The Courtesan: Blocking the Right Player

• Faction: 💋 Villagers (Town)
• Ability: Each night, choose one player to block — their night action is cancelled
• When you act: Night phase
• Win condition: All Werewolves and the Maniac (if present) are eliminated

You point at a player during the night. Whatever that player was going to do doesn't happen. If they're a Werewolf, the pack's night action still goes through — blocking one wolf doesn't stop it by default (only the optional Courtesan Blocks Werewolf Vote rule changes that). If they're the Doctor, nobody gets healed. If they're the Seer, no divination happens that night. If they're a regular Villager with no night action, nothing changes.

The critical detail: you don't learn what role you blocked. The GM doesn't tell you "you blocked the Doctor" or "you blocked a Werewolf." You have to figure it out from what happens the next morning. Fully quiet night? The Doctor or Witch saved the pack's target — or, in closed mode, the wolves' signs simply didn't line up. By default your block can't stop the wolves either way. One loss when the table feared two? You may have silenced the Maniac. Did someone die? Maybe you hit a Villager or accidentally shut down a town power role. This makes the Courtesan a fundamentally deductive role — your blocks are experiments, and the morning results are your data.

Like the Doctor, you cannot block the same player on consecutive nights. This restriction forces you to rotate targets and prevents you from permanently locking down a single suspect — plan your blocks across multiple nights with alternating targets.

One more nuance: by default, blocking a Werewolf never stops the pack's night action — the group still acts even a wolf short. The only exception is the optional Courtesan Blocks Werewolf Vote rule. With it on, the GM ignores the blocked wolf's say in the target, and blocking the last living Werewolf stops the action entirely.

1. Block someone you suspect is a Werewolf, then analyze the morning. If you block a player and nobody is taken out that night, thank the Doctor or Witch — or a closed-mode night where the wolves couldn't agree. By default your block can't produce a quiet night on its own. Where your block does show is the body count: in Maniac games it can turn two losses into one. (Only under the Courtesan Blocks Werewolf Vote rule — and only on the last living wolf — can a block stop the pack's kill.) Cross-reference your block target with the morning announcement and the day discussion to narrow down what actually happened.

2. Never block someone you're confident is the Seer. This is the worst outcome for the town. You waste the Seer's divination for the night — they chose a target but the GM gave no result. The Seer might not even realize they were blocked. If you're unsure, always err toward blocking a suspected Werewolf rather than a suspected town role.

3. Use alternating blocks to test a hypothesis. If you suspect Player 5 of carrying a night weapon, block them one night, block someone else the next, then block Player 5 again. Watch the body count: if the nights you block Player 5 cost the village one player instead of two, you've likely found the Maniac — just remember a Doctor save or a Witch potion can bend the count. (With the vote-block rule on, a fully quiet night on the last living wolf tells a similar story.) One single-loss night could be coincidence or a Doctor save. Two short-count nights correlated with the same suspect are much harder to explain away.

4. Keep a private log of every block and its result. After three or four rounds, patterns emerge. "Night 2: blocked Player 7, one loss instead of the two we feared. Night 3: didn't block Player 7, two gone. Night 4: blocked Player 7 again, one loss." Without a log, you'll forget the details and your eventual reveal will sound vague. With a log, you can present a compelling circumstantial case.

5. Reveal your log when you have three or more correlated data points. Unlike the Seer, you don't get clean binary answers. But a multi-night pattern of "blocked Player X, the second knife stayed home; didn't block Player X, two losses" is powerful evidence of a Maniac — and with the vote-block rule on, quiet nights can point at a wolf the same way. Present it clearly: what you did each night and what happened the next morning. Let the table draw the conclusion.

Hinting without revealing: "I want the table to pay close attention to Player 5. I can't go into details yet, but I've been tracking something over the last two nights and Player 5 is at the center of it. If anyone else has suspicions about Player 5, now's the time."

Defending your block target: "I targeted Player 8 last night. I know some of you think Player 8 is clean, but their behavior during yesterday's vote was off. They pushed hard to save Player 2, who turned out to be a Werewolf. I don't think that's a coincidence, and my results back it up."

Creating doubt about night results: "Before we take the morning announcement at face value — remember there's a Courtesan in this game. Someone's night action was cancelled. If the Doctor was blocked, then the Werewolves' attack went through even if the Doctor picked the right target. A loss doesn't mean the Doctor was wrong."

Full reveal with log: "I'm the Courtesan. Here's my log. Night 1: blocked Player 6 — we lost two. Night 2: blocked Player 3 — only one. Night 3: blocked Player 10 — two again. Night 4: back to Player 3 — one. Every night I block Player 3, the second knife stays home. If that's not the Maniac, the Doctor's a saint."

