Shapechanger. The doppelganger can use its action to polymorph into a Small or Medium humanoid it has seen, or back into its true form. Its statistics, other than its size, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn't transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Ambusher. The doppelganger has advantage on attack rolls against any creature it has surprised.
Surprise Attack. If the doppelganger surprises a creature and hits it with an attack during the first round of combat, the target takes an extra 10 (3d6) damage from the attack.
Multiattack. The doppelganger makes two melee attacks.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Read Thoughts. The doppelganger magically reads the surface thoughts of one creature within 60 feet of it. The effect can penetrate barriers, but 3 feet of wood or dirt, 2 feet of stone, 2 inches of metal, or a thin sheet of lead blocks it. While the target is in range, the doppelganger can continue reading its thoughts, as long as the doppelganger's concentration isn't broken (as if concentrating on a spell). While reading the target's mind, the doppelganger has advantage on Wisdom (Insight) and Charisma (Deception, Intimidation, and Persuasion) checks against the target.
Description
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.
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Wizards of the Coast...
So the Read Thoughts action works like a spell, sort of. Your friendly neighbourhood Doppelganger uses this action and if its target remains within 60 feet of it, it can keep reading its thought just concentrating, no actual action is necessary, not even a bonus one.
That'd be great if it were possible to read the players' mind! :-) Still, I guess the advantage in the social skills is a great asset.
I quite like that this is left blank personally, leaves alot of space for DMs to fill it in. Perhaps they're in a secret cult worshipping a faceless god, or who knows what else? Leaves it open ended which is nice
In my mind they would be the perfect spy for an enemy faction, business interest or the like. For instance a merchant could hire a doppelganger to infiltrate a competing venture and learn their secrets to get a leg up in future business dealings, perform extortion or run someone out of business etc. It doesn't have to end in bloody murder, but seeing as this is D&D, ofc it would. I am planning an adventure right now where a wealthy landowner dies and his seven sons are invited to the family estate to divy up the inheritance. As the sons end up dead one after the other the party is hired by the surviving sons to discover who/what is the killer. As for the Doppelgangers' personal motivation? My money would be on them getting their kicks out of sowing chaos, fear and deception.
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Thinking of running a butchered version of LMoP, since just finished DoIP. Might have one of these replace my DMPC for a bit, since they’re everywhere in LMoP for some reason, and make that a fun little side quest.
I'm wondering if you could convince your doppelganger to work with you. Just like "hey, you can pretty much become a copy of me, two of us together could be better then one
To those who don't understand Doppelgangers:
They're effectively just psychopaths, but with superpowers. They just want a place where they can survive as easily as possible, and once they have it, that's it. However, the majority of Doppelgangers achieve this by selling their services as a spy or assassin (which ingratiates them to a governing body, usually gifting them a Witness Protection-esque position) or killing and impersonating important people. This is different from the standard Quest setup, as Doppels are usually discovered and immediately taken down rather than actively hunted for a reward.
Additionally, notice that the Slam is considered a Dex weapon and that they have a Dexterity of 18, which is so high as to be considered mastery for a human. I interpret this as incorporating their Shifting into their movement, wielding their anatomy like a weapon that flows as water. This is different than Changelings, who seem to have far lower affinity for their Shapechanging abilities.
My Dm turned me into one of these lmao
They are neutral. Maybe they just want to live out their days in peace because in the description it says not only that they use their shapeshifting abilities to lure people to their doom, but also to throw off pursuit. Maybe paranoid hunters or citizens hunt these creatures or kill them simply due to their monstrous nature.
I like to flavor their goal as being to replace the person they morph into and take their place