Balloonist and Soldier: Difference between pages

Revision as of 14:34, 2 April 2023

Information

Type	Townsfolk
Artist	Aidan Roberts

"As David said to Goliath, as Theseus said to the Minotaur, as Arjuna said to Bhagadatta... No."

Appears in

Cult of the Clocktower Episode by Andrew Nathenson

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Summary

"You are safe from the Demon."

The Soldier can not be killed by the Demon.

The Soldier cannot die from the Demon's ability. So, if the Imp attacks the Soldier at night, nothing happens. Nobody dies. The Imp does not get to choose another player to attack instead.
The Soldier can still die by execution, even if the nominator was the Demon. The Soldier is protected from the Demon's ability to kill, not the actions of the Demon player.

How to Run

During the night, if the Demon attacks the Soldier, the Soldier remains alive. (At dawn, declare that no one died at night.)

In other editions, Demons may have abilities other than killing. The Soldier is also protected from all other harmful effects of the Demon's ability, such as poisoning or turning the Soldier evil.

Examples

The Imp attacks the Soldier. The Soldier does not die, so nobody dies that night.

The Poisoner poisons the Soldier, then the Imp attacks the Soldier. The Soldier dies, since they have no ability.

The Imp attacks the Soldier. The Soldier dies, because they are actually the Drunk.

Tips & Tricks

If the Demon attacks you, nobody dies this night. This has two benefits. Firstly, since no good player has died at night, there are more players alive than there ought to have been, allowing the good team more time to execute. Secondly, no death of a night time supports your claim that you are indeed the Soldier.

You will never know for sure that your ability has worked. If you wake up to no deaths, perhaps there is a Monk in play, or the Imp decided to take a night off terrorising the living and attack someone's already dead corpse. Both of those look identical to the Demon attacking you in the night.

Consider bluffing as a juicy Demon target, such as the Fortune Teller, Undertaker, Empath or Slayer, to attract a Demon attack.

If you can prove that you are the Soldier, then the good team has an enormous advantage on the final day. Instead of good choosing between three (or four) players to execute, they will be choosing between two (or three). Getting an Empath or Fortune Teller to confirm you as not the Demon can be very helpful.

A clever Demon will not attack you again after the first time unless they think they can kill you. If you can convince the Demon that a Monk protected you, the Demon might try to attack you again.

If there are no deaths at night, don't immediately claim to be the Soldier! Perhaps the Demon attacked another player protected by the Monk and has no idea you were ever protected.

If you are unsure whether they are good or evil, allow powerful information characters to bluff as your role. This way, the Demon is more likely to attack you, and less likely to attack them. You can even talk with these players secretly, and agree to publicly claim to be each others' characters - they stay safe, whilst you reveal their information to the group..

If you die at night, you were either poisoned by the Poisoner , or you are the Drunk. This is big information, and very helpful for the group to know. If you were poisoned, then a Poisoner is still alive (and in a one Minion game, you now know which Minion is in play!), which also gives you information about the alignment of the dead players. If you are the Drunk, then nobody else can be the Drunk. Either way, you learn something useful.

Tell the group you are the Soldier at some stage during the game. After all, good will need as much information as they can get at their disposal.

If you have told nobody that you are the Soldier, you are still alive on the final day, and a death has occurred every night so far, then it is probable that a Spy is in play and telling the Demon who to attack. If you notice this happening, pay attention to who is whispering to who.

If you never tell anyone who you are, your role can combo in a very risky way with the Mayor. You might be more confident to execute nobody in final three than anyone else in your position. Even if the Imp is pretending to be the Mayor, and you execute no one, evil hasn't won yet! The Demon still has to kill either you or the other surviving player, and just maybe they'll guess wrong, and you will wake to a second day with just three players alive.

Bluffing as the Soldier

When bluffing as the Soldier, there's a few things you should keep in mind:

The Soldier never wakes, and never acts during the day. You would receive no indication that you were ever attacked. You have no information at all to keep track of.

The Soldier is an easy bluff, as you don't give any information and your alleged ability explains your longevity as the game goes on. This does not mean you should rest on your laurels though; because you have no information, people may eventually become suspicious of you as the options narrow. A Soldier who is trying to help good (by bluffing as a juicy target like the Fortune Teller for the Demon to kill, for example) can carry more favor than a Soldier sitting quietly.

