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View Full Version : What LA for a Greater Dopelganger?



Roninblack
2021-03-20, 06:22 PM
what LA would you give a greater dopelganger from monsterous compendium: monsters of Faerun?

They seem like they are better in almost every way than an Illithid Savant. Is this just one of those creatures no player should ever be allowed to touch? Is there a number that makes it playable?

Shapechanger subtype
4 NA
60 ft. darkvision
9 abberation hit dice
2 slams as a medium
+2 Str, +6 Dex, +2 Con, +6 int, +6 wis, +2 Cha= total +24 no bad scores

Continuous Detect thoughts: mediocre

Polymorph rend: 6d6 touch attack against shapechanged or polymorphed enemies: ok I guess

alter self: this makes it a doppelganger

Immune to sleep, charm, hold effects, as well as all other mind influencing spells, immune to detect alignment: a
good list of immunities, I wonder if mind influencing and mind effecting are the same thing.

Magic Item use: No matter what their form, greater doppelgangers can use magic items. I don't even know how to interpret this, do they keep arm and leg slots if they imitate a humanoid named Bob with no arms or legs?

And finally, Consume Identity: "A greater doppelganger who eats the brain of a Medium-size or smaller humanoid victim absorbs the mind, memories, and personality of that victim. After consuming a victim's identity, the greater doppelganger can assume the victim's form with 100% accuracy and possess the victim's memories, abilities, and alignment. The only exceptions are cleric spells of 2nd level or greater, a paladin's special abilities, and other powers that are granted by the deities. When a greater doppelganger that has already consumed three or more personalities consumes another, it must make a Will save (DC 16) to avoid losing a random personality from those it consumed earlier. In any case, the greater doppelganger cannot have more consumed identities than it has Hit Dice, losing a random identity from its earlier pool if it tries to exceed that limit. If a greater doppelganger "wearing" one of its consumed identities commits an act that runs counter to that form's alignment, it is immediately forced into its base form for 1d10 rounds. In its base form, a greater doppelganger retains the basic memories of all the identities it has consumed, though not deeper memories. Memories from previously consumed identities that have been forced out by new identities fade quickly."

Troacctid
2021-03-20, 07:27 PM
It has a listed LA of +6 in its most recent printing in Dungeon #127.

Zanos
2021-03-20, 08:01 PM
LA of 'no'. It's 3 full sets of any abilities you can get your hands on, including other wacky monster powers or anyone with class levels. And it's more than that if you can juice up your will save or get rerolls, which shouldn't be hard if you're, at minimum, 3 characters/monsters worth of features. Plus whatever you actually take levels in.

Maybe it's fine if you run a high optimization game where it wouldn't be out of place for a high level character to have possibly any number of different sets of features.

Nifft
2021-03-20, 08:37 PM
LA of 'no'. It's 3 full sets of any abilities you can get your hands on, including other wacky monster powers or anyone with class levels. And it's more than that if you can juice up your will save or get rerolls, which shouldn't be hard if you're, at minimum, 3 characters/monsters worth of features. Plus whatever you actually take levels in.

Maybe it's fine if you run a high optimization game where it wouldn't be out of place for a high level character to have possibly any number of different sets of features.

Agree.

If you're using Illithid Savant in a real game, this guy would be a fine party-mate, but if you're not at that level of absurdity then the LA is "nope".