My God(‘)s(‘) people, there’s another RYKDE! How long’s it been? Too long, that’s how long.
And I just know you’ve missed the complicated sentence structure and mostly off-topic starts to articles! Well, despite not publishing any articles for a little while we’ve still been busy mis-playing multiple games over here at MO towers.
And we’ve played enough Arkham Horror campaigns to get involved in the whole Campaign Play experience and become slightly confused about the ‘Permanent’ keyword and how it works.
This article is a short guide to save everyone else from flicking through the rulebook and then wondering what happens as it’s not explicitly mentioned.
Cutting to the chase… What do I do with Permanent cards?
The Permanent keyword means that the card:
- Doesn’t count against the player’s deck limit
- Starts the game in-play (note there’s no play cost on these cards)
Which means that when you place your investigator at the start of the game you place any and all Permanent cards with them. So, for instance if you have Keen Eye on Roland Banks he’ll start with the ability to spend 2 resources to improve his fight by 1 until the end of the phase as a free action.
A dark alley? On your own? With a gun and a Fedora? Yeah, don’t let us stop you…
…Where should we send your remains again?
How do I get a Permanent card then?
All current Permanent cards (and I can only imagine all future ones too) require XP to acquire. Hence just like other higher tier cards you need to spend the XP you acquire from completing scenarios to get them.
They’re no different than other cards in that regards.
However, as they don’t count towards deck size you will not have to swop out other cards for them. They aren’t intrinsically unique, so unless marked on the card you can have multiple Permanent cards of the same card name out. You’ll need to satisfy other requirements as usual, e.g. no more Permanents than you have slots for etc.
Can a Permanent card leave play?
Nopes.
Not through any effect at all (excepting if a card has explicit wording to that effect, e.g. “This effect includes Permanent cards” but as at the date of this article there’s no such card).
The player can’t choose to discard a Permanent Asset as a result of a Treachery card, for instance, even if they’d prefer to keep their Dr. Christopher Milan on the table instead.
How does Indebted work? If it doesn’t count to deck size do I have to get another Basic Weakness?
Indebted is a basic weakness card with the Permanent keyword and the text “You start each game with 2 fewer resources.”
Basic Weaknesses don’t actually count towards deck size either, so there’s no need to go hunting an additional basic weakness when constructing your deck.
As an aside, this isn’t an entirely bad situation to be in, as whilst your setup time is going to be slowed, it does mean you can draw more aggressively knowing your basic weakness has already hit the table. This means you don’t have the complications of someone with Paranoia lurking in the bottom part of their deck as they close in on the cultists!
Summary and Conclusion
TL;DR:
- Permanents can bought with XP like all upgrades
- Don’t count towards deck limit so you don’t swop them for cards in your deck
- Start in play
- Can’t be discarded