Homebrew Doppelganger Species Details

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.

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 lazy or 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.

Doppelganger Traits

Your doppelganger character has the following traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Charisma increases by 1.

Age

Doppelgangers mature slightly faster than the mother's race, but share a similar lifespan. While a doppelganger can shapeshift to conceal their age, the effects of aging still catch up to them.

Alignment

Most tend toward pragmatic neutrality as opposed to being concerned with chaos and order or lofty ideals. Despite common fears, few doppelgangers actually embrace evil.

Size

In their natural forms, doppelgangers average between 5 to 6 feet in height, with a slender build. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Monstrosity

Your creature type is monstrosity(shapechanger), rather than humanoid.

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.

Doppelganger Instincts

You gain proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Intimidation, Insight, and Persuasion.

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.

Darkvision

You have Darkvision to a range of 60 ft.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.