Lone Wolf: "Skids" O'Toole, the Ex-Con
Present since the release of the Core Set, “Skids” O’Toole is printed with a 2W 3I 3F 4A statline and a 8/6 health/sanity split.
Elder sign: +2. If you succeed, gain 2 resources.
2 resources, that thanks to “Skids” ability equates to an extra action is a significant tempo boost. “Skids” elder sign is among the bests in the game.
Ability: Once a turn, can spend two resources to generate an additional action for himself.
I do personally value actions at 2.5 resources, but still, his ability only “generates” 0.5 resources worth of value every time you use it. Quite far from the best abilities out there.
Nevertheless, having a permanent resource converter at your disposal is quite good. On-tap actions can be key to recover from a missed fight or evade in True Solo.
Deckbuilding: Rogue 0-5 / Guardian 0-2
Rogue has the best high XP cards, and any Rogue can be turned into a powerhouse with a Red Clock (5) in play. It also brings one of the best XP acceleration cards, in the form of Charon’s Obol. In the early stage of the campaign, Rogue offers to “Skids” a few options for investigating tools, good one handed firearms, and a solid economy to feed both its ability and weakness.
Guardian 0-2, while sadly not adequately backed-up by “Skids” 3 fight stat, still offer good staples. A notable one is Geared-Up, a card that synergize very well with “Skids” as he is likely to put down a few assets before being able to reliably do something. The Guardian class also offer a bit of extra Mythos protection, with good skill cards, and some fair soak and heal options. It is also impossible to not mention Wolf Mask, a new and perfect card for “Skids”.
Signature Kit
On the Lam is a strange signature, as it is hard to see its direct contribution toward advancing a scenario.
In multiplayer, this card can be quite strong, as you can collect enemies and have them neutralized for a round (and then Dynamite them all for glory).
In True Solo, is is arguably not better than a fast, automatic evade for a non-elite. And “Skids” is already decent at evading.
The card is best used saved as a panic button to help you deal with multiple threats if they pile up, or toward the end of a scenario to rush for the exit without having to deal with enemies. The card also have enough icons to be useful, even for +2 willpower should you be needing it badly.
All weakness that can take XP out of you are bad, especially if you have no control over it.
Hospital Debts requires 6 resources to clear. As a price, it is fair, eating away 3 potential “bonus” actions that they could have paid.
The bad part is that it takes three rounds to clear. It means that if the doom clock is close to midnight, and the weakness has not shown yet, drawing becomes quite dangerous.
Hospital Debts is among the one you would rather draw early. During play, it is just a dead draw, and if you happen to cycle your deck, it will not be in your second cycle.
Preformance review for True Solo tasks
Clue Gathering
With a base 3 intellect, “Skids” need some support to collect clues. Because he only has access to Guardian and Rogue, his kit is not really made to use events or intellect boosting skill cards to investigate.
It means that his most likely strategy is to rely on investigating assets to reliably gather clues. Most of them are one handed items (Flashlight, Lockpicks(1), Thieves Kit). They will lock up a hand slot and require and action and some resource to play them.
Once equipped with a tool, “Skids” can manage to get clues, without being particularly efficient in doing so.
Enemy Management
A lot of resentment toward Skids came from the fact that 3 fight is not a good place to start a main fighter with.
In True Solo, however, you don’t need to deal damage as often as a multiplayer fighter. “Skids” also has a 4 in agility, which makes him decent at evading, which is sometimes the most efficient way of dealing with an enemy.
It is true that because “Skids” will be likely to play a one handed weapon, his ceiling in damage output will not be as high as some other investigators, but thanks to the addition of Wolf Mask, hitting his target is not really an issue anymore.
The fact that he can buy an extra action is very useful for enemy management, as it can help recover from a missed fight action, or get you out of an evade lock.
Mythos Defense - Survivability
2 in Willpower and 4 in Agility is average in terms of defensive stats. However, because most of the early campaigns disproportionally targeted Willpower, “Skids” remains a bit fragile for these, especially considering he has only 6 sanity.
It means that his deck will have to incorporate a few cards dedicated for his survival, in the form of good soak (Lonnie Ritter/Leather Jacket), defensive skills (Take the Initiative) or heal (Hallowed Mirror).
