02-11-2019, 04:20 AM | #1 |
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Harlem, New York
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statting a doppelgänger
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! |
02-11-2019, 08:23 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: statting a doppelgänger
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. |
02-11-2019, 08:52 AM | #3 | |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: statting a doppelgänger
Quote:
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.
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02-11-2019, 09:31 AM | #4 | |||
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: statting a doppelgänger
Quote:
*You'd have to be careful to keep this from eclipsing Modular Abilities for a fraction of the cost. Quote:
Quote:
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02-12-2019, 11:20 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Harlem, New York
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Re: statting a doppelgänger
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!
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02-12-2019, 11:43 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: statting a doppelgänger
Affliction (Puppet; Temporary Disadvantage: Terminally Ill).
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02-12-2019, 11:47 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: statting a doppelgänger
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02-12-2019, 02:09 PM | #8 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: statting a doppelgänger
Doesn't have the chance of the target becoming permanently immune.
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02-12-2019, 02:18 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: statting a doppelgänger
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02-12-2019, 02:24 PM | #10 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: statting a doppelgänger
"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] |
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