Backups

From SA Mafia Wiki

Backups are roles that become a power role upon the death of that "standard" power role. For instance, a backup cop would become a regular cop if the "official" cop died.

It is understood by many veterans that backups are very powerful roles, since it means the mafia cannot just kill off an inconvenient role. To balance this, sometimes mods make backups weaker in some way to the standard role: e.g., a backup cop might be naive, or a backup doc "weak", that is, protects normally but dies if he or she tries to protect a scum role.

A backup cop is sometimes called a "Deputy", while a backup doc a "Nurse."