(TLDR at bottom)
(I would like to apologize in advance for the lack of artwork, as you can probably guess I'm not exactly artistically inclined, and as bad as I am at drawing I'm even worse at video editing or animating so that wasn't going to work either).
Okay, so with the addition of the Influencer I think we've all pretty much come to the conclusion that the Imps need a new role to help balance the incredibly powerful, and in some cases blatantly overpowered (cough Detective cough) crew roles. Given that the crew has two ghost roles that pretty much neuter the Imps and the Imps have zero, I think a lot of people have also come to the conclusion that there should be an Imp ghost role. This is my attempt at that.
Disclaimer: these are just my preliminary thoughts. I'm open to changing them, this is just kind of what I came up with and why I think it could work. This is by no means a final, finished, fully balanced proposal.
HAINT
As a ghost, the Haint would lose access to the regular sabotage menu, meaning that they would be unable to sabotage, for example, doors or O2. However, they would gain access to two new abilities, with the idea being that they would use these abilities to help their living Impmate secure risky kills or get away from them. The new abilities are as follows:
HAZE
Much like the communications sabotage buff included in some mods, this would essentially be a "lights without the sab" ability. When triggered, all crewmates turn gray and lose their cosmetics. For balancing, this may share a cool down with critical sabotages, such that a living Imp cannot simply call lights after Haze and stack the two information restricting abilities.
-Cooldown: 30-45s, adjustable
-Duration: 10-15s, adjustable
-Effect on Engineers in vents: vision -50%
SPOOK
While Haze helps your Impmate get in to make a kill, Spook is to help your Impmate get away. When used on a crewmate, their speed and vision are reduced, allowing a Phantom to disappear or a Shapeshifter to shift or every Imp to get to a vent. This would, however, last for only a short time, meaning very bad plays are still punished. Bodies can still be reported and tasks can still be completed while spooked.
-Cooldown: 20-40s, adjustable
-Effects: Player speed is reduced by 25-75% adjustable, and player vision is reduced by 25%
-Duration: 5-20s, adjustable
Basically, much like how the Influencer is more or less a teamer role on the part of the crewmates, allowing them access to information they shouldn't have (since their goal is to find the Imp); Haint is a similar but more balanced mechanic for the side of the Imps, helping them pull off otherwise risky kills (given that their goal is to kill).
Any feedback is appreciated, I'm not exactly a game designer so this may be just the most unbalanced thing ever put to words but I thought I'd share it.
TLDR: Haint turns everyone gray and removes their cosmetics like the Comms sab buff in many mods, and can temporarily slow down a crewmate to allow an Impmate to get away
Also, if you're wondering why I chose Cyan instead of, like, Black...
it's an Easter Egg/reference. (Cyan was the closest color)