Arkham Horror Base Set: Seekers

HAL, sing us to the next character!




Our lead Seeker is a bit less spell-focused than she was in her old incarnations in previous games, and more sorta general-supernatural malarkey savvy. Which is fine, because she's still the best investigator in the game: 3/5/2/2 is awesome stats if you're planning to find you a heap'o tasty clues and maybe cast a spell now and then. What it's not, however, is geared towards fighting of any kind. This is someone who desperately needs some board build-up to handle any potential fight, because she's not doing it on her stats. Even worse, her 5/9 durability is horrible but in a sort of mirror-universe way that Roland's same spread is horrible for a fighter -- critters tend to stress both sides of your durability, and having one drastically lower than the other means you actually can't handle many fights; at least Roland can usually kill them before he takes the damage.

Her base ability is awesome, as free actions only can be, but it means you're going to want a bunch of Tomes in your deck to use, which seems like a low cost to pay for Daisy fans. As she's definitely not going to be picking up spare monsters to kill or stun, this actually means she's free to draw through her deck until she gets the gear she needs to start being a powerhouse in everything else beyond clue gathering. But let's not forget that, in the end, getting clues is how you win. Daisy is a victory machine. The job of the other characters is to protect her while she power-slams her way through the most Shrouded of locations to get the clues you need to slam shut the case before the Agenda advances to nasty levels. Her Elder Sign ability is even more silly than most in that it won't even let her potentially crit into a badly-needed Hail Mary skill test for a win, but at least it adds another 0 to her CHAOS BAG!!!, as well as reasonably expecting a 2 card draw on top of it.

Her rear text informs us that she's secondary Mystic, which means she can actually use Willpower icons actively, instead of passively waiting for the encounter deck to throw them at her. And it means she'll be looking for spells as her primary way to deal with the monsters her honor guard foolishly let through to harass the high lord of game winning.



It's another neutral signature item. It's probably costed appropriately, and as always with signature cards has a great set of commitment icons, but much like the Heirloom of Hyperborea, it doesn't do anything on its own. This LCG is a race, and while letting Daisy transform into a Hindu deity of book-holding will be useful, it still has a very small opportunity cost to play it. But it reminds Daisy players to PUT TOMES IN HER DECK, and as such serves its purpose. I'd feel free to discard it for a clutch commitment unless you already have 2 tomes in your hand when you draw it, but it definitely enables shenanigans when in play. And, obviously, it will become more useful as more Tomes are printed.



Daisy's signature weakness is thematic, but more punishing for her than many other ones (compare it to Skids' Hospital Debts, for instance). Thanks to having a Revelation it instant-plays itself, it uses up a hand slot for her tomes (potentially trashing another, useful, tome if her hands were full when it was drawn), and it negates her Elder Signs...which is whatever, not nearly as annoying as the rest of the card (a base 1/16 chance of Elder Signage just means abilities based off them just can't be seen as all that influential unless they're truly game changing possibilities). And then Daisy has to take three sweet, vital ACTIONS to inflict 3 Horror on herself to get rid of the stupid thing (well, 2 and her free Tome action, but, still).

If you want proof that Seekers are your win engine, just compare how horrible this is versus Cover Up or Hospital Debts. Blank a turn, do 33% kill damage to yourself, and lose half-ish of your signature tome slots. This weakness makes Daisy *pay*.

However! Just how bad is it to keep it in play? It doesn't muck up her future games, like Cover Up or Skids' debt. It doesn't advance the Doom clock. Its main passive effect is to nuke her Elder Sign draws, which is a penalty, but it turns her from a 1/16 to a 1/8 chance of instant failing from the CHAOS BAG!!!. This is bad. But it's not game-ending bad. That is a known risk you can mitigate and work around, especially if time is tight and Daisy can't take a whole turn (or three Horror!) to clear the thing. It also passively squats in a hand slot, which eats up 50% (or 25%, with her Tote Bag) of her Tome possibilities, which is also bad, but depending on what she's drawn it might not even be noticeable (especially if her Tote Bag is out).

Finally, and most importantly, it does nothing to stop Daisy's main job, which is clue extraction. This is a weakness which a bold Daisy can work around if needed. I approve of a weakness that gives the player such a good, solid choice of risk/benefit options. And, of course, as a tome, Daisy does get a free action to pay the damn thing off...but it's still basically a whole sunk turn.

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Seekers are the investigators of Arkham Horrror LCG. Investigation gets clues. You spend clues to win. SEEKERS WIN THE GAME. Fundamentally, the job of all other character classes is crisis management while the Seekers get clues to cruise to an easy win.

