Doppelganger Butcher

Doppelganger Butcher (Killer; CR 21)

Pure Evil - Medium - Protean

Lore:	Know (Local)
44		59
Basic DC		Full DC

Initiative

39

Perception:
45	+35
Passive	Active

Ambush:

10+

on a d20

Senses:

• Standard Senses
• Lifesense 120 ft.
• SPECIAL: Doppelgangers also possess all senses of their current Stolen Form

Movement Types:

• Walk 80 ft.
• Greater Climb 80 ft.
• SPECIAL: Doppelgangers also possess all movement types of their current 'Stolen Form'

Defense

AC

47

Man Def

48

Monster Health
2,308	1,154	40
Hit Points	Bloodied	Hit Dice

Saving Throws
Fort:	+23
Refl:	+18
Will:	+17

Strong Against:

Weak Against:

Offense

Size:	Medium
5 ft.		10 ft.
Space		Reach

To-Hit

+31

Man Off

+35

Action

2

Points

Standard Attack (Melee):

• 1x Ripping Bite +31 (6d10+62/x2)
  as ripping (physical, uncommon)
  plus: Skinship
• 1x Shifting Claws +31 (6d6+26/x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)
  plus: Skinship

Full Attack (Melee):

• 1x Ripping Bite +31 (6d10+62/x2)
  as ripping (physical, uncommon)
  plus: Skinship
• 4x Shifting Claws +31 (6d6+26/x2)
  as slashing (physical, common)
  plus: Skinship
• 1x Unexpected Mouth +35 (6d10+62/x2)
  as gnashing (physical, uncommon)
  plus: Skinship

Standard Attack (Ranged):

• 2x Eruption of Bile (30-foot cone (enemies only) -- auto-hit) (6d10+62/x2)
  as desiccation (energy, uncommon)
  
  Reflex save, DC 31, for half

Full Attack (Ranged):

Siege Damage: Not siege capable

Statistics

22

STR

18

DEX

23

CON

13

INT

17

WIS

18

CHA

Skills:

• Bluff: 35
• Intimidate: 37
• Knowledge (Local): 32
• Perception: 35
• Sense Motive: 37
• All other skills: 30 (no ranks)

Languages: Kern, Common, plus any from Stolen Form

Feats:

• Combat Reflexes (EFFECT: Monsters with this feat make up to 4 attacks of opportunity per round instead of one.)
• Mobility (EFFECT: +4 AC against attacks of opportunity from movement)

Special Abilities

Stolen Form (Ex) Standard Action, Special

As a standard action, or by using Skinship in combat (see below), a Doppelganger may assume the form of any other creature up to CR 23. While using Stolen Form, the Doppelganger effectively becomes the creature being imitated, except that the Doppelganger's hit points never change and it always retains the use of its Stolen Form and Skinship abilities. While mimicking another form, the doppelganger replaces its own abilities, senses, movement, defenses, AC, and saves, with that of the assumed form (just not its hit points). If a Doppelganger using Stolen Form is engaged in combat, it will endeavor to flee as soon as possible. If the Doppelganger is reduced to half hit points while in a Stolen Form, it loses control and will revert to its own true form. When this occurs, the creeping unnatural appearance of this reversion induces paranoia in humanoids. All creatures who see it must make a Will save against a DC of 31 or gain the Nervous condition until the end of the combat, as they wonder who among their allies and friends might be a doppelganger as well.

Skinship (Ex) Swift Action, 1/Rnd

Once the Stolen Form is lost, the Doppelganger will usually attack in a terrible frenzy. While attacking in its true shape it uses the stats listed above. In addition, once per round as a swift action, the Doppelganger may make a touch attack against one adjacent foe at 1d20 + 35 vs. AC (always hits on a 17+ on the die). If this touch attack is successful, the Doppelganger's shape will begin to shift toward that creature's appearance, it gains a +2 bonus to to-hit rolls against the touched creature until the beginning of the creature's next turn, and the doppelganger will heal hit points equal to its Hit Dice (40 hit points). If any creature touched by Skinship is reduced to negative hit points by any Doppelganger, any Doppelgangers who have touched it with Skinship may reactivate Stolen Form as a free action, instantly assuming the form of the fallen creature, and instantly healing the doppelganger an amount of hit points equal to half the impersonated creature's maximum hit points.

Spell Resistance (Su) Always On

Doppelganger Butchers have spell resistance. In order to affect them with a spell or spell-like ability, the caster must first make a Caster Check versus the Butcher's Maneuver Defense value (DC 48). If the check is successful, the spell or spell-like ability is resolved as normal. If the caster check fails, the spell is cast, but does not affect the Butcher in any way.

Building Frenzy (Ex; Killer Role) Automatic on Missed Attack

When a Doppelganger Butcher is in combat, its rage burns with an alien fury. Every time it makes an attack roll and misses, it immediately gains a +2 circumstance bonus to its to-hit rolls and damage rolls until the end of the encounter. This bonus applies to all attack rolls, Attacks of Opportunity, bonus attacks, any other attack. This bonus is cumulative and potentially unlimited. This means the referee must declare and roll all attacks separately and in a given order, so the escalating bonus may be properly tracked.

Swift As Death (Ex; Killer Role) Always On

Killers increase their speed by +30 feet with all movement types they possess (this is already included in the numbers listed in the Movement Types section, above).

Doppelganger Butcher

This creature possesses the Killer role, and therefore counts as 2 monsters for purposes of encounter size, XP award, and treasure.

This monster frequently has the Killer role, but may be set to other roles if desired.

Doppelgangers are a strange race of shape shifters that act as parasites of entire civilizations. Their mindset is alien compared to most humanoid races, and their ability to steal the identity of others triggers nearly universal revulsion. Doppelgangers may exactly and perfectly mimic anyone they have had a chance to touch for a few seconds.

