Doppelganger

Doppelgangers are devious shapeshifters that take on the appearance of other humanoids, throwing off pursuit or luring victims to their doom with misdirection and disguise. Few creatures spread fear, suspicion, and deceit better than doppelgangers. Found in every land and culture, they can take on the guise of any individual of any race.

Additional Information

Symbiotic and Parasitic organisms

Stealing Secrets. A doppelganger’s adopted form allows it to blend into almost any group or community, but its transformation doesn’t impart languages, mannerisms, memory, or personality. Doppelgangers often follow or capture creatures they intend to impersonate, studying them and probing their minds for secrets. A doppelganger can read a creature’s surface thoughts, allowing it to glean that creature’s name, desires, and fears, along with a few scattered memories. A doppelganger impersonating a specific creature as part of a long-term plot might keep its double alive and close at hand for weeks, probing the victim’s mind daily to learn how to behave and speak authentically.
Hedonistic Swindlers. Doppelgangers work alone or in small groups, with group roles shifting from con to con. While one doppelganger takes the place of a murdered merchant or noble, the others take on a number of identities as circumstances warrant, playing the parts of family or servants while they live off the victim’s riches.
Changelings. Doppelgangers are too self-interested to raise their young. They assume attractive male forms and seduce women, leaving them to raise their progeny. A doppelganger child appears to be a normal member of its mother’s species until it reaches adolescence, at which point it discovers its true nature and is driven to seek out its kind to join them.

Civilization and Culture

Major Organizations

Doppelgangers do not form major organizations, thought they do form smaller bands and groups, whose membership will number in the tens or hundreds. Some of these smaller bands are able to achieve a great deal of importance regionally, despite their small size. Notable among these are the Malleable and the Obscura.