Staying quiet and trying not to draw attention to yourself is the mark of a powerful character... or a Soldier trying to draw the attention of a Demon. Sitting quietly and acting cagey about your ability for a few days makes it look like you are genuinely trying to get targeted.

You (or your Demon) can choose to kill an already dead player at night. This will give the illusion that no death actually occurred, allowing you to claim that you were targeted instead.

Because it cannot die at night, information characters often can and will bluff as the Soldier. You can gain the trust of a player doing this by "revealing" yourself as the true Soldier, and offering to swap characters with them in order to keep them alive longer while making yourself more of a target. (Bonus: If you have a Poisoner in play, keep this player alive while completely undermining their ability!)

The Soldier cannot die at night (unless poisoned or actually the Drunk). If you die, you'd best have a good explanation ready for why that happened!

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 		<div id='character-details'>
-			[[File:icon_balloonist.png|250px]]
+			[[File:icon_soldier.png|250px]]
 			<span style="display: block; color: black; font-size: 20px; text-align: center; margin-top: 10px;">Information</span>
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 					<td>Type</td>
 					<td>[[Character Types#Townsfolk|Townsfolk]]</td>
+				</tr>
+				<tr>
+					<td>Artist</td>
+					<td>Aidan Roberts</td>
 				</tr>
 			</table>
-			<p class='flavour'>"More heat! Higher! Higher! Più alto! Ahhh... it is so beautiful from up here, don't you agree? Can you see the children fishing by the river, under the willow? Can you see the  glint of the sun on the circus tent-poles? What's this? An old man, alone, passed out in the vineyard? Less heat! Lower! Lower! Vai più in basso!"</p>
+			<p class='flavour'>"As David said to Goliath, as Theseus said to the Minotaur, as Arjuna said to Bhagadatta... No."</p>
+			<span style="display: block; color: black; font-size: 20px; text-align: center;">Appears in</span>
+			[[File:logo_trouble_brewing.png|100px]]
+			<span style="display: block; color: black; font-size: 20px; text-align: center; margin-top: 20px;">Cult of the Clocktower Episode</span>
+			<span style="display: block; color: black; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;">by Andrew Nathenson</span>
+			<div style='padding-bottom: 10px' class="html5audio" data-file="https://anchor.fm/s/daf1f9c/podcast/play/10584750/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fproduction%2F2020-1-24%2F52034074-44100-2-91d0b8547cab8.mp3">You need to enable JavaScript to play this audio</div>
 		</div>
@@ Line 28: / Line 39: @@
 		<div class="small-12 large-6 columns">
 == Summary ==
-"Each night, you learn 1 player of each character type, until there are no more types to learn. [+1 Outsider]"
+"You are safe from the Demon."
-The Balloonist knows a Townsfolk, an Outsider, a Minion, and a Demon, but gets them confused.
+The Soldier can not be killed by the Demon.
+* The Soldier cannot die from the Demon's ability. So, if the Imp attacks the Soldier at night, nothing happens. Nobody dies. The Imp does not get to choose another player to attack instead.
+* The Soldier can still die by execution, even if the nominator was the Demon. The Soldier is protected from the Demon's ability to kill, not the actions of the Demon player.
 		</div>
 		<div class="small-12 large-6 columns" style="padding-right: 0;">
 == How to Run ==
-When putting character tokens into the bag, remove a Townsfolk and add an Outsider instead. Each night including the first, wake the Balloonist and point to a single player (alive or dead) and place the corresponding “Seen Townsfolk/Outsider/Minion/Demon/Traveller” reminder token next to them, ensuring not to repeat the same type as has been used before (i.e. don’t move reminder tokens once placed). Do not show them a character token or indicate which specific type this player is, just show them a player.
+During the night, if the Demon attacks the Soldier, the Soldier remains alive. (At dawn, declare that no one died at night.)
-On each subsequent night, therefore, you will have fewer character types to show as you only have your remaining reminder tokens to place. It is legitimate to show the same player to the Balloonist more than once, if they either have different character types when shown or register as having a different character type. Unless you have a strong reason to, it’s usually recommended to not show Travellers early, as this is essentially giving the Balloonist no information at all that night as all players know which players are Travellers without needing to use any abilities.
-If there are no characters of a given type in play and you have shown the Balloonist all other types, stop waking the Balloonist. Note that even if a character of this missing type comes into play on a night after you’ve stopped waking the Balloonist, do not wake the Balloonist again on a later night to show them this player – the Balloonist ability was complete when you stopped waking them.
