Role Suggestion: Demolitionist/Bomber

[ArchKomodo]

Just in case no one has properly suggested this kind of thing... the man with his hand on the kill switch.

Role name: Bomber/Demolitionist
Description: You are an unhinged explosives expert and delight in secretly blowing up all who oppose the Mafia.
Alignment: Mafia Support (killing)
Abilities: Possible night actions...
Plant explosive -- visit a target to hide explosives in their house. You have one bomb.
Detonate explosive -- by targeting someone you have visited before, you can detonate the bomb at their home. Anyone visiting the target that night (except you) will be killed by this ability. The target is considered to visit himself if they do not target anyone that night. If no one visits the target that night, they will get a message in the morning saying that their house was blown up while they were out.
Defuse -- by targeting someone you have visited before, you can remove the bomb from their house if you change your mind or if they have died. You regain the use of a bomb if you do this.
Win Condition: See those who oppose the mafia dead.
Host Options:
1) target knows he has been visited
2) bomb can be defused and recovered
3) excluded from randoms
4) can target self
5) becomes mafioso if alone

Pros: Adds a fun mafia killing role that brings just the right amount of danger to the town. This role would reward careful play, and change the stakes of any game at least a little. I thought about more than one bombing, but the bomber/demolitionist (I couldn't decide which name was better) can potentially kill more than one townie with his ability, unlike the kidnapper or disguiser. Since those roles have greater implications beyond their killing capability, though, and since the bomber not only has to take two turns to get his kill(s) off (which aren't guaranteed) but also has no power after his kill, I figured the potential kills were fair. The kidnapper can continue to pretend to be a jailor, and the disguiser pretends to be whomever he replaced, after all. The bomber cannot.

Cons: Very few. The role could be wasted in the wrong hands, or with bad luck, or if the mafia doesn't pay attention/communicate they could end up blowing up an ally. The bomber/demo could also get TOO lucky and end up killing too many townies with his one-shot. Bomber may also get antsy once his bomb is used. These are unlikely, though, since the use of the bomb requires planning. Other classes have a greater effect on the game if used incorrectly, by far. Just look at fail vigi, marshall, or jailor...

Overall effect on the metagame if implemented: Fun, fun, and fun. I think the strength of this role is the fun it would bring to the game. Once there's a suspicion that the bomber is in play, the feeling of fear is similar to that presented by the potential mass murderer or kidnapper. Everyone has to be a little more cautious. However, unlike the mass murderer, the bomber cannot waste his spree by using it as early and as often as possible. This role would create a number of interesting scenarios, though. In cases where the target knows he is wired with explosives, he has some interesting decisions to make as far as how he handles his next and potentially last day. Doctors and bodyguards would essentially have to 'jump on the grenade' if the mayor was wired, for instance. By healing the target on the night of detonation, the protectors would die but the target would live. So, docs should be able to prevent the bomb from being placed at all, kind of like preventing an arsonist douse.
Bomber/demo would also appear as vet/mm/demo to investigators, as 'owning lots of weapons.' This is a nice place for bomber considering that it, like the other two roles, can kill multiple people in one night, and, if I'm not mistaken, there's no mafia role that appears as vet/mm.

Additional comments: That's about it. I considered making this role more of a "car-bomber" that punishes townies that leave their house, e.g.: you plant the bomb and if they leave their house the following night they get blown up. But I decided on this one finally. A completely different class could be written around that I suppose. Also, there's room for a "suicide bomb" style ability, I think, I'm just not sure where or how. Could the bomber walk into a building with a bomb strapped to himself after he's used his first bomb? Should he be able to blow up anyone who visits him one night (and perhaps himself with them?) Finally, any more than one bomb would be silly, right? Please give feedback! Also, consider adding this -- insert it where you would use kidnapper or disguiser!

[Hypersniper]

I LIKE IT ADD IT NWWW

[ArchKomodo]

See any potential flaws? any suggestions?

[Hypersniper]

Maybe add a host option for 2 charges that can be planted and detonated at the same time so say the bomber can put a charge in bobs house and then joes house then sheriff says I'm checking bob and invest is saying I'm checking joe and detect says be is also visiting joe u can detonate both killing all 5 and make it do u turn to mafioso after u use up all charges

[ArchKomodo]

I'm worried multiple charges would be too powerful, or that 1 might be too weak. Any turns in which the mafia kills more than one townie should be limited. And yeah, it should become a mafioso once it's detonated its last bomb.