Sadly, the best Rogue defensive card (“You handle this one”) does not work in True Solo. To deal with the most threatening treacheries, “Skids” may want to invest in Counterespionage.
Action efficiency - Economy
“Skids” ability is certainly not the one that generates the most raw value, as it merely offers you to trade your resource for actions at a fair price.
Yet, actions is probably what is the most needed in True Solo, as a lot of the difficulty comes from having to singlehandedly explore the map.
Because of its Rogue access, “Skids” can easily generate both resources to feed into its ability, and extra actions on top of it.
Geared-Up can also generate some set-up acceleration for Skids, helping him to put out his weapon, investigating tool and Mask at a discounted price.
Deckbuilding ideas
"Skids" is a reliable Ex
This deck is a very unimaginative yet consistent build for “Skids”, aiming to highlight that with the proper gear, he is doing just fine.
The deck revolves around Geared-Up, which help to save resources in the set-up. It packs 13 items, that makes finding at least 3 in the Mulligan not too hard. The tools and weapons costs 3 (2 with Geared-Up), which makes playing an investigation tool, a weapon and another item turn 1 possible.
After this initial set-up, the deck packs a lot of resource generation cards both to help refresh the tools and weapons, play Lonnie, and feed into “Skids” ability and weakness. Faustian Bargain is one action spent but two and a half action back, Bank Job is two actions spent but three back, “Watch this” is a better Quick Thinking that nets 1.5 actions and only require to succeed by 1, etc.
To investigate, the deck rely on Lockpicks or Thieves’ Kit, both of which can be supported by Wolf Mask.
Fighting is done with Machete or Enchanted Blade, supported by the boost of Lonnie Ritter, Wolf Mask, Daring & Vicious blow. Should “Skids” find himself without a weapon, the deck can also easily evade.
Finally, mythos protection is done both by soak (Lonnie + Leather Jacket) and dedicated skill cards: Take the Initiative is there to soften the tests during the mythos phase, while Calculated Risks is good for treacheries that are tested at the end of your turn, (Frozen in Fear), and “Skids” can boost it to 4 wilds thanks to its ability.
Thieves’ Kits are upgraded to generate more resources. Lonnie is replaced by Delilah and Lola, both of which can use the extra resources for stronger effects than the extra action provided by “Skids” ability (activating Lola on a shroud 2 location is better than spending 2 for an extra investigate action).
Underworld "Skids"
This deck has a lot of similarities with the previous one, but showcase Underworld Support. The idea is to use it to more easily find the key pieces of the upgraded deck.
At level 0, the restriction of 1 card per title induces more diversity. The 3rd weapon is now the British Bull Dog, a Flashlight is taken as a 3rd investigation tool, and a Backpack is introduced to support Geared-Up.
Resource generation cards such as Grift and Sneak By are added. The skills / event are also more diverse, making more use of “Skids” agility, and showcase silver bullet events such as “Hit me!” or “Im outta here!”.
The star of the deck is The Red Clock. To find it, the combination of Underworld Support and Bewitching reduces the deck size to 22 (25 with weaknesses + signature). If you miss it in the mulligan, you get a very good second chance with Backpack(2).
The deck spends the remaining XP into a better Thieves’ Kit and Lola Santiago, for extra resources, soak and tempo.
My evaluation of "Skids" True Solo power level
It might come as my first controversial statement, but I think that “Skids” is a decent True Solo investigator. In multiplayer, I’d rank him as C tier, mainly because its ability does not generate enough value.
On his own, “Skids” however does just fine. He does need a bit of set-up, he is still a bit vulnerable, notably to assets-hate cards such as Crypt Chill.
But, and this in all honesty largely due to the introduction of Wolf Mask, “Skids” is capable of investigating, fighting and evading with decent skill values. And his ability is a great way to use excess resource generation in the late game toward advancing the scenario, or to get out of tight spots.
On these bases alone, I’d rank Skids as B tier. However, he does have access to Charon’s Obol, and this is enough for me to push him a tier above. For this reason, my ranking for True Solo “Skids” is: