Changeling

A shapeshifting monster that sucks the fluids out of people in order to take on their appearance. They are always tasked with absorbing a certain number of humans (usually ten, unless the station's population is too low for ten to be feasible) and then to escape on the shuttle.

Mechanics

Husk

The changeling role is randomly assigned to 1 or more players at the beginning of a round. The changeling usually looks just like a regular crewman. If it manages to get a human in a stranglehold, it can stab them with a proboscis and suck out all of their fluids, incorporating their DNA into itself and leaving nothing but a dried out husk. The changeling is capable of instantly taking on the appearance of any of the people it has absorbed, and has a number of powers it can use.

If you catch a changeling in the middle of a meal, it's obvious what it is. At all other times it is indistinguishable from normal humans, unless you can get a sample of its blood. Changeling blood reacts very strangely in response to direct heat, so take your sample and use a welder on it a few times. It will be obvious if it reacts.

In general, changelings can take a lot more punishment than humans. They are immune to diseases and cannot develop heart conditions, so it's usually difficult to kill them. In addition, they do not need to breathe (and thus can't take OXY damage), are immune to noxious gases and the freezing effects of space.

Remember, you start with a job and all the access it comes with. Being A Better Traitor may have some useful tips for you.

Powers

None of these abilities can be used while unconscious, but handcuffs are not a concern.

Name	Cooldown	DNA Cost	While stunned?	In lesser form?	In horror form?	Description
Absorb DNA	N/A	N/A	✗	✗	✗	Starts the DNA absorbing process, for which a stranglehold (neck grab) is required. If successful, 10 DNA points and one unique identity are gained for every human. Absorbing a fellow changeling adds all their accumulated DNA material. Monkeys cannot be drained.
Transform	N/A	0	✓	✗	✗	Allows the changeling to select the appearance of any of its victims and change to it immediately.
Lesser form	5 seconds	0	✓	✗	✗	The changeling turns into a monkey, with all associated abilities and restrictions. Handcuffs will also be removed in the process. In this form, only some of the changeling's powers are available. Use the command again to revert to a human body.
Mimic voice	N/A	0	✓	✗	✗	Allows the changeling to speak with the voice of anyone, even those it hasn't absorbed. You can even use it to sound like someone who doesn't actually exist. It is very handy (albeit not often used) as you can very easily throw the crew off your trail with a fake announcement.
Regenerative stasis	45 seconds	0	✓	✗	✗	The changeling appears to die, but in reality it is slowly repairing damage to itself, and will get up unharmed and active if left alone. Also removes all embedded bullets and purges all reagents in the bloodstream, but doesn't replace missing limbs. You won't be able to move while in stasis.
Speed regeneration	90 seconds	10 DNA	✓	✗	Auto (free)	Similar to the stasis, but heals you on the move and has a chance to replace arms and legs. Also purges a small percentage of all reagents in the bloodstream every tick. Speed regeneration doesn't work at all when you're on fire, though. If you aren't, it remains active until you are fully healed and have a complete set of limbs. Unfortunately, using this ability is incredibly obvious and will expose your alien nature to anyone nearby (and the AI, in case it's watching you)
Release headspider	N/A	10 DNA (passive)	N/A	N/A	N/A	Passively activates on death if the changeling's body isn't destroyed and it has a small amount of DNA. Releases a small spider that will implant itself in the nearest human. Unless the victim gets immediate surgery or is killed, the spider will take control of their body and the changeling will live again. Don't rely on this saving you if you die, however.
Toxic spit	90 seconds	0	✓	✓	✓	Launches a bright green wad of fluorosulfuric acid at a person. If it makes contact, it will instantly melt their headgear, making it easier for the changeling to absorb the victim. If they aren't wearing any, the acid will burn and disfigure their face instead. The projectile is very slow and can be outrun, and also shows a bright red and very obvious message to everyone in visual range. Therefore, it is generally only practical to use at point-blank range or on someone you've already incapacitated.
Neurotoxic sting	90 seconds	0	✓	✓	✓	Injects an adjacent human with neurotoxin which, after a short delay, will knock them unconscious for a long time and give them severe brain damage. The sting is stealthy, but the effect is not. If you continue standing next to the victim, it'll be quite obvious to everyone that you stung them. The sting makes them start drooling and moving out of control before they fall asleep. They also receive an indication just before they go down, but it's usually too late by this point. Still, use with caution, as the victim (or a bystander) may be able to shout for help if they catch on quickly.
Hallucinogenic sting	90 seconds	0	✓	✓	✓	Injects them with LSD. They'll start seeing things and stumbling around, but they remain conscious and active. Not very useful, but it's better than nothing if you're waiting for your spit and neurotoxin to recharge.
DNA sting	90 seconds	4 DNA	✓	✓	✓	Consists of two separate commands: Select DNA sting target and DNA sting. The former is a list of every identity you've absorbed so far, plus the one you started with. Once a target ID has been set, using the sting will inject the victim with DNA along with stable mutagen, gradually altering their name and appearance to that of the selected identity. It isn't used up in the process, though the ability is very situational. It can be feasible for misdirection in combination with mimic voice. If you get outed, you could for example transform and then sting someone else with your outed identity, and let the crew murder them instead of you.
Horror form	N/A	(15 DNA)	✓	✗	✗	The changeling turns into a shambling abomination (see below). Doesn't cost DNA, but requires that you have at least 15 points stored up.

