Idea: Mad Scientist

[Kaji]

After reading the description of the Enchantress from Epic Mafia, I've been thinking about roles that pass things around town. I hesitate to call this a suggestion because it needs a lot of work.

Role: Mad Scientist(MS)
Affiliation: Neutral
Type: Adv/Evil
Invest Message: Cit/Sinister, Loner, or Works with Chemicals

Ability: Each night exposes 1 person to a toxic agent. Anyone that visits the exposed person also gets exposed to the toxin. Getting exposed to a second dose of Toxin kills you. The toxin wears off after X nights.

Options:
Can expose people every 1/2 nights
Target knows they have been exposed on/off (I'd say ON)
Toxin wears off after 1/2/3 days
Toxin is transferred by visiting people as well as being visited on/off
Doses of Toxin needed to kill 2/3/4
Mad Scientist can be exposed to the toxin on/off
Doc prevents exposure on/off
Doc cures exposure on/off
Doctors are immune to exposure on/off
Target becomes immune if toxin wears off on/off
Players can expose others the same night they are exposed. on/off
Toxin Ignores immunity on/off


Example gameplay.
Night 1: Red gets exposed
Night 2: Blue and Green visit Red. They both get Exposed. Mad Scientist exposes Blue to a second dose of the Toxin. Blue dies.
Night 3: Black visits Green, gets exposed. Yellow visits Red and gets exposed. MS exposes grey. Red's poison wears off.
Night 4: Grey visits Black, gets a second dose of toxin and dies. Yellow visits grey and gets a second dose and dies. MS gets roleblocked. Green's poison wears off.

Now it's day 5, Black is exposed, there have been 3 kills in 4 nights.
The rate in which he kills can vary significantly depending on which options are chosen. If a doc can prevent or cure exposure the kill rate decreases. If people becoming immune it'll put the MS at a disadvantage as time goes on. Having exposure transfer by visiting people and by being visited can REALLY cause it to spread fast. If Players expose others the night they are exposed, The MS could expose someone he knows is going to be jailed or investigated to spread it more quickly. Also, With Mafia/town killing, It's going to be reducing the number of exposed people. Much like an Arson will get to the end of a game and only be able to burn twice, an MS would need make sure he's dosing people that will be visited but not killed.

This also has some gameplay quirks that can be interesting to see. Let's say you have a Sheriff that gets the poison but then has to reveal to lynch someone. A Bodyguard guards him but gets exposed by doing so. The next night the BG still needs to guard the Sheriff but if he does he's going to get a second dose of the Toxin and die. The same with a Mafioso that is affected. He NEEDs to kill the sheriff but if he does he'll die.

Also, since it's transferred to you by visiting someone, roles that don't visit can only be exposed by the MS targeting them but they will expose others. This means the MS can't pick a bad target. If it was the other way around and you exposed people by visiting them, the MS would expose a mayor or survivor and they would never affect anyone else.

There are a few strategies. With 2 doses being fatal, an MS might dose the same person 2 nights in a row to kill them. When the MS can be exposed, this would just dose him and he'd be at risk. A lookout might expect the MS to re-dose and watch the person. The lookout gets exposed, but if the MS visits again he can reveal and out the MS. A doc might also expect a 2nd fatal dose incoming and heal the target to prevent it.

This role needs a lot of work. It'd be hell to balance it with all the possible options. I'd narrow it down to just 3 or 4 options to toggle in game and use the other options listed to define the role and balance it. It's actually probably too complex to ever be implemented.



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On a different note, A scientist role that is town aligned might expose a person to a harmless mysterious powder on Night 1, On night 2 that person transfers that powder to who he visists. All along the scientist can follow the trail of evidence he planted. Night 3 the person with the powder transfers it to who he visited and so on until the person it gets transferred to dies. It could say "mysterious powder was found at the crime scene." and the Scientist would know he put the powder on red, and red transferred it to blue, and blue must have visited green because green died and the powder was found on his body. The scientist might see each person that gets it, or he might have to ask red who he visited, and red would tell him blue so they'd accuse blue... meh I haven't put any thought into this one...

[creedkingsx]

I like it
+1

[clementine]

I like this, too!! If not for sc2 mafia, then at the very least for forum mafia! :]

[Kovath]

I like this, too!! If not for sc2 mafia, then at the very least for forum mafia! :]

I agree with the lovable orange

+1

[Theroux]

I don't get it

If you need to hit someone 4 times, and it wears off after one night, MS can only kill one person every 1-4 nights.

So options need a little fixing.