+In other editions, Demons may have abilities other than killing. The Soldier is also protected from all other harmful effects of the Demon's ability, such as poisoning or turning the Soldier evil.
 		</div>
@@ Line 52: / Line 62: @@
 			<div class='example'>
-				On the first night, the Balloonist learns Lewis (i.e. the Storyteller points to Lewis). On the second night, the Balloonist learns Doug. On the third night, the Balloonist learns Lachlan. On the fourth night, the Balloonist learns Marianna.
+				The {{Evil|Imp}} attacks the Soldier. The Soldier does not die, so nobody dies that night.
 			</div>
 			<div class='example'>
-				Ben is the Balloonist. On the first night, Ben learns Sarah. On the second night, Ben learns Abdallah. On the third night, Ben dies, so does not learn any more players. Sarah is claiming to be the {{Good|Monk}} and Abdallah is claiming to be the {{Evil|Goblin}}. Ben assumes that he has learnt one Townsfolk player and one Minion player, but he is incorrect - Sarah is the {{Good|Lunatic}} and Abdallah is the {{Evil|Leviathan}}. Ben has actually learnt an Outsider player and a Demon player.
+				The {{Evil|Poisoner}} poisons the Soldier, then the {{Evil|Imp}} attacks the Soldier. The Soldier dies, since they have no ability.
+			</div>
+			<div class='example'>
+				The {{Evil|Imp}} attacks the Soldier. The Soldier dies, because they are actually the {{Good|Drunk}}.
 			</div>
@@ Line 68: / Line 82: @@
 == Tips & Tricks ==
-* Keep your identity a secret for as long as possible. If the Balloonist can survive for four nights, including the first, they learn 4 people, 1 of which is the Demon. Even in a 7-player game that cuts out half of the options. In a 15-player game, that narrows the window down to less than a third of the game.
+* If the Demon attacks you, nobody dies this night. This has two benefits. Firstly, since no good player has died at night, there are more players alive than there ought to have been, allowing the good team more time to execute. Secondly, no death of a night time supports your claim that you are indeed the Soldier.
-* Come out early if you don’t think you’ll survive the whole game. You added an Outsider to the game, but that isn’t wholly a bad thing. Being able to trust the extra Outsider claim once you find them is very valuable for your team's deductions. You can probably help confirm the increased Outsider count, and this means there is now a small cluster of probably trusted good players. In an 8-player game, there should only be 1 Outsider, but 2 players come out as Outsiders. You can then come out as the Balloonist, and your claim now seems credible, and well as making the Outsiders seem credible. That’s three players who are likely to be good.
+* You will never know for sure that your ability has worked. If you wake up to no deaths, perhaps there is a {{Good|Monk}} in play, or the {{Evil|Imp}} decided to take a night off terrorising the living and attack someone's already dead corpse. Both of those look identical to the Demon attacking you in the night.
-* In a small game, it’s highly likely that there won’t even be 4 nights. In this case, your info probably won’t help you learn who the Demon is, but it will likely help you determine maybe two players who are different character types. You learn 2 different players before dying, but you learn that one of them is the {{Good|Golem}} therefore, the other one has to be not an Outsider, and 2 out of 3 of those options are evil.
+* Consider bluffing as a juicy Demon target, such as the {{Good|Fortune Teller}}, {{Good|Undertaker}}, {{Good|Empath}} or {{Good|Slayer}}, to attract a Demon attack.
-* Half the players you get shown are good, and half are evil. Even if you cannot figure out who the Demon is, your information tells you that two of these players know they’re on the same team and two players don’t know they are. You learn 4 players, and you've been observing 2 of them colluding since the beginning of the game, while 2 of them haven't been interacting at all. It is very likely that you've managed to discover the Demon one of its Minions working together.
+* If you can prove that you are the Soldier, then the good team has an enormous advantage on the final day. Instead of good choosing between three (or four) players to execute, they will be choosing between two (or three). Getting an  {{Good|Empath}} or {{Good|Fortune Teller}} to confirm you as not the Demon can be very helpful.
-* In larger games, your information is extremely powerful, and it gets more powerful the more you get. However, even an incomplete set still has value. For example, if you know that three players are different character types, you know that at least one of them is evil, and at least one of them is good. Therefore, you can deduce that any theories that have your whole set as on your team are suspect, because there has to be a Minion or Demon in there somewhere.