Redirecting a bad decision: "Voting out Player 4 right now would be a mistake. I have reason to believe their night action has been critical to our survival. I'm asking the table for one more day. If I'm wrong, hold me accountable tomorrow."

Addressing friendly fire concerns: "Yes, it's possible I accidentally blocked the Doctor one of those nights. I can't know for sure. But my overall record shows two single-loss nights that line up perfectly with blocking Player 3. If I were randomly hurting the town, the pattern wouldn't be this clean."

Blocking randomly with no reasoning on Night 1. You have zero confirmed information, true — but you can still make a strategic guess. Block the person who seemed most eager to lead Day 1 discussion. Werewolf members who lead early often have night roles worth disrupting. A purely random block teaches you nothing.

Accidentally blocking the Doctor every night. Don't measure success by silence — by default your block never produces a quiet night anyway. Watch for suppressed effects instead: a Seer left without an answer, a save that didn't come when it should have, a second knife that stayed home. If several nights show nothing at all, you're probably blocking players with no night action — switch targets.

Revealing with insufficient evidence. One short body count after a block doesn't prove anything — and remember, by default a quiet night is never your doing. The Doctor or Witch might have saved a target, or the Maniac might have struck the same victim as the pack. You need multiple correlated nights before your Courtesan claim is convincing. Revealing with weak data just makes you a night target with nothing to show for it.

Forgetting you're on the Villager team. The Courtesan has a disruptive, chaotic power, and it's easy to become obsessed with the night-phase puzzle. But you're a Villager first. Participate in day discussion, vote on your reads, support Seer claims when they're credible. Don't get so focused on your blocks that you neglect the day game.

The Doctor is your accidental worst-case scenario. If you block the Doctor, nobody gets healed — even if the Doctor chose the right person to protect. The Werewolves' night action goes through and an innocent player is lost because of your block. You can't coordinate with the Doctor without revealing both roles, so the best approach is to avoid blocking anyone you believe is a town power role. When in doubt, block someone you suspect is a Werewolf.

The Seer is another risky target. Blocking the Seer cancels their divination — no result for that night, one less divination for the town. Some Seers won't even realize they were blocked and might misinterpret the silence from the GM. If you have any indication of who the Seer is, keep your block far away.

Against the Werewolves, you're an unpredictable disruption they can't plan around. They don't know who you are or who you're blocking each night. By default your block never touches the pack's night action, though it can still shut down a wolf's other ability — like the Alpha Wolf's investigation. Only under the optional Courtesan Blocks Werewolf Vote rule does blocking a wolf remove their say in the target, with blocking the last living Werewolf stopping the action entirely. Either way, you're introducing randomness that favors the town's side.

Blocking the Alpha Wolf is especially valuable. The Alpha Wolf has a separate night action — divining a player to find the Seer. If you block the Alpha Wolf, you cancel their nightly investigation — and under the optional Courtesan Blocks Werewolf Vote rule, the GM discards their say in the pack's target too. This can buy the Seer an extra night of safety without anyone realizing why.

Interpreting your blocks requires combining what you did with what happened the next morning.

You blocked Player X and nobody was taken out: By default your block never touches the pack's kill — a quiet night means the Doctor or Witch saved the wolves' target, or a closed-mode disagreement left the pack without a victim. If a Maniac is in play and you expected two losses, Player X may be the Maniac whose attack you shut down. (Under the optional Courtesan Blocks Werewolf Vote rule there's one more read: X was the last wolf standing.)

You blocked Player X and someone was lost anyway: The pack's kill went through — which it does regardless of your block. What you did suppress is X's personal night action: if the Seer suddenly has no result or an expected save didn't happen, that's your fingerprint. X could still be anyone — a Villager, a power role, or a wolf whose kill your block simply doesn't reach.

You blocked Player X and two people were lost: Most likely both the pack and the Maniac struck, and X's action just didn't show that night. But don't fully clear X of being the Maniac: if the Witch spent her death potion, she could account for the second loss while your block held the Maniac's knife.

The key is multiple data points. One night means nothing on its own. Three nights of consistent results tell a story.

• The Doctor: Who to Save and When
• The Seer: When to Reveal and Who to Divine
• Playing as Werewolf: Bluffing, Strategy, and Survival
• The Lover: Vote Protection Tactics
• all roles explained

The Courtesan's block interacts with the Doctor's heal, the Seer's divination, and the Werewolves' elimination — easy for the game master to get confused. The app resolves all intersections automatically and shows the result without errors.