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Keep it as is

3 (12%)

Change it to a full Jester, with game-end on win

1 (4%)

Change it to a full Jester, but without game-end on win

5 (20%)

Change it to a full Jester, with game-end on win AFTER day 3

3 (12%)

Change it to a Jester with the loss of the Next Day phase

4 (16%)

Remove it entirely

9 (36%)

Other (explain)

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 25

[webadict]

Rename Alien Scientist to Zoologist or Xenozoologist or something like that. The current name "Alien Scientist" is easily confused with the more terrestrial "Mad Scientist" flavors.

New alien: Bounty Hunter
Turns out all the aliens around here are either wanted criminals or wanted by the crime bosses up in space! Either way, bounty hunters want to get rich off those fat, juicy rewards. Wins when all the other aliens in the game are dead and is still alive, at which time he leaves the game on his ship. Gets a medium tech and night kill to accomplish this task.

Tech for the intelligence scientists: Tracking bugs
2-shot, night action
These pair of tiny little signaling devices can each be covertly placed on another player (in flavor it should be placed on something the target owns to avoid issues), making your goal "Find" for that night. Then, every subsequent night, you'll automatically be told where that player went off to. When the player dies, you can recollect the bugs, ready to be used on the next night. Salvaging bugs gives you the goal of "Find" also.

Not sure if this is better or worse than the snooper bot. Slower, yes, but getting 2 tracks at once sounds good. It's good for the dopps in that they can track and kill at the same time, once they're set up. Doesn't seem so good for townies, but then again, neither are the assassin bot or mind control ray.

TODO: Make chart of all possibilities for each goal. Make sure that they have a good distribution curve. Make sure that any particular result gives a good range of fake-claims.

I am completely for the name change. I like Zoologist better (Shorter, easier to spell correctly), but Xenozoologist works too.

The Bounty Hunter would have to show up with at least 2 other aliens and preferably not with the Zoologist, but I think it could work with one more Alien type (Maybe that Watcher could work if its Doomspeaking time is shortened to (Players / 2 - 2) Days.) Since we usually have 13 Players, and two of those are killers, then we typically have 13 - 1, -2, -1, -2, -1, -1, -1, -1 = 3 Players by that Day. Hmm... With the Stun Bomb, that would lengthen to 5 Days. Maybe it was better the way it was before, but the more Killers there are, the more Days it'll need to be shortened (3 Killers [Dopps + Vig + Exty] would only require 4 Days [Do the Math: 13, -1, -3, -1, -3 = 5 by Day 3... Crap! Meh, maybe not.) But, you know what would be the Ultimate win for Watcher? Getting down to only himself. Give him a Large Tech (PLASMA BOMB FO' THE WIN!)

I kinda like these bots, but make it so they can't be retrieved on death, but they can be placed during the Day. That way, they can disguise themselves at Day and then work from there (And it isn't an entirely permanent thing), plus they don't need to waste a couple of Nights setting them up and then watching the people die right then.

And we should add that to Military Scientist. The EMP could go under Cutting Edge, the Time Warper and Limiter Ray under Intelligence to make them mostly equal.

On the two times I've gotten to be Exterminator, I was frustrated by the odds stacked against you. I think expanding the total Tech Slots to 3 (Small, Medium, and Large) would help, since the smallest techs are the most versatile and useful for a 3rd Party... and it sucks to have to forgo all the neat Medium/Large strategic combos possible just because you know if you do, the combined might of all the investigators and killers stacked against you makes it nigh impossible to pull a win.

I do like some of Web's alternate Alien roles though... particularly the flavor on the Cult/Arsonist Aliens. You could even run a Paranormal with mostly Aliens, just to mix things up a bit.

... I agree, and to that, I'd like to add a bit to the GSC: Make it fill all of an Alien's Tech slots, but make them downgrade to the next lowest Tech (Large -> Medium -> Small -> Small.) Then, the Exterminator could have 1 Medium and 2 Smalls picked at any time, or the Survivor could pick up a Personal Shield or Deadman Bomb later, if he felt like it.

I think that the Exterminator not always being a guy with weapons would be neat (Predator). It could be the Arson type (Alien) or the Cult type (Pod People, kinda, but those are more like the Doppelgangers.) I just thought it'd be a nice alternative to the hack 'n' slash guy who loses a lot.

Panda: you can't let the Exterminator pick everything. Just some things.

:c
But I wubs Exterminators.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Panda's the Exty, but I'll post here about my scum plans. Oh wait.

[Mr.Person]

Once again, Webadict, you were about to fall victim to "I see no problems with this so I won't respond" syndrome, but instead I decided to stop by and mention that those are good ideas.

