renegadius

Huh. I should clarify that my position seems to be based on a misunderstanding of the Changeling role as it is being handled and ruled right now. If the role is in fact NOT a plain Murder role, which was my understanding, given that it is the only way I see it being handled, then it is my mistake for assuming that the role needed to be adjusted. Speaking objectively, the role is set up to be a stealth antagonist, gathering a very small amount of DNA, as well as obtaining an item and assassinating a single target - from my own single experience as a Changeling, as well as by my reading of the changeling wiki, this is what you are expected to do. HOWEVER, where my experience and understanding differ, is any time I come into a Changeling round where the lings are running amok, and, when asked, the Admin online at the time is allowing it to persist, as they respond to a-helps to tell me that the Changelings are doing nothing wrong by murderboning the civilians that they get their hands on while ignoring their objectives. My understanding was that it was a stealth role much like the traitor, but with abilities rather than syndicate tech. This is not how the Administrators in the game are handling the Changelings though, and not how people are playing Changelings.

I was specifically told by Kluys [Name?], the admin online at the time, that this was not the case, and hence the reason they were allowing the Changeling to kill as many people as they did - one changeling specifically killed 10 people, and spent the round sitting the bar, or sitting in cargo after. The admin's wording was that the Changeling was simply following their objective, and husking people to get powers. They also specifically clarified to me that the DNA sting does not do this function. In regards to further balancing the role, I would suggest changing the vague, open target DNA to obtaining the DNA of the Heads of Staff. The secondary objective of the Changeling could then be simply to escape the station alive. It would produce a lot less collateral and murderboning, along with making the role much more challenging rather than an open season on civilians.

A Changeling that HAS to husk crew, literally for their own survival, is a much different antag that one that simply freely chooses, and has no consequences, for doing so. In its current state, a Changeling is simply pushing a murder button to receive bacon, and points towards making it even easier to murder crew. If anyone suspects a Vampire, however, they'll just splash them with Holy Water, or cuff them and take them to the Chapel due to crew getting bitten. If crew start showing up husked, or any of the other Changeling trans-sting shenanigans, you're still S-O-L as a crew in getting to the bottom of things. A timer where the Changeling's DNA bar ticks down, becomes a limiting factor for a very robust antag. Them losing their exceptional stealth factors, evolved abilities, or reverting to a red monstrous state once it reaches 0 becomes a great balancing factor against them holding the crew hostage simply by being undetectable in the current situation.

In its current state, the Changeling role's first objective to take a certain amount of DNA from x amount of crew. This means killing them via husking. That is generally where people stop reading into the role, and go on their merry way killing and murderboning for the rest of the round. At round end they will have failed the rest of their objectives - because heck, all they really did was spend the round killing crew. In its current iteration, the Changeling role is a free license to indiscriminately kill crew, or grief the station by trans-stinging the crew into Vox. Coupled with the fact that there is no way to tell who is a Changeling to start with (short of having been attacked by one yourself), Changeling rounds are not fun. My suggestion to balance out the Changeling role, being that it is a murder role at its basis, is to simply strip away the rest of the objectives. Nobody is doing them anyway, and as they have a free license to grief the rest of the crew at current, the role might as well face more towards that direction. Give Changelings a bar which ticks down over time, and can only be refilled via husking. If a Changeling fails to refill this bar to maintain their 'humanoid' form, have them devolve into a monstrous, obvious form as a huge red creature with blade arms. Since the role revolves around murdering crew, it would serve much better if the Changelings had some ultimatum, or reason to be doing so. My biggest complaint with the Changeling role as it currently stands is that they are night on, if not completely undetectable. Their stings don't generate text, they don't have any detection method such as flashing eyes, burning in the chapel, or the injuries apparent to culties. A Changeling is completely invisible while they freely murder whoever they please - simply because there is no way to detect them. A handcuffed Changeling can even continue to freely use its proboscis and sting abilities on the officer who is dragging them. Additionally, Changelings are exceptionally durable, and can clone themselves even if they do happen to take lethal damage. In its current form, the Changeling role is an open invitation to grief, and there is next to nothing the rest of the crew can do except wait for the shuttle. To summarize my suggestion, and the source of my salt, if Changelings are going to continue to be played as such, they could use a lot of tweaking to be geared more towards the murderboning role they currently are being used to play in the round rotation if Changelings a.) had some reason beyond objective 1 to be killing all of the people that they are, b.) were held accountable for excessive crew killing beyond objective 1, and c.) had some form of detection available to the security staff who have to deal with all of their nonsense, including the ability to see the proboscis text that would make the role more challenging for the murderboners who are currently giving it a bad name. It's just not fun at all to deal with for new players, or experienced SS13 players.