Here's my submission for now:
priced at $4 bc it's slightly worse than bazaar.
Cool card! Is this strictly better than Herald? I think I would go here above Herald almost every time. I think it might be underpriced. Maybe you can do something like let the other players draw and discard a card to balance it out at $4? Just my .02! Cool card!
When Herald succeeds, it is like +2 cards. When Scribe succeeds, it is like +1 card.
Yep.
But doesn't +1$, plus extra sift, plus a much greater likelihood of hitting an action more than account for that? In most like kingdoms, I am grabbing this above Herald all day long. It is also more fun imo.
It might account for it; but it definitely stops it from being strictly better. +1 card is much stronger than + by itself. The extra sift is probably countered by the fact that your opponent chooses the card, meaning you lose your best action for the shuffle unless you only reveal exactly 1 action. So it comes down to the higher chance of it working vs extra strength of +1 card vs +. Also that when they both miss; Herald is better.
As a whole I think this is similar in strength to Herald, but not better than it.
You make some good points. I still think for $4 it is underpriced. And the only kingdoms in which I am favoring it would be those without villages, or ones where I have a very diverse and dense action deck. Like a Cornucopia kingdom.
Sorry for not giving more of an explanation behind price. I kind of dropped this post and then had to go to an appointment.
Here's the thought process:
1) Originally this did not have +$1. The problem is, it's just too weak. At best, it hits an action and is essentially +1 card +2 actions, aka vanilla village. And you don't have control over what you play. And if you don't hit an action this is a ruined village. The only time I'd rather have this than village is if I had village in hand with no other actions, since scribe would more likely hit an action to keep the chain going. At the end of the day it's be pretty weak and have to be priced at most $2 (probably less).
2)So I tacked on the +$1. Now what to price it? If it does hit an action it's +1 card +2 actions +$1. So it's a bazaar with less choice. Similar comparisons exist between vanilla village to the original (#1) as do bazaar to this one. So it would seem this should be less than bazaar (not strictly worse than bazaar, but probably not as good). $4 felt right for what it does. I thought about herald but I think they both have pros and cons:
Herald is either a simple cantrip, or +2 cards +2 actions, which is worth at least $6 (if you hit an action); scribe is either a copper (kind of) or a bazaar ($5). Herald has better payoffs than scribe but it's harder to hit because you only get one card. In addition, scribe gives your opponents the choice, which means you're more likely to play weaker cards with it. They can also make you discard great cards making you go through the reshuffle to get them (Reveal Grand Market, Champion, and pearl diver. Guess what you're playing and what's going into the discard.)
So in short the pros of herald are: Greater payoffs when you hit an action, immune to interference from your opponent, more likely to play better actions with it.
the cons are: less likely to hit an action, no cycling.
That was the logic, and I think it holds up.
P.S. Upon further reading the comments, I think Gendoikari pretty much said everything I write here in less words.