Serial Killer

In the Salem Penitentiary, a hopelessly depraved soul sits in a dark corner of his solitary confinement cell. This person has been accused of murder in every degree and has been sentenced to death row. A master artist with a blade, the Serial Killer, is a dangerous foe to both Town and Mafia, but coming events call for desperate measures. A note is slipped under his cell door with a key, a knife, and a letter that reads "The Family sends its regards." The Serial Killer slips out of their solitary confinement cell that night. With a grim smile, the Serial Killer begins their gruesome work, one person at a time.

Stats
Role Name: Serial Killer (SK)

Alignment: Neutral Killing

Abilities: Kill someone each night.

Attributes:


 * If you are roleblocked you will attack the roleblocker instead of your target. This includes the Escort, Consort, and Jailor.


 * You can not be killed at night.

Goal: Kill everyone who would oppose you.

Special Attributes: Night Immunity

Win Conditions: Notes:
 * Must kill the Town
 * Must kill the Mafia
 * Must kill Arsonists
 * Must kill Werewolves
 * Win with Serial Killers
 * Win with Witches
 * Win with Survivors
 * If multiple roleblockers (Escorts, Consorts, and the Jailor) visit you in the same night, you will be forced to attack all of them.

Strategy
The Serial Killer is the most independent and powerful Neutral role in the Town of Salem. You kill faster and easier than any other role; but you are also the first and biggest target of all other players, with the possible exception of the Arsonist and Werewolf. Using deception, quick thinking and ruthless cunning, the Serial Killer can destroy anyone that stands in their way. There are several strategies below for the aspiring killer:

Priorities to kill:

 * Jailor: Jailor can execute you when jailed, bypassing your night immunity. Even if they don't, you will automatically attack them, which will make you very suspicious if they put your name in their will as the last person to be jailed. Additionally, anyone who was previously jailed is definitely not a Serial Killer, allowing you less players to blame.
 * Town Investigatives and Consiglieres: a Sheriff can directly identify you and an Investigator will put your name into their will as Doctor/SK. A Lookout may witness you killing another important town member. Consiglieres will gladly reveal you to the town as it will allow them to be protected by the Town, believing them to be Investigator.
 * Arsonists and Werewolf: they are immune against your attacks (the Werewolf during Full Moon) and can bypass your night immunity. The Arsonist will win in a one versus one against you at the end of the game; the Werewolf will kill you immediately if you attack their target.
 * Town Protectives: if the Jailor or Town Investigatives are revealed, Doctors and Bodyguards will often protect them, making you either waste an attack or possibly get killed. As long as a Town Protective is alive, the Investigatives can safely call you out during the day without fear of being immediately killed the next night.
 * Escorts and Consorts: similar to the Jailor, if they put your name into their wills when visiting you, the town will often lynch you immediately on suspicion of being the Serial Killer. Even if they don't, the Investigatives will most likely investigate you the following night.
 * Mafia: Near the end of the game, if too many Mafia members are left alive and know your identity, they will lynch you with higher priority than the remaining town.
 * Vigilantes: if they attack you, they will often tell the town immediately to lynch you, knowing you are immune.
 * other Town members: Other town members are only dangerous if they receive information (e.g. the Medium or Mayor) from more important targets. However, their numbers contribute to lynching you once you are accused.

How to find out certain roles
Investigators: usually have three tell tale signs.


 * They will lead day time conversation by saying "Anyone doused?" or "No deaths?".


 * They usually respond to questions like "Any clues yet?" with answers such as "None yet".


 * The most obvious sign is when they flat out accuse someone of being a doctor or a serial killer.

Doctors: can make your hard work all for nothing you don't kill them quickly. Doctors normally do their best not to reveal their role to anyone except proven or provable Town Members, such as the Jailor, Mayor and Spies.


 * If you know a proven town member, watch for them whispering to the Doctor requesting for a heal that night. Attempt to kill them the following night, as you will waste a night going to kill someone when there's a doctor planning to visit.


