A doppelganger infiltrates the party - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

A doppelganger infiltrates the party

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
tufrat
Nov 19, 2008 9:23:16 So, I'm running an Eberron campaign and I have decided to have a long-running changeling (doppelganger) villain infiltrate the party and stick with them through a handful of encounters, only to betray them at a critical moment.

The player being replaced is in on the surprise, and is ok with it since he wants to replace his character anyways.

My concern about this:
I do not want my other duped players to feel robbed when the villain is unmasked. I want them to be surprised and for it to be fun moment.

I'd like to hear your suggestions on the game mechanics and the art of this deception. I am willing to stack the deck in the villain's favor to help this succeed, but I don't want to ram this deception down the players/pc's throats either. In a way, I want the pc's to have had the chance to notice the clues and then realize that they missed them.

The villain will be with the party for up to four days, so naturally, pulling off an extended deception could be tough.
On the other hand, change shape grants a +20 to bluff checks to imitate someone, and the villain has a +15 to his Bluff skill
#2
falstyr
Nov 19, 2008 9:42:21 Sounds like something in my party...

The Dwarf rogue was tricked by one of the more upscale dwarves in charge to go fetch a specific artisan recipy and deliver it to the dwarf in fallcrest who would ship it off to the contractor. But the rogue was tricked into doing it and now has entire Hammerfast after her. They send assasins and such after her.

Then she decides to join an adventuring party for her own safety and to buy time to found out what the hell has happened and what she wants to do about it. In the group she pretends to be a silly girl with knives and gets silly when being nervous. But instead she's pretty cool and calculated.

At one point when the PC's sleep this dwarf will be captured and a doppelganger takes her place in the group. Just to find out what the group knows. When the party finds out what will they do...they found out that their companion is not what she has said all this time. Will they still go after her to the resque or not. It's part of a personal background story of that character. She has to find out lots of things and I'm planning this stolen recipy to have fallen in the hands of one of the Red Hand of Doom officers. A campaign I'm trying to get a 4e version of to use.

So yah an infiltrator is cool. In my case the players don't really know the dwarf rogue PC well meaning that an infiltrator will be able to copy her easily for a short time. But if in your party the PC's know each other well then the infiltrator will muck up personality wise and thus give hints to the others. But its gonna be so subtle that the others probably wont notice it unless its played in an exegerated fashion. Or you can make a social skill challenge so the PC's can find out personality quirks...but when you do that they isntantly know out of character that something is going on. As you can tell...I'm still trying to find a good way as well.
#3
carios
Nov 19, 2008 14:39:06 By having the player carry on running the character how much is given away will depend on how well he roleplays it. He might be able to drop a few hints when you need him too. If there are combat encounters and he is only able to use the powers that the villain knows then that could be a massive sign if the character's power source is different to the villain's.

It might just be up to the player to explain his odd behaviour or change in tactics, see how well he does.
#4
Bobfred21
Nov 20, 2008 0:59:06 In that kind of situation I wouldn't necessarily give them any roles. I know if my friend was acting a bit funny I'm not going to assume there's something crazy happening like they've been replaced by a doppleganger. Given, these events are -somewhat- less common on Earth than your typical fantasy world but until they start picking up on the hints I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Once they've started to notice it maybe hint that the characters been acting weird lately - maybe the stress of adventuring is getting to them. Make it seem innocuous but like they need to talk to their friend to make sure their alright. Then maybe start doing some roles behind the screen, but make sure they don't know the role is being made.
#5
rotipher
Nov 21, 2008 15:33:59
Or you can make a social skill challenge so the PC's can find out personality quirks...but when you do that they isntantly know out of character that something is going on.

Not if you dress it up as something else. Let the players who aren't in on the trick think they're rolling to check Perception on their surroundings or something, but use their rolls to determine the outcome of their social skill checks. If their roll succeeds, you can signal your accomplice to take some action that's a bit OOC for their apparent character (e.g. happy-go-lucky PC complains), or mention some minor incongruity in your next bit of descriptive text (e.g. ranger's horse whinnies unhappