statting a doppelgänger

[muduri]

It's great to have totally new-to-the-game players sometimes because they make decisions like, "a doppelgänger ate our companion and assumed his identity? He just needed friends - let's adopt him!" Who am I to object? So now we have a doppelgänger PC.

What I haven't totally figured out yet is how to stat the shapeshifting ability. The initial premise would be that on consuming a humanoid, he takes on all but their IQ and magical abilities (and maybe even those on a critical success - perhaps on Cooking, haha), irreversibly for say a week unless consuming someone else, but then reverting over the course of a day to his initial form and starving after another few days.

That sounds like a variation of Shapeshifting with Retains Shape - but with some important differences. Any thoughts? Curious also if being able to switch back to his doppelgänger form at will would make it a much simpler Shapeshifting with some unusual Limitations. Thanks for the input!

[naloth]

Just shifting his appearance to another person roughly the same size would be rather easy with Morph. You also certainly have enough limitations to bring it down to -80% (same size, requires consuming sample, minimum time and max time, etc).

You'd probably need Modular Points (physical only?) to emulate taking on new abilities temporarily since Morph is more geared towards just altering racial templates and not mimicking personal traits. You could limit that similarly to bring the cost down.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by naloth

Just shifting his appearance to another person roughly the same size would be rather easy with Morph. You also certainly have enough limitations to bring it down to -80% (same size, requires consuming sample, minimum time and max time, etc).

You'd probably need Modular Points (physical only?) to emulate taking on new abilities temporarily since Morph is more geared towards just altering racial templates and not mimicking personal traits. You could limit that similarly to bring the cost down.

The new abilities would be included in the morph. The only thing you would need modular points for would be skills.



You can certainly make a morph build, but what you describe actually sounds closer to possession to me. You get what is functionally a copy of the host's body, must have a host to take that form, must overcome the host first, and you're copying an individual rather than a template. I'd guess that only being able to possess the freshly killed is a touch less restricting that puppet only, for -20%. I don't know how much of the victim's memory the doppelganger picks up but possession has those modifiers built in and morph does not.



Preparation required is likely appropriate for any version of the advantage. Requiring a skill (like cooking) to use an advantage that already requires an attribute roll is a feature.



Requiring a new body every few weeks sounds like a dependency to me. I'd say that fresh corpses are common but illegal for a base of -15, and a weekly dependency should be the right rate.



Loosing the body shape before at 1 week normally wouldn't give you any points for maximum duration or anything, but in this context I'd allow a -5% nuisance effect on possession.



I hope this helps.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by ericthered

The new abilities would be included in the morph. The only thing you would need modular points for would be skills.

While that's certainly a valid house rule*, morph only has provisions for swapping out your base racial template and further increasing your personal appearances.

*You'd have to be careful to keep this from eclipsing Modular Abilities for a fraction of the cost.

You can certainly make a morph build, but what you describe actually sounds closer to possession to me.

I looked at that, since effectively they are becoming that person rather than just duplicating them for a time. If you don't mind fixing the resistance/recovery issues, then it should work.

Requiring a new body every few weeks sounds like a dependency to me. I'd say that fresh corpses are common but illegal for a base of -15, and a weekly dependency should be the right rate.

It's probably both a limit on the duration and a severe dependency. I can't imagine locals will be that happen if you need fresh kills.

[muduri]

Very interesting, thanks for both of those. I'll start with Morph and some specific limitations, but a tweaked version of Possession a very intriguing build also. Thanks!

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by naloth

I looked at that, since effectively they are becoming that person rather than just duplicating them for a time. If you don't mind fixing the resistance/recovery issues, then it should work.

Affliction (Puppet; Temporary Disadvantage: Terminally Ill).

[naloth]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Affliction (Puppet; Temporary Disadvantage: Terminally Ill).

Entertaining, but it would require more modifications (ignore DR, duration) and in the end isn't it about the same chance to resist as just doing a possession?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by naloth

Entertaining, but it would require more modifications (ignore DR, duration) and in the end isn't it about the same chance to resist as just doing a possession?

Doesn't have the chance of the target becoming permanently immune.

[naloth]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Doesn't have the chance of the target becoming permanently immune.

That is compelling and it would be rather annoying after the kill to not be able to use that person.

[Anthony]

"Doppelganger Worm"
Doppelganger worms have in the past been believed to be shapeshifters, but this is a misconception. They are actually worms that burrow through flesh, house themselves in the victim's brain, and pretend to be the victim, until eventually they burst out and attack their next victim.

Advantages:
Permeation (Flesh) [5]
Possession (Assimilation, Parasitic) [50]
Sharp Teeth [1]

Disadvantages:
Dependency (Sentient Brains; Common, Illegal, Daily) [-45]
Secret (Possible Death) [-30]