Doppleganger up!

[Markn]

Sneak preview of the Monster Vault has the Doppleganger.

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Doppelganger)

Looks scary. This is one of my favorite creatures so far...

 

[Klaus]

Wow, perfect replica and the triggered power are nasty!

 

[Piratecat]

That's it. I'm flat-out sold on the Monster Vault. With the Compendium, I've said I'm not buying any more monster books, but every single monster they've shown has knocked it out of the park for me.

 

[Aegeri]

Ironically MV is the book I like the least because it basically pretends that epic tier doesn't exist.

Noting that I will give absolutely no criticism of the excellent array of very well done monsters (such as this), but I am honestly fed up of Wizards pretending that epic tier is irrelevant and isn't worth supporting. I don't really regret buying it, but I wish I had known before doing so just how little epic tier monsters it would have and it was a return to the bad old ways (again).

The doppleganger is very good though. The extra damage on the disguise power is absolutely bananas for level 11 and it enables him to more easily use the "bodyguard" like power too. This is a creature that's perfect for taking out a squishy controller with ease.

 

[renau1g]

What's the % of epic monsters? Just curious

 

[mudlock]

Yeah, that +6d8 seems like a lot, but remember: activating perfect mirror is a standard action, and that next attack may not even hit; or even better, I can see the party working together to make the telegraphed target not be viable. It seems a lot of lurkers are getting "you have one round to save your friend OR ELSE" powers, and it's awesome.

 

[Stalker0]

What's interesting is that while change shape has a insight check to detect, perfect replica does not.

So a doppelganger can kill a guy, assume the perfect replica...and there's no way to detect him.

Also, this monster is awesome...now THATS a lurker!

 

[mudlock]

What's the % of epic monsters? Just curious

Low. There are like 12, and the highest is 27th level.

Answered in the "Monster Vault: I has it" thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/296312-monster-vault-i-has-7.html

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

The mechanics feel a bit artificial to me. Kinda thinking what the players at the table are going to say about them. The switch power just automatically works, I doubt THAT will go down too well, lol. I guess you could spend a minor action to try to penetrate the disguise? Oddly enough that won't actually work though as the switch happens after the character swings. It is going to take a bit of house ruling there to make it palatable.

Can't say it is my favorite of the preview monsters. Can't say it doesn't have good solid combat mechanics though. I'm just not sure that really is the reason for this kind of creature to exist.

 

[Aegeri]

Low. There are like 12, and the highest is 27th level.

Answered in the "Monster Vault: I has it" thread: http://www.enworld.org/forum/4e-discussion/296312-monster-vault-i-has-7.html

If he was meaning overall, it's actually even worse than that because many epic monsters are solos/elites. In fact what we need in epic monsters is just regular, non-elite and non-solos. If you remove much of the solos/elites from epic tier you're left with some demons and a handful of other creatures introduced in MM3. Epic tier is desperate for more regular, non-elite and non-solo monsters.

Edit: Abdul, this doppleganger mechanic isn't novel and is copied from a trap in Tomb of Horrors actually (without the countermeasure). Personally, monsters having powers that just work and aren't easily thwarted by the PCs is actually good. The creature functions a certain way, it's powers and abilities should allow it to function that way. That's what this creature does wonderfully. It is a control power, to deal with it move the ally away or push the creature away. If not, prepare to face the consequences.