Changelings can also break out of handcuffs and shackles instantly, a nice tool for escaping from security or annoying robots.

Shambling Abomination

When a changeling who has already absorbed several humans is threatened or exposed, they can resort to entering horror form. They become an enormous monster with a host of deadly powers, some of which require DNA, and retain their usual abilities such as toxic spit (or an equivalent power). It is still capable of using human weapons and equipment. The downsides are their inability to wear clothes other than hats and backpacks, the complete abandonment of stealth that it requires, the decrease in movement speed, and that maintaining horror form burns up your DNA stockpile. The AI and cyborgs are free to murder you as a blatant non-human. But who cares? You're a monstrous killing machine!

Name	Cooldown	DNA Cost	Description
Devour	N/A	N/A	The abomination quickly eats whoever they have grabbed aggressively (which they do by default), absorbing their DNA. Conveniently, this ability bypasses the need to remove the victim's headgear as well. Be warned that devouring somebody will destroy all items they had on them. Monkeys cannot be consumed.
Horrific scream	10 seconds	1 DNA	The abomination lets out a horrible screech, slowing down all nearby humans and occasionally causing them to drop items. Blocked by ear protection (earmuffs etc).
Maintain form	Auto	1 DNA per tick	Not an ability per se, but important nonetheless. Abominations automatically expend 1 DNA point every two seconds.
Revert	N/A	15 DNA	Accomplished by pressing Horror Form again. The abomination takes on a human form once more, sacrificing some DNA points in the process. This weakens it and leaves it temporarily stunned. Abominations automatically revert if they run out of DNA points.

Abominations are tough and very capable fighters. Not only do they regenerate stamina extremely quickly and grab their victims aggressively (allowing for a quick snack), the horror form is also incredibly strong and its punches will do a large amount of damage to people, cyborgs and critters, and can smack them across the room. A single punch can be sufficient to stun an unarmored opponent long enough to devour them. Using the Disarm intent is guaranteed to knock a weapon out of somebody's hands and can also literally 'dis-arm' threats (i.e. chop off their limbs). Shamblers can pry open doors and firedoors, and smash through windows as well as grills.

Abominations are impressively resistant to brute damage, receiving only 20% of the damage. As long as they aren't on fire, they constantly heal their wounds (including spontaneous limb regeneration) and are completely immune to all stuns.

Playing as a changeling

You accumulate DNA points by absorbing humans. Try to find someone out of the way, or at least somewhere where no one is present at the moment. Make sure you're near somewhere you can hide for an extended amount of time (maintenance is a popular choice); the absorbing process takes a long time. Have your plan laid out beforehand. Trying to wing it will almost certainly get you caught. Once you're confident, it's time to take your target down.

To absorb someone, you need to remove their headgear and grab them no fewer than 4 times. Any movement on the part of the victim during this process will ruin it. You need to get them down for a significant amount of time to allow you to go to work. Fortunately, you have some powers that can help you with that, in particular the neurotoxic sting (see above for details). It is completely silent and with careful timing can be used in ways so as not to blow you cover. Stinging people drinking in the bar or smoking space weed may not immediately alert them to the danger they are in. You can then pull out a health analyzer, gasp at the readings and drag them off to be eaten.

Secure your victims

After your victim is down, you need to cart him off to the area you planned on to absorb him. Once there, it is a good idea to remove the radio from your victim's ear as soon as possible. Victims can still type while unconscious, so if they get a split second up they can send out a long message revealing your identity and your position. To strip the radio, click-drag them onto your sprite. This opens the gear stripping menu. Click on their radio headset and stand still until you pull it off.

After it's off, switch to the grab intent and click on your victim to grab hold of them. This will give you new an icon in your hand that says disarm. Click on it until it changes to kill. That means you have an aggressive chokehold on your victim. Next, click absorb DNA in your changeling tab. Absorbing someone takes a while. You need to stand still until the messages say you've drained all the fluids from your target.

