Doppelganger Feeder
Doppelganger Feeder (Killer Role) (CR 11)
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 4) 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.
Doppelganger Feeders seem to be a fairly low-ranked strain of the monsters, although with Doppelgangers, they are so alien it is hard to be certain. Feeders are involved in the mysterious War, but they are not soldiers or planners. Doppelganger Feeders are predators and harvesters of regular Doppelgangers. A Doppelganger Feeder seems to exist merely to hunt down, kill, and eat other doppelgangers. It then apparently transfers sustenance to other Awakened Doppelgangers, via some process that has either never been witnessed, or if witnessed, has never been recognized.
Doppelganger Feeders seem to be nomadic on their own, wandering through society as loners, always searching out their harvest. But Feeders are not indiscriminate killers. They have been seen to interact with lower rank Doppelgangers and leave them alone, then pick out one or a few for consumption. They go about their duties, finding and eating a certain number of Doppelgangers, but they act in the War only when ordered to by another, typically an Overseer or more rarely a Dictator or even a mighty Consul.
Doppelganger Feeders are completely uninterested in human beings. They will not attack humans, interfere with humans, or have anything more than the bare minimum of contact with humans to pass seamlessly. Doppelganger Feeders tend to stick to a few useful 'cover' identities, such as a caravan master, slaver, merchant, or whore. Any occupation where they are able to meet a large number of humans and either move around on their own, or have a large number of people come to visit them.
From this stream of people, Feeders sift out the doppelgangers, and choose a portion of them to be eaten.
Feeders always shift to their true form to attack, and take pains to be sure that nobody connects the horrendous monster with their cover identities.
The only time Doppelganger Feeders become interested in 'normal' affairs is when they are being hunted by adventurers, or they notice a vampire loose in their territory. Doppelganger Feeders hunt and kill vampires with grim ferocity, wherever they find them, and will even go so far as to hire adventurers in their cover identities to aid them.
Vampires prey on the same flock as the lower-level Doppelgangers. Vampires are competitors, and Feeders act to take them out.
Feeders tend to be rather aloof, but they will work with Overseers and all other types of Awakened Doppelgangers. Feeders are Killers, and as such are extremely deadly and should be approached with great caution once they have been discovered.
GENERAL
CR 11 Hit Dice 16
XP 25,600 (Killer Role Included)
NE, Medium, Protean
Init +9 (includes Killer bonus); Senses Standard Lifesense (used to find other Doppelgangers, but will detect anything living and usefully picks out vampires as well), any sense the Stolen Form has, Perception +17
DEFENSE
AC 31, touch 19, flat-footed 26 (+7 armor, +5 dex, +5 natural, +4 deflection)
hp 458 (Killer bonus included)
Fort +14, Ref +11, Will +11
Aura: -
SR: -
Special Defenses: -
Immunities: -
Weaknesses: -
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., Climbing 30 ft, also see Twisted Step
Space / Reach: 5 ft. / 5 ft.
Single Melee Shifting Bite +16 (3d8/x2)
Full Melee Shifting Bite +16 (3d8/x2), 2x Snatching Claws +16 (3d6/x2), Extra Limbs +16 (3d8/x2)
Ranged None, but see Twisted Step
Special Attacks Twisted Step, Ripping Meld, Stolen Form, Skinship
Action Points 0 (Killer Role does not include an Action Point)
STATISTICS
Str 16, Dex 14, Con 18, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 14
Base Atk +11; CMB +17; CMD 27
Feats -
Skills Bluff +16, Sense motive +16, Intimidate +16, Stealth +16
Languages Kern, plus up to three languages the Stolen Form possesses
SPECIAL ABILITIES
- Stolen Form
As a standard action, or by using Skinship in combat (see below), a Doppelganger Feeder may assume the form of any other creature up to CR 14. 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). Note that Feeders always retain their strange lifesense ability as well.
If a Doppelganger Feeder using Stolen Form is engaged in combat, it uses a free action to drop Stolen Form and unnerve its enemies at the most opportune moment. If the Doppelganger Feeder is reduced to half hit points while in a Stolen Form, it loses control and will revert to its own true form regardless as a free action. 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 21 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
While attacking with melee in its true shape the Doppelganger 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, regardless of the form it is using. 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 current CR(usually 11). 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.
- Ripping Meld
While attacking with melee in its true shape the Doppelganger uses the stats listed above. In addition, once per round as a swift action, a Doppelganger Feeder may press its flesh against an adjacent victim, oozing a thousand tiny needle-sharp tendrils within clothing, armor, fur, and then with a wrench, rip large swaths of the victims body loose for consumption. This is resolved as a melee touch attack. If the touch attack succeeds, the victim is allowed to make a Fortitude save against a DC of 20. if this save fails, they take 6d6 of piercing/slashing damage. A successful save halves this damage.
- Twisted Step
While attacking with melee in its true shape the Doppelganger uses the stats listed above. In addition, once per round as a swift action, a Doppelganger Feeder may take a weird staggering step that seems to make it 'fall out of reality'. The Doppelganger Feeder may teleport up to thirty feet, and when it arrives it may make a Ripping Meld attack as a free action. Using Ripping Meld in this way does not use up their normal Ripping Meld for the round.
TREASURE
sell value of approximately 13,000 gp (Killer Bonus included)
COMBAT TACTICS
Doppelganger Feeders are incredibly dangerous in melee combat, and they know it. If they are forced into combat, they will use Twisted Step immediately to take cover and stealth, if possible. They will then attack from stealth, using Twisted Step to close and gain the free Ripping Meld, dropping their Stolen Form at the same time to force their victims into the Nervous state. Then they will downgrade their move action to a swift action and perform another Ripping Meld, and then they will either perform a standard melee attack with Shifting Bite or they will downgrade their standard action to a swift action and use Skinship to set up some healing. (YIKES!)
Another favorite attack is to perform a Full Melee attack and then use either Ripping Meld on the same victim, or use Twisted Step and perform a free Ripping Meld on somebody else. (DOUBLE YIKES!)
Feeders will avoid beginning combat with anybody who looks able to defend themselves, and will attack the poorly armored and poorly armed first, in all cases. If they are flanked or surrounded, they will use Twisted Step to run away to the outer edge of the combat and keep right on attacking.
Feeders attack, then attack, then attack some more. The damage is heavy and relentless and does not stop, ever. Once they have engaged in a battle, a Feeder may look like it is running away, but this is a ruse: They will break line of sight, initiate stealth, and return to attack some more. They might use Skinship rather than Ripping Meld every now and then, just to get the healing and if they are able to drop a foe, heal all their fellow Doppelgangers as well.
Doppelganger Feeders are a Killer class mob, they should be approached with care!