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View Full Version : Idea: Dopplegangers Replacing PCs (4E)



Leliel
2008-09-01, 06:45 PM
Well, an idea of mine is this:

During one of the PCs adventures, the BBEG hires the Proteans, a gang of doppleganger spies-for-hire with the ability to copy the memories and abilities as well as the form of individuals they knock out with their magic weapons for a short time-the drawback being that the unfortunate target gains any experience the Protean that stole his form earns, but they don't care about that.

Naturally, they begin to infiltrate the party, and if one of the PCs lets his guard down, he may find his character sleeping off a bruise and controlling a Protean for a few encounters.

Naturally, I'll inform the PCs of the Protean's attempts to replace the party-if they don't like it, I'll have them resort to other means-and allow the normal character back after the doppleganger's power runs out, and he attempts to escape (I'll give the player incentive to make a sucessful escape).

So, is this an idea you would like?

Yakk
2008-09-01, 06:54 PM
Have the party adventure as normal. Then at some point they run into dopplegangers of themselves, who claim to be themselves.

You then cut to the inside of a castle, where your party was trapped about a level ago, and they have to escape! Eventually they escape from the dungeon, gathering lots of gear as they go along, and then (after a cut scene) they track down their dopplegangers -- the group the players where playing for about a level.

You can even have some fun -- have the PC-actually-dopplegangers be granted an audience with some big good dude, when the dopplegangers-actually-PCs teleport in the prevent the assasination.

Lycan 01
2008-09-01, 07:03 PM
^2nd'd. I like Yakk's ideas...

Dr Bwaa
2008-09-01, 07:19 PM
Have the party adventure as normal. Then at some point they run into dopplegangers of themselves, who claim to be themselves.

You then cut to the inside of a castle, where your party was trapped about a level ago, and they have to escape! Eventually they escape from the dungeon, gathering lots of gear as they go along, and then (after a cut scene) they track down their dopplegangers -- the group the players where playing for about a level.

You can even have some fun -- have the PC-actually-dopplegangers be granted an audience with some big good dude, when the dopplegangers-actually-PCs teleport in the prevent the assasination.

Very classy indeed!

Yakk
2008-09-01, 08:29 PM
'A large and loud flash shoots off, and you are all dazzled. Seconds later, your vision comes to -- and there are 5 beings who look just like you.

Then one of the PCs says "They got free! KILL THEM ALL!"'

Ideally you will pick a PC who you can trust, and tell them to say that line on-queue without knowing what it means, immediately before the session.

And you finish your session at that moment. Next session, they are 1 level behind, naked, in a prison, and covered in strange writing. They are all very stiff. Nobody remembers anything that happened over the last level -- they last remember going to sleep in an inn while traveling.

The door is ajar, and there is a pixie floating there. "Hurry up, we have to get out of here, before it is too late".

This pixie communicates that the PCs have been abducted by the Formerians, and based off of the glyphs on them, have been Doppleganged. The pixie managed to break free of the sleep spell that holds the people trapped in this dungeon asleep, and your spell broke as well. The pixie has no idea how long it has been since you where trapped.

The PCs end up having to kill a guard force naked and/or using basic clubs (the guard force is significantly lower level than the PCs), and can jury-rig some mundane equipment. They need to get out of this dungeon and back to the real world.

Gear should rain on the PCs during this adventure. Bad guys should start out lower level than the party, and ramp up.

Sub-adventure ideas:
The reason why the spell faded enough for the Pixie to break it is that something else happened elsewhere.

There are slaves who shelter the PCs, and provide them with rest breaks.

The PCs should run into the thing that is distracting the Formerians at least once (and it shouldn't be a friendly encounter).

Have a nice, branching adventure path that gets them out. Along the way they may run into bad guys who know who they are and can be bullied into telling the plan, steal that information, get an alliance with some Fey who teleport them to the location of the assasination attempt, or find an artifact that does the teleportation for them.