Your victim will be turned into a husk, and their identity will be added to your collection of forms. The neurotoxic sting isn't necessary to absorb a target, it's just a relatively easy way to knock down a target. They make it most likely that your victim will not get off a cry for help. You can absorb DNA from any human body. It doesn't matter if it's a suicide or a corpse left behind by another antagonist. It is free food. Hide or destroy the husks you leave behind to keep the crew unaware of your existence.

It should be noted that you can technically drain human NPCs. There's no difference between eating these and eating a player-controlled human, though the disguises offered by assuming the appearance of a NPC tend to be not as useful.

The art of deceit

The changeling's greatest strength is deceit. If you cleanly absorb a crew member, you can transform into any one of them at will. Don't do this where somebody can see you, obviously. If it would help to disguise yourself as your victim, you can strip them down of clothing and dress up as them. Keep in mind, the sharper-eyed crewmembers may notice something is off with your outfit if you don't take everything they're wearing. In addition, don't mix and match your victims' clothes. If you see a man with items from four people, he's probably none of those people. This is grounds for security officers to stun you and look you over if they know there's a changeling about. In reality, everyone is probably too oblivious to realize you aren't that person unless you do something exceedingly blatant (like wearing a captain's jumpsuit as a staff assistant, and even then it isn't too out of character).

Lying is even more important to changelings than it is to other antagonists. Your ability to mimic voices has great potential. You can imitate anyone, even people you haven't absorbed or who don't exist. Keep in mind, the AI can see the job associated with the voice and track it back to you. Limit its ability to do this by hiding in a locker or out in space. Also consider removing your ID. Alternatively, wear the same kind of ID your intended target is wearing. Common uses for this are staging cries for help at the opposite end of the ship from you to keep security busy, staging a fake Syndicate attack, etc. It takes some practice to use properly, but can be very effective when mastered.

The lesser form ability can also be useful for getting into places before people are generally aware there's a changeling about. It turns you into a monkey, which will let you crawl under tables and is overall a less threatening form to the crew. Most people will generally ignore a monkey if one sneaks in the door behind him or starts poking around at a corpse. You can use this to get access to a new area or just screw around a bit while other antagonists cause havoc and give you more of an opportunity to kill people. Be aware however that player monkeys are easily identifiable from regular monkeys, and if a changeling is reported, player monkeys are often public enemy number one. Shifting into monkey form also drops all your equipment on the ground. Be sure to grab your ID before you leave, or every door on the station will be a hard stop for you.

Another way of lying can simply be to wait. If you narrowly escape security, just hole up somewhere and wait for 5 or 10 minutes for the heat to die down. Unless you are the only antagonist on the station, security will almost certainly become caught up in some other crisis and forget about you. At that point, you are free to visit crew quarters, grab a new outfit, and blend in with everyone else.

The test

Lying is the most important skill a changeling can have, but there is one way you can be caught out, even if you aren't seen using your powers and have an explanation for everything. If a savvy investigator gets suspicious of you, there's a method available to them that allows them to determine your guilt with certainty: the blood test.

Changeling blood is different from human blood. It reacts to strong heat. If someone is allowed to draw your blood and heat it, you'll be revealed as a changeling. Not everyone knows this trick, and not everyone realizes just how much heat they have to apply to cause a reaction (it is a lot). If you're unlucky enough to be up against someone who knows what he's doing, you'll be caught for sure. You do have options though. Drawing blood requires them to be next to you, allowing you to deploy your stings and spit on them easily. If they aren't smart enough to have backup, sting and then eat them because one on one they have little chance against you.

If they're testing more than one person, try and sting them while they work on someone else's blood, and then blame the other person. At least one person will be occupied working on the test, so you can use that as a chance to disable their backup and escape to change identities. If you've acquired a decent store of DNA already, you may have a chance to catch everyone working against you in one attack by changing to a shambling abomination and screeching at them and punching them out. That requires you to commit yourself to fighting your way through the rest of the crew, mind. They'll quickly descend upon you with the heaviest blunt objects they can find as soon as they hear a shambler is on board.

You could wait for them to actually do the test before making your move, because they might mess it up. If they get it wrong and clear you as a human, you can do basically whatever you want short of actually using powers in public without getting caught.

