Observer

Observer Alias: Voyeur Alignment: any Role type: Investigative Choice: Night Status: Complex Normal

The Observer is an informative role that can target a player at night and learn what was done to them that night (protection, investigation, etc), but not who did it.

Observers can be of any alignment.

Normal version

This role is allowed in Complex Normal games.

A Observer is considered Normal on mafiascum.net, as long as it gives the results according to Natural Action Resolution/Normal Game. If an Observer is somehow blocked from their action (by Roleblocker, Jailkeeper, Rolestopper, Ascetic, or Commuter), they should receive a "No Result" pm, rather than a "did not see anything" pm. An Observer would not see a Ninja performing a kill and would not see Stealthy actions, however, and would receive a "did not see anything" pm in that case.

Variations

The Observer has very few variants; however, there are many related Roles:

• The Tracker learns who a player targeted, but not what action that player performed.
• The Follower learns what action a player performed, but not who that player targeted.
• The Watcher learns who targeted a player, but not what actions were performed on them.
• The Observer learns what actions were performed on a player, but not who targeted them.
• The Motion Detector learns if any actions were performed by or on a player, but not what they were, or who else was involved.

The Inspector, a weaker variant of Observer learns if a player was targeted (by anyone other than the Observer), but learns neither who targeted them, nor which actions were performed on them.

Use & Balance

The Observer is one of the weakest investigative roles around. Its use is mainly down to being able to confirm or contradict claims at a later point in the game -- if a potential Cop claim claims to have investigated a player whom the Observer targeted the same Night, the Observer is in position to confirm or deny this claim.

Similarly, the Observer may be able to confirm the existence of certain types of claims (such as a protective role), without knowing who that role belongs to.

As a scum role, Observer can be used to determine what power roles are in the game, and perhaps by considering who would have that power role used on them identify who the power role is. This is still paltry compared to the result that could have been gotten via a Tracker, Watcher or Role Cop, though.

Play Advice

Target players who are likely to be the recipient of many actions. The information you receive may not be immediately useful, but may become more useful as the game goes on.

As scum, it's worth targeting people you're planning to mislim. Trying to push someone when someone else already knows they're Town is a terrible idea, so if you see an investigative action aiming at your mislim target, you might want to change strategy.

Sample Role PMs

The standardized Role PM for "Observer" describes the action as follows:

• As a targeted action: you will learn what types of action (according to Natural Action Resolution/Normal Game) targeted that player that night. (You will get "no result" if this action is blocked.) (edit)

Example (simplest form)

Welcome to game! You are a Town Observer.

You have the following active ability:

• Each Night, you may target a player. Assuming no interference with your action, you will learn what types of action (according to Natural Action Resolution/Normal Game) targeted that player that night. (You will get "no result" if this action is blocked.)

You win if all threats to the town are eliminated and at least one town-aligned player is alive.

Confirm by replying to this PM with a summary of your role.

Example (with modifiers)

Welcome to game! You are a Town 1-shot Loud Observer.

You have the following active ability:

• Once in the game at Night, you may target a player. Assuming no interference with your action, you will learn what types of action (according to Natural Action Resolution/Normal Game) targeted that player that night. (You will get "no result" if this action is blocked.) Your target will learn that you targeted them (but not what action you targeted them with).

You win if all threats to the town are eliminated and at least one town-aligned player is alive.

Confirm by replying to this PM with a summary of your role.