Just in case anyone didn't get it, let's skip down a ways....
...that should be enough.
I fully expect the most important parties in this game to be Bear and Bird. They are definitely the most useful for town, while the others are much more situational. In fact, I'd be very surprised if all parties make an appearance. At least a couple might be used by scum as a finishing move -- for instance, going to Monkey to wipe out Turtle or Bear. There are more parties than are strictly necessary just so people won't *have* to be independent as parties get used up; they'll just get crappier powers instead.
EP looked through the draft version of the party powers to try to find any breaking strategies. (Thanks again!) I erred on the side of giving town too little power rather than too much. For instance, the bear party rule about not killing bear members is there to prevent the town from just packing into bear and getting two lynches, as that makes the game boring and a bit slanted towards a town win. EP was fine with a double lynch as he pointed out town can just demand that potential lynchees get out of bear... I think that's true in theory, but it would be fun to see it in practice.
Basic thoughts:
Bear: Obviously town wants this around, but the more people who join it the less useful it is. Plus mafia has tons of incentive to join, which makes membership there suspicious. Should be interesting.
Rabbit: Situational only. Could be a good way for town to dislodge a suspicious person from Bear, or for Mafia to suddenly dissolve a party.
Monkey: Situational only. If somehow town loses Bear or Bird early, it's a way to get it back. Otherwise, a good finisher for Mafia.
Turtle: A doctor power seems useful, right? Well, if a single mafia member is there to spy, there's zero chance it prevents a kill. However, could still be useful to protect the recipient of the cop result.
Bird: A fairly strong cop ability that has a potential to confirm townies. However, if mafia knows who's getting the result, they could end up dead before they have a chance to say anything.
Fish: A little extra vote never hurt nobody. Except for maybe a The Cheat.
... probably not going to see much use, sadly, though I'd be highly interested in seeing some of the more experienced town players use it as a mason ability. There's also no requirement that its membership stay hidden... townies using it can just straight-up admit it.
I think I'll need to explain what the whole Inactive/Active/Dissolved thing is about with some examples... I'll get around to that when people have had a chance to look things over a bit.
Come to think of it, I'm not sure if that "need 3 to a party" is right... 2 makes more sense. Bahh. I'll look into it.