Getting caught

You could be the most cautious changeling in the world, but fact of the matter is, it's entirely possible that somebody is going to walk in on you at the exact instant you stab the captain with your proboscis. Naturally, they'll run away and raise a riot about you. Depending on the mood of the crew, this can mean a single, inept security guard comes taking a glance around, or it can mean a horde of angry and scared people carrying improvised weaponry. The second is a lot more common. Assistants will take any opportunity to beat something to death. So now what?

Retreat

Changelings don't need air to survive and aren't bothered by cold. Space is your friend. You can freely clamber along the outside of the station, so if you can make it to an airlock, jump out and rely on a fire extinguisher to propel you around. You can also use the inky void to stash and absorb bodies, but be careful to do this only on the very tip of the solars, where the AI can't see you. To remain stealthy while spacewalking, put on a space suit and oxygen tank, even though you don't need one.

Fight it out

Don't fool yourself into thinking you're Superman. You usually have the upper hand in one-on-one combat, but you're in serious trouble against a crowd. Fighting is a last resort. Maybe you get a chance to break a window and leap into space, or maybe someone slips up and you overpower them for long enough to escape. If you end up being handcuffed and on a one way trip to the kitchen, remember all is not lost: your "human" body is nothing but a puppet to you, and in the blink of an eye you are able to shrink your upper appendages to instantly slip out of your cuffs and, through a fake death and a lucky disarm, possibly regain the upper hand against multiple opponents too busy gloating over their performance to adequately keep you stunlocked.

If you're completely out of options, it's time to pull out all the stops. Turn into a shambling abomination and try to take as many of them with you as you can. You can still wear hats and masks, keep your back item, and use your hands. Everything else is shed as you turn into a lumpy mass of spider legs and gnashing jaws. A shambling abomination has a much more offensive skill-set. Not only is it incredibly obvious what you are (the AI and cyborgs will now zealously try to kill you), but you pose such a massive threat that you will almost certainly be immediately swarmed by a huge crowd of desperate humans.

This new form is much larger and more malleable; see a previous paragraph for a detailed description of your powers. Combine the screech with your increased strength (disarm and harm attacks) and regular abilities (spit and stings), and try to knock down or disable as many opponents as possible. Devour helpless humans while they try to recover or fight back. For this you grab a fallen human by the neck as you would to absorb DNA, and pick devour from the changeling tab. After a few seconds, you'll simply swallow them whole, destroying any items they might have held and their body, and adding them to your DNA counter. If there are too many humans to devour before they can reorganize their attack, repeat the procedure by using the DNA of the people you've already eaten.

Second chances

One thing that might seem like a good idea but is not is regenerative stasis. This power makes you die outwardly, while inwardly you are healing your wounds. You cannot move or act while this process goes on. If you do this in sight of a human that knows or suspects you are a changeling, they will almost certainly gib or incinerate your body before you can get back up. The headspider practically compels them to do this. Regenerative stasis is best used when you're wounded and unwilling or unable to go to the medbay for healing. Go in a locker, close the door, and start your stasis. At that point, even if someone finds you, they will presume you are a victim of a different antagonist.

In the event that the crew manages to murder you without destroying your body, there's one last ace in the hole. After death, over the course of several seconds, your head will detach with a series of obvious messages. If your body is not destroyed, it turns into a headspider critter, which will rush anyone near it and climb down their throat. The victim will get messages about something trying to take over their body. Unless they get surgery, commit suicide or are killed, you'll take control of their body. This rarely happens, though. In practice, they'll throw themselves in the gibber out of spite.

Fighting a changeling

Its abilities make it extremely dangerous in a one-on-one fight, especially where it has the element of surprise (it generally does). Past one-one-one, however, the changeling's ability to successfully win a fight drops considerably. Keep your distance and attack in numbers, as it can certainly disable one person with neurotoxin if it gets in close. Attack in groups of 2 or more and try to stun it. It can still use its powers even if stunned, but not if unconscious, so tasers and batons are of limited use. The best way for security to handle a changeling is to lock it into a Port-a-Brig, from which it can't sting its victims. Because of the headspider threat, dead changelings should immediately be destroyed. Recommended methods to dispose of them include the e.g. crusher, crematorium, enzymatic reclaimer or gibber.

A changeling is most vulnerable when they're caught in the middle of feeding. They will be sitting still, and probably just expanded both of their most useful attacks on whomever they're digesting, meaning you can get in some hits before they're able to start spitting and stinging again. If they run off, think carefully before immediately changing them. Their victim (if still alive) is going to be unconscious for a long time and unable to help you, so if the changeling turns the tables on you, you've merely given him another meal.

Abominations are far tougher to deal with. Setting them on fire will help immensely as it stops them from regenerating their health and resisting non-stamina stuns, but is not always an option.

Supplementary video

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