Framer

**Coven Expansion Results**
Your target could be a Framer, Hex Master, Vampire, Dignitary, Jester, or Patient.

### Consigliere

Your target has a desire to deceive. They must be a Framer!

## Game Information

### Summary

You are a skilled counterfeiter who manipulates information.

### Attributes

If your target is investigated they will appear suspicious.
If there are no kill capable Mafia roles left you will become a Mafioso.

### Goal

Kill anyone that will not submit to the Mafia.

Template:Story Framer

## Mechanics

* You can choose a target to **Frame** each Night. Framing a target will show them as suspicious until they are investigated. Your **Frames** take priority over an Arsonist Douse.
* **Framed** targets will show up as "suspicious" to the Sheriff.
* **Framed** targets will appear to be a Framer, Vampire, Jester (and Hex Master, if playing with the Coven Expansion) to an Investigator.
* Upon turning into a Mafioso, previous **Frames** will remain on the target.

## Strategy

* A strategy to use before the Night phase starts is to say a player is suspicious, and request for a Town Investigative role to check that person. However, an experienced player may realize you could be a Framer, and might call you out on it.
	+ Since players are **Framed** until investigated, this strategy is not recommended, unless you expect the Town Investigatives to check them numerous times to confirm they are not **Framed**.
* If accused, a possible strategy is to tell the truth about your role, especially if someone whispers you to ask. Most people will brush you off as a bad Jester trying to be lynched and some people may even step up in your defense if you draw too much attention. You don't have to make a clever lie as long as Investigators and Sheriffs suspect that you've been **Framed** the next Night, allowing you to survive longer.
	+ Try not to press too hard when doing this. Telling the Town directly "You want to lynch me!" is the best strategy. Do not be too annoying, as spamming is against the rules, but reinforce the point every Day by repeating that you're a Framer and act annoyed that Town is not doing their duty to lynch you. Do this until people are annoyed at you and believe you are a *confirmed* Jester.
	+ **This strategy has a downside**: You could be executed by a Jailor or shot by a Vigilante since killing Jesters is a natural method for these roles. Telling a Jailor you are a Framer will almost guarantee your execution. You could also be attacked by a member of the Coven or a Neutral Killing.
* Your job in the Mafia is to be the "middleman" between the Mafia because you know that if people investigate you, you have a valid reason to say you were **Framed**. This works even better if there is a Disguiser who visited you the previous Night as any Spy in the game will confirm that you were **Framed**.
* Never keep a Last Will as to who you have actually **Framed** because this may prove the innocence of those that you **Framed** and give a clue as to who is Mafia by narrowing down suspects. However, you can write down that you have **Framed** other members of the Mafia and other fake evidence to mislead the town even upon death.
	+ If you MUST keep track of who you actually **Framed**, write it in the Notes, as unlike Last Wills, anything written in the Notes won't be revealed to the town.
* A possible strategy is not to do anything at Night. While it may seem like this is a waste of your abilities, Framer alone is not very powerful. By not doing anything, you can trick the Spy that there is less Mafia, and if your Mafia Killing is roleblocked or jailed, you can move and trick the Spy that a player has basic defense (bonus if you have another Framer visiting to count as a double visit). However, this may not work in tight role lists, and some Mafia members could expect you to frame every Night. If someone is confused as to why you aren't doing anything, be sure to explain your reasoning. This strategy can also be used to prevent a death by Werewolf or Veteran and keep you alive until you become a Mafioso.
* While claiming Town Protective or Spy might seem dumb, your visits can cover them up for you. If a Jailor asks for Town Protective and a Lookout on them, you can either claim to be a Doctor that was visiting your target to heal them, or a Spy who was bugging the Jailor, and the Lookout can cover it up for you.
	+ If there is an actual Spy in the game, you can still visit the Jailor to prevent a Lookout from confirming all the visitors as not a member of the Mafia.
	+ Of course, if an Escort role blocked the jailor and you're claiming Spy, things could take a bad turn, as the Jailor would likely call you out for not seeing the role block.

### Who to Frame

* It's best that you **Frame** people with names that stick out the most as Town Investigative roles tend to investigate said players first, letting your **Frames** take effect faster, and in some cases, make the accuser look like an Executioner!
* Players that talk Day 1 are often a good target, because it makes them stick out to Town Investigative roles.
	+ Watch for Veterans who are baiting.
* Roles that ask for Town Protective roles to be on them but don't claim Jailor are a good first pick, but you should only do this the first Night.
	+ This works especially well if they talk the first Day.
	+ However, some Town Investigatives actually avoid people who talk for fear of them being a Veteran.
* Framing people that are number one, number eight, or number fifteen on the player's list is a good idea too as they also tend to be investigated first.
* Try framing Seeker claims. If an Investigator checks them, they will probably think they are a Vampire and accuse them.
	+ However, a Sheriff that checks the target will not assume the target is a Vampire, since they will appear suspicious. The silver-lining is that the Sheriff may accuse them as a member of the Mafia instead.
* If people are suspicious of a particular person, there's a good chance that people will investigate them. It's also a good chance for you to **Frame** them. Be wary though, as a Lookout may be one of these investigative roles and see you visit this person, so try to **Frame** them a day before they become suspicious.