Yeah, I didn't like having to reclaim them, but it was necessary because otherwise it was a horribly limited snooper bot. But placing them during the day, that's good. However, that means that you can place both of them during the first day which seems too powerful for the dopps. I suppose a "no placing during the first day" rule would work, but that feels very forced and rulesly. "Only one a day" would probably be better. Alternatively, just give them three of the little fuckers and let them place as many as they want during the night.

@Webadict: I actually thought about making EMP blasts last only a single night for aliens, as well. I think that just goes to show you how good of an idea it is. I forgot about how fucked Scientists were, however, and decided Exterminators could take the hit. Thinking about it some more, neither role can realistically lose three days like that and still win.

I like your Hivemind idea. However, this is one that really has to be psychic. I think this should be the one psychic role that also requires psychically going to the target's location, as well, mostly so there's a bunch of risk involved. Mind shield blocks the attempt and informs the Hivemind, advanced mind shield tells the target that a Hivemind tried to take over their mind as well as grants access to the Hivemind chat and the Hivemind gets told their action was successful. The doubt that can form is great. Can you really trust all your drones? Does revealing your identity to your cult actually mean revealing your identity publicly? But can your drones be useful without knowing who you are? Very fun stuff. Oh, and of course dopps are immune to being dominated in such a manner. Their base desire to kill and eat is FAR more powerful than any thoughts the Hivemind can try and interject. The only other issue is if other aliens should be taken over. I vote no, but since the Exterminator is immune anyways, it's something to think about. At the very least, their immunity should be indistinguishable from regular mind shield immunology.

[webadict]

Once again, Webadict, you were about to fall victim to "I see no problems with this so I won't respond" syndrome, but instead I decided to stop by and mention that those are good ideas.

Yeah, I didn't like having to reclaim them, but it was necessary because otherwise it was a horribly limited snooper bot. But placing them during the day, that's good. However, that means that you can place both of them during the first day which seems too powerful for the dopps. I suppose a "no placing during the first day" rule would work, but that feels very forced and rulesly. "Only one a day" would probably be better. Alternatively, just give them three of the little fuckers and let them place as many as they want during the night.

@Webadict: I actually thought about making EMP blasts last only a single night for aliens, as well. I think that just goes to show you how good of an idea it is. I forgot about how fucked Scientists were, however, and decided Exterminators could take the hit. Thinking about it some more, neither role can realistically lose three days like that and still win.

I like your Hivemind idea. However, this is one that really has to be psychic. I think this should be the one psychic role that also requires psychically going to the target's location, as well, mostly so there's a bunch of risk involved. Mind shield blocks the attempt and informs the Hivemind, advanced mind shield tells the target that a Hivemind tried to take over their mind as well as grants access to the Hivemind chat and the Hivemind gets told their action was successful. The doubt that can form is great. Can you really trust all your drones? Does revealing your identity to your cult actually mean revealing your identity publicly? But can your drones be useful without knowing who you are? Very fun stuff. Oh, and of course dopps are immune to being dominated in such a manner. Their base desire to kill and eat is FAR more powerful than any thoughts the Hivemind can try and interject. The only other issue is if other aliens should be taken over. I vote no, but since the Exterminator is immune anyways, it's something to think about. At the very least, their immunity should be indistinguishable from regular mind shield immunology.

Idea!: For the bots, you could make them report a location for each one. Which means that each bot would be indistinguishable from the other. THAT MEANS if you use two at once, you WON'T KNOW WHICH IS WHICH! That makes having two is a double-edged sword.

Also, I can accept that change for Hiveminds. Seeing as how they came to create a home for themselves, they can't take over the Doppelgangers, who are solely interested in food, a base desire, while taking over Humans results in them trying to feel safe again, which is the Hivemind's base concern (He could be seen using "Protect" while converting because of this.) Exterminators (And thus other Hiveminds and Queens) are immune due to their physiology, so they're good, but other Aliens (like the Survivor or Zoologist) are otherwise concerned for their safety or doing a job, and would be susceptible to the Psychic influence of the Hivemind as well. The Mind Shields would be a good counter to Hiveminds being too powerful.

Now, the Advanced Mind Shield might be a bit much, but seeing as how you can Nick yourself in QT, it shouldn't be too much of a problem... Maybe. Mediums can gain valuable information from the Cult this way, though.

Perhaps if they reverberate back some sort of psychic counterattack, they can block the Hivemind from the next Night (I'm not sure about this, they already failed one conversion, so another might hurt more than help.) They'll also gain Hivemind awareness, in that they can warn their team about it. The regular Mind Shield will only gain that their mind was attacked (Like a block), but that it failed. That could be a big difference.

