BMRheaders — the Apprentice (sucks)
Poor man’s gold.
On your 1st night, you gain a Townsfolk ability (if good) or a Minion ability (if evil).
Apprentice sucks.
This seems like a rather curt claim to make, since there’s no obvious flaw in the ability. I too say good things about most characters and would like to keep it that way for BMRheaders. Let me explain.
The Apprentice is a Traveller made to play in lieu of an actual player character. The fundamental issue is that Apprentice has the responsibilities of being a Townsfolk or Minion character, but does not have the regular powers of a player. These being:
Exile is not execution.
The Apprentice with the Devil’s Advocate ability cannot save themselves from being exiled.
Hence, the Apprentice with the Fool ability instantly confirms themselves when they are first exiled.
Also, the Apprentice with the Sailor ability either instantly confirms themselves when they are first exiled, or becomes an active detriment to their team. If they suspect this will happen, this Apprentice will and should always drink with themselves, which is not very fun.
Exiles are practically free.
The Apprentice with the Professor ability is either confirmed or immediately exiled on claiming to be a miss. Also Let’s Be Real It’s Too Good
The Apprentice with the Grandmother ability basically does nothing, and can be instantly exiled without issue.
The Chambermaid can choose the Apprentice on Night 1 and almost instantly catch them out as lying. (Also, the Apprentice with the Chambermaid ability is absolutely busted, and should be treated with severe caution.)
The sheer potential of late-joining Apprentices with the Mastermind ability usually leads to exile of non-confirmed Apprentices on final days. This is a generally bad look for Apprentice in general.
Additionally, the second big elephant in the room,
Travellers, by nature, join late or leave early.
The Apprentice with the Gossip ability is incredibly volatile, and is an incredibly bad idea to add in late or remove early.
The Apprentice with the Pacifist ability usually does next to nothing when added in late or removed early.
The Apprentice with the Minstrel ability usually does nothing when removed early and is an incredibly bad idea to add in late.
The Apprentice with the Chambermaid ability joining early is absolutely busted, and should be treated with severe caution. Even when joining late, sudden information-gathering characters can decimate an evil team’s plans.
The Apprentice with the Mastermind ability does nothing when removed early.
So, what’s left?
The Apprentice with the Godfather ability is relatively pointless, since it usually does absolutely nothing when joining early or leaving late, but it’s certainly better than Mastermind. Note that starting Apprentice Godfather does not affect setup.
If you travel in the Apprentice with the Innkeeper ability late, the evil team is screwed, but otherwise it’s okay for those who need to leave early.
The Apprentice with the Exorcist ability is my general go-to good Apprentice leaving early pick. It’s still too good when joining late.
Apprentice Tea Lady ability is cursed and I have not concluded much about it. It’s likely quite good-sided for leaving early, and a bad idea for joining late.
The Apprentice with the Gambler ability is fine, and bluffable if you are the Apprentice with the Assassin ability.
The Apprentice with the Assassin ability is the best Apprentice Minion ability, if only because Assassin is the best Minion.
Yeah, Apprentice sucks. You may notice the list contains several forms of ‘too good’, ‘does nothing’, or ‘eh’. Generally, it’s tough for me to even see Apprentice as an actual Traveller, due to the strangeness that goes on with it. BMR is already a very swingy script, and Apprentice is a very swingy Traveller (possibly the most). It’s passable on Bad Moon Rising, but not exactly ideal. Arguably, you can use it to swing the game back one way or another, but I personally am not a fan of using Travellers in any capacity to balance game states, due to long-term repercussions on Traveller meta and group behaviour. Generally, it’s severely rough for the town to worldbuild around an extra Minion ability.
On Duplicating Abilities
Having a Godfather and Apprentice Godfather in play is decently interesting. The Apprentice will be able to out to the Demon trustfully, and the Godfather can confirm their evilness.
…and don’t duplicate the Devil’s Advocate.
When I started this article, I expected to have more things to say about Apprentice, that weren’t about it sucking big time. Turns out, I couldn’t. Sorry! Unpaid interns do not get any praise nowadays, it seems.