* Since Framers don't die to Traps, a Framer may check for Lookouts or Trappers on a confirmed Town target such as a revealed Mayor.
* If Spies don't exist or are dead, consider framing each Night. Most Sheriffs and Investigators will check a different person every Night. Since your **Frames** last until the player is investigated (even if you die or get promoted), they are almost guaranteed to investigate those you **Framed**.
* Framing a Mafia-known Jester could possibly have them lynched, killing a Townie or a Neutral Killing in the process. Plus, if the Jailor or Vigilante decides to kill them, they've wasted a shot or execution.
* Remember, sometimes it isn't necessary to **Frame** someone every Night. Framing on a Full Moon risks being killed by the Werewolf; framing on any Night risks visiting the Veteran or Medusa. Worst of all, whenever you **Frame** *anyone*, you confirm to every Spy in the game that your target is not a member of the Mafia, accomplishing the exact opposite of your goal.
	+ If there's a Disguiser, you can ask them to Disguise you to hide your visits to mitigate the Spy risk.
	+ Fortunately, if you **Frame** someone who asks for **TP/LO** on Day 1, you can prevent a Lookout using a Spy from confirming all visitors as not a member of the Mafia. Additionally, you may not even be seen by the Lookout at all, since players who ask for Town Protectives and Lookouts usually have more than 3 visitors.
* You could ask another Mafia member to bus you to "confirm" themselves if you believe you are useless, however, higher level players will suspect you if you don't put up a good defense as being **Framed**.
* Since visiting a target confirms them as non-Mafia to every Spy in the game (unless there's a Disguiser, Transporter, or Witch/Coven Leader), consider framing people who are being killed by the Mafia. By doing this, you can trick the Spy that the dead Townie was forged, causing them to call out and discredit the info in the Last Will. You can also do this to hide the real Forger's visits within your visits.
	+ If a Spy asks an Escort to role block a certain person (that's not a member of the Mafia), you can move and visit the same target as the Escort to make them appear as a Consort to the Spy. If they're role blocking a Mafia teammate, try asking a Witch to control you into visiting the Escort's target.
		- You can also do this to a Transporter as well to make them look like a Hypnotist. If they make the Mafia kill another Mafia member, provided you visit the same target as the main Mafia killer (or all Spies are dead beforehand), you can make it appear that there's a Forger-Hypnotist combo.
* Consider only visiting if you're sure it will give the Mafia an advantage, especially in the Coven Expansion. Your ability is *extremely* weak; your chance of your **Frames** having an actual effect is tiny, and there are countless ways things can go wrong:
* If there is a living Spy in the game, it is basically impossible for you to successfully **Frame** anyone since they can immediately speak up and reveal your target was visited by the Mafia if a Sheriff calls one of your targets suspicious; in that case, randomly visiting is not only counterproductive but actively hurts your team, especially if a Lookout or Tracker sees you visit someone and they cross-reference their information with a Spy.
* Visiting exposes you to a Veteran, Crusaders, Arsonists, a Werewolf, Medusa, Juggernaut and Pestilence; it spreads the plague for a Plaguebearer as well. The damage that these can do vastly outweighs the minimal impact your visits have...
* There may not be a Sheriff or Investigator in the game at all, especially in the Coven Expansion In that case, your visits accomplish nothing beyond exposing you. On top of that, your ability is only partially effective against an Investigator, since they'll know the **Framed** result is suspicious.
* As of Version 3.3.0, however, your ability is slightly more powerful since now your **Frames** are permanent until investigated. If you **Frame** the right people, it can buy the Mafia some extra Days, especially if you get promoted to a Mafioso and/or are the last Mafia member overall.

## Trivia

* Prior to Version 3.3.0, **Frames** would last only one Night, whether they were investigated or not.
* If an Investigator finds a "*Framer, Vampire, or Jester* (+*Hex Master* in the Coven Expansion)" result during Night one in a Ranked game, the chance of them really being a Framer is ~33% (25% in the Coven Expansion). This assumes, however, that the Jailor jails a target and a Framer **Frames** someone.
	+ However, remember that with 9 options for the two Random Mafia roles, a Framer only has a ~22.22% chance of appearing in Ranked in the first place.
* According to a poll made by Naru2008, the Framer is the second most hated role in Town of Salem with 263 votes, for the reasoning that it was too slow and boring (similar to Arsonist). Other comments were that you had to be extremely lucky for the role to be effective at all and that it was underpowered and needed a buff (keep in mind that this poll is somewhat outdated, as Framer has received buffs since then).

## History

* 3.3.0
	+ **Frames** will now last until an investigative role targets the **Framed** player instead of only the Night the player is **Framed**.
* 2.5.5.12200
	+ The Framer's role icon has been changed. Old one was File:Achievement Framer.png.
	+ Added Framer's circled role icon (File:RoleIcon Framer Circled.png).
* Town of Salem Release
	+ Introduced.

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