I am trying to think if the -2 sanity is even a downside of the card. I think that it is almost purely beneficial. When you would be defeated you lose the asset of course, but then heal 2 horror. This means that you could easily be taking more horror than you have left, off say a 'rotting remains' or something. All the extra horror you would take just now goes out the window and you reset back to 2. It at a minimum breaks itself even and in other cases prevents/protects you from other horror that you would have suffered. It also enables things like the desperate cards faster. It seems like a good card for some investigators.

*edit: It is not instead of. You would still take whatever horror is coming to you. You just lose the asset and heal 2 and maybe you still perish.

It comes down to whether it is worth the cost I guess. Marie Courbeau doesn't mind those two stats and neither does Daisy.

The downside to the -2 sanity is that if something forces you to discard/lose the card before you would be defeated by horror, you don't get that 2 sanity back. It's an item and a charm, so it's possible that mythos cards like corrosion could make you lose the card prematurely.

I am trying to think if the -2 sanity is even a downside of the card. I think that it is almost purely beneficial. When you would be defeated you lose the asset of course, but then heal 2 horror. This means that you could easily be taking more horror than you have left, off say a 'rotting remains' or something. All the extra horror you would take just now goes out the window and you reset back to 2. It at a minimum breaks itself even and in other cases prevents/protects you from other horror that you would have suffered. It also enables things like the desperate cards faster. It seems like a good card for some investigators.

*edit: It is not instead of. You would still take whatever horror is coming to you. You just lose the asset and heal 2 and maybe you still perish.

It comes down to whether it is worth the cost I guess. Marie Courbeau doesn't mind those two stats and neither does Daisy.

 

I don't think the -2 sanity is supposed to be a downside in the way you're thinking, but it is indeed a downside. You get to have St.Hubert's key for as long as you can not die from horror. The second you die from horror you lose St. Hubert's key and regain some sanity. It's a very video game like mechanic: Power up until you take a bunch of horror, then regain sanity and go back to being normal. I hope we get to see more cards like this moving forward.

I like it thematically. St. Huberts key was a trinket of sorts that was used to cauterize fresh animal bites to prevent rabies. It is literally used to burn a wound closed to prevent infection (hence the -2 sanity from the pain as you cauterize yourself), and in turn it gives you clarity (willpower). What I don't really get is the intellect boost. I mean, it needs to better than a Holy Rosary to be useful, but I would have rather seen a +2 to will or something. Not sure why carrying one of these with you would boost your intellect.