I've been intrigued with the Echo Knight class as of late, and have been thinking of ways to spin or re-flavor some of the class features.

I read another post where someone imagined the 'echo' as an animated version of the knight's own shadow rather than a manifestation of an alternate timeline.  So I started to wonder, what if the knight's shadow or 'echo' had its own personality?  Perhaps even a personality different or opposite to the knight's own.  If the 'echo' could communicate or talk, perhaps the two might have a collaborative relationship, or maybe even a tense one.  Though I imagine they would have a mutual interest in self-preservation.  

Now, imagine if the 'echo' could manifest itself while the knight is asleep, somehow having its own freewill.  Maybe even talk with other party members, or make deals behind the back of the knight (so to speak).  Much like an alternate personality of someone with schizophrenia might act, and 'echo' could simply be a visual manifestation of that personality. 

I'm imagining an 'evil twin' so to speak.  One that wants to help the real knight, but perhaps for its own motive or through different means.  Perhaps it builds side relationships with the players, trying to convince them to do other things. 

At the very least, it would be interesting to roleplaying a character with a split persona, and this could be just one way to visualize or manifest it.  

Your thoughts or ideas?

I haven't explored the class, so take this for whatever it's worth. I like your idea, but with a slight change. Instead of an evil twin type, what about on with a different perspective?

For example, an evil wizard kidnaps/steals and the party must free/recover the whatever it is.

The character wants to launch an assault of the tower, but the echo wants to gather allies, negotiate, or just run away. Tha6 would be interesting.

I imagine you would need an understanding DM and group, and this is before specifics on how it would all work.

But I like where you're going with it.

Certainly could make for a fun character. It might go over better at some tables than others though - it kind of suffers from the classic issue of one player wanting to RP multiple characters and how they relate to each other. You could conceivably take up a good amount of table time acting out scenes that are, when you boil it down, all about you. Some players would love this and get into it, others might find it exclusionary or tedious.

For extra twists, add Changeling and The Revived rogue subclass.

Note that the echo is neither a creature nor an object and allowing it to be treated as either can weaken it (more easily destroyed). If you're going to have it act as a creature with free will it would be need to be considered such, which weakens the ability, and may also make it more unreliable.

It's an interesting idea but mechanically is going to suck to implement in a balanced way.

Per both Jeremy Crawford and Matt Mercer, the echo is actually a magical object. This doesn't weaken it as much as if it were a non-magical object. 

Agreed that the echo is just a magical object or spirit and not actually a creature. The suggestion to give it a personality would not change this rule, and it would simply be for role playing flavor. It could after all just be a projection. 

Quote from scatterbraind >>

Certainly could make for a fun character. It might go over better at some tables than others though - it kind of suffers from the classic issue of one player wanting to RP multiple characters and how they relate to each other. You could conceivably take up a good amount of table time acting out scenes that are, when you boil it down, all about you. Some players would love this and get into it, others might find it exclusionary or tedious.

 This is a good cautionary note, thanks.