Changelings and brain trauma
Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 6:00 pm
I threw together a PR about this but closed it when I realized that a more high-effort change would probably be required to address it appropriately. The problem: changelings, alien masters of biology, can have their vestigial brains affected by regular brain traumas. This often permanently debilitates them, as balance updates to changeling abilities are older than the divide between brain damage and brain traumas; though Anatomic Panacea, the ability designed to cleanse impurities from the changeling body, is meant to effectively cure brain damage, it has no effect on brain traumas due to curing this damage via mannitol without imparting any of the newer neurine. Supplementary to this problem is the fact that the amounts of chemicals injected by Anatomic Panacea are completely arbitrary. The ability's radiation and toxin curing component is regular pentetic acid, which cleanses the other chemicals imparted from the body as part of its effect, meaning they're probably having a significantly lower effect than intended.
Not only am I not sure what the most elegant solution to the issue of changelings and ability to self-heal brain traumas, I'm not sure if people think it's even balanced (despite the fact that it makes so much sense that lack of the ability feels like a code oversight). There's also a relevant interaction issue, since at present changelings don't appear unless there are traitors in the same round, in that changelings can be both brainwashed and hypnotized.
Anatomic Panacea could be reworked to a status similar to Fleshmend that heals toxin damage, purges radiation, and clears certain brain traumas. It could also be changed to a unique chemical that fulfills all of its current intended effects and purges non-Panacea toxins. Cleansing severe brain traumas would interact with hypnosis and brainwashing. Should changelings be vulnerable to these things to begin with? Should they even have an actual brain?
Not only am I not sure what the most elegant solution to the issue of changelings and ability to self-heal brain traumas, I'm not sure if people think it's even balanced (despite the fact that it makes so much sense that lack of the ability feels like a code oversight). There's also a relevant interaction issue, since at present changelings don't appear unless there are traitors in the same round, in that changelings can be both brainwashed and hypnotized.
Anatomic Panacea could be reworked to a status similar to Fleshmend that heals toxin damage, purges radiation, and clears certain brain traumas. It could also be changed to a unique chemical that fulfills all of its current intended effects and purges non-Panacea toxins. Cleansing severe brain traumas would interact with hypnosis and brainwashing. Should changelings be vulnerable to these things to begin with? Should they even have an actual brain?