Who doesn't like tier lists? (rhetorical question pls do not answer)

Experimental characters, 2023 onwards

Rank
S
A
B
C

Organ Grinder: A-tier! The first of many experimental minions I have not had the pleasure of playing as. I've been in games that have been slowed down by this monkey, so I understand why some people don't like it, but I think it's super fun. I love the cheekiness of it. Do you hide? When do you let yourself get rumbled? I look forward to one day answering these questions.

Vizier: S-tier! Vizier is such a bastard to fit onto a script, but it still makes me giddy with delight. Clocktower is best played daft with friends, and being the Vizier lets you relish the role of pantomime villain from minute one of day one. Off with their heads!!!

Knight: B-tier! On paper, Knight information should be incredibly powerful, but when I've been the Knight the players I saw died more-or-less immediately. Showing the Knight a minion looked like a cruel joke the first time I saw someone do it, but the more I play with the Knight the more I think, actually, great: that's someone the demon's overwhelmingly less likely to kill off!

Steward: B-tier - it's fine! Fantastic bluff, solid bit of starting info. It's a bit like being a good Ogre, which is goofy and fun. It's such a script builder character, good info, fun to play with. While most Clocktower characters are at least a little spicy, the Steward is pure porridge... but I do like porridge!

High Priestess: A-tier! I think the problem with the High Priestess is that it's so hard to not just make it into an "Each night" Steward, which is both boring and a little overpowered. I have been a Baron without a bluff who had to bullshit my way through a chat with a real High Priestess, though, so it can be done! I have a theory I haven't had a chance to test, which is that a High Priestess should, at some point, be directed to the demon if they haven't spoken to them already. You need to know what they're up to!

Harpy: S-tier! Another minion I haven't been! This is a great example of one of a design space that blew my mind with an idea that was brand new but absolutely simple: mad that another player is evil! So elegant, so puckish! I don't know how we got by without it.

Plague Doctor: A-tier! I think the updated Plague Doctor is better than the original. You can have two Cerenovus abilities in play - or bring back a dead one! I recently lived the dream of giving myself the Psychopath ability. Delightful, just as long as you've got a good storyteller.

Shugenja: A-tier! Another super simple ability I can't believe nobody had thought of. I love this ability, have drawn it a couple of times, and have asked for Shugenja info as an Artist once. I think it's such a good synthesis of info and vibes, a perfect Clocktower character.

Ojo: B-tier! What a mess. I saw the character text of a demon who kills characters off the script, and thought, wow: what precision! What wisdom! To wield such precise power over life and death! My lived experience of being the Ojo is like being in one of those dreams where I've somehow ended up piloting a helicopter and I don't know what button to press to not crash into a mountain. How do I make Matt die? Is he really the Flowergirl, or does he want me to think that he's not the Flowergirl? Really fun demon, but crumbs, a real mind-melter.

Hatter: C-tier! On paper, I love the Hatter and all it stands for. In practice, Hatter nights are often super obvious because they take absolutely ages, and I don't like the "chaos Hatter" that seems to be its most popular variant, makes the Barber almost entirely redundant, and usually just submits to death at the start of the game to stop them from getting a demon change later. Needs a little update.

Kazali: A-tier! I really like getting to choose a minion, but I think it's most fun when people make oddball choices rather than optimal ones. I have been Kazalied into an Evil Twin before (10/10 choice) and given myself a Mastermind, so in my experience it's delightful.

Village Idiot: B-tier! Really solid character, interesting puzzle, but I don't think people bluff it enough as evil to truly weaken it. I love the idea that double claims aren't necessarily suspicious, and don't think we've yet seen the best of the Village Idiot.

Yaggababble: S-tier! Everything about the Yaggababble is goofy and delightful, right down to the icon. The one thing I don't like is when the Yaggababble gets the easiest phrase and only gets half the kills. Normalise quirky phrases - especially in smaller games! In my experience so far, people genuinely don't notice the player saying "this is an outrage" every day. But offer them a choice, a Yaggababble shouldn't be saddled with something daft!

Summoner: S-tier! The Summoner is janky, it's swingy, it's jinxed with half of all characters and it's an absolute hog to work into a script but by god I am a huge fan of it. It's a load of fun, I love that they don't get to learn who the evil team is, and I will never tire of the summoned demon immediately killing their Summoner on their first night. Exquisite.

Banshee: S-tier! I've actually had quite a rough game as the Banshee because everyone was talking over each other and I was the confirmed good player who had to try and figure it all out and it was a bit of a nightmare, but that the Banshee is still S-tier should go to show how much I love it. The best Clocktower characters make you go "wait, I can do WHAT??" and the Banshee is one of the best ever examples of that. I love it.

Ogre: A-tier! What a bit of fun. This is the closest Clocktower will ever get to a third team: "my personal objective is not to be good or evil, it's to make X player win." I have never been the Ogre, but I've had two Ogres, and they were both evil. No comment!

Alsaahir: C-tier! It is simply not my jam. I like it a lot thematically, and I'm a big fan of the concept. The challenge of trying to find the evil team is cool, the name is cool, it's a neat icon. My issue with is that all the drama and fun of publicly calling out the evil team immediately drains away when six people claim it and nobody is paying attention to any of the claims because nobody knows who it is. More than the other public claim roles, this one is just a slog.

Zealot: B-tier! Bring back over-voting! I don't like the meta of "let's just get the bare minimum on this" - if there's already six votes on someone and I *really* want them dead I am more than happy to be the seventh! The Zealot is fun, Zealotry is liberating, it makes weird voting cool again. Power to the people.