Arkham Horror: Allow Me To Introduce The Neighbours

Picture by Stuart Dawson

If there is one word to describe the game Arkham Horror, it would be "overhelming". The base game comes with a positive avalanche of cards, tokens, chits, and rules. Game expansions are numerous and, in some cases, large. The game is so overwhelming, it has an expansion just to expand the other expansions. It even has a monster power called "overwhelming".
There is far too much to the game to squeeze into one article. For today, we shall consider a single domain - the Investigators which act as the players' avatars. We shall split them into four broad types: monster sweepers, explorers, spellcasters, and all-rounders. (We will restrict ourselves to the investigators in the base game for the moment, or this already-long article would be impossibly drawn-out.)

Monster sweepers

Monsters sweepers spend most of their time on the streets of Arkham, slaying monsters to keep the town navigable and hold down the terror track. High Will and Fight are crucial, being the basis for the Horror and Combat checks these characters will be making frequently. Speed is generally less important (as monster sweepers will mostly be moving between street areas), and luck/lore do not much come into play (Luck is most useful during card encounters, while Lore is primarily used by spellcasters). Let's look at each of the monster sweepers in turn:

The Bad: Michael McGlen

On the face of things, Michael seems like an excellent slayer - he starts with one of the best weapons in the game by default, his special power soaks up combat damage, and his Stamina is a massive 7. However, this last point is part of his downfall - with a Sanity of 3, he will go immediately insane on failing a Horror check against the game's tougher monsters, fleeing to the Asylum before even opening fire, thus undermining the entire point to his existence. This problem isn't helped by the fact that Michael has only an average Will. This weakness to Horror makes Michael my least-favoured monster sweeper.

The Fair:

Bob Jenkins

Bob's low Stealth, but high Fight/Will, make him well-suited to street fighting rather than movement and exploration. On the other hand, Bob's power to draw additional Common items is mostly activated by encounters, the usual department of explorer-types. On top of this, Common items are generally less powerful than Unique items, ranking his power below that of Monterey Jack. Ultimately, Bob's drawback is that his skills favour a monster sweeper role, while his special ability favours exploration - a split purpose which makes him sub-optimal in either role, but does give him some flexibility.

Ashcan Pete

Pete is a slightly better choice. His Fight and Will are both strong, and supported by a very high Sneak in a pinch. With Sanity/Stamina of 4/6, he can take big hits and stay in the fight. On top of this, his Scrounge ability (despite, as with Bob, being more suited to an explorer) maximises his odds of obtaining useful items, and Duke acts as a powerful bulwark in support of Horror rolls. Pete is just an all-round solid choice, and recommended as a strong arm in any investigator group.

The Good: Joe Diamond

Joe Diamond has probably the best special ability for combat of all investigators. Rolling two dice for each Clue token expended greatly increases his odds of passing any given check, including Horror and Combat. Since Clues can be expended after the initial roll, Joe can manage risk far more effectively than other characters. Normally, spending Clues for rerolls is a sub-optimal strategy, as they should be used for sealing gates - if you're on monster duty, however, this consideration does not apply.
Joe's flaw is that, like Michael, Joe suffers from poor Will. On the other hand, at least he has 4 Sanity so can afford to lose a Horror check, even against a tough monsters. In short, Joe is a decent fighter, with the best special ability for combat, and also has the flexibility to be a fair explorer.

Explorers

Picture by Frank Strauss

The next type of investigator are those I will call "explorers". These are the characters best suited to exploring otherworld areas and closing gates. To facilitate these tasks, they benefit from high Speed to help them acquire vital Clues for sealing, and good Stealth to move past monsters to reach Clue-bearing areas rather than having to stop and fight. High Luck is handy, as it is commonly used in otherworld encounters, and special abilities which complement Arkham and otherworld encounters are a must.

