Let's Talk About Healing Circles (aka TP Chains)

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Let's Talk About Healing Circles (aka TP Chains)

Postby MysticMismagius » Tue Oct 04, 2022 9:51 pm

Let's Talk About Healing Circles
I'm getting on my soap box, based on what I've noticed from playing a bunch of Coven All Any. I'm probably gonna ramble a little bit because I don't have a complete thesis here.
I know y'all like to call it "TP chaining", but because it doesn't necessarily require a Town Protective role I tend to use the more alignment-neutral term "healing circle". They're the same thing. Use whichever name you want.



The Main Weakness of Healing Circles

The phenomenon of two or more Town Protective roles constantly guarding each other is highly reviled in ToS, and with good reason. It's very effective, doesn't require a lot of skill or brainpower, and whether or not evils can do anything about it is largely dependent on luck. However, they have one major weakness that any evil can exploit with good timing. Since healing circles are rarely questioned (especially when one of them gets a confirmed protection off), an evil role claiming to be part of the healing circle usually has a claim they can carry to the end of the game.

... In theory. In practice, all it takes is another killing role (Or a Town Investigative role, depending on what role the evil is) with the nerve to test the wrong part of the false healing circle, and the evil's ass is grass. The inability to actually protect your partner makes creating a false healing circle a risky proposition for evils.

However, there is one evil role that can form a true healing circle with a Town Protective partner, and that role is the Potion Master.


Potion Master's Effect on Healing Circles

Most of the weaknesses of an evil role forming a false healing circle don't apply to the Potion Master forming a true one:

- Unlike other evils, a Potion Master is actually protecting their partner, so the healing circle isn't ruined by another killing role testing them
- Lookouts and Trackers will see the Potion Master visiting their partner no matter when they check (Some evils forming a false healing circle can do this, but many can't)
- Potion Master can't be found suspicious to a Sheriff if they have the Necronomicon (Which is the only way a healing circle with a Potion Master is true anyway)
- Potion Master shares an investigative result with Doctor, so an Investigator can't catch the Potion Master either

The only things that can ruin this plan are:

- A Spy shows up and confirms the "Doctor" is actually Potion Master (This is mitigated by the fact that the healing circle can't start any earlier than Night 3, so Coven has the opportunity to kill any Spy claims before then)
- The Potion Master finds themselves to be the only evil left too soon, and gets lynched in a Process of Elimination game
- Non-Coven evils gain majority and elect to hang the Potion Master
- Typical Consort/Werewolf shenanigans
The latter two are not unique to Potion Master, they would also break a Town Protective-only healing circle.

If the Potion Master can successfully integrate themselves into a healing circle, they have a rock-solid Doctor claim, and the mutual protection has huge benefits for the Coven. Besides the obvious, a Potion Master in a healing circle removes one of the Town Protective as a threat to the Coven, makes the Town Protective more likely to work with the Potion Master over other evils if Town loses majority, and makes the Potion Master one of the last suspects in a Process of Elimination game. A Town Protective who accepts a healing circle with a Potion Master might just hand Coven the game.


Why Healing Circles are Still Effective in Coven Games

Despite all this, healing circles are still effective and common in Coven games. Town Protectives form healing circles without fearing that the other Town Protective claim might be a Potion Master, even though such a prospect would be devastating. Why is that? Well, there are several reasons, but these are the most notable:

- Only one role can be convincingly faked (Doctor) and only evil one role can create a true healing circle (Potion Master), only under specific circumstances (Potion Master must have the Necronomicon). A true healing circle always has at least one Townie, and is guaranteed to be all Town if either the Town has a Spy, there is no Doctor claim in the healing circle, the Potion Master is dead, or the Potion Master obviously does not have the Necronomicon (Note that in most Coven modes not named Coven All Any, the Coven Leader is guaranteed to exist and will always get the Necronomicon before the Potion Master unless the Coven Leader dies before N3.). In effect, the risk of any true healing circle having a Potion Master in it is low, and Town has plenty of tools to handle a false healing circle.

- Town sometimes has better things to do than determining whether or not the Doctor in a healing circle is actually the Potion Master, especially in Coven All Any where there can be other, higher-priority evils. I have been in games where the Town Protective knows full well they are chaining with a Potion Master, but the Town Protective maintains the healing circle anyway because their best shot at winning is working with the Coven to keep them both alive.


How This Can Be Applied to Make Healing Circles Less Effective Overall

Potion Master on its own clearly isn't enough to weaken the effectiveness of healing circles, but if other evils had protective abilities, healing circles might be more dangerous.

First, the obvious: The more evil roles there are with protective abilities, the higher the odds that any given person a Town Protective forms a healing circle with is evil. Thus, the odds that a Town Protective could be handing evils the game by forming a healing circle are heightened to the point where Town Protectives actually have to consider whether or not to take that risk.

Additionally, with the presence of two or more evil roles with protective abilities, there would arise the possibility that both or all partners in a healing circle are evil. Claiming to be a Town Protective role in a healing circle might become a somewhat suspicious claim, especially since the usual avenues for testing a false healing circle don't work with a true healing circle that happens to contain evils.

A non-Coven restricted evil role that can convincingly fake Doctor like the Potion Master can, and Coven-restricted (although not necessarily Coven faction) roles that can convincingly fake Crusader or Trapper would be especially effective in making healing circles riskier. These roles would make it so any Town Protective claim in a true healing circle except Bodyguard could be evil (While ideally all Town Protective roles would be falsifiable in this manner, an evil wouldn't want to emulate the Bodyguard's abilities, because in order to do that they have to take a self-inflicted attack and evils don't fancy dying for someone else's sake).

Neutral Evil roles in particular would synergize well with having protective abilities, since they can't get ruined by Spy, Neutral Evils need another kill-capable evil to win anyway, and Neutral roles in general tend to be lacking in tools with which to craft fake-claims.

Would adding evil roles that can protect fix healing circles on its own? I doubt it. But it would be useful in addition to any other solutions to make healing circles less effective (and subsequently less annoying).
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Re: Let's Talk About Healing Circles (aka TP Chains)

Postby syjfwbaobfwl » Wed Oct 05, 2022 5:18 am

Also no, evil protector roles are bad because

1. They are balanced around all any
2. In rank they are claimbags
3. They are there just to counter TK
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