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Snake Charmer

Each night, choose an alive player: a chosen Demon swaps characters & alignments with you & is then poisoned.

Effendi... I am but a humble man, but my pipe is golden and a single tune will tame the wildest djinn, Inshallah. They say that greed hangs more men than rope. But not I, Effendi... not I.

Storyteller cues

First nightThe Snake Charmer chooses a player. If they chose the Demon: Show the YOU ARE & Demon tokens. Give a thumbs down. Swap the Snake Charmer & Demon tokens. Put the old Snake Charmer to sleep. Wake the old Demon. Show the YOU ARE and Snake Charmer tokens & give a thumbs up. ◦

Other nightsThe Snake Charmer chooses a player. If they chose the Demon: Show the YOU ARE & Demon tokens. Give a thumbs down. Swap the Snake Charmer & Demon tokens. Put the old Snake Charmer to sleep. Wake the old Demon. Show the YOU ARE and Snake Charmer tokens & give a thumbs up. ◦

How to run it (Storyteller)

When the Snake Charmer chooses a Demon, immediately swap their character tokens and alignment tokens, then mark the new Snake Charmer (former Demon) as poisoned for that night and the following day. The nastiest edge case: if the Snake Charmer is poisoned before they make their choice, no swap can occur even if they pick the Demon — treat the night as a no-effect. Watch for the new Demon (former Snake Charmer) needing to be privately informed of their new role and evil team, and ensure the original Snake Charmer now knows they are the Demon and can act accordingly from the next night onward.

How to play

  • Night target selection is your entire game: you have one shot per night to find the Demon, so cross-reference every piece of town information and prioritize players who have gone un-nominated, unconfirmed, or who deflect suspicion too smoothly.
  • Becoming the Demon on a hit is a win condition, not a death sentence — you keep your new evil character's ability and the real Demon is poisoned, buying town a day to execute them while they are weakened.
  • Strategic silence on your role: revealing early makes you a high-value kill target for the Demon and their minions, so stay quiet until you have a strong lead or until revealing forces a useful reaction from the table.
  • Point your nightly choice at players townsfolk are already suspicious of — a poisoned, swapped Demon is only valuable if town follows through and executes them the next day, so alignment with the group's read matters.
  • The most common mistake is claiming Snake Charmer publicly on day one to fish for reactions: this telegraphs your threat to the Demon, who will instruct a minion to kill or frame you before you get a meaningful choice.

How to bluff as the Snake Charmer

  • Claim Snake Charmer mid-game when you need to explain why you are still alive — the role's quiet nights make it easy to have 'nothing to report yet,' which buys cover without demanding fabricated information.
  • Feed plausible false targeting claims: say you have been choosing low-suspicion townsfolk deliberately to avoid wasting the ability, which is mechanically believable and justifies why no swap has happened.
  • If cornered and asked who you picked last night, name a player you know is good and frame it as a calculated safe probe — this avoids exposing your evil teammates while sounding like disciplined play.
  • The biggest tell for a fake Snake Charmer is not pushing hard enough to execute suspected players: a real Snake Charmer wants the table to kill on their lead because that is when their swap becomes a win, so fake that urgency convincingly.
  • Coordinate with your Demon to have them avoid being named by you, and if town starts to pressure you to 'just pick the Demon,' claim you are narrowing down a short list — this stalls without fully breaking the bluff.

Key interactions

Recluse

The Storyteller may allow the Recluse to register as the Demon and trigger a swap, turning you into the Recluse (still alive but now a non-Demon townsfolk) while the Recluse becomes a poisoned Snake Charmer — a confusing but legal outcome that wastes your ability and can mislead your read. This is officially not recommended, so most Storytellers will not trigger it, but be aware a Recluse pick is generally a dead night.

Barber

If you have already been swapped by your own ability and are now the Demon (and thus self-poisoned), a Barber swap can strip that poison off you, leaving a fully functional Demon in play rather than a weakened one — this is a powerful recovery line for evil and means town must execute aggressively the very day after a confirmed swap.

Poisoner

A Poisoner targeting you before your night choice nullifies the swap entirely even if you correctly select the Demon, effectively wasting your most valuable nights and keeping the real Demon safe — if you suspect a Poisoner is active, push hard for their execution before committing your most confident pick.