[Hypersniper]

Well maybe 2 bombs but can only use one at a time and could be a option for host to have 1 or 2 and can. Pls go and checkout my role rigger and give me feedback

[Vago]

I think its well balanced... Its something like a One night MM, that needs at least 2 nights to be used... And as a MM it can be either Overpowered, or do almost nothing.
MM is autobalanced by the way that if he kills more than 1 he needs to wait... and this because u need to always wait 2 nights, and only have 1 (or 2?) charges... kinda good.

[Sen]

I like this idea a lot.
The only downside I see is that it requires a lot of careful planning: knowing the right target and the right night to blow the charge. This could lead to many bombers being found out by a sheriff/inv or being random lynched/killed way before they can plant the charge.

Perhaps you could add the suicide bomber option there: if the bomber is lynched (not killed), he will go batshit and use his last breath to trigger the bomb, which will detonate that night at whoever house it was planted. If he didn't plant a bomb, then obviously nothing will happen.

That kind of balances out the downside I mentioned before, plus lookouts can say if they found the bomber visiting someone, then noone would visit him that night. Hell, the target might even get jailed and survive.

This way the bomber could go out (and risk a random vet death) and plant a random bomb while he waits to find the right target, so he has a chance of getting at least one kill, even after lynched, which I think is fair for a mafia killing role, just as with the disguiser or the kidnapper.


Also, a random and stupid idea (A JOKE, NOT A SUGGESTION): If a target is burned by the arsonist while at a house where a bomb is planted, the house blows up and kills everyone who visited it that night.

Really good idea.

[Banshis]

Only thing about the bomb is that if you plant it at the mayor's house and if a doc heal won't go through would it just be an easy way to kill the mayor? The mayor will never leave and it will kill all of the doctors and the mayor which can make it too easy for the mafia. I don't know if it will act like an arson thing that negates all healing, but if that will happen which most likely it would happen the doc heal should probably go through because otherwise mafia have an easy way to get rid of the protectives and the mayor in a matter of 2 nights.

[ArchKomodo]

I like the idea of the bomber having a way for his bomb to go off even if he gets lynched, (perhaps a host option -- bomb goes off at night if demo is lynched) since there'd probably only be one bomb. Doc would be able to heal it (bypassing night immunity at all would be imbalanced) but would get killed doing so. Bodyguard would "jump on the grenade" so to speak and get blown up but defend against bombs. Other protectives could similarly prevent the bombing by role blocking the suspected bomber or by bus-driving, for instance. Swapping the target with someone else would cause the bomb not to go off at all, since the bomber can't target anyone but his original target once he places his bomb.
Those are some good points about the potential blocks, Sen. A lot of things can go wrong, especially for the impatient. Perhaps requiring two nights for a one-time kill is a bit too weak; maybe the bomber should just not be able to use his ability on night one, but only require 1 round to kill. Does a kidnapper or a disguiser lose his kill if someone is healed or otherwise protected? ...Then again, since multiple mafia kills in one night are kind of a luxury, I've kind of been balancing this in my mind in favor of the town. Since it's a kind of one-shot role that would become a mafioso in theory, the bomber would still have some purpose whether or not his bomb kills multiple people. If it kills no one, then you've kind of failed or gotten unlucky but can still make up for it, I suppose.

lol @ arsonist victim setting off bombs! nice

and link us to your role if you would like feedback plz

[Rocshi]

The concept is at least decent, but Mafia REALLY doesn't need 3 kills every 2 nights. Killing mafia roles aren't good concepts because of this.

[Vago]

The concept is at least decent, but Mafia REALLY doesn't need 3 kills every 2 nights. Killing mafia roles aren't good concepts because of this.

Well, the bomber has only one bomb. And if the target visits someone else then he wont be killed by the Bomb. Is like a gamble: It can do a lot of damage, but also can do nothing. In the "best scenario for mafia", Demo can target someone that is being visited by.. idk, lookout, 3 docs, detective, inves and sheriff.... But again, the same thing the MM can do.And if the bomb detonates and no one dies... well, he then does nothing more. Other killing roles that aremore steady can still use his roles (Kiddnaper can keep jailing, Diguiser screw around by being an confirmed sheriff and stuff like that)

[SuperJack]

Would have a totally different death description. Which would pretty much confirm the role in play...Unless it's merged into the MM death description.

[ArchKomodo]

The concept is at least decent, but Mafia REALLY doesn't need 3 kills every 2 nights. Killing mafia roles aren't good concepts because of this.

This. ^

I tend to agree, that's why I'm thinking the one-time bomb is essential to this role's balance. If it's not fun with just one bomb then it probably says something about the role, no?