+* A clever Demon will not attack you again after the first time unless they think they can kill you. If you can convince the Demon that a {{Good|Monk}} protected you, the Demon might try to attack you again.
-* If you’re ever poisoned on any of those four nights, it undermines the whole 4 nights of information. Remember this as you are a high priority target for being poisoned. If there is a {{Evil|Widow}} or a {{Evil|Poisoner}} in play, they’re likely to want to poison you. You get good information on 3 different nights, but on the night you would have learned who the Demon is, you get poisoned, and learn a second Townsfolk instead.
+* If there are no deaths at night, don't immediately claim to be the Soldier! Perhaps the Demon attacked another player protected by the {{Good|Monk}} and has no idea you were ever protected.
-* If you can confirm the role of one of the players you are shown, you’ll learn that all other players seen cannot be that role. If one of the players you see can be proven to be a Townsfolk because of the {{Good|Virgin}}, you know all other players you see are not Townsfolk.
+* If you are unsure whether they are good or evil, allow powerful information characters to bluff as your role. This way, the Demon is more likely to attack you, and less likely to attack them. You can even talk with these players secretly, and agree to publicly claim to be each others' characters - they stay safe, whilst you reveal their information to the group..
-* If you are in a game that should have no Outsiders by default, try to find an Outsider as this will give you credibility. More importantly, since they will have to be the Outsider you get shown, you will know that all other targets you are shown cannot be Outsiders.
+* If you die at night, you were either poisoned by the {{Evil|Poisoner}} , or you are the {{Good|Drunk}}. This is big information, and very helpful for the group to know. If you were poisoned, then a {{Evil|Poisoner}} is still alive (and in a one Minion game, you now know which Minion is in play!), which also gives you information about the alignment of the dead players. If you are the {{Good|Drunk}}, then nobody else can be the {{Good|Drunk}}. Either way, you learn something useful.
-* Be careful of characters with abilities that register as something else. A {{Good|Recluse}} might falsely register as the Minion to you, and the {{Good|Spy}} might falsely register as the Outsider to you.
+* Tell the group you are the Soldier at some stage during the game. After all, good will need as much information as they can get at their disposal.
-* If you ever learn yourself from the storyteller, that is fantastic information. It means the rest of your set aren’t Townsfolk, and so if any of them do claim to be Townsfolk, you have good reason to be suspicious. Additionally, most of the remaining players you will learn will be evil, one being the Minion and the other the demon, leaving only the Outsider as on your team. Learning yourself as the Townsfolk is very rare though, and the Storyteller will only do it in a Teensyville game, or when the good team has very little other information, or both.
+* If you have told nobody that you are the Soldier, you are still alive on the final day, and a death has occurred every night so far, then it is probable that a {{Evil|Spy}} is in play and telling the Demon who to attack. If you notice this happening, pay attention to who is whispering to who.
-* If the town has no idea who to execute, but still wants someone to die, someone that you have learnt isn’t the worst option - even if you think that they are good. You have a 25% chance of getting the Demon randomly. Those odds of instant victory aren’t anything to sneeze at.
+* If you never tell anyone who you are, your role can combo in a very risky way with the {{Good|Mayor}}. You might be more confident to execute nobody in final three than anyone else in your position. Even if the {{Evil|Imp}} is pretending to be the {{Good|Mayor}}, and you execute no one, evil hasn't won yet! The Demon still has to kill either you or the other surviving player, and just maybe they'll guess wrong, and you will wake to a second day with just three players alive.
 		</div>
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 		<div class="small-12 large-12 columns" style="padding-right: 0;">
-== Bluffing as the Balloonist ==
+== Bluffing as the Soldier ==
-When bluffing as the Balloonist, there are a few things you should keep in mind:
-* Remember that the Balloonist player isn't shown an an alignment, character, or character type, and doesn't know in what order the players are being shown. The Balloonist player is woken each night, the Storyteller points to a player, then the Balloonist goes back to sleep.
