Doppelganger

[J_Spade]

So it came up that my friend, at level 8, had accumulated a negative combat bonus (I think it was -3 or something around there), due to a bunch of other cards that were thrown into play, and to his lack of weapons and armor (he'd died, and not received any new equipment to replace it.) He then played Doppelganger, insisting that it created another character with a combat level of 8, bringing his side to +5. However, the rest of us believed that it doubled his effective combat level, bringing his side down further to -6.

From what I have read here and in the FAQs, I believe Doppelganger duplicates the effects of one-time-use items, such as potions, and so playing Doppelganger while at a negative effective combat level just hurts your side more.

Is this correct?

[BonzaiiSheep]

Hmm i don't think that would be a problem as any player or monster has a minimum level of 1 no matter how much you throw at them (or at least that's what i thought i knew)
Also i am a little confused, he died and kept fighting?

[J_Spade]

No, he'd died in his last turn, and the game had cycled around to him again. He was just unlucky and hadn't received any new armor or weapons.

As for the level one minimum, I am 90% sure that applies only to the base level (1-10) of the character, and not to the effective combat level.

[StaticHamster]

Even though you cannot go below Level 1, you can have a negative combat strength.

It would seem you are correct. I checked the card and the FAQ as well. When a player uses Doppleganger you calculate the players combat strength from everything that is affecting it and then double that, so if its a negative...it doubles that negative number.

[Andrew Hackard]

StaticHamster is correct on all points.

[J_Spade]

Thanks. Should this come up again, we'll know exactly what the results are.