Psychopath

Information

Type	Minion
Artist	John Grist
Revealed	18/11/2021

"Surprise!"

Character Showcase

Summary

"Each day, before nominations, you may publicly choose a player: they die. If executed, you only die if you lose roshambo."

The Psychopath kills in broad daylight.

During the day, if the Psychopath declares that they are the Psychopath and publicly chooses a player, that player dies. This can only be done once per day, and only before the Storyteller has called for nominations.
The Psychopath does not need to use this ability if they don’t want to.
The Psychopath can be nominated and voted for normally. If the Psychopath is executed, they might not die. They play Roshambo (Paper-Rock-Scissors) with the player that nominated them. The nominator needs to win for the Psychopath to die. Drawing or losing means the Psychopath lives.
If the Psychopath is executed, this still counts as the one execution for the day. No more players may be nominated or executed today.
If the Psychopath dies by other means, such as the Demon attacking them, they do not play Roshambo. They die.

How to Run

Once per day, before you have called for nominations, the Psychopath may publicly choose a player. That player dies.

If the Psychopath is executed, the Psychopath and the nominator play a game of Roshambo. If the Psychopath loses, they die. If the Psychopath draws or wins, they live. Either way, the day ends, since there is only one execution per day.

If the Psychopath is executed due to a self-nomination, then the Psychopath plays Roshambo with you instead.

Examples

The Psychopath chooses to kill the Sailor. The Sailor is sober, so does not die. The Psychopath may not use their ability again today.

The Psychopath has been nominated by the Barber, and is executed. In Roshambo, the Barber has rock and the Psychopath has rock, so the Psychopath lives. The next day, the Saint nominates and executes the Psychopath. The Saint has paper and the Psychopath has scissors, so the Psychopath lives. The next day, the Barber nominates and executes the Psychopath again. The Barber has rock and the Psychopath has scissors, so the Psychopath dies.

Tips & Tricks

Reveal yourself publicly on the first day, or as early as possible, and start killing immediately. Even if you kill players that are not ideal, like players that have already used their ability, it is still helpful. If the good team is executing a player per day, and you and the Demon are killing two players per "day", then you still have the advantage, regardless of which players are dying. The good team may want to execute you immediately, particularly in a large game, but if it takes them a few days to do so, it should still be worth it.

Wait on revealing yourself until the perfect opportunity. Depending on the script, there may be some extremely dangerous Townsfolk in play. Sacrificing a day or three of activity might be worth it, to make a surprise attack on a particularly powerful character, such as the Lycanthrope, King, or the Cult Leader. Even if you only kill this one player before you die, that could be enough to save the game for the evil team.

Wait on revealing yourself until the very end of the game. If you can survive until the final three players, you can kill a player and win the game before the final day of nominations occur. Or, if there are four or five players alive, you can kill a player at that point, and force the good team to execute the Demon that day or face a loss that night.

Be aware that even though you are very powerful Minion, you have a significant downside - that the good team knows which player is a Minion. The good team knows one player that they don't need to execute to win the game. Also, characters that gain information about Minions can be particularly powerful, such as the Noble, Clockmaker, or Balloonist.

Kill yourself if necessary. Towards the end of the game, it is often more useful for you to be dead (and one step closer to evil winning due to just two players alive) than alive and known to not be the Demon. You can use your ability to die, or even publicly announce that you are willing to die by the Demon to achieve this end.

Gain as much information as you can while you are alive. Listen in on private conversations, pay attention to which good players are which characters, and which players are planning what. Talk to everyone. You don't even need to talk to your own evil team, but you can if you want. Even though you may be annoying to the good players, the more information you have will mean you know who to attack each day.

Soak up some executions at the appropriate time. Early on in the game, it is usually best if the players are executing other players, since the chance of them executing the Demon is low. Later in the game, it is usually best if the good team is executing you, because the chance of otherwise executing the Demon is high. If you can convince the good players to execute you at the times when the Demon is suspicious, the odds favour you. If you can convince the good team to avoid executing you at the times when the Demon is trusted, then you gain the benefit of a good player executed and a good player dying due to the Psychopath each day.

