Do You Believe in Balloonists?

"You start knowing if your closest evil player is clockwise or anti-clockwise. If equidistant, this info is arbitrary." The Shugenja trusts players to their left, or to their right. The closest evil player is the player with the smallest number of steps from the Shugenja to the evil player. If the evil players are ‘equidistant’, that means that the closest evil player clockwise is the same number of steps away from the Shugenja as the closest evil player anti-clockwise. If the evil players are equidistant, the storyteller gives ‘arbitrary’ information to the Shugenja. This means that the Storyteller chooses whether to tell the Shugenja that the closest evil player is clockwise or anti-clockwise. The Shugenja doesn’t know whether their information is arbitrary or not. The Shugenja does not learn how many steps away the evil player is. If a Shugenja is created mid-game, the Shugenja wakes that night to receive their information. The Storyteller communicates with the Shugenja by pointing a finger in the appropriate direction, but may use other methods if they wish.

"Each night, learn which player the Storyteller believes you should talk to most." The High Priestess acts on intuition. The High Priestess can be shown the same player multiple times in a row, or a different player every night. The shown player can be alive or dead. The shown player can be good or evil. There are no official criteria that determine which player the Storyteller must show to the High Priestess. It is up to the Storyteller’s judgement as to what they think will most benefit the High Priestess and the good team in general. It could be because the player has important information that has not been revealed yet. Or because the player is evil and has a bluff that doesn’t make sense. Or because the player is trustworthy and needs to be trusted more. Or because the player is good but on the wrong track and needs to be corrected. Or something new.

"Each night, you learn a player of a different character type than last night. [+0 or +1 Outsider]" The Balloonist learns players of different character types. Each time the Balloonist learns a player, the player must have a different character type to the previously shown player. The Balloonist does not learn the character type of the player they learn. The shown player can be alive or dead. The shown player can be good or evil. If the Balloonist is drunk or poisoned, they may learn a character of the same type as the previously shown player. When the Balloonist becomes sober and healthy, they must learn a player of a different character type to the previously shown player. During setup, the Storyteller may choose to add an Outsider due to the Balloonist’s ability.

"Each night, choose a player: a Minion, if chosen, learns this. All chosen Minions have no ability." The Preacher removes Minion abilities. If the Preacher chooses a Minion, that Minion is woken to learn that they have been preached, and can no longer act while the Preacher is alive, sober, and healthy. If the Preacher chooses a player who is not a Minion, nothing happens. The Preacher may choose dead players. If the Preacher is drunk or poisoned at the time they choose a player, that player is not affected by the Preacher’s ability. If the Preacher becomes drunk or poisoned, preached Minions regain their abilities until the Preacher is sober and healthy.

"Each night, choose 2 players: you learn if either is a Demon. There is a good player that registers as a Demon to you." The Fortune Teller detects who the Demon is, but sometimes thinks good players are Demons. Each night, the Fortune Teller chooses two players and learns if at least one of them is a Demon. They do not learn which of them is a Demon, just that one of them is. If neither is the Demon, they learn this instead. Unfortunately, one player, called the Red Herring, will register as a Demon to the Fortune Teller if chosen. The Red Herring is the same player throughout the entire game. This player may be any good player, even the Fortune Teller themself, and the Fortune Teller does not know which player it is. The Fortune Teller may choose any two players—alive or dead, or even themself. If they choose a dead Demon, then the Fortune Teller still receives a nod.

"Each night, you become the alignment of an alive neighbor. If all good players choose to join your cult, your team wins." The Cult Leader wins if everyone joins their cult. At the end of each night, the Cult Leader becomes the alignment of a living neighbor. Once per day, the Cult Leader may publicly choose to form a cult. If all good players vote to join the cult, the game ends immediately and the Cult Leader’s team wins. The Cult Leader may form a cult at any point in the day. Voting to join a cult does not require a vote token. Players may say whatever they want at any time, so a player bluffing as the Cult Leader may pretend to form a cult.

"Each night*, you learn how many dead players are evil." The Oracle knows how many dead players are evil. Because the Oracle acts after the Demon attacks each night, the Oracle’s info refers to the players that are dead when dawn breaks and all players open their eyes. The Oracle detects dead Minions and Demons, but also any other players that are evil, such as evil Travellers, or Townsfolk and Outsiders that have been turned evil. When counting the number of dead players, remember to count Townsfolk and Outsider tokens that are upside-down, which means their alignment is the opposite of what is printed.

