Every Asset has exactly one of the following traits: Item, Trinket, Task, Service or Ally. These traits have no direct impact on gameplay, but they are often referenced by other cards or by investigator abilities. Assets may also have one or more of the additional traits: Magical, Relic, Tome, Weapon, and Teamwork.
Ally Assets represent individuals who travel with and aid the investigator. Whereas Items tend towards higher situational bonuses (such as +4 during Combat Encounters), Allies tend to grant smaller bonuses that are always in effect (such as +1 ). They also commonly allow you to re-roll dice. For this reason, Allies are often very helpful during encounters.
Item Assets are the most numerous Assets. They represent physical goods that a character can gain such as a rifle or book. Most Tomes and Weapons are Items. Items often provide large bonuses which can only be used for specific tests, such as +4 during Combat Encounters or +2 when casting Spells. For this reason, many Items are very useful in those situations but less valuable during encounters.
Service Assets are Assets with one-time effects that activate when gained. They can provide a variety of benefits, such as restoring Health or granting a random Item. Services may not be kept or traded; they must be used immediately when gained.
Services may have the Teamwork trait, implying that they affect more than one investigator.
Tasks Assets are cheap to acquire but provide no immediate benefit. Only when a specific trigger occurs (such as Reckoning or an investigator defeating a Monster) do they provide a benefit. Unlike Task Unique Assets, the benefit on Task Assets is indicated on the front of the card; they are not flipped. All Task Assets have a cost of 1.
Trinket Assets are similar to Items. They represent smaller physical goods such as a ring or watch. They tend to grant unusual or situational effects. They often add indirect bonuses to tests, such as allowing rerolls, thus stacking with skill bonuses granted by other Assets. For this reason, Trinkets synergize well with Items.