When there are just four or five players alive, think carefully about who to attack. A savvy good team will realise that going to the night phase with a living Psychopath and just four players alive will mean certain doom the following day, when you attack a player before nominations.

Don't be afraid to die, but try to live as long as possible. In a large game, a lucky good team that executes the Psychopath on the first day has removed and confirmed a Minion with a lot of time to spare. This is not helpful, and not very fun for you.

You can never reveal that you are the Psychopath, and just wait to be executed. The roshambo part of your ability will still activate, even if the good team has no idea that you are the Psychopath. This wastes an execution for the day, and will still allow you to attack a player the following day. As long as you don't lose roshambo, of course.

If there are characters that swap the Demons on the script, it can sometimes be useful to obviously not use your ability during the day, even if the good team knows for a fact that you are the Psychopath. For example, if an Imp, Fang Gu, or Pit-Hag are on the script, you can trick the good team into executing you as they may think that you no longer have your ability.

Learn some Roshambo (Paper-Rock-Scissors) psychology. Unlike normal, you don't need to win. Either winning or drawing is ok for you. Instead of trying to figure out what your roshambo opponent is going to do (a one in three chance), all you need to do is figure out what they are not going to do (a two in three chance). If you think they are not going to guess rock, guess scissors. If you think they are not going to guess scissors, guess paper. If you think that they are not going to guess paper, guess rock.

Every so often, kill an evil player. If the good team correctly assumes that you only kill good players, that is giving them too much information. Killing an evil player to make them look good might be worth it.

An evil player can nominate you, and deliberately lose roshambo. However, if the good team knows this, then they can just execute that evil player the following day. This is sometimes, but rarely, worth it.

Fighting the Psychopath

Until the Psychopath reveals who they are and uses their ability, there is little you can do to fight the Psychopath. You won't know that the Psychopath is in play until their execution fails, and at that time you can formulate a strategy on how to deal with them.

Once a Psychopath has revealed themselves, consider executing them as soon as possible. Nominate and execute them every day until the Psychopath gets unlucky with Roshambo and dies. This strategy is best in large games where the Psychopath has revealed early. It is worth spending a few days to remove them, so as to avoid the Psychopath killing three, four, five, or even more players.

Once a Psychopath has revealed themselves, consider executing them each day, for as long as you don't have a solid reason to kill another player. If you don't have a clue who the Demon is, it is best to just execute the Psychopath over and over and hope for the best. When the game gets to four, five, or six players alive, you can turn your attention to finding the Demon.

Once a Psychopath has revealed themselves, consider not executing them at all, if you have a clue or two on which player the Demon might be. It is usually best to take a shot at killing the Demon than wasting an execution on the Psychopath.

If the group's strategy is to kill the Psychopath, make sure you are unanimous in your voting each day. Flip-flopping about your strategy will only benefit the evil team.

If the group's strategy is to leave the Psychopath alive and find the Demon, stay quiet about your more powerful character abilities, so as to give the Psychopath as little information as possible. Talk to players you trust (or any players other that the Psychopath, really) and put your information together in secret. The Psychopath may wander in earshot of your conversations, so beware, and feel free to whisper. Or, to throw the Psychopath off the scent, if you are a character that doesn't mind dying, publicly bluff as characters the Psychopath would want to kill, such as the Bounty Hunter or the Fisherman. Or, if you are a character that definitely doesn't want to die, publicly bluff as a character that would be a poor Psychopath kill, such as the Chef or the Snitch.

When nominations are called, get in early to nominate the Psychopath. If the nomination is successful, it will be you who plays Roshambo with the Psychopath, and you know that you are good. Be suspicious of other players who jump in with too much eagerness to nominate the Psychopath, as they may be evil players nominating the Psychopath, with the intent to deliberately lose Roshambo.