Citizen
Aliases: Townsperson, Villager
The baseline Citizens role. No night abilities. Participates in the day discussion and vote, sleeps at night. Goal — find and eliminate all Mafia members through deduction and debate.
Mafia Roles — Complete Reference
Classic Mafia uses up to 9-10 different roles: from baseline Citizens and Mafia to the Sheriff, Doctor, Maniac, and Mistress. This is a full reference for each role — what it does, which team it plays for, and its night ability. Each role is marked with how it maps to our version, Mafia de los Muertos.
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Legend
- In our game— Present in our game under the same name
- We call it …— Present with a different name — see card
- Not in our game— Not in our game
How many roles are in Mafia
Basic Mafia has four roles: Citizen, Sheriff, Mafia, and Don. Extended rules add Doctor, Mistress, Maniac, and others. Each game's role set scales with the number of players — usually 5 to 15. In Mafia de los Muertos we have six players and four role types: Bandito, Citizen, Seer, Widow — the right balance for short 5-10 minute sessions.
Citizens-team roles
The Citizens team wins by eliminating all Mafia. Most are baseline townsfolk; some have night abilities (investigation, protection, blocking).
In our game
Sheriff
Aliases: Commissioner, Detective
The classic detective role on the Citizens side. Each night investigates one player and learns whether they are Mafia or innocent. In different rule sets it's called Sheriff, Commissioner, or Detective. In our game the Seer fills the same niche — she sees the player's exact role, not just their faction.
● Night ability
Doctor
Aliases: Healer, Medic
The Citizens' protective role. Each night picks one player; if Mafia tries to kill them that night, they survive. Usually can't protect the same player two nights in a row. In our game this niche is filled by the Widow — same restriction applies.
● Night ability
Our unique Citizens-side role. Each night picks one player and learns their exact role (not just faction). The classical Sheriff equivalent, but with more granular info.
● Night ability
Our unique protective Citizens role. Each night picks a player and shields them from a Mafia kill. Can't protect the same player twice in a row. The classical Doctor equivalent.
● Night ability
Mistress
Aliases: Courtesan, Escort
A classic role from extended Mafia variants. Each night blocks a chosen player's action (they can't use their night ability). Coincidentally blocking the Mafia saves their target. Not present in our version — we keep games short (5-10 minutes) and the role count minimal.
● Night ability
Mafia-team roles
Mafia members know each other from the start and kill one player per night. Win condition — Mafia alive ≥ Citizens alive.
Mafia
Aliases: Bandit, Bandito, Gangster
The baseline Mafia role. Knows fellow Mafia from the start. Each night the Mafia team picks a target and kills them. Goal — equal or outnumber the Citizens (when alive Mafia ≥ Citizens). We call them Banditos, two per game.
● Night ability
Don
Aliases: Godfather, Mob Boss
The Mafia's leader in extended rule sets. Casts the deciding vote on the night kill; sometimes has an extra ability (e.g., to identify the Sheriff). We removed the Don — our two Banditos are equal and must agree on a target (the kill succeeds only if both pick the same player).
● Night ability
Additional roles (neutral)
In extended rule sets, some roles play for themselves — not aligned with either team.
Maniac
Aliases: Serial Killer
A third faction in extended Mafia. Plays solo — kills one player each night, wins by being the last alive. Belongs to neither Citizens nor Mafia. We don't include the Maniac — only two factions, which simplifies deduction and keeps games short.
● Night ability
How many roles for different player counts
Rule of thumb: mafia is about a third of the table, the rest are Citizens, and special roles (Sheriff, Doctor) are added as the count grows. Classic guidelines:
- 6 players (our version): 2 Banditos, Seer, Widow, and 2 Citizens.
- 8 players: 2 mafia, Sheriff, Doctor — the rest citizens.
- 9-10 players: 2-3 mafia plus Don, Sheriff, Doctor — the rest citizens.
- 12 players: 3 mafia plus Don, Sheriff, Doctor, Mistress — the rest citizens.
- 15 players: 3-4 mafia plus Don, Sheriff, Doctor, Maniac, Mistress — the rest citizens.
Exact lineups vary by group, but the «mafia ≈ ⅓ of the table» balance almost always holds.
Role composition in Mafia de los Muertos
Our game has exactly six players and a fixed role lineup: two Banditos (mafia), two Citizens, one Seer, one Widow. This baseline keeps games dynamic and short. Adding a Maniac or Mistress would overload deduction for six players, so we deliberately stopped at these four types.
Full game rules →
Mafia roles — frequently asked questions
What does the Mistress (Night Butterfly) do in Mafia?
The Mistress — also called the Night Butterfly or Escort — is a night role that picks a player each night and «stays with them till morning». Usually this blocks that player's night action (they can't kill, check or heal), and in some variants she dies if she visits the mafia. In our version the closest role in spirit is the Widow, who protects a chosen player from the kill.
What roles are there in Mafia?
Three kinds: Citizens, Mafia and special roles. Active special roles — the Sheriff (Detective) checks whether a player is mafia; the Doctor heals; the Mistress (Night Butterfly) blocks; the Don leads the mafia; the Maniac kills for themselves. Our version has six roles: two Citizens, the Seer, the Widow and two Banditos.
How many roles are there in Mafia in total?
Basic rules have four (Citizen, Sheriff, Mafia, Don). Extended rules add Doctor, Mistress, Maniac and others — up to 9-10 roles. Mafia de los Muertos uses four role types across six players.
Are there Werewolf and Lawyer roles?
These come from separate Mafia variants: the Werewolf reads as a citizen to the Sheriff's check, and the Lawyer shields the mafia from execution. They're not in the classic lineup or in our version — we keep a proven set of six roles so deduction stays clean.
How much mafia for 9, 12 or 15 players?
Keep mafia at about a third of the table: 2-3 for 9 players, 3 for 12, 3-4 for 15 (plus a Don). The rest are Citizens with a few special roles. Exact lineups are in the section above.
See also:
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