The two starting Seekers are Daisy (main), and Roland (secondary). This is rather important in game spread terms, in that Roland, the best fighter, is also the second-best investigator. Do not neglect this aspect of him! However, many of the powerful Seeker cards are items that use up slots that Roland will honestly also need for weapons, so it can be an interesting choice for our Agency Fed.

Anyway, the cards.



This card is...well, it's free to play and has three icons, which is always a good start. Then we read the text.

Look, Barricade is about as situational as it gets. It can absolutely and wonderfully block a key location off from bad guys being pushed through it by Agenda effects. It stops most Hunters cold. It supposedly sets up a safe room where Daisy can poke and prod lazy, low-slung clues as long as she wants. But in reality?

If you're not in the key location that the plot requires, it's useless. If the monsters being drawn are not Hunters, or are being killed straight up by Roland or Agnes or someone, it's useless. If the monsters just AREN'T there, because the encounter deck shuffle decides the next eight investigator draws are all Treacheries, it's useless. If you draw a monster while inside the room, it's useless -- the monster will appear right on top of you! That's a LOT of downside to this thing. And Roland can't even really use it to wall off a corridor and force Hunting monsters to him, because if he leaves the room, down goes the Barricade!

Look, if you're happy with a card this extremely situational, put it in your deck. It's quite good at what it does, but what it does just won't matter in most game states. It is, we must remember, a three icon card for commitment, which is great (yes, it has the dreaded Willpower icon. Willpower icons go up in value when there's a lot of other icons in the card, because then they add versatility, and Daisy wants some anyway, because she's only a dabbler at spell-casting). I will note one very useful and great use of this card. Someone else is getting gobbled by far too many monsters sitting in their threat area. Daisy or Roland Barricade their room. The harried character runs through the Barricade, and all the monsters attached to them fall off and stew angrily in the outer room, because the Barricade falls only when characters LEAVE the room, not enter. That's an awesome ability, thematic and even cinematic ("Run for us! We'll open the door!"), and while the character in question is going to suffer a lot of attacks of opportunity, sometimes that's better than just being eaten.

Right now this card is so situational I can't see Roland taking it. Daisy might want it for the three icons plus possibility of it maybe being played. At least it's free to play.



So, only Daisy can get this, and it'll cost her 8 XP for a playset of two, and that looks like a pretty good deal to me. It has no icons, but who cares? Draw 3? For anyone in your space? Really? And Daisy is a character with a reasonably long set-up time for tome shenanigans to begin with? And it costs the high cost of no money to play? Wow.

I prefer this to Skids' Hot Streak for a few reasons:

• You can play it on other investigators.
• It's free to play; Hot Streak's 3 resource cost will screw you up some times
• When you're frantically top-decking looking for a solution, a card that draws you more cards (options) is generally more useful than a card that gives you more resources (fuel)
• It's fast. I didn't even realize Hot Streak took a full action until I just double-checked. Ouch.

It is lacking even a paltry Willpower icon, so there's that. Still, looks good in many builds.



The Seeker skill card is, unsurprisingly, maybe the best in the game. Intellect controls investigation, and investigation is how you win. With this, you increase your Intellect AND thereby gain more clues while investigating. This card is the reason Daisy exists, and I don't see why Roland wouldn't want two either. And it can help other players as well, if needed.



A 2 XP card with a reasonable cost for what it does. It has a great icon spread, it insta-kills monsters... Daisy likes this, a lot. And while Roland usually doesn't need help killing non-elite critters, this is a non-action kill that saves ammo and slots for him to fight tougher things, so it's also a reasonable consideration for him.

2/11/16 EDIT: Just as a small rules issue, don't forget that "discarding" an enemy, as the Amulet lets you do, doesn't trigger Roland's base ability to snarf up clues. Discarding is not defeating! Still a possibly good buy for Roland to save him actions against tougher enemies, however.



The good doctor is an amazing ally for both Seekers. It makes you a better investigator, and then pays you for investigating...which you were going to do anyway!

I cannot think of a reason for Daisy not to run this, especially as he's also ablative sacrifices for hungry monsters that sneak up on her. He's also great for Roland, but Roland does have a number of tricks to gain clues that aren't strictly investigating, so the need for Dr. Christopher falls a bit for the G-Man. Still an awesome use of a deck slot. Well worth the 4 dollars.



