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Acrobat

Each night*, choose a player: if they are or become drunk or poisoned tonight, you die.

Welcome, one and all, to the greatest show on earth.

Storyteller cues

Other nightsThe Acrobat chooses a player. ◦

How to run it (Storyteller)

Each night after the first, wake the Acrobat and have them point to a player; if that player is currently drunk or poisoned, or becomes drunk or poisoned before dawn, the Acrobat dies. The nastiest edge case is a player who becomes drunk or poisoned mid-resolution order after the Acrobat has already chosen them — the Acrobat still dies, so track all state changes through the full night before resolving survival. Watch for the Acrobat choosing themselves, which is valid and functions normally.

How to play

  • Point at known-sober players: choose players whose sobriety you are most confident in — fellow confirmed Townsfolk, players whose abilities require them to be sober, or players you have observed acting consistently over multiple nights.
  • Track Poisoner and Witch targets: if evil can deduce who you are, they can kill you for free by having their Poisoner hit your chosen target; hide your Acrobat identity from evil as long as possible to prevent this.
  • Staying alive is information: each morning you survive is a soft confirmation that your chosen player was sober and unpoisoned that night, which is real data worth announcing publicly once you are out.
  • Most common mistake — choosing a random player: the Acrobat's ability is a death trap when used carelessly; never point at a player you have genuine uncertainty about, and treat night survival as a deliberate strategic output rather than luck.
  • Consider choosing yourself on nights when you feel the Poisoner might target someone you would naturally pick — pointing at yourself only kills you if you yourself become drunk or poisoned, which is a narrower risk profile in some game states.

How to bluff as the Acrobat

  • Claim early and loudly: the Acrobat's nightly survival confirmation is hard to fake over many nights, so commit quickly and start feeding plausible 'I chose X and survived, so X was sober' reports before the town can triangulate.
  • Target obvious good players: announce you are consistently pointing at the Mayor, the Empath, or whoever the table trusts most — this sounds protective and strategic, and it is difficult for good players to disprove without revealing their own status.
  • Engineer a useful death: if your team wants you dead for tempo or misdirection, have your Poisoner hit whoever you claimed to choose that night; your death appears to confirm the Acrobat ability is real, and the finger points at whoever 'poisoned' your target rather than at you.
  • The tell to avoid: a real Acrobat almost never chooses players of uncertain sobriety, so if you are bluffing, avoid claiming you chose Outsiders or players under active suspicion — it reads as careless and inconsistent with genuine Acrobat play.

Key interactions

Drunk

The Drunk registers as drunk to the Acrobat, meaning if the Acrobat points at the Drunk they immediately die that night. If you are the Acrobat, the Drunk is a lethal trap and you must avoid them; if you survive after pointing at someone, that is soft evidence they are not the Drunk.

Poisoner

An evil Poisoner can kill the Acrobat for free by poisoning whoever the Acrobat chose; once your identity is known to evil, they hold a guaranteed kill button each night, making it critical to keep your Acrobat claim quiet until the information it produces is worth the exposure.