From my understanding Sonoko does not gain the abilities of her "friend", she only just learns information her "friend" got with their abilities. If this is correct then it's not the same as Callid was proposing giving each DB an interrogation ability(something the DBs are not deserving off if trying to keep similarities to the canon). So in this scenario, it would be nothing like Sonoko who has a built in balance. In the other proposed scenario, mansons, it would be a Sonoko that was forced to pick a partner and that partner has no abilities exactly like herself....that would be a punishment for both(or three) players.Kleene Onigiri wrote: At first, I thought that the DB's would be too strong too and would make the game unbalanced.
But they are actually like Sonokos role.
Sonoko befriends someone in the prep-phase. Thus she can team up with a good role (detective, FBI...) and can vote together against someone. So they automatically have 2 lynching votes against a suspect they found through a ability. Thus you could say, that Sonoko's friend is sharing the ability together with her, and Sonoko is supporting him/her with her vote.
But she could team up with a "bad" role, like Agasa or Araide. Because here they can't find out who could be BO or not, so they can't vote for someone because they found him out through an ability. Here Sonoko's ability is to protect her friend if he's about to be lynched or suspected.
The DB's are similar. They are 2-3 Friends that share 1 ability. The difference is, that their ability is fixed, so they can't get a better or worse ability. If they find a suspect, they can vote together against him, so they have 2-3 votes automatically. Similar to Sonoko.
So if you don't like the DB's, then you shouldn't like Sonoko either, since their "abilities" are similar.
Under the final scenario, all three get one shared ability, it would also not be the same as ALL three(or two) have to come to an understanding on how to use it. So not only do you need to prove yourself to the town, you also have to prove your deductions to the other DB(s) even before taking any action, double the work while Sonoko does not have this. Sonoko and her friend act on a "friendship" understanding("I will take your suggestions on how to use my abilities into consideration") while the DBs would act on a "team" understanding("We all need to reach common ground on who to use this one ability on").
Then there is two additional problems. One, if Sonoko dies, the benefits she was giving her "friend"(chances of one secure vote and cover) vanish. With the DBs, it remains even if one dies. The second would be a conflict between Sonoko and the DBs. The DBs are being proposed for large games which would most likely have Sonoko. If Sonoko "friends" a good person and the DBs announce themselves, that is now a 4-5 good person team as soon as Night 1(same if Sonoko chooses a DB as a friend). Like I said I'm not bashing the DBs, just saying we need to find a means to add them while keeping it balanced and fun.
I don't understand this. Heiji isn't dependent on Kazuha to display his talents, Sato's police officer abilities do not get weaker if Takagi isn't around, and Korn & Chianti aren't worse killers if not together(they actually fight a lot ;D). The DBs function as a unit, which is why they are rarely shown apart.Kleene Onigiri wrote: I also think there is nothing wrong with just having 2 out of 3 DB's. Since the DB's are actually 5 people (Conan, Haibara, Genta, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi). And just because the role isn't there, doesn't mean that they "aren't in the town".
Furthermore, if you can't seperate the DB's, then you shouldn't separate Heiji and Kazuha or Sato and Takagi or Korn and Chianti etc. ;p Some love-relationships would be strange too, since it's possible that they never met in the manga/anime. (akaixkid?)
Mitsuhiko=Brains
Genta = Muscles
Ayumi = The girl
I agree. Though it would be harder for the GM if the DBs do get an Interrogation ability each. That would mean they would have to remove a Detective/FBI/Officer as well as add additional Mafia members they would not usually add to counter the immediate 3 secure votes the DBs get.Kleene Onigiri wrote: The more roles available, the better. The GM (which would be Sakina for the next round) doesn't have to use all roles. He/she has to make it balanced anyway. But the more there are, the more speculations the player can make (also important for Bourons and Okiyas ability).
Well then that would be alright as it's really just a name change. Instead of having Sato, we can use Inspector Uehara...you know, when we do the West Japan version of the game. Yes accents are mandatory.Kleene Onigiri wrote: They could be added to the PoliceThey just have to be named there, otherwise it would be hard for Bourbon/Okiyas ability to know who exactly could be in the game or not. There stands "Satou/Takagi/Shiratori/etc., police officer", but the etc. is too vague with that ability.

@callid:
I was also thinking this:
When an officer wrongfully arrest someone, they get stripped of their officer role and just become a normal towns person, right?
Why not make them a DB instead?
If at least two officers lose their badges with wrongful arrest, they are assigned the DBs role which gives them 1 Investigation(with mixed results) and 1 Interrogation(With mixed results) to use as a team. If solves the problem of trying to find balance/fun with adding the DBs as a standalone role and removes a bit of the punishment from using an arrest. That would allows Officers to take a risk that could provide a lot of laughs*cough* and good balanced fun. Yes, good balanced fun,