The Poor: Sister Mary

The good Sister is widely regarded as the weakest investigator in the base game, and with good reason. Other than Luck, her skills are all average-to-weak. Her starting items are nothing to write home about, and she has no cash to improve that situation. Starting with a Blessing isn't too great either - in the first few rounds, Blessings are generally less important, so by the time the Blessing would become seriously useful it may well have already expired.
But most of all, her special power is next to useless. If we value special abilities by frequency of use times impact when used, it's just terrible. Investigators frequently navigate the entire game without once becoming LITAS. Even if she were to be otherwise LITAS, saving a single round of play is of minimal impact. Multiply those two factors together and this power is comically pointless, making Sister Mary significantly weaker than any other character in the game.
That being said, there is one circumstance where Sister Mary can pay off; that is, when Yog-Sothoth is the Ancient One. Probably the most frequent circumstance leading to becoming LITAS is become incapacitated while in an other world; with Yog-Sothoth devouring those who do so, otherworld exploration becomes extremely fraught. Sister Mary can avoid this risk entirely, suddenly making her a very attractive option as an explorer. That said, Kate Winthrop's power is a good alternative anyway, as unexpected incapacitation is most frequently a consequence of monsters appearing.
In all other circumstances, avoid.

The Fair:

Monterey Jack

High Luck, useful starting items, and a handy special ability which improves Jack's ability to acquire Unique items - the most useful type of item, and one which often arises in encounters. Jack's main drawbacks are his low Will and Sanity, flaws which would be fatal in a monster sweeper but is forgivable in an explorer.

Kate Winthrop

Kate's special power can be a bit of a head-scratcher for new players. Given the number of potential locations for gates, the ability to stop gate opening at just one seems marginal at best. However, by the mid-game, the board will look very different - once a couple of seals are down, and a few gates are open, the number of potential gate sites is much more constrained. Placing Kate on a high-frequency location that doesn't have a seal or portal makes a big difference to the probabilities of gate opening. There is another side to her power as well - preventing monster appearances is very useful during encounters (particularly otherworld encounters, where a surprise Dhole can be catastrophic). Thus Kate's usefulness in managing risk is actually quite powerful.
Her Lore and Sneak are pretty strong too. Poor combat abilities aren't much of an issue when monsters can't spawn on her, and she should be avoiding rather than fighting monsters in the streets. Her only drawbacks are her merely average Speed and Luck.

Darrell Simmons

And then we move onto the true exploration specialists. Darrell is one such, as a consequence of his special ability - the ability to draw two Arkham encounter cards and choose one is very powerful, given that, as explorers rush around picking up clues, they tend to spend about half the game taking Arkham encounters. His Speed isn't bad either. The things that hold him back are his poor Sneak (though his combat abilities are good, explorers shouldn't waste their time having fights) and merely average Luck. Thus he is pipped to the post of "best explorer" by the estimable...

The Good: Gloria Goldberg

Gloria takes the tiara for finest explorer due to one factor: her phenomenal ability. Though otherworld encounters are probably drawn slightly less often that Arkham encounters, they have much more risk/reward attached to them. Being able to draw two and pick is a colossal advantage. On top of that, you can add Glora's good Luck and Will. Her biggest weakness is when facing monsters - not only are her combat abilities weak, she doesn't have the Sneak to get past either. She works best as a member of a team, with others clearing the streets while she uses her power to avoid monsters in other worlds by not picking that card.

Spellcasters

Spellcasters are those whose initial setup doesn't particularly push them into either a combat or exploration role. Instead, their starting spells are likely to define the role they take. Spellcasters require high Lore for their spell checks, and preferably have spell-related special abilities as well.
Regrettably, the base game contains a mostly weak selection of spellcasters - with one shining exception.

The Poor: Dexter Drake

When discussions about the worst investigator in the game have exhausted the shortcomings of Sister Mary, they invariably move on to Dexter Drake. His ability to draw extra Spells isn't terrible, but given that Spells are generally drawn less often than Common or Unique items, it's pretty weak. His Lore, the key to spellcasting, is above average, but still not the best. He starts with a guaranteed combat spell - but his weak Will makes him a liability in combat. Above all, his Sanity is only 5 - he's going to run out of the ability to power those spells far too soon.
You may get some great spells on the draw, but otherwise, it's hard to find a use for Dexter.

