Character Concept – Enhance Ability

Hi folks! It’s been a relaxing start to the year, so naturally I’ve gone completely overboard on deckbuilding, and voila–two articles in one month! Maybe more! We’ll see.

Today’s deck is one I’m really excited about, because it combines a bunch of elements I’ve used in various other decks in a very weird and fun new way–not to mention making use of several new cards, and at least one older card I’ve never really used before!

I’m going to make a lot of references to Odinala and Igbo culture here, because I wanted to incorporate authentic parts of Akachi’s faith in the write-up; however, I am not Igbo or an Odinala practitioner myself, so please feel free to correct any mistakes I may have made in the comments below!

So without any further ado, here’s the deck…

And here’s the article!

Shaman, Wanderer, Supporter, Cluever

Akachi Onyele has been all over the world. She’s learned from shamans, mages, even a warlock or two in her long travels. All this has made her stronger. It has taught her much of the world, and of the people that live in it, and of their ways of magic.

But her greatest power comes from her own Chi, who has been with her since the very first days of her life, assigned to her by Chukwu to connect her with the Chi of all. And so nothing in her travels surprises her. Nothing she achieves surprises her, for the mmuo assigned to her is one of greatness through others, of a long life of simple and mighty deeds ensuring those around her become their best selves. So Akachi’s dibia told her when she was very young, an awed look in his eyes.

And so Akachi travels, seeking out people and places that need her help and letting her Chi speak to theirs, granting them the strength they need to achieve their own highest works. Though she herself seeks never to violate Iwu-Ala and take a life, she understands that the world is complicated, and the monsters she sees–human or otherwise–challenge the teachings of her forebears. So she aids those who would fight, and do harm for the sake of doing good, and in the rare moments she gets to perform the iwa oji she prays that she is bringing forth more good than ill into the world she has been destined to walk.

Chi Magic

I originally conceived of this deck when I was thinking of all the characters who could take Bestow Resolve, and trying to come up with one who could prevent the card from ever running out of charges.

Well, if you’ve watched our Twitch-streamed Parasomnia campaign, you’ll know I’m an ENORMOUS fan of Akachi’s signature, Spirit-Speaker. It’s one of my favorite signatures in the game, and I consider it Akachi’s real ability (those extra charges are just fun icing). The ability to recharge any charge-based asset every single turn seemed like the best way to maximize the new Guardian ritual.

There was only really one problem: Mystic skills…kinda suck.

I know that’s an odd statement to make about the class with Astronomical Atlas, but it’s true! No compression, Prescient is locked behind blurse or symbol-digging, and Enraptured uses the wrong stat for most Mystics. Although as you may have noticed, Bestow Resolve completely negates “wrong stat” issues, and furthermore the way the deck ended up meant Akachi’s Intellect is actually fairly kickass. So Enraptured made it in.

So I waffled, and I considered bailing to a more traditional Guardian, until I noticed the combo that settled things once and for all: Guiding Stones and Occult Theory. I’ve used Guiding Stones in PLENTY of decks, including the first one I made that got (to massively overstate things) famous in the Mythos Busters community, Joe “The Book” Diamond. Who I should really do a write-up for on this blog, since he’s still basically my favorite deck.

But past decks aside, with Bestow Resolve the entire cycle of dual-stat skills, including Occult Theory, become a MASSIVE pile of wild icons equal to two of your stats combined (in this deck in particular, that ranges from 7 to 18 icons PER OCCULT THEORY). Throw that at a Guiding Stones test and clearing 8- and 12-clue locations in a single action becomes pretty reasonable, and that presses all the endorphin buttons in my brain.

So Akachi it is. Now I just needed thematics. Once again I went back to researching Odinala, and the best answer I came up with for her amazing physical and mental prowess, and her ability to share that strength with others, was…actually incredibly simple, and is already contained in her original card back all the way in Carcosa! MJ clearly did her research.

Akachi’s card back seems to suggest that she herself is a trained dibia, one born into a destiny of spiritual service through their ability to see the Alusi and the spirit world, speak their names, and communicate with them. So perhaps Akachi’s dibia nature (or her interpretation of her own abilities, depending on how you typically read faith-based Arkham characters) allows her to reach out and communicate with her own Chi and the Chi of those around her.

Now, this is not the chi you’re probably thinking of, the chi/ki/qi that in East Asian cultures is considered the vital force in living things. To my (admittedly limited) knowledge, the closest Odinala equivalent would be obi, the breath of life, or perhaps the Alusi themselves (as Odinala is animistic, everything in the world has a spirit of its own).

No, I mean the Chi of Odinala, which are mmuo or Alusi who have been assigned as a spiritual guardian, guide, and companion to each human for the course of their life. Chi are connected to your destiny, your successes and failure, the workings of fate and chance around you, and your life’s achievements.

So (and here’s where I’m taking fictional liberties) Akachi has the ability to communicate directly with those Chi, asking them to lend their power to their human ward, thus dramatically enhancing physical or mental capabilities for a short time. Akachi’s own Chi likely has a domain of teamwork and prowess of some kind, characterizing these abilities.

The functional result is that Akachi can basically cast Enhance Ability (for my D&D nerds in the audience) at will on herself and anyone in her team nearby, helping them to pass tests (or rather, asking their Chi to help them pass tests). Through afa, a dibia’s traditional form of divination, she can receive information about the short-term future, but much more importantly she is able to commune with the world around her, sensing what is right or wrong, what has happened or what will happen. She does so by throwing guiding stones cowries and beads, and interpreting the resulting messages from the Alusi and her Chi.

