An opinion piece on the Leech’s Analyst:
This question is mostly for John, but speculation by others is welcome as well. It seems that the Leech is a long-term project kind of playbook because of the Tinkerer and Alchemist abilities, and our table found it kind of strange that the Leech doesn’t have any abilities to be more effective at long-term projects, but can be better at gathering information. It feels kind of like a non-sequitur compared to what it could be. As of right now, Analyst also seems like an objectively worse variant of the Spider’s Connected.
I believe the Spider’s Foresight used to make them better at long-term projects, but that’s not the case anymore. I then noticed that NO playbook has access to abilities that make long-term projects resolve more quickly – excepting the healing-only Resilient and Physicker – and felt a bit dejected for our Leech. Is this by design and if so, why?
There are already 2 very effective ways to make LTPs happen more quickly. Spend coin or spend rep and you can plow through all kinds of LTPs. As far as the analysis ability goes, the leech seems like a generalist to me, he can do a little bit of everything with his abilities and equipment (especially if you’re willing to spend resources). That is just another tool in his large box.
Mark Griffin The coin thing is a good point. Our Leech player conceptualized his PC as someone who’s only in the crime business to be able to feed his wife and children, so most of his coin goes straight to his stash. So the reason it feels like he’s crawling through his LTPs is mostly due to his own character concept.
Well there is still always rep, although that’s largely a group resource so everyone needs to be on board. If you guys want this belt of sweet bombs I’m building that can freeze time in a 10 foot radius for 15 seconds, I’m gonna need more time dammit! You can’t rush good mad science.
I would also point out that 1 single coin is a lot of money, and could feed a family for quite some time. BUT you gotta spend money to make money ya know? If you wanna pull off that big score and retire for good, you’re going to need to make an investment in some ghost saddles, and an alchemical concoction that allows the drinker to perceive 5 seconds in the future for an hour.
Mark Griffin We’re going off the Stash & Retirement bit. In spite of all his saving so far, his family is still on target for ending up in a flophouse. This guy actually prioritizes his family living in livable conditions! Ahahaha!
But seriously, he’s a pretty tragic character really.
I read that as you’ll end up in a flophouse if you retire now because you’ll live on this coin for the rest of your miserable life because you’re too broken to keep making money. But in the short term you can live pretty well off a single coin, if there is an assumption that you’ll make more. This appears to be how John treats a single coin in his Blood Letters game. When Cantor gives a single gold imperial coin (which was worth a Coin) to the son of lampblack he murdered, Bazso said he’d be set for awhile.
But that doesn’t really matter, you play how it works for you.
Mark Griffin Huh. I hadn’t really considered it like that. That’s good insight.
His character is acting like he could die at any time though in his criminal pursuits. He knows the scoundrel’s life is dangerous, and if he were to “retire” early, he wants to leave as much for his family as he can in as short a time as he can.
Valid
This is a good point in general about the Leech. I’ll look into it.