tier. If I can't do that, then she's probably pretty good. It's because I see her that way that I'm leaning towards parley=clues consistently as the deckbuilding puzzle to solve. I am 100% sure I can just make a big money deck with 4 cards swapped to the best parley events and she'll be good, but I'm also convinced that she can do better if she consistently gets meaningful parley value.

[@ren6175]

Yeah. Totally fair point. I’m just afraid she will get shoved into this Power Word mold and I hate that card. I think her Beguile replaces her need for Power Word.

[@Bsli81]

@@RatherIncoherentI don't think you need to convert it to a clue/round. Not with THAT much work, I have a feeling you'll lose way more actions with the build up than what it will bring in. Beguile is a better Power Word IMO. She is already VERY strong if fine clothes and Beguile is on the table. Also if you convert the free action to 1 clue every turn, you are trying to compete with Trish and bound to lose IMO. You should lean into what she can not do, and that's having reliable ways to parley to proc Snitch, and Confound. If you can fire off Snitch 3 times and Confound once a scenario I think she has enough boost (with Beguile out to get an extra clue a couple of turns). With that said the number of times I got an Autofail on my first test on Beguile is way too high :D So I think she needs a way to get Beguile and Fine clothes and something to do while she doesn't have enemies out. I experimented in the first iteration of the deck with Kicking the hornets nest for a couple of tries, but it usually ended up clogging my hand :(

[@martintomov7576]

I am fairly certain she will be better off not having to sink a ton of exp into Power Word. The card is all over the place. It promises you to turn huge fight/HP baddies into auto-success clue gathering machines. The reality is basically locks you into spending an action every turn to exhaust a bunch of 2-3 HP little somethings that could have been easily dispatched anyway. Greatly depends on the campaign you are playing, but that's my experience with Edge of the Earth.