Scholars have debated for centuries about the origin of the doppelgangers. Shadowy, mysterious and enigmatic, these shapeshifters learned long ago how to integrate themselves into human society. For this reason, learned men and women believe that doppelgangers were once human. How doppelgangers gained their unique abilities is unknown, even to themselves.
Doppelgangers do not have a society of their own. They fill any desire for companionship and social interaction through their association with other races. Although doppelgangers act independently, following their own motivations and goals, rumors persist of a “secret cabal” of elder doppelgangers who desire nothing less than control of the world. Little evidence corroborates these rumors, which may have been perpetuated by the doppelgangers themselves to lend even more mystery to their race’s reputation.
Personality: Discerning a doppelganger’s true personality is akin to grasping quicksilver, although certain traits seem to be common among members of the race. In their natural form, doppelgangers are cold, mysterious and aloof, and almost never give any indication what they are actually feeling or thinking. Doppelgangers are natural liars, and even allies wonder at the validity of a doppelganger’s acknowledgment of an emotional state.
While in disguise, doppelgangers behave according to the personality of the mimicked humanoid. Because they can only imitate a creature’s physical form, not emotional or psychological qualities, doppelgangers watch their quarry from afar for as long as possible, getting every idiosyncrasy, nuance and personality trait down pat before assuming the creature’s form.
Doppelgangers feel the same basic desires as members of any other race, but more than anything, they wish to simply “belong” to a group, even if for just a short while. Doppelgangers use their abilities as a test of their own cunning and superiority, and they believe that they succeed only when they remain completely unnoticed by the race they are trying to mimic. Clinically curious, doppelgangers seek to understand a race by becoming part of that race for a while, before moving on to infiltrate another, more challenging group.
Physical Description: In their natural form, doppelgangers are gaunt, grey-skinned, genderless humanoids with long, gangly limbs, standing around 5½ feet tall and weighing about 150 pounds. Doppelganger bodies are slender and frail-looking, although this appearance belies their hardy constitution and natural agility. Their heads are large in proportion to the rest of their bodies, and their faces are featureless except for two large, octopoid-like eyes.
Doppelgangers are rarely seen in their true form, and spend most of their time mimicking other humanoids. A doppelganger can only duplicate the appearance of a humanoid and does not gain any special abilities of a mimicked race, such as an elf’s low-light vision. Its ability to duplicate another form is remarkable, and it can copy a humanoid form to the minutest detail. Doppelgangers have an incredible memory when it comes to retaining forms, and a doppelganger can remember any shape it has mimicked, even if it was years in the past.
Relations: Either despite or because of their shapeshifting nature, doppelgangers do not have strong relations with other races. They view all humanoid races with the same level of neutrality, heavily influenced by contempt. Doppelgangers consider themselves superior to other humanoid races, although they rarely espouse this viewpoint while dealing with the races in question. They see humanoids as mere pawns to be deceived and used in whatever manner seems necessary at the time. On the other hand, most doppelgangers do not have any preconceived notions about a race — they all have their positive and negative qualities, and none are any better or worse in comparison (except for doppelgangers themselves, of course).
In turn, other races are extremely suspicious of a creature that can assume their own forms and blend in with impunity. In some places, doppelgangers have thoroughly infiltrated positions of authority, using their newfound power in whatever way they see fit. When a doppelganger is discovered, pogroms and witch-hunts inevitably follow, as the panicked populace accuses anyone and everyone of being a shapeshifter.
Alignment: Because they live according to the borrowed morals and ethics of other races, doppelgangers are usually neutral in alignment, with no strong opinions on the properties of good, evil, law or chaos. Doppelgangers regularly “portray” creatures of different alignments, although their psyches are amazingly toughened to resist any permanent shift from acting in such a manner. They retain their own objectivity regardless of the intensity of emotions that they exhibit on the surface. On occasion, doppelgangers stray from the racial norm of neutrality — and their inclination toward duplicity and deceit means that most of these individuals fall to evil.
Doppelganger Lands: Doppelgangers have no lands that they openly declare as their own. However, they consider all the lands of the other races free for the taking. Doppelgangers with a longing for power simply overthrow an authority figure and assume his or her place instead of trying to garner power from the ground up.
