I'm curious as there isn't anything explicitly in the rules against doing this, but can an investigator choose two trait cards that both have the attributes for Strength, Dexterity, and Marksmanship?  Or do the two trait cards have to be from different attribute groups.  If it is allowed, how do you handle attribute tests from the other attributes? 

It doesn't seem like someone could (or should) do this, but there's nothing against it. 

Umm... you're really asking this? I'm sorry, but that's just against all common sense. FFG probably didn't explicitly put it in the rulebook because they never thought someone would think you could take two of the same physical/mental stats trait cards. You really need to have something for each possible stat, thus you would have to choose one of each type of trait cards since you can only choose two trait cards total.

To handle such a theoretical situation, I'd say that the investigator would auto-fail any tests using a stat that he doesn't have a value for, having an effective value of 0 in those stats.

Phantom said:

My guess is that it is expressly stated in the Investigator setup guide not included in the .pdf.

dvang said:

Yes.  I am really asking.  And yes, somebody did exactly that this past Saturday.  We noticed it halfway through the game and thought it odd (as you said, it went against common sense).  We swapped out the trait cards, but I was curious if this was handled in the rulebook.  I didn't see it in the published PDF and I didn't get a chance to look at the Investigator guide to see if it was covered there. 

And for the record, no I wouldn't want take two of the same physical/mental stat trait cards.  It does, however, seem like an omissions to write "take two trait cards" with no explanation that there are two types of trait cards and you're really taking one of each.

On the first page of the Investigator Story Guide it says this:

"Investigator Setup

Finally, each investigator story guide lists the steps for choosing investigators and traits.  Investigator players may wish to coordinate which investigators and starting equipment they choose.  For exampe. investigators players may do better if they have both a smart investigator (high Intellect) and a physical investigator (high health and starting weapon) on their side.

The steps are always performed as follows:

1. Choose Investigators: Each player chooses an investigator and recieves the corresponding investigator card, Trait Cards, and listed number of skill point tokens.

2. Choose Traits: Each player chooses two of his investigator's Trait cards to represent his investigator's abilties during this game.  He must choose one card with a "Strength" value and one with an "Intellect" value.  He returns his investigator's other Trait cards to the box.  He then recieves the Starting Item or Spell card listed on the chosen Trait cards.

3. Place Figures: Each player places his investigator figure on the Start space (as labeled in the "Map Setup" section)."

This should answer your question. You must choose one of each.

Thank you.  Like I said.  I just wanted to check if it was somewhere.