As a fun extra detail, each dibia has a special affinity for one of three elements: fire, water, or fauna. Though not necessarily represented in this version of the deck, there’s a fun customization option for you to choose which of those elements your Akachi is connected to! Maybe you choose fauna and add Earthly Serenity to help her heal with her knowledge of herbs. Maybe water, and you take Deny Existence into Innsmouth to make her impervious to drowning! Or perhaps her affinity is for fire, and she can wield it with her bare hands using Azure Flame.

The Bestow Combo

Yes, I know, this is the vignette slot and there’s no vignette. For two articles in a row! I’m falling down on my job.

The truth is, I have a bunch of deliverables (completed scripts or script sections) to work on for my actual professional writing right now, so most of my serious creative energy is tied up in them. Plus, I’ve finally begun the vignettes for the next Campaign Log, and I want them to be perfect! So I’m focusing on that too.

As a result, I’m going to swap in a little bit more mechanical talk today, and leave the storytelling with Akachi here to all of you.

Let’s get one thing straight: I hate this skill cycle. Not because it’s bad, in fact I think the concept is super fun, and super thematic. What I hate about it is that it utterly fails to work with every skill synergy in the game. Astro Atlas permanently locks a slot and functionally erases the skill from your deck on attaching it, which in the deck above forced me into using Scrying just so I can Atlas safely. Amanda can’t use them when they’re attached to her, Yaotl can’t borrow icons from them, Silas can’t commit them from his discard, etc. etc.

I understand the principle behind this choice, being worried that skill synergies would make it too easy to pass every test with these skills. But at my player count, 4p, just passing tests is not enough to win a scenario in time. You need compression, which these skills don’t provide. And besides, in some scenarios and at certain difficulties, just getting +5 or so to a test is still not enough to guarantee you pass.

So basically, I really want to love these cards, but all the restrictions on them just make them pretty damn disappointing.

Enter Bestow Resolve, the first skill synergy to actually work with the dual-stat cycle!! By making every icon into a wild, the skill changes from “add your two best stats together” to “add your two best stats to any stat of your choice”. With enough static boosts, this can become a MASSIVE surge, guaranteeing a pass at the very least and potentially much more. And as a cherry on top, you can even send it to your friends up to one location away. It’s super thematic, whether you interpret it as magical, or as the training you’ve given to your teammates in the spare time between scenarios, or something else entirely.

Finally, I can love this cycle the way I want to.

Or at least close. The interaction it has with Astro Atlas still makes me SO ANNOYED that our table will probably just house-rule it to work, for the sake of fun and coolness.

Anyway, now that we know how to dump massive piles of stats on any test we want, what are some possible synergies?

Guiding Stones is obviously the most powerful oversuccess card in the game, and Akachi is not the only person who can take both it and Bestow. There’s definitely a potential Joe deck here, using Seeker’s massive slew of skill synergies, Bestow Resolve, Guiding Stones, and one or both of Defensive Stance and Survey the Area to inhale clues like Kirby at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Another Bestow Joe option is the recently-released Clue Drop strategy centered around Research Notes. You could drop clues constantly throughout the scenario for powerful effects, then Dual Bestow for a massive surge on the difficulty 0 Notes test. A clever build might even combine both options.

Damage doesn’t have quite as overpowering a payoff, but Shotgun, Old Shotgun, and Sawed-Off Shotgun all have the potential to do serious damage to enemies. Any Guardian could take the first two (except Carolyn), but the second would be reserved for Skids, who can also pack the awesome Lucky Cigarette Case (3).

In fact, Lucky Cig Case might be the second best payoff here. With a high enough stat value, you can search your entire deck using Cig 3, allowing you to grab any card you want. If another player is using Copycat on you, this could let you repeatedly reuse the skill they’re borrowing, thus also making it available for them to hit again. If there’s a specific high-value card or cards you want to recur, but don’t have tech with which to do so, Daredevil (0) can pitch your entire deck, and then a massive oversuccess with Cig Case can let you grab it right back out to replay. With a pair of Cases, you could even grab both Daredevil AND the card you’re looping, allowing you to immediately repeat the process (once your cases ready, of course).

It’s only a shame no single investigator can take Bestow, Cig 3, and the research skills, or you could pull off a pretty massive value engine this way. I suppose there’s always Versatile!

Skids has another cool synergy if you use his front half. Thanks to his ability to take a fast test, you could throw a bunch of skills like Nimble and Watch This on his quick gamble, then massively oversucceed to max out those skills. In fact, anybody running the Bestow setup can get a pretty payoff from oversuccess skills in all the classes.

Chi-sy Puns and Chi-sy Combos

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this write-up! If you think of any other Dual Bestow deck ideas, or just Bestow combos in general, please comment them below! I’m really excited about this awesome new skill synergy and all the potential it seems to have both for general value and crazy combos.

Teamwork makes the dream work! And Akachi, in her great and worldly wisdom, knows this better than anyone. Uwa wu ofu, the world is one, and madu wu otu, all humans are the same–and she seeks to help them all, on the grand scale and the personal one, from helping up a child who has tripped over a rock to granting a mighty warrior the strength to slay an alien god.

It is all worthy. All are one, in our uncountable numbers–and from that innumerable unity, there is strength.