-* Remember that if you're bluffing as the Balloonist, there should be an additional Outsider in play. You should have a chat with another evil player who comes out as an Outsider to help bolster your claim. You claim you’re the Balloonist, and another player says they’re the {{Good|Butler}} and the group waits for another Outsider claim. The Demon, wanting to play into your bluff comes out as the {{Good|Sweetheart}} pretends to gets angry at you for forcing their hand and revealing themselves.
+When bluffing as the Soldier, there's a few things you should keep in mind:
-* The Balloonist’s information is about trying to point out that two or more players cannot be the same type. You can pretend to use this information to make good players seem evil. Two players come out as Townsfolk, but then you reveal that you are the Balloonist, meaning that if you were telling the truth, one of those Townsfolk claims is false (of course, you’re lying, but they don’t know that yet). One player claims to be the {{Good|Mayor}} and another player claims to be a {{Good|Bounty Hunter}}, you can suggest that one of them is lying about their character type by suggesting that your information includes both of them.
-* Be very careful in what players you choose. Clumsily claiming players as part of your set can accidentally implicate yourself and/or your demon, leaving you in a real pickle if you need to change your story.
+* The Soldier never wakes, and never acts during the day. You would receive no indication that you were ever attacked. You have no information at all to keep track of.
-* The Balloonist is a really good claim to fall back on if you don’t have a claim straight away. The Balloonist has good reason to try and hide even right up till the final night. They are trying to fly under the radar for a total of four nights.
+* The Soldier is an easy bluff, as you don't give any information and your alleged ability explains your longevity as the game goes on. This does not mean you should rest on your laurels though; ''because'' you have no information, people may eventually become suspicious of you as the options narrow. A Soldier who is trying to help good (by bluffing as a juicy target like the {{Good|Fortune Teller}} for the Demon to kill, for example) can carry more favor than a Soldier sitting quietly.
-* Because the Balloonist eventually learns who the Demon is, if you’re able to survive four nights, you can reveal four players, none of which are the Demon. However, when you do this, you’re about to indirectly accuse two players of being evil. If there is another Minion in play, maybe throw them under the bus to make your information seem more credible, because it doesn’t matter as long as you mislead the group on who the Demon is.
+* Staying quiet and trying not to draw attention to yourself is the mark of a powerful character... or a Soldier trying to draw the attention of a Demon. Sitting quietly and acting cagey about your ability for a few days makes it look like you are genuinely trying to get targeted.
-* When pointing the finger at four players, make sure that you are pointing at an Outsider in that group. If you forget to do so, you might be left contradicting yourself, saying you added an Outsider but not having a set that excludes an/the Outsider claim.
+* You (or your Demon) can choose to kill an already dead player at night. This will give the illusion that no death actually occurred, allowing you to claim that you were targeted instead.
-* When pointing the finger at four players, make sure that at least one of them stays alive, if you want to stay alive too. After all four players die, the good team will know that you are lying, because the Demon was supposed to be one of those four dead players.
+* Because it cannot die at night, information characters often can and will bluff as the Soldier. You can gain the trust of a player doing this by "revealing" yourself as the true Soldier, and offering to swap characters with them in order to keep them alive longer while making yourself more of a target. (Bonus: If you have a {{Evil|Poisoner}} in play, keep this player alive while completely undermining their ability!)
-* If people believe that you are the Balloonist, you can get eight good players killed - a character that you implicate each day, and the character that the Demon kills at night. This is basically a sure victory for the evil team. Getting eight good players a one-way ticket to dead-town is incredibly helpful, and this is much more devastating than other characters can do. The real Balloonist can get 4 players executed, 2 of which you really do want executed. But a fake Balloonist gets 4 players that you really do want executed.
+* The Soldier cannot die at night (unless poisoned or actually the {{Good|Drunk}}). If you die, you'd best have a good explanation ready for why that happened!
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@@ Line 123: / Line 131: @@
 </div>
-[[Category:Experimental Characters]]
+[[Category:Trouble Brewing]]
 [[Category:Townsfolk]]