Changelings, and why they're just too damn powerful

[Iatots]

Also, I don't know why it hasn't been mentioned, but a changeling doesn't even need to monkey to get free of cuffs. Just resisting makes you shrink your hands and slip out of them.

I know, right? I Updated the wiki on that like 3 days ago, I guess nobody ever gets cuffed as a ling by anyone since a) It's better to kill them and b) People powergame and assume the ling could get away as monkey, even though monkey form is really bad.


Also, nerfing a role such as ling is not easy, longer cooldowns are lame, a changeling can still charge up three spits and kill YOU every x minutes instead of every x/y minutes.
Adding too much cooldown will mean rounds will get worse because it becomes the waiting game for the antags to run the cooldown down and for the crew waiting for something to happen.
And yes changeling can use weapons, but that's not something you should wish for.

What I think can improve the situation is:
Give people a tiny chance with acid spit and have it mute, partly blind and confuse people instead of instant KO. Can't scream on the radio, which is the worst, and keeps the massive disadvantage in a fight.
Have neurotox's dosage be lowered, so people don't die. Mental and motor-skills impairing is still A-OK, but choking for 10 minutes in maint and then dying is lame.

Hallucinogenic sting I never used as a changeling, but if the knockdown from what I assume is dragons and spiders pounding on you is that bad, I might start to use it.
Also yes, they have a health problem. I witnessed a changeling tank a mining drill for minutes, no limbs lost, like 3k brute damage.

Also: omnious warning
/tg/ tried to revamp their changeling too, they thought that their acid spit analogue was too powerful, but instead of thinking like sane people and maybe start by removing the ability to use it with ranged sting, they proceeded to: up the cooldown, reduce the knockdown, reduce the knockdown again to the point it is almost useless, further split it into paralisys sting and mute sting honestly to up the chem cost, and the grand finale, phasing it out entirely in a "reinterpretation" of the role. The result is a neutered antagonist with bad skills that leave it marginally above a traitor without uplinks.
Also over there absorbing people you are not tasked to kill is "rude" apparently. For fucks sake. At least they added an blade arm and spider puke after a couple months.
https://tgstation13.org/wiki/Changeling