Mirror of Opposition - Question

[Munchy]

I am going to set up a scenario where my PCs are going to run into a mirror of opposition. Due to the circumstances it is likely that more than one opposite will emerge. The question is : Do the opposites cooperate intelligently to pursue the destruction of the originals?

My current thought is that they will cooperate up to a point. It will cooperate with other opposites only until it sees a higher chance of success by focusing on its original. It will never choose an action that would result in a lower chance of its PC being killed, even if that would greatly help other replicas. That said, the opposites may resume and drop cooperation as needed.

Thoughts?

[Twisted.Fate]

Does the evil duplicate get the original's memories? Or do they just wake up with "KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILL!!!" being the only thing they can think of? If they have memories, they might all remember working together before, so they might be inclined to work together to achieve their goals again.

[Munchy]

They have all the original's memories, so they would definitely recognize the other dupes and know their abilities. In principle they could work together just as well as PCs. The difference is that the mirror opposite's sole goal is to destroy the PC it duplicates, it doesn't care if the other dupes succeed or fail, and only groups with them because that improves its chances. If at some point (Even in the middle of a battle) the two interests diverge it will cease cooperation. This can lead to some intersting behavior.

E.g. Suppose you have a 4 PC party ABCD. Denote the opposite of a PC by PC-op (E.g. A-op). PC A has strained relations with the group B, C, D (To the point where a PvP scenario is likely). Suppose that opposites of A and B are created. Initially A-op and B-op will team up vs. ABCD because that improves their chances. However, suppose B proposes that the A-op join BCD to destroy A and B-op. If A-op believes the offer is real (Remember that it knows about intra-party relations) it will gladly take up the offer to create a 4 vs. 2 situation.

[Indon]

Do the duplicates know they'll vanish after the spell wears off?

If not, then characters who know they will vanish after achieving their objective will work together less. Characters who do not know this, but would otherwise be inclined to work together, would work to help the others because they might think they could get help in return.

[Munchy]

Do the duplicates know they'll vanish after the spell wears off?

If not, then characters who know they will vanish after achieving their objective will work together less. Characters who do not know this, but would otherwise be inclined to work together, would work to help the others because they might think they could get help in return.

I assume that duplicates know they will vanish (Any duplicate of a PC with the relevant knowledge or with a high spellcraft should). In any case the sole goal of the dupe is to destroy the original. There are no goals past that.

[Twisted.Fate]

I would argue that, encounter-wise, it would be more fun to have them work together for a time. There's nothing more awesome than fighting your own team gone crazy =)

[Thomas]

There's no rules to cover plot. If they cooperate, the fight will be more challenging, and therefore more fun.