This also leads me to think that there should be a Psychic Protector. Seeing as how Psychic is a bit unchallenged at this moment, you could add a role that gives the target protection from Psychic attacks (blocks, Hiveminds, inspects)

Also, adding a role that is simply a Townie that Techs don't work on (Some sort of magnetic variance or something that no one cares about.) It could be a hidden thing, so that Townies wouldn't know, but it just stops all Techs from working on them (Assassin bots, Snooper bots, even Plasma Bombs [If it has secondary effects {Killing anyone that targets him or he targets} then that effect will still happen, but he will be unaffected.]) They always like a bit of hope (Maybe call them Bewitched Townies.)

And now that we've decided to add possible roles like crazy, I think I'll stop trying. I'll only discuss from here on out.

[Mephansteras]

Hehe. Yeah, we don't want to add too many more roles. But there are a lot of good ideas here, and the Aliens need some fleshing out anyway.

[Mr.Person]

I would totally be in favor of having additional abilities since the only one so far is mind shield. Tech shield is a great extension of mind shield, although I have no idea how to flavor it. That doesn't mean it can't be flavored, it just seems hard to me. Oh well, that's Meph's job!

[Solifuge]

Localized EMP field... or that whole "curse" some people seem to have, where electronic watches cease to work around them, lights go out, and so on. Make it a Psychic ability that trumps Tech-ers, much as a Mind Shield is a Tech ability that trumps Psychics.

[webadict]

Localized EMP field... or that whole "curse" some people seem to have, where electronic watches cease to work around them, lights go out, and so on. Make it a Psychic ability that trumps Tech-ers, much as a Mind Shield is a Tech ability that trumps Psychics.

Well, the Mind Shield is also a Psychic ability, but yeah, that works.

... It's a very localized EMP.

[RedWarrior0]

Query: if someone has a Psychic tech shield and uses a psychic ability on someone with a Tech Mind shield, does the mind shield count as targetting the psychic Tech Shield guy? If so, which wins?

Also, would tech shield work against, say, the Exterminator Weapon or Xenozoologist abduction, or do they also have less... efficient means of abduction/slaughtering? If so, would special flavor or any game-changing results occur?

[webadict]

Query: if someone has a Psychic tech shield and uses a psychic ability on someone with a Tech Mind shield, does the mind shield count as targetting the psychic Tech Shield guy? If so, which wins?

Also, would tech shield work against, say, the Exterminator Weapon or Xenozoologist abduction, or do they also have less... efficient means of abduction/slaughtering? If so, would special flavor or any game-changing results occur?

The Tech shield stops Techs. That means direct Techs, like Assassin Bots and Stun Orbs. Those things you pick at the beginning of the game. Killing someone isn't a Tech. Mind Shields aren't used against a person: They're simply used to protect the user, so no. Just like a Tech Shield wouldn't stop someone from using a Body Double.

[Mr.Person]

All the scientist variants need to be able to buy a tech shield or advanced tech shield if they already have on. Symmetry is good. Advanced means that the player will think their tech worked. Regular tech shields don't use up 1-shot techs, but advanced tech shields do.

Not sure how to make most of the techs fail in a way that makes sense, though.

[RedWarrior0]

"Hey what's that robot do-" *Flash of light, no more robot*"OHMYGOD MY EYES!!!*

[CobaltKobold]

All the scientist variants need to be able to buy a tech shield or advanced tech shield if they already have on. Symmetry is good. Advanced means that the player will think their tech worked. Regular tech shields don't use up 1-shot techs, but advanced tech shields do.

Not sure how to make most of the techs fail in a way that makes sense, though.

Exterminator Tech shield vs. Stunbomb = Yay, free kill!

[webadict]

All the scientist variants need to be able to buy a tech shield or advanced tech shield if they already have on. Symmetry is good. Advanced means that the player will think their tech worked. Regular tech shields don't use up 1-shot techs, but advanced tech shields do.

Not sure how to make most of the techs fail in a way that makes sense, though.

Exterminator Tech shield vs. Stunbomb = Yay, free kill!

Precisely.

[Mr.Person]

Speaking of which, Exterminators should be able to choose between starting with a tech shield or a mind shield.

Also, I forgot that kook is also an ability, so there's that.

[webadict]

Speaking of which, Exterminators should be able to choose between starting with a tech shield or a mind shield.

Also, I forgot that kook is also an ability, so there's that.

I like this. Is there anything about this that seems unbalanced?