[SPOILER] Are Cracked Keys the only *reliable* method to obtain alt characters?

[KliPeH]

After unlocking Red Key I assumed it would persistently spawn inside Mom's Box from that point and onwards making unlocking tainted characters pretty easy and straightforward. To my surprise, Mom's Box contains a random Mom item now.

Furthermore, after unlocking the key for the first time, I have not found it in a single random item pool across a couple dozen runs, which makes me think the item is meant to be rare.

I have however learned that you can make a single-use Red Key from a random trinket you leave behind in one of the boss/item rooms on your descent. One use of the key should grant you access to the Home closet where you unlock an alt character. Is this the only reliable method to unlock alt characters, or am I missing something?

Thanks in advance.

[Sirius]

Red Key appears in Curse Rooms. And yes, just drop a trinket in the same room that you get ''the paper'' and it'll automatically change to a cracked key after picking the paper up. It's the best way to get the alt characters consistently.
I don't think there's any other way due to the way ''red rooms'' work.

[KliPeH]

Originally posted by S.R.:

Red Key appears in Curse Rooms. And yes, just drop a trinket in the same room that you get ''the paper'' and it'll automatically change to a cracked key after picking the paper up. It's the best way to get the alt characters consistently.
I don't think there's any other way due to the way ''red rooms'' work.

By "paper" do you mean Dad's Note?

[Sirius]

Originally posted by 󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡⁣　KliPeH:

I don't think there's any other way due to the way ''red rooms'' work.

By "paper" do you mean Dad's Note? [/quote]
Yes, but since you were leaving spoiler tags I tried having them as well(without actually knowing how to mark spoilers). You can literally just drop a trinket in the room with Dad's Note in it, pick the note up and the trinket that you dropped will turn into a cracked key.

[KliPeH]

Originally posted by S.R.:

Yes, but since you were leaving spoiler tags I tried having them as well(without actually knowing how to mark spoilers). You can literally just drop a trinket in the room with Dad's Note in it, pick the note up and the trinket that you dropped will turn into a cracked key.

I see. Thanks!

You can insert spoilers by wrapping the text with [spoiler] and [/spoiler] tags. Cheers!

[FrozenStar]

yeah, it is the only reliable way. Honestly there's no need for any other way at this point — leaving a trinket in any item/boss room is a 100% method
The other 2 methods are 1) finding red key item; 2) using pandora's box in the house

[K1]

you can also get the cracked keys as pickups it seems.
had a cracked key drop when i was making my way to home with tainted keeper.
for science i decided to open the hidden closet with it only to find a shopkeep/dead body there.
kinda neat, but only worth it if you want to try ur luck at getting a keepers head.

[FrozenStar]

Ye there's no point in doing that with tainted characters it seems