Ah, our first tome that Daisy actually wants to hold and caress. As a Level 2 card with a wild icon, this is great already. And for only 2 dollars, you get a repeatable +2 to any stat to anyone at your location? Remember, a +1 stat bonus is sufficient to effectively blank the average distribution of the standard CHAOS BAG!!! draw. This means you invest an action (or NO action, if you're Daisy!) to effectively blank the CHAOS BAG!!! as much as you can, and then your target gets the bonus for the WHOLE PHASE. Sweet crikey! Wendy will drink to that!

As a mega-tome of awesome and fearful aspect, this is pretty much mandatory it seems for experienced Daisys. Roland gives up a weapon slot for this, but it's a pretty easy sell for me; the utility of +2 to anything to anyone is so damn good I think he should consider it. Do note that Daisy in Goddess of Book Aspect Manifest can use two of these things and then still have two actions to use the +4 Skill she just gave herself. She will be a terrible beautiful goddess! Despair!



And here's the Seeker Skill-talent. Like all the rest, this one is pretty darn good, and worth considering. This one boosts Intellect (which I hear is important in WINNING THE GAME), and lets Daisy actually potentially dodge a few critters! Awesome! Roland can use the +Intellect (everyone can use +Intellect!), but doesn't need the Agility as much. As always, even a modest 2 resource investment is enough to effectively give you as large a boost as you'll typically need against the CHAOS BAG!!!



This one is cute. It's fast, which is useful if you're pressed on time (which you usually are), and boosts your Investigating, which is useful if you're investigating (which you always are). And you can't complain about 1 cost. The main complaint is that your Magnifying Glass eats up a hand slot, which Daisy wants for books, and Roland for killin'. Still, it comes with an Intellect icon, it's dirt cheap, and you can throw it away if you don't need it. Seems like a fine card for both decks, but it's more filler than actual strategy.



For a 1 XP investment, Magnifying Glass becomes a pretty solid little card. Mainly, it's free. Free is nice. Free and fast? That's a zero-action boost to your Investigating. At will. And you can then zip it back to your hand, STILL at ZERO ACTIONS, to protect against hand disruption or to clear a spot for a weapon or book. And if some cards come down the pike that let you do silly things based on playing items...well, Magnifying Glass XP is your man! Er, bug. Whatever.

This seems sweet and awesome. Considering its effect is nice and its opportunity cost is zero (beyond the XP invested in it), I can't see why both Seekers wouldn't at least consider this.



This is a book that Roland probably doesn't want, as the penalty for failure is high enough that losing a weapon/hand slot isn't worth it, and his Intellect just isn't quite high enough to reliably abuse it. Daisy will probably like it in her arsenal of books: it allows healing, which is important; she doesn't take an action to use it, which is awesome; she comes as close as possible to auto-succeeding on it without investing further cards as possible, which is perfect.

I do enjoy that you can discard this for a Combat icon, thumping monsters on the head with your anatomy textbooks.



Mind over Matter is pretty damn awesome for Daisy. 1 measly dollar and a ZERO action investment and she's a 3/5/5/5 (??? !!!) character until the end of the ROUND. She can suplex a shoggoth! If Dr. Milan Christopher is supplying the eye of newt for this potion, she becomes a Jurassic 3/6/6/6. And it has two icons for clutch discards. Wow.

Roland doesn't want this. Roland is a common man, with common tastes, unaccustomed to the refined flavor of eyeballs and bird droppings. This is why we pity Roland, sniggering at him when his back is turned. It is OK. He has his role to serve.



Now here's the card you want to use to muck about with investigator decks; save Scrying for the encounter deck. This is improved card draw for anyone at your location -- and because it shuffles the deck after you draw, that means you're not stuck with the two other cards you saw, unlike Scrying.

Obviously Daisy does this for free, and thus this is wonderful for her, but even Roland might want to look strongly at this. One action and a hand slot to improve draw quality as a reliable ability is very, very strong, and 3 resources is definitely worth it.



Shenanigans and combos, that's what librarians are up to! This is a vital ally in a Daisy deck, as he starts your tome train a'runnin', and then happily gets eaten by a ghoul to be replaced by another one. Selfless and dedicated to the Seeker cause, these librarians!

If Roland is running a few tomes (because Seeker tomes are pretty awesome), this is a reasonable ally to include so you can find the tomes at a reasonable pace. It's not like it's not easily killed by monsters to make room for your beefier Guardian allies.



So we have a zero-action 2-cost 2-Intellect card that insta-nabs one clue. Sounds good to me! Again, Roland has other non-investigate ways to get clues, but this still turns a slight resource glut into a free clue, regardless of Shroud. Seems like a good deck slot to this guy.