I Summon Hell Upon Thee

A Summoner’s Manifesto by Drama

Some relaxing music as you read my descent into insanity…

What is this?

Recently, the Summoner character came out for Blood on the Clocktower. The Summoner has been observed to have poor interactions with characters that can bring it into play after setup. Like the completely sane human being I am, I wondered just how messed up a game could become if the Storyteller and the Grimoire setup was as cursed as possible. The goal of this thought experiment is to determine how many Demons a group of Summoners (or characters with the Summoner’s ability rather) can create on night three.

For this thought experiment, I have excluded Atheist and Amnesiac shenanigans as anything can be theoretically possible with those characters. I also excluded the Pit-Hag simply creating more Demons directly. This is about the Summoner and the Summoner alone (with support from some key characters).

Disclaimers

This document was written on March 23rd, 2024. If Summoner is altered in any way in the future or any other characters come out that potentially complicate Summoner further, and this document does not reflect that, that is why.

I also can not 100% guarantee this document is exhaustive or mistake-free. This is meant to be a silly thought experiment and I am one person. If you find a mistake or find a way to get more Demons out of Summoner shenanigans, feel free to let me know.

The Script

Below is the script I put together for this thought experiment. Most of the characters do not matter. The only required characters are…

  • Philosopher
  • Alchemist
  • Cannibal
  • Plague Doctor
  • Summoner (duh)
  • Pit-Hag
  • Barista
  • Apprentice
  • Bone Collector

The Starting Grimoire

Below is the Grimoire at the very start of the game. As a reminder, before we dive into the thick of this, the Storyteller and Alchemist can gain/keep in-play Minion abilities if there are no out-of-play Minion abilities for them to gain.

Night One

Below is the Grimoire after Night One as well as a description of the night’s events. Irrelevant actions will not be included.

  1. Evil Apprentice gains the Summoner’s ability.
  2. Barista makes the Cannibal sober and healthy.
  3. Philosopher chooses to gain the Cannibal’s ability. Cannibal would normally be drunk, but is not due to the Barista.
  4. Alchemist learns/gains the Summoner’s ability.

Day One

Below is the Grimoire after Day One as well as a description of the day’s events. Irrelevant actions will be excluded.

  1. The Alchemist-Summoner is executed and dies. The Philosopher-Cannibal and the Cannibal gain the Alchemist’s ability, and by extension the Summoner’s ability.

Night Two

Below is the Grimoire after Night Two as well as a description of the night’s events. Irrelevant actions will be excluded.

  1. The Pit-Hag turns the Chef into the good Summoner.
  2. The Barista does not need to be on the Cannibal anymore. The Cannibal is now drunk, but if they sober up, they will get the Alchemist-Summoner’s ability back.
  3. The Imp kills the Plague Doctor and the Storyteller gains the Summoner’s ability.

Day Two

Below is the Grimoire after Day Two as well as a description of the day’s events. Irrelevant actions will be excluded.

  1. Nobody is executed during the day. This is to ensure that the Cannibal and Philosopher-Cannibal keep the Alchemist’s ability.

Night Three

Below is the Grimoire during Night Three as well as a description of the night’s events. Irrelevant actions will be excluded. Remember for this night in particular that it is up to the Storyteller who acts first when there are multiple of the same character/ability in play at once.

  1. The Barista doubles the Apprentice-Summoner’s ability for night three.
  2. The Bone Collector picks the dead Alchemist-Summoner.

  1. The Philosopher-Cannibal-Alchemist-Summoner picks themselves to become the Imp. Due to the Alchemist-Summoner jinx, they become a good Imp. As the Philosopher's ability is no longer in play, the Cannibal becomes sober.

  1. The Cannibal-Alchemist-Summoner picks themselves to become the Imp. Due to the Alchemist-Summoner jinx, they become a good Imp.

  1. The Alchemist-Summoner, who as a reminder was selected by the Bone Collector, picks the Empath to become the Imp. Due to the Alchemist-Summoner jinx, the Empath becomes a good Imp.

  1. The good Summoner picks themselves to become the Imp. They become an evil Imp.

  1. The evil Apprentice-Summoner, who as a reminder was doubled by the Barista, first picks the Fisherman to become the Imp, then picks the Chambermaid to become the Imp. Both the Fisherman and the Chambermaid become evil Imps.

  1. Finally, the Storyteller, who has the Summoner’s ability, picks the Artist to become the Imp. The Artist becomes an evil Imp.

  1. You should be left with eight Demons (that can all be the same one or different, it does not matter). In order, the Demons were created by…
  1. Starting Demon
  2. Philosopher-Cannibal-Alchemist-Summoner
  3. Cannibal-Alchemist-Summoner
  4. Alchemist-Summoner (Bone Collector)
  5. Summoner (Pit-Hag)
  6. Apprentice-Summoner
  7. Apprentice-Summoner (Barista)
  8. Storyteller Summoner (Plague Doctor)
  1. All Demons are highlighted in the image below.

Conclusion

I hate my life.

Special shout-out to @chestnut. on Discord who asked me about the Summoner and kickstarted this whole journey. As thanks, you could maybe not vote for me in the text game we are playing right now. Pretty please? Have a heart!

Changelog

I am too lazy to update this document fully but if anything I missed is sent my way, I’ll plop it down here.

  • Pixie who sees Alchemist could gain the Alchemist’s ability after the Alchemist is executed day one. That bumps us up to Demon number nine.
  • If the Barber is Harpy mad on night three and breaks madness after, let’s just say the Alchemist-Summoner, makes their pick, the Storyteller could kill the Barber and allow one of the Imps to do a Barber swap. The Imp could then swap the Alchemist-Summoner with a living player, let’s just say the Juggler. This refreshes the Alchemist-Summoner’s ability. That bumps us up to Demon number ten.
  • Let us say the Hatter was the second person chosen by the Harpy (and the first was the Barber). Let us also say that the real Summoner acts very early in the legion of Summoners. The Barber breaks Harpy madness and it and the Hatter dies. During the hat party, let’s say the Harpy becomes the Summoner and the Summoner becomes the Harpy. The Summoner is refreshed. That bumps us up to Demon number eleven.
  • We do now require Plague Doctor, Barber, and Hatter in the same game. This can be solved by replacing Cerenovus on the script with something like Baron, or Imp with Fang Gu.