 * If a person is healed at night they usually say at the beginning of the day "Thank you Doctor". Doctors sometimes cannot deny the urge to say "No problem" revealing their role to accept gratitude.

Mafia : The Godfather is immune making them easily identifiable at night, but the rest of the Mafia may not be so obvious.


 * Watch the days' conversations, and see who is talking to who the most.


 * If a person is accused, and suddenly 2 or 3 people that hadn't been talking suddenly step up to his defense, that could indicate to you who the Mafia are, as they are usually silent during discussion time.


 * Votes of Guilt or Innocence can tell a lot. Mafia tend to vote guilty on everyone except their own. If a known Mafia is about to be hung, watch to see who votes innocent; they could be Mafia.

What to do if your target is immune
Lie. Pretend to be a Vigilante and claim that your target (either Arsonist, Godfather, etc.) is immune. They will hopefully be lynched before you are making the game a little bit easier. Sometimes, it is better to not claim to be anything or say anything. You are able kill someone the next night and put it in your Death note that this person is immune the town will most of the time believe you because one of the biggest threats to the Town is the Serial Killer so taking them out while slowly taking out town can work great in your favor.

What to do if you are jailed
When the Serial Killer is jailed, they will kill the Jailor and possibly be lynched if the Jailor kept accurate records of who they jailed in their Last Will. More deception is necessary here both in terms of the Jailor and the Town. Tell the Jailor a suitable role such as (Doctor, Survivor, etc.) and then hope that they believe you.

What to do if controlled by a Witch
Normally this isn't a problem. Witches and Serial Killers can win together and can be an excellent team if they work together. Normally a Witch will discover you are Serial Killer before you know who they are so don't be alarmed if a stranger suddenly whispers to you asking you about your role. If there is a Veteran however, a Witch sending you blindly after a target isn't the best way to stay alive. Do your best to convince the Witch to be on your side, before the Mafia convinces them.

What to do if you are accused
As a Serial Killer, Investigators and Sheriffs can both quickly realize your identity. When an Investigator "finds" you, it would be smart to claim Doctor. To help the Town believe this, you can tell the town people who you "healed" and on which nights you healed them. Another thing that may sometimes work is complaining at "how stupid the town is because you are the "doctor" " or saying things like "wow, I saved your lives, you know".

However if you lay the deception on too quick or too thick, the town will lynch you, likewise if you offend people in town they will also lynch you.

-Town: The Town quakes at the sight of the Serial Killer's name upon the list of roles, usually more so than any other role. Use this fear against them by claiming to be an Investigator or Lookout and accusing any unwanted individuals such as Mafia or other Neutrals as the Serial Killer. This will (hopefully) prove your innocence to the Town and make them focus on other suspicious players.

A major threat to Serial Killers is the Veteran who ignores night immunities if they choose to go on alert. They should be left alone if possible. Using the strategy above against Veterans isn't ideal because lynching a Town member usually results in you being lynched next, but may be necessary if there is no other way to kill them.

-Mafia: The Mafia will be your major contenders in the battle for supremacy over the Town. The best strategy for Serial Killers is to remove them as quickly as possible after identifying them using the strategies above.


 * Taking out the non-immune Mafia is easy enough but the Godfather is the most difficult.


 * Lynching is the most efficient means, but also killers that ignore Night Immunity such as Jailor, Arsonists and Jesters can effectively kill them.


 * If only a Godfather and a Serial Killer remain alive, the Serial Killer will win; so keeping to the shadows and deception is your best bet when dealing with the Mafia.

-Arsonist: The Arsonist role is specifically designed to kill Night Immunity targets. This makes Serial Killers and Arsonists natural enemies despite their similar neutral views on the Town and Mafia. Arsonists should be taken out using ruthless cunning by calling them out and having them killed by Night Immunity ignoring killers.

The Serial Killer is a difficult and lonely role that has an enormous power in shaping how the game is played. Death note can be an important way to communicate with other players anonymously, because the Serial Killer's death note is never taken lightly. Above all else, have fun, and make sure that every one else is having fun too before you leave them dead on the street.

