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Roleblocker
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A Roleblocker chooses one player per Night to block from performing their night action. The target's night action will not be performed -- that is, the Roleblocker blocks the target's role from working. The role is very commonly seen as part of the Mafia, but can also be useful for the Town.
Normal version
A Roleblocker prevents their target using active roles (such as Cop investigations and Doctor protections). Passive abilities, such as a Bulletproof player's kill immunity or a Mason's ability to privately talk, are not affected. More simply - if the player has to submit an action to the moderator, a Roleblocker can block it.
When an X-Shot role is blocked, the shot is not refunded; the player still counts as having "paid for" their role use, but the actual role is otherwise considered to not have happened (so, e.g., Trackers and Watchers will not be able to see the blocked role being used). The blocked player will not normally be told that they have been blocked (unless they used an investigative role and thus were expecting a results PM, in which case the moderator will let them know that their action failed). The blocked player will never receive misleading results, e.g. a blocked Tracker will get a result like "Your action failed, and you did not receive a result", and never something like "Your target went nowhere".
A Roleblocker is trumped by roles that prevent someone being targeted at all - for example, a Roleblocker cannot block roles such as Ascetic or Commuter. A Strongman specifically pierces Roleblocker protection. Roleblocks can themselves be blocked; thus, for example, a Roleblocker cannot block someone who is under Rolestopper protection.
There is no consensus as to what happens when multiple roleblockers try to roleblock each other – the result will depend on the action resolution scheme in use. In Normal games, any potential such scenarios must be planned for during review (and doing so is a good idea in other games too).
By default, players cannot perform two actions at once, which is often an issue for a Mafia Roleblocker if they end up as the last remaining member of their faction. (This default can be changed using the Multitasking modifier.)
Variations
It is quite common for X-Shot roles to have their shots refunded when blocked (although doing so is not Normal, and thus on mafiascum.net, is confined to Theme games).
A Mafia Roleblocker may or may not be allowed to perform the Mafia kill on the same Night they are also performing a roleblock. (This applies to other Mafia roles as well.) The decision of whether to allow the last Mafioso to kill and use their role at the same time is usually based on what would make the game better-balanced. For example, in Newbie games, the Mafia Roleblocker is allowed to perform both in one night.
Some moderators actually do allow Roleblockers to block passive abilities. However, this is usually only seen in role madness games, and typically known as a Disabler.
In Grand Idea Mafia, reliabilities were introduced to function in a way similar to Doctor reliabilities.
- Reliable: A reliable roleblocker behaves as described in the above paragraphs.
- Inverse: An inverse roleblocker makes the targeted player's actions unblockable rather than roleblocking them. See also: Strengthener.
- Naive: A naive roleblocker is ineffective at blocking players. See also: Visitor.
- Cynical: A cynical roleblocker rolestops their target in addition to roleblocking them. See also: Alien (the normal role, not the alignment).
Multiple and Mutual Roleblocks
There is no consensus as to what happens when multiple Roleblockers exist and target each other (or with similar roles such as Jailkeeper). The prevailing opinion is that Roleblocks are resolved in such a way that conflicts are minimized. The other opinion is that all Roleblocks are simultaneous; thus everyone targeted by a Roleblocker is Roleblocked.
Here are a few examples to illustrate what the differences are, and thus why the moderator must choose well in advance how these kinds of actions would be resolved if multiple Roleblockers are in the game.
- Suppose Roleblocker A blocks Roleblocker B, who blocks Roleblocker C, who blocks Roleblocker D, who blocks Doctor E. If Roleblocks are resolved in such a way that conflicts are minimized, A blocks B, preventing B from blocking C, thus C blocks D, preventing D from blocking the Doctor - in short, the Doctor's protection would have an effect. If all Roleblocks are simultaneous, the only player who is NOT technically Roleblocked is A; the Doctor would be blocked.
- Suppose a Town Roleblocker and a Mafia Roleblocker target each other at Night. Who is Roleblocked?
- Suppose that the Mafia Roleblocker in this example is also performing the Mafia kill. Does the kill succeed?
- Suppose that a Tracker investigates the Town Roleblocker in this example. What result does the Tracker get?
Most moderators opt for arbitrary tie-breakers in ambiguous situations like these.
Use & Balance
Since the Roleblocker can exist as both a town and an anti-town role, its exact use depends on the alignment. In either case, the function of the Roleblocker is to stop suspected threats from performing Night actions.
Town
Generally, Roleblockers are intended to try to stop the Night-kill, or stop scum power roles in situations where they are known. In practice, Roleblockers are more likely to stop Town power roles from working early on, but as the game goes on Roleblockers become much more powerful. In particular, when there is one Mafioso left Roleblockers can be used to confirm players - if the Mafia's kill goes through, whoever was blocked that Night isn't the last Mafioso. Inversely, if a Roleblocker blocks someone and the Mafia's kill disappears, there is a decent chance that the Roleblocker blocked the scum who was performing the kill (though this is not necessarily the case, given that other power roles may have had a hand in it, or the scum decided to not kill anyone as a framing gambit). In summary, Town Roleblockers are almost liabilities early on but become much stronger if they survive to lategame, so they have net positive value for Town.
Anti-town
Antitown Roleblockers are helpful for neutralizing town power roles, even if there is a Doctor or other protective role that keeps the power role from being killed. This is very helpful in preventing Follow the Cop scenarios. A Mafia Roleblocker does not suffer the risk of blocking someone on their side, like a Town Roleblocker does; the only power roles they need to watch out for are the Tracker and the Watcher. Mafia Roleblockers are fairly safe ways to reduce swing and grant the Mafia some measure of protection from the Town's power roles, so they are reasonably powerful for their team.
Historical statistics show that moderators have a large tendency to underestimate the effect that a Mafia Roleblocker will have on the game. For example, suppose you have a setup that is mostly balanced, except that it's susceptible to being broken by a town mass claim. It's reasonable to add a Mafia Roleblocker as a method of defeating the breaking strategy, but this will also cause the setup to become more scumsided, regardless of whether town actually attempt a massclaim or not. As such, you will likely have to give the town an extra moderately strong power role to bring the game back into balance.
Sample Role PMs
The standardized Role PM for "Roleblocker" describes the action as follows:
- As a targeted action:
that player's active abilities will be blocked that night.(edit)
Example (simplest form)
Welcome to game! You are a Mafia Roleblocker.
Your team-mates are names. You may talk to them here during night phases and confirmations only.You have the following active abilities, but may use only one per Night:
- Each Night, if no other member of your faction is performing this action, you may target a player. Assuming no interference with your action, that player will die.
- Each Night, you may target a player. Assuming no interference with your action, that player's active abilities will be blocked that night.
You win if at least one mafia member is alive and all other players are dead (or if nothing can prevent the same).
Confirm by replying to this PM with a summary of your role.
Example (with modifiers)
Welcome to game! You are a Mafia 1-shot Loud Roleblocker.
Your team-mates are names. You may talk to them here during night phases and confirmations only.You have the following active abilities, but may use only one per Night:
- Each Night, if no other member of your faction is performing this action, you may target a player. Assuming no interference with your action, that player will die.
- Once in the game at Night, you may target a player. Assuming no interference with your action, that player's active abilities will be blocked that night. Your target will learn that you targeted them (but not what action you targeted them with).
You win if at least one mafia member is alive and all other players are dead (or if nothing can prevent the same).
Confirm by replying to this PM with a summary of your role.