What is not widely known about Doppelgangers, is that they come in many castes. They all have the ability to perfectly mimic other creatures, and they are all parasites that subsist upon the civilizations of others, but the Doppelgangers do not care very much about that at all.

The reason that Doppelgangers are so little engaged with the other societies is two-fold:

First, Doppelgangers are really, truly alien, both in their natural appearance and in their mental and spiritual processes. They have no souls, nor do they have spirits. They aren't even really alive in the same way as other races, and it is unclear if they even eat food or breathe air. They have very little in common with other races.

Second, Doppelgangers are utterly and completely consumed by their war. Plain Doppelgangers (CR 3) are little more than mindless drones, pawns that exist to breed and infiltrate the world. The higher level Doppelgangers are the ones who are aware of their secret war and they are responsible for prosecuting it, to the exclusion of all other tasks. Everything is devoted to the War, every waking moment consumed with prosecuting the War or building up to make another attack.

On the very rare occasions when a Doppelganger has been captured and interrogated, their answers, made in Kern, make no sense at all. The Doppelgangers seem to be at war with themselves, absolutely and implacably. No outsider has ever figured out what factions or divisions exist in Doppelganger 'society', if such a thing can even be said to exist.

Most Doppelgangers placidly subsist on the largess of the societies they infest. But other Doppelgangers are much more sinister and menacing, and are ruthlessly driven to seek out and destroy other Doppelgangers. Whether a Doppelganger will see another as foe or ally seems completely random.

It should be noted that Doppelgangers and Vampires, where they co-exist, are unrelenting enemies as well. Doppelgangers and Vampires both infest and feed off of larger societies, and so they see each other as competitors. Both factions will seek to destroy the other whenever they come into contact.

Among Doppelgangers, Butchers are 'the things that go bump in the night'. Doppelganger Butchers are relentless killers, moving in their mysterious ways to prosecute the War to the exclusion of all else. Butchers are often, but not always, paired with a Consul, and two or three Butchers get along perfectly fine by themselves. Butchers will show up, exterminate every 'enemy' Doppelganger in a night of horror, and move on, leaving the infested community shaken and wondering what just happened.

Butchers willingly accept commands from Consuls, and will help even lower level Doppelgangers if it moves the War along. Butchers, if revealed to the community at large, will flee if they can, usually leaving a trail of corpses behind them. If a Butcher discovers a nest of vampires, it will notify another Doppelganger (an Overseer, a Dictator, or a Consul) and then will wade into battle without hesitation.

Doppelganger Butchers are truly scary in a fight, and they are perfectly willing to trade upon their frightening reputations to get their way. Despite their tremendous combat prowess, Butchers are not mindless beasts. They can get along in society perfectly well, despite being utter aliens, and are actually pretty positive additions to most societies, serving as phantom protectors of their host species.

Combat Tactics

Doppelganger Butchers are simple creatures: They race into melee and attack as much as they can. If they cannot close to melee, they will use their bile attack to strike at as many foes as possible. The reason is simple: Every time they miss, their Building Frenzy gives them a huge and constantly escalating bonus to hit and damage, on top of their already tremendous combat capabilities.

They will use Skinship with every attack for the healing and to set up a healing burst when they drop a foe. In addition, they will always use a five foot step to maintain a bit of distance from their foes so they get as many attacks of opportunity as possible again, looking to build bonuses if they are unable to hit. Butchers love tanks, as they are able to spin up to truly tremendous bonuses. Butchers absolutely thrive in melee, and they are scary-good at it.

Parties facing Butchers have a terrible choice, as closing to battle with them is a risky business, trying to tank them allows them to build huge bonuses very fast, and staying at range lets them use their huge eruption of bile attack. Running away is the most effective choice, but that's not very heroic at all. Plus, the Bile Eruption means that Butchers can still output severe damage on fleeing foes.

The best plan is to kill it as fast as possible... except that it is trying to kill you right back.

Out of Combat

Butchers are probably soldiers in the mysterious War. Apart from that likelihood, their actions and motives are a complete cypher, and to be frank, some of their actions are not supported by the 'soldier' theory. Most of a Butcher's life, to non-Doppelgangers, is completely normal for the creature they have copied and taken their place. Their true motives, apart from a likelihood that they are soldiers or...priests or...some other sort of official part of the War, is unknown.

Rewards

XP: 819,200 (Killer role included.)

Treasure: Sellable Goods worth 283,000 gp.

Weight: 420 lbs.     Volume: 16.8 cu. ft.

Optional Treasure Rules: Roll a d20 on Table 1 below once per encounter (NOT per creature). Any items discovered are in addition to the normal treasure for the encounter.

Table 1: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 8	Nothing Found
9 - 12	1 Languid Remnant (tier 1)
13 - 15	1 Pale Remnant (tier 2)
16 - 18	1 Bright Remnant (tier 3)
19 - 20	Roll on Table 2
###	Nothing to see here!
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 2: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 3	4 Languid Remnants (tier 1)
4 - 7	4 Pale Remnants (tier 2)
8 - 11	1 Intense Remnant (tier 4)
12 - 15	1 Blazing Remnant (tier 5)
16 - 18	1 Vital Remnant (tier 6)
19 - 20	Roll on Table 3
###	Or here. Move along.

Table 3: Remnant(s) Found
1 - 3	4 Bright Remnants (tier 3)
4 - 5	4 Intense Remnants (tier 4)
6 - 8	4 Blazing Remnants (tier 5)
9 - 11	4 Vital Remnants (tier 6)
12 - 15	1 Prime Remnant (tier 7)
16 - 18	1 Mythic Remnant (tier 8)
19 - 20	1 Empyrean Remnant (tier 9)