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Judge

Once per game, if another player nominated, you may choose to force the current execution to pass or fail.

I find the defendant guilty of the crimes of murder, fraud, arson, larceny, impersonating an officer of the law, practicing medicine without a license, slander, regicide, and littering.

How to run it (Storyteller)

The Judge is a Traveller who can intervene on any nomination made by another player, forcing that execution to either pass or fail. This ability is once per game and triggers only when the Judge chooses — they are not compelled. Be fair: allow the Judge's player to see the vote result before deciding whether to use the ability, so the intervention is meaningful and not wasted on an already-decided vote.

How to play as a good Judge

  • Save the ability for a high-confidence demon nomination late in the game — using it to force a pass when the vote is close is the clearest path to winning the game outright.
  • Communicate publicly that you have the ability and are saving it for the right moment; this pressures evil into voting strategically and discourages them from letting a demon nomination fail organically.
  • If you have strong reason to believe a key good player is about to be wrongly executed, forcing a fail can save a critical information role and buy town another day.
  • Earn trust early by being transparent about your read on the game; the ability is worthless if town exiles you before you can use it.
  • Coordinate with trusted players before nominating — if you want to use the ability, you need someone else to make the nomination, since you cannot trigger your own ability.

How to play as an evil Judge

  • Use the ability to force a fail on a nomination targeting the demon when town has correctly identified them and the vote would otherwise pass — this is the single most game-winning use case.
  • Play the role of a cooperative, neutral observer for most of the game to avoid exile, then spend the ability at the pivotal moment when it protects evil most.
  • If the demon is not under threat, consider forcing a pass on a nomination targeting a key good player — removing a strong information role is still a powerful use.
  • Encourage town to believe you are aligned with them by occasionally voicing suspicion of actual evil players you know are expendable, building credibility before your one intervention.
  • Be cautious about making your alignment obvious immediately after using the ability; claim you misjudged or were misled to delay the exile vote that will likely follow.

Key interactions

Poisoner

If the Judge is poisoned when they announce their intervention, the Storyteller rules the ability has no effect — the execution proceeds as normal. Evil should be aware that poisoning the Judge on the turn they are expected to act is a high-value use of the Poisoner.