The Fair:

Vincent Lee

Vincent is, on the face of it, nearly identical to Dexter. Same 5/5 Sanity/Stamina split, same lore, and

Picture by the author

so forth. He's a bit slower, and a bit luckier, and has a better Sneak to help avoid combat situations. While his special ability might, on the face of it, be less useful to a spellcaster than Dexter's, it will come into play more frequently and generally make itself more useful. Overall, Vincent isn't much better than Dexter, but comes in a nose ahead.
(As an aside, the most effective monster sweeper I ever had was a Vincent. He amassed over a dozen monster trophies before the game concluded. His secret? A "Feeding the Mind" spell, which he used to recuperate Sanity at the cost of Stamina, and then promptly healed back the lost Stamina. He became a constantly-regenerating juggernaut, able to take the punches and keep on coming back. On the other hand, in every other time I've played Vincent he's been a complete liability.)

Harvey Walters

Old Harv has got a lot of pluck for an older gentleman. With the highest Lore in the game, and a huge 7 Sanity, he is much better at actually casting Spells than Dexter or Vincent. His combat abilities are the weakest in the game, but he should be using spells to close the gap, and he has a strong Sneak if he can't. His special ability to reduce Sanity costs doesn't apply to Spells, but at least it reduces other costs, helping ringfence his Sanity for powering Spells. As a pure caster, Harvey is the best, and would be the best spellcasting character if it weren't for:

The Good: Carolyn Fern

Oh Carolyn, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Your Lore is strong, and your Luck its equal. Should it come to a fight, your combat abilities are superior to any other spellcaster. True, as a lady, you do not sneak, neither do you hurry; however, you should be able to acquire the Spells to overcome at least one of those shortcomings. Above all, you have by far the finest special ability for a spellcaster - you may heal the very Sanity you use to cast Spells. You may just cast, and cast again, a never-ending font of thaumaturgic splendour.
Carolyn is not merely a strong character, but, being a spellcaster, one of the most interesting to play. If only she were not a fictional personage, I would be contacting her father with regards to potential matrimonial union.

All-rounders

Finally, we have the elusive class of all-rounders, whose skills and special abilities do not strongly favour any of the roles above. All have 5/5 Sanity/Stamina, and average skills. They generally have flexibility, but by that token lack strength in any particular job.

The Bad: Amanda Sharpe

I'm sorry, Amanda, but you're just terrible. Your skills are all exactly average. Your high Focus should give you flexibility, but big skill shifts rarely arise in practice, and since you lack any extremes in your skills in the first place this Focus largely goes to waste. Furthermore, you have probably the weakest special ability of any investigator bar Sister Mary - Skill cards are rarely drawn, and in any case, your flat skill distribution means you don't really care that much which Skill card you get anyway.
Amanda isn't just weak; she's also boring. Avoid.

The Fair: Jenny Barnes

Picture by Tomas Naslund

From one of my least-favourite investigators to one of my most cherished. Already, compared to Amanda, she's better in a fight and luckier - thus she can take a few more chances in locations than Amanda can. Sure, she's a bit sluggish, but her starting cash and constant income means that faster movement is only a few visits to a shop away - visits that Jenny can keep on making. Her access to items can often overcome her lack of other special ability, and her acquisitions can make her a strong player in either slayer or explorer roles. Plus, she's a great team player, as she can pass off excess items to other players. Jenny's both strong and fun to play - easily my preferred all-rounder.

The Good/Worst: Mandy Thompson

Mandy is an absolute beast. Good Sneak and Will make her resilient, and she doesn't have any glaring weaknesses. She starts with 4 Clues, putting her into a great position for an early gate seal. But the thing putting her over the top is her incredible special ability. Arkham Horror is a game about risk management; being able to reroll any skill check is massive, and made positively overwhelming as only failures are rerolled. It's hard to fail anything with Mandy.
And that's a large part of my problem. Mandy just makes it too easy to win. She adds far too much power to the strategic side of the game. At the same time, she isn't a particularly interesting character in herself; in a game which is about theme and story rather than hard strategy, lack of character is unforgivable. Unless you're playing a single-investigator game (and hence need the power boost), I beg you, don't pick Mandy Thompson. She undermines the game itself. Just say no.