Deathcaller

> Once per game during the day, if the Deathcaller is not the current majority vote and they are voting for a player to condemn, they may mark that player for death
>
> Targeted players will be announced as marked and die at the end of the day
>
> The targeted player will remain marked even if the Deathcaller changes their condemn vote
>
>

## Deathcaller

### Role Tags

Day Power, Extra KP, Meeting, Single-Use

**Deathcaller** is a Mafia-aligned role that can give the mafia a bonus kill, but at a risk.

## Mechanics

Once per game, during the day, Deathcaller may mark the player they are voting for death. Marking a player for death functions identically to making them bleed. As such:

* If a role with a post-vote action (such as Hunter) is marked for death, they die without using their power.
* Marking a player for death ignores all protections except for Grandma's.
* Secret Service cannot prevent a player from being marked for death.

When Deathcaller marks a player for death, it will be announced to all players. Thus, town can deduce who the Deathcaller is, particularly if they are the only player voting the player marked for death.

Deathcaller can use their power during the limited period, but not during the post-vote period. Deathcaller can also not use their power if they are the current majority vote. This means that Deathcaller must act proactively.

Marking Bomb for death does not kill Deathcaller; they are not the one considered as committing the kill. Likewise, Rogue will die unconverted if marked for death.

Switching your vote does not switch the player who is marked for death.

If Deathcaller is not currently voting anyone, they are unable to press the button that marks the player for death.

## Interactions

Since Candle dying makes all votes hidden, candle day is the best time for Deathcaller to use their power, since they can do so discretely.

Freezer and Moderator can prevent players from changing their votes, giving Deathcaller more opportunity to use their power without outing themself.

Deathcaller can often get free kills on Delinquent and Tapioca. Deathcaller also pairs well with Framer and Painter.

Pollster using their power dissuades Deathcaller from using if at least one of the polled players is mafia. If Deathcaller marks the non-mafia player for death, town will vote the mafia player. Thus, Deathcaller has no incentive to use.

Defense Attorney can "save" players from dying to Deathcaller if they are fast enough.

## Power

Deathcaller is similar to Hitman, but less powerful due to the info it gives town about who the Deathcaller might be, and the delayed nature of its kill. However, the ability to kill normally unkillable roles like Agoraphobe is fairly strong.

Deathcaller is stronger when town plays worse. An intelligent town can coordinate votes and prevent bandwagons to deny optimal Deathcaller usage.

## In Setups

The presence of a Deathcaller in a setup should cause players to pay attention to who is voting whom, since Deathcaller marks the player they are voting. Players should be more cautious of bandwagons, which empower the Deathcaller and allow them to better hide their identity.

When used with Candle, Deathcaller functions as a conditional Hitman: Deathcaller may kill any player so long as Candle died the previous night. This can be used to create interesting setups where the mafia must kill a Candle before they can kill another role, such as an Announcer, which the mafia does not want to kill during the night. Deathcaller and Candle can also be used in tandem with Pollster. If Pollster uses on candle day and chooses at least one mafia member to restrict votes to, they can deny Deathcaller the safe use of their power they desired.

Deathcaller can be used to reduce the effectiveness of Bus Cop. Optimally, town can enforce that all players vote the same person to empower Bus Cop. Deathcaller punishes this by getting to use its power for free. This does not completely mitigate the strategy, but can dissuade some players from wishing to use it.

Deathcaller is also interesting with Vanilla Cop. Many players immediately think that nonvanilla checks are mafia, and will attempt to bandwagon them. This allows Deathcaller to kill power roles for free.

When Con Man, Diva, or Impostor is present in a setup, it can be assumed that Deathcaller would not use their power on another mafia member. As such, players marked for death can be assumed not to be any of the aforementioned roles.

## Gameplay

### With

Deathcaller usage involves a lot of WIFOM. You can jump on a bandwagon then use your power, or you can wait until other players jumps on your vote.

Timing can be everything. Always mark players for death before other players start to unvote.

Try to start bandwagons on power roles for free kills on them.

Be proactive with your power; you can't use it as a last-ditch kill like Hitman can if you get voted.

### Against

Watch out for players who jump on bandwagons right before a player gets marked for death.

Avoid close ties, since Deathcaller can use their power if they think they are going to die but they are not the majority vote.

You can narrow down who the Deathcaller might be by looking at who voted the player who was marked for death.

## Trivia

* Deathcaller was introduced on February 18, 2022, during the "Mafia.gg celebrates three years!" update.
* Deathcaller and Defense Attorney were the two roles changed in The August update, due to the fact that they were not being used as intended.
	+ Before the August update, Deathcaller could not use its power during limited period, but could use its power if it was the current majority vote.
		- The reason for the second change was to prevent Deathcaller from playing like Poacher. Very few players would use Deathcaller's power proactively; they would tend to use it when they knew they were going to die anyway.
	+ Both roles coincidentally start with the letter D.
* Deathcaller and Reaper are the only two roles that can mark players for death.
	+ Both roles are mafia-aligned.

## See Also

* Hitman
* Reaper