Religion: Doppelgangers lack religious conviction. They understand why a race would worship a higher being, although they do not feel much desire to propitiate a deity. For this reason, doppelganger clerics are exceedingly rare, despite the fact that doppelgangers occasionally masquerade as members of the clergy for one church or another. Of all the deities, Boccob, the Uncaring God of Magic, is most likely to hold a doppelganger’s attention, if only because of his neutral attitude.
Language: Doppelgangers have no language of their own and communicate among themselves by means of their detect thoughts ability. Doppelgangers learn a multitude of languages to lend credence to their disguises. Their mastery of shapechanging carries over to speech, and they can imitate particular accents with ease.
Names: To a doppelganger, a name is just another “prop” to be used in its disguise. A doppelganger uses hundreds of names throughout its lifetime, although none of those names can truly be said to “belong” to that individual. Still, each doppelganger does have a single, unique name, which is almost never used. Doppelganger names are derived from an ancient human language that died millennia ago, giving further weight to the theory that they descended from human origins. Since doppelgangers lack distinct gender, there are no male or female variations in naming.
Doppelganger Names: Ansilikus, Melanuxor, Sanjakilar, Tepilmurae, Verenkilar, Xestilophon.
Adventurers: Naturally stealthy and deceptive, doppelganger adventurers favour the rogue class. Doppelganger bards number a close second. Those who spend a great deal of time mimicking warriors become fighters or rangers. As mentioned above, doppelganger clerics are notoriously rare, and druids even more so, mainly because doppelgangers are so focused on social intricacies that they barely think about the natural world. Doppelganger paladins are one in a million, and are viewed with considerable suspicion by the rest of their race.
Source: Races of Destiny (Page 93)
Your character can be either male or female.
Every player character starts as an adult. You can choose or randomly generate your character’s age. If you choose it, it must be at least the minimum age for the character’s race and class (see Table: Starting Ages). Your character’s minimum starting age is the adulthood age of his or her race plus the number of dice indicated in the entry corresponding to the character’s race and class on Table: Starting Ages.
Alternatively, refer to Table: Starting Ages and roll dice to determine how old your character is.
| Adulthood | Intuitive1 | Self-Taught2 | Trained3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 years | +1d4 (16—19) years | +1d6 (16—21) years | +2d6 (17—27) years |
1 This category includes barbarians, rogues and sorcerers.
2 This category includes bards, fighters, paladins and rangers.
3 This category includes clerics, druids, monks and wizards.
With age, a character’s physical ability scores decrease and his or her mental ability scores increase (see Table: Aging Effects). The effects of each aging step are cumulative. However, none of a character’s ability scores can be reduced below 1 in this way.
| Middle Age1 | Old Age2 | Venerable3 | Maximum Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 years | 53 years | 70 years | +2d20 years |
1 -1 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
2 -2 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
3 -3 to Strength, Dexterity and Constitution; +1 to Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.
When a character reaches venerable age, the DM secretly rolls his or her maximum age, which is the number from the Venerable column on Table: Aging Effects plus the result of the dice roll indicated on the Maximum Age column on that table, and records the result, which the player does not know. A character who reaches his or her maximum age dies of old age at some time during the following year, as determined by the DM.
The maximum ages are for player characters. Most people in the world at large die from pestilence, accidents, infections or violence before getting to venerable age.
Choose your character’s height and weight from the ranges mentioned in the appropriate race description or from the ranges found on Table: Height and Weight. Think about what your character’s abilities might say about his or her height and weight. A weak but agile character may be thin. A strong and tough character may be tall or just heavy.
Alternatively, roll randomly for your character’s height and weight on Table: Height and Weight. The dice roll given in the Height Modifier column determines the character’s extra height beyond the base height. That same number multiplied by the dice roll or quantity given in the Weight Modifier column determines the character’s extra weight beyond the base weight.
| Gender | Base Height | Height Modifier | Base Weight | Weight Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Natural* | 4’ 8" | +2d10 (4’ 10"—6’ 4") | 100 lbs. | ×2d4 (104—260 lbs.) |
* In their natural form, doppelgangers can take on any height and weight within the standards for Small and Medium creatures.
Source: Races of Destiny (Page 110)