"Each day, if you publicly guess which players are Minion(s) and which are Demon(s), good wins." The Alsaahir guesses the entire evil team. The Alsaahir’s guesses need to be public, and they need to be during the day. They don’t have to guess every day. Other players may pretend to be the Alsaahir and make a guess. Like the Juggler or the Gossip, the Storyteller will briefly pretend that player is the Alsaahir. If the Alsaahir guesses the Demon player as the Demon, and the Minion players as Minions, the game ends immediately. The Alsaahir must guess all Demon and Minion players. The Alsaahir doesn’t need to guess specific minion characters, nor specific Demon characters. If there is more than one Demon in play, all Demons must be guessed, including dead Demons. If a player is a Minion and Demon, such as Legion, the Alsaahir must guess this player as a Demon. Once a guess is made, the Alsaahir cannot change their mind later that day and guess again. The Alsaahir needs to guess Minions and Demons, even if they are good, but need not guess which Travellers are evil. If the evil team has changed during the game, the Alsaahir must guess the current evil team, not the starting evil team.

"You have a Minion ability. When using this, the Storyteller may prompt you to choose differently." The Alchemist has a Minion ability. The Alchemist’s ability is usually that of a not-in-play Minion, but can duplicate an in-play Minion ability. The Alchemist learns which ability this is on the first night. They are still a good Townsfolk. They win when good wins, and lose when good loses. They register as good and as the Alchemist. The Alchemist does not wake to learn who the other Minions are or who the Demon is, like Minions do. If the Alchemist’s Minion ability adds or removes characters during setup, this still occurs during setup. If the Alchemist has an ability where the player chooses something, like the Poisoner or the Vizier, the Storyteller may ask the Alchemist to choose differently. The Alchemist must do so.

"You have the ability of the recently killed executee. If they are evil, you are poisoned until a good player dies by execution." The Cannibal eats executed characters, gaining their ability. If a good player dies by execution, the Cannibal gains that player’s ability. If an evil player dies by execution, the Cannibal only thinks that they gain an ability, since the Cannibal is poisoned. The Storyteller may be lying to them. Each time a player dies by execution, the Cannibal loses the ability of the previous player. Executing a dead player won’t grant the Cannibal an ability. Executing a living player who doesn’t die won’t grant the Cannibal an ability. A player must be executed and die for the Cannibal to gain their ability. The Cannibal is not told which ability they have gained. They must figure that out for themselves. If the Cannibal has an “even if dead” ability, such as the Recluse, or an ability that implies it works while dead, such as the Ravenkeeper or Sweetheart, the Cannibal keeps that ability when they die, but loses their Cannibal ability.

"You do not know what your ability is. Each day, privately guess what it is: you learn how accurate you are." The Amnesiac doesn’t know their own ability. The Storyteller decides what the Amnesiac’s ability is. It may be the same ability as another character in Blood On The Clocktower, something similar, or something original. The Amnesiac may wake at any time during the night to learn information or to choose a player, or their ability may be passive—not requiring action from the Amnesiac player. Each day, the Amnesiac talks to the Storyteller in private, and makes a guess as to what their ability is. The Storyteller answers “cold” if the guess is very wrong, “warm” if the guess is on the right track, “hot” if the guess is very close, and “bingo” if the guess is spot on. Their guess may be specific, such as “Am I learning two players each night that are the same alignment?”, or vague, such as “Is my ability something to do with dead players?”

"If the Demon kills you, all players learn this. From now on, you may nominate twice per day and vote twice per nomination.” The Banshee becomes more powerful when dead, nominating and voting twice as much. When alive, the Banshee nominates and votes as normal. When dead, they may nominate twice per day, even though dead players may normally not nominate at all. When dead, they may vote for any nomination they wish and do not need a vote token to do so. They may vote twice for the same nomination. The Banshee only gains these powers if they were killed by the Demon. Dying by execution or to a non-Demon ability does not count. To vote twice, the Banshee player raises both hands when votes are counted. If the player is unable to do this due to a disability, the Storyteller can count their normal vote twice.

"The Storyteller can break the game rules, and if executed, good wins, even if you are dead. [No evil characters]" The Atheist knows that all players are good and there is no such thing as Demons. With the Atheist in play, there are no evil players—no Minions and no Demons. Good wins if the Storyteller is executed. Any living player may nominate the Storyteller, and the Storyteller is executed if 50% or more of the living players vote. If the Atheist is not in play and the Storyteller is executed, evil wins. Good loses if just two players are alive. The Storyteller may break any of the game’s rules. They may kill a player who nominated to simulate a Witch curse, kill players at night to simulate a Demon attacking, give players false information to simulate drunkenness, change characters at night to simulate a Pit-Hag, or even have the wrong number of Outsiders in play.