Feedback:User/XxxTenebraexxX/Doppelganger (Mob Concept)

Introduction:

Imagine for a moment that the night's shifted in your favor, a beautiful women in your bedchamber holding nothing but you within her thoughts. A smile upon your drunken lips, wondering what might blossom from this casual encounter. Now imagine this dream soon becoming a nightmare, this fine beauty starting to transform...contort and twist into something horrific.

No longer the lithe creature you picked up at the local tavern, this monstrosity only vaguely even resembles a humanoid. With a featureless body, malformed in several areas, it's transparent flesh exposes countless organs who's function you couldn't even begin to fathom. With pale blue eyes set beneath the skin, gazing forth from behind a thin layer of the transparent epidermis that covers the entirety of it's body, a quick lash from its claws render you paralyzed.

Falling back upon the bed, you gaze in horror as a trunk-like tendril extends from the creature's chest, a sharp barb plunged forth into your own while the contents of your insides are sucked forth through the appendage...the last thoughts on your mind being that, just maybe, it wasn't so wise to pick up a woman just met at a bar.

Appearance:

In their true form, a Doppelganger looks vaguely humanoid with malformed features...such as a single arm that's larger and longer than the other...a grotesquely larger foot than the other, hunchback, so on and so forth. Their flesh appears like that of a jellyfish, transparent and allowing one to see through to the organs, giving a rather disturbing appearance. Their completely blue eyes are actually set under this skin, giving rise to the possibility that they may not actually possess good eyesight.

Each hand has vicious claws that possess a paralyzing venom used to subdue their prey so that they can then use their feeding tendril, located upon their chest, to impale and consume the contents of the victim. The genetic material sucked out of the victim not only nourishes the Doppelganger, but gives them the genetic material of the victim used to "clone" them...as well as the memories.

Despite the latter fact, due to their vastly alien-like minds...Doppelgangers have difficulty mimicking their prey to a perfect degree, their true nature often showing subtly under the surface.

Story:

Doppelgangers are extremely dangerous beings with the ability to take on the form of anyone they kill, including abilities. The origin of these creatures remains a mystery, for it's uncertain as to how long they have mingled amongst the other races...and few have ever engaged in honest dialog with these beings.

With the discovery of the species, many have questioned some of the great betrayals throughout the ages...wondering if, perhaps, it was instead a Doppelganger who's thirst for chaos brought forth the atrocities of the, presumed, criminal. This has spawned countless claims, by criminals, that they themselves weren't at fault...and a Doppelganger was truly to blame. These cases, however, are often dismissed due to the rarity of these beings...at least that we're aware of.

Regardless, little is known about these deviant creatures and any society they may have. They loathe the gods with a passion, and despise nearly all the major races of Tyria...perhaps because they, themselves, are hideous in comparison when within their true forms. They adore causing chaos amongst the races, striving to take the place of important figureheads...and then assassinating others in elaborately thought out situations that cause the degradation, and destruction, of entire communities.

Above all else...what's known about these creatures is that they are one of the most dangerous beings in all Tyria...cold, manipulative, deceptive, calculating, malicious, and extremely intelligent.

Mechanic Idea 1:

Typically, you'll never encounter more than a single Doppelganger, the creatures preferring to work alone...or mingled with other species rather than their own kind. When you do come across one, you won't know it until you kill their "visage", which will cause them to revert to their true form...often a bit more dangerous than that of the fabrication they present.

If you fall victim, dying in battle with these beings, they'll absorb your genetic material and become an exact copy of you...including class and abilities. Don't bother trying to find them...you won't, instead...they remain "hidden" until you log off. They then become active and engage in private dialog with members of your friends list...trying desperately to lure players into remote locations, kill them, and continue the charade.

Ever play with those "Intelligent Bots" on messenger services? These Doppelganger obtain a similar AI...as well as your entire friends list. They'll go down the line attempting to lure anyone online to a remote spot, kill them, and then take their place doing the same.

Though this AI isn't THAT good, as all "Intelligent bots" aren't, we all know a few people out there who type with that level of intelligence...and more who become lazy enough to fool you into thinking that they may just be too tired to engage in anything intelligent beyond "Dude, you need to come out here and check this out!".

Mechanic Idea 2:

The Doppelganger simply vanishes upon killing you, as it does in the first mechanic, and proceeds to hunt both you and those within your friends list through "random encounters" akin to how the Oni's mysteriously spawn out of nowhere. The difference here would be that you, and anyone in your friends list, now has a chance to have an exact copy of you appear, kill them, and then clone that individual...essentially moving through friends lists like a virus.

This would be the more simplistic, less interesting, but more practical possibility...far more easy to do while still allowing ''intelligent" Doppelgangers to be included in Quests and the like.

Clone Form:

In their cloned form, they possess the same level and abilities of the individual who they had killed. Their fighting style may vary, but ultimately they possess the same stats and skills as the player who's form they took.

True Form: The true form of the Doppelganger presents itself when you have exhausted the health of it's pseudo form, essentially making you have to "kill" the Doppelganger twice to actually kill it. When you have reduced the pseudo form to 0 health, it'll revert back to its true form...which can potentially be even more dangerous than the false form it had stolen.

Monster Abilities: (In combination to Class abilities of the specific Doppelganger)

Paralyzing Slash: -Completely immobilizes the victim for X seconds. Life Leech: -Impale an immobilized victim with tendril, stealing X life for X seconds. This ability only ends when the paralysis of the victim does. Clone: -The Doppelganger becomes an exact copy of any victim it kills, if more than one player is killed during an encounter...it'll copy the strongest player amongst the group.

XxxTenebraexxX 01:26, 13 March 2010 (UTC)