The Invincible Man

[PolarBoy]

Actually it's a pretty good idea to give it to a townie. For starters bear in mind that the mafia do not need to kill an invincible man at night. They could get him lynched or wait for the endgame. The role is unclaimable, as it puts docs and cops in danger. Better to maneuver the mafia into wasting a kill.

Actually it would be pretty neat to see this role become more common. As docs could bluff it to avoid being killed by the mafia while protecting others. Giving it to a mafia member could be royally unfair in a game with vigs, as it could make the vig useless.

Anyway it seems to me that it's all a matter of the individual game and how the mod needs to balance it.

[PolarBoy]

I hate to simply contradict someone, but no, it doesn't. It's rare that a given role needs to be self balancing, as a powerful pro-town role can be balanced by throwing in a cop variation or some such. And besides, the invincible man already is self-balancing.

It's true that once he becomes known the mafia can't kill him. Then again he has the most convenient role claim possible. He needn't do anything at all to confirm it. The fact that he remains alive ends up working against him as it could mean that he's scum, and on top of that his role provides nothing for the town once it's known. Instead the scum know one more person they shouldn't be going after. The one working strategy an invincible player has is to convince the mafia that he's really a doc or cop of some sort, without getting lynched by the town. That is a fine line to walk, as most towns do not look kindly on liars.

[PolarBoy]

JEEP's endgame definitely demonstrates how the invincible man could be a problem. I was assuming that once it got down to two players left that immunity would no longer work. If you want to nitpick and say that the vest is still bullet-proof no matter how many people are in the town, just remember that once you reach endgame the mafia no longer need to be subtle and can just shoot the guy point blank in the head and not wait for night.

[PolarBoy]

I think I got this role in Calvin and Hobbes.