A simple usage of your death note is to tell the townies that you're going to kill X (so the doctor and the bodyguard will focus on them) while you're killing Y. Advanced players will also try to accuse X for being "immune".

A way to get off from being lynched is to claim the Executioner role and plead that you will vote with town, and say a known town role is your target. Keep this promise up, for the moment you break it they will lynch you. Try not kill anyone who voted innocent on you, kill the ones who abstained and voted guilty because they will try and vote you up again and again. The talkative ones are probably investigative-type people, and will try and find you out.

Advanced Strategies
-Choosing Victims: Being a Serial Killer, you have to be careful who you decide to kill each night, since you don't know when a Lookout is watching you. The strategy on picking the first night is usually by names or order.


 * Lookouts, Sheriffs, and Investigators can go in order, by names that catches their eyes, or at random. The best bet is to go with order AND names at the same time in order to have a better chance at not getting caught.


 * Names that seem rather normal or have a very low chance on getting picked on are the best targets.


 * With order, picking victims from the middle is a good choice, as Lookouts, Sheriffs, and Investigators can go from bottom to top or top to bottom. (Or pick people with eye-catching names.)

The next couple of nights you could use the same strategy to kill, and also be patient if you choose to. Being patient and unsuspecting can be extremely hard to do, as you can be suspected at any given moment when someone realises you aren't talking, and so on. Being patient rewards you with some information about different roles, as listed above in the "How to find a role" guide. Sometimes, people would flat out say their roles or give hints which reveal who they are.

The hints to the threatening roles could be:
Lookout - at most times, as they would outright say that you went to a victim's house. Townspeople would usually believe them, and you have no complete route of escape through this. But you can kill them first once they reveal hints.

After the first night or so, lookouts would give away information to the townspeople or to investigators/sheriffs. The usual are, "Person D visited Person A," or, "Person B was visited by Person G." Lookouts can be eliminated first, as they have a bigger chance at discovering who you killed through watching. If they have not revealed themselves, then continue to figure the rest of the Investigative roles or stick with the strategy.

Sheriff - It's a privileged role, and they use it lazily at times, using the most obvious of hints in the chatlog. When someone is wrongly accused, needing proof of innocence, or being accused of a crime, Sheriffs are a shining examples of complete morons. (At times.) They are the easier ones to pick out as they generally ask many questions after a night and give information. - Also a big example of an Obvious Joe, as they do many things the same as the Sheriff, but they like to keep to themselves. Investigators tend to only give out information when they find something. But they are easy to verify, nevertheless, if you examine their actions.

Another thing to keep in mind are priorities. You have to think about the possibilities at which any of the threatening roles may find you. If the town has been narrowed to just a handful of people, it's good to keep track of which one has a bigger chance at discovering your motive. After killing the one with the bigger chance, you could continue on killing until you are met with another role that could discover you.

-If a Sheriff finds you then your best bet would be to drag out the conversation so that the day ends. Then at night your strategy may be to either take a big risk and attack them, if the Doctor and/or the Bodyguard are dead, or you can attack someone else that was supporting the Sheriff's argument against you, to try and weaken their defence, and hope that the Mafia attempts to kill the sheriff.

If the Sheriff is still alive the next day then you can also claim that they are Executioner and claim that you are a Doctor, if you are able to put doubt upon the Sheriff's word you can then attempt to bring the attention to the Mafia (assuming one is still alive) and hopefully make sure that the day is wasted and you do not get lynched.


 * Generally, however, at this point you have lost the game as a Serial Killer. Always try deflect the blame off yourself onto another person so the fact that someone accused you of being Serial Killer is forgotten.


 * It might also help to instead of telling Town directly that you are a Doctor instead whisper it to the Investigator so it seems that you are trying to conceal your identity and of course, that you are really a Doctor.

Serial Killer
 * If somebody is accused of being the serial killer and it is not you, use it as an advantage and keep them alive and kill whoever is accusing them of being the serial killer. By doing this the town will think they are serial killer and go for them instead of you.