Gnome's Illusion and Doppleganger

[coldsun]

Hi!
We faced this situation and could not resolve it:
Does Gnome's Illusion double power when Doppleganger card is played?

Just for clarification:
Gnome of strength 1 played Illusion of strength 2 and played Doppleganger after that. Will his strength be 4 or 6?

Thank You!

[MunchkinMan]

Presuming you could play both (i.e., are you alone when fighting with an illusion at your side?), you would always make the Doppleganger have the same combat strength as your character, even if you make changes. So, if your combat strength is 3 because of the illusion, then the combat strength of the munchkin side with the Doppleganger would be 6 because it also has a combat strength of 3.

I'm trying to find older rulings, but I feel like we've said that you can't have both in play. However, I could also be mis-remembering. The wording on Doppleganger is a bit specific on when it can be used (when you are the only player in the combat), while the Gnome says you must be alone.

Edit: For what it's worth, I currently can't seem to find a specific ruling prohibiting a Gnome from using both, but I feel we keep dancing around the subject with phrases like, "Doppleganger is an Item, not a player or a character," and in a very specific case, we don't allow it to muck with the Orc's ability to get an extra level by beating the Monster(s) by 11 or more when alone. Unless someone can specifically point to a spot where Andrew, any of his other minions, or I say otherwise, please post the link here.

[coldsun]

Thank You very much for great explanation!