The Complete Guide to Doppelgangers did something that not many sourcebooks do. It surprised me with originality. Now this isn’t a hit against the Wererat book that had different clans who specialized in deeds we’ve all seen before. It’s hard to come up with new things. Goodman Games succeeds here.
For instance, the main creature itself, the doppelganger, ise merely a stage of life for the creature. They move onto bigger things like mimics and because that’s not enough, they become even bigger things, doppelstadt. Shape changers who are the size of buildings. It’s a nice life cycle that fits well into the standard d20 monster mechanics without adding a lot of layers to the system.
Another interesting thing is that the doppelgangers are a society functioning race. Because of their telepathy, they have access to each other’s thoughts in ways that most races can’t understand. This provides them with some impressive abilities are far as internal communication and ability in some aspects, to survive death, as well as melt in with the locals when necessary.
Some of the more interesting things though are small pieces that come through the text. Take one of the myths, the Zeitgeist. Here, the world becomes one through gestalt and the world is reborn and repopulated with a new age and a new struggle. In many ways it harkens a little to Unknown Armies by Atlas but with a more sinister twist.
Those who’ll get the most out of this book though are GMs looking for some very long term play. The doppelgangers from this book tend to be so subtle, that without the many examples of how to use them, many GMs might fail in making these things anything more than just another standard menace. For example, since the creatures are more concerned with taking over everything than merely acquiring power, they’ll take over inn keepers and blacksmiths more readily than say nobility or adventurers where they may be found out. They’re so clever that they can take over whole communities, including the buildings in the city. Ever wonder why some streets are never repaired and some locations never seem to change? Blame the doppelgangers.
Another surprise for me was the methodology in using these creatures in a natural setting. See those really big things can be huge trees, the doppelgangers animals, and the mimics rock outcroppings. Sometimes druids and wild elves work with this living forest, sometimes not.
One of the things people are looking for in a book like this is the crunchy material. Goodman Games provides a new core class for the doppelganger, the protean warrior, a being who uses his shape shifting ability to form his body into a weapon. They strike harder than their more mundane brothers, use boneblades and increase the density of their skin, making them harder to damage. The main strength though, is like fighters, they get bonus feats. Lots of them in 10 levels.
Now these bonus feats include some of the standards like weapon focus and weapon finesse but the majority of them are new feats. Some of these new feats might be a little too much like acid immunity where they become immune to acid, but most are moderate in power. Take bonehammer where you’re better at creating natural weaponry with a +2 damage bonus with unarmed strikes. Basically weapon specialization. How about extend limb? Emit slime through the Slippery feat to augment your grapple and escape artists checks? What about growing wing through the Wings feat? Good stuff.
There are some minor things preventing this book from getting a five star rating. Interior covers aren’t used. The art while good, could be better, especially the cover. Privateer and a few others still hold the crown on this one. The interior text is fair as is layout. Price is slightly higher than standard for a 32 page book.
If you’re looking to revamp the way you use Doppelgangers in your campaign or just want to add some variant abilities to your creatures, this Complete Guide has got you covered.
