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.

A People of Secrets

 

Doppelgangers rarely form "Families", and due to this, the method by which they grew up often affects their later personality. Doppelgangers almost never mate with their own kind, however regardless of the partner they mate with, the offspring will always result in a doppelganger child. For the offspring of a doppelganger life is almost always difficult, however depending on the parentage some results are better than others.

In the case of "civilized" races, if the "female" parent was a doppelganger then the child is often discarded discretely or secretly given to an orphanage as this would unmask the mother for what it truly is. If the "male" parent was the doppelganger the doppelganger will often kill or abandon the mother while still pregnant to prevent itself from being discovered. In either case the child will subconsciously maintain the form of the humanoid parent, truly believing it is the form it currently has, until it reaches puberty, at which time its hormones kick in and disrupt it's form causing it to return to it's true form. This often results in the child being killed or chased away as a monster, most times with the parent believing the doppelganger killed their real child and took it's form.

In the case of "uncivilized" races, the doppelganger regardless of assumed gender will abandon the child with the other parent. In many cases the child is accepted by them, even once their true form is revealed, however this often leads to them being used as a weapon by their parent or tribe later on.

Lastly and rarest of all is the case of the offspring of 2 doppelgangers. These doppelgangers are extremely rare, often being the byproduct of 2 doppelgangers who did not realize they had partnered with another of their own kind. These offspring are always born in their true form, and they are always abandoned. Often dumped into the woods or into caves as soon as they are born, these doppelgangers have almost no chance to survive, to this day there are only 3 known to have ever survived.

Formless

In their true form, doppelgangers appear as tall, elven, gray-skinned humanoids, whose thin bodies made them appear, to human eyes, sexless. Even this form was deceptive, suggesting they were physically weak, when in fact they were quite strong and agile. The normal appearance of a doppelganger is that of a gray-skinned humanoid with a formless featureless face, pale white eyes, and no hair.

Doppelganger Names

Do to the nature of their birth and upbringing, doppelgangers tend to be named by their non-doppelganger parent. As their parents often betray their trust at a tender age, they tend to discard their given name and instead opt to simply use the name of their victim or simply five themselves a name.

Doppelganger names: Niv, Trax, Nix, Frel, Obris, Lars, Urul, Gix.

 

Doppelganger Traits

Your doppelganger character has a variety of natural abilities at its disposal

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 2, and either your Strength or your Wisdom increases by 1 (your choice).

Age

Doppelgangers mature slightly faster than humans, though their lifespan is unknown - however it is believed to be longer than the lifespan of an elf.

Alignment

While not often outright evil, doppelgangers are usually extremely self-centered and liable to look down on others. They tend toward neutral, however there have been those who embrace good or 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.

Darkvision

Accustomed to living in the shadows, you can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Shapechanger

As an action, you can polymorph into a small or medium humanoid, or revert to your true form. You can’t duplicate the appearance of a creature you’ve never seen, and you revert to your natural form if you die.

You decide what you look like, including your height, weight, facial features, the sound of your voice, coloration, hair length, sex, and any other distinguishing characteristics. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, although it must be a humanoid of medium or small size. All of your statistics remain the same except for your size and movement speed/type (where applicable and and at your GMs discretion). Your clothing and other equipment don’t change in appearance, size, or shape to match your new form.

Even to the most astute observers, your ruse is usually indiscernible. If you rouse suspicion, or if a wary creature suspects something is amiss, you have advantage on any Charisma (Deception) check you make to avoid detection.

In addition if you fail your saving throw while in a zone of truth, you immediately revert to your true form.

Insidious Instincts

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

Stolen Craft

You gain proficiency with one tool of your choice. Define a person whose form you stole in your past that allowed you to learn to use your tool. While you are in the form of this person, the related proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses that proficiency.

Distrusting soul

You have advantage on saving throws against having your mind read, and you are immune to the charmed condition.

Read Thoughts

Once per long rest you can cast detect thoughts without paying it's material cost or using a spell slot. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Ambusher

In the first round of a combat, you have advantage on attack rolls made against any creature you have surprised.

Surprise Attack

If if you surprise a creature and hit it with an attack during the first round of combat, the target takes an extra 2d6 damage from the from the attack.

Susceptible to Light

For the first 5 minutes of exposure to a source of bright light, such as sunlight or a light spell, you have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight while your eyes struggle to adjust. In addition if you are suddenly exposed to a source of bright light you are blinded for 5 minutes and the duration of time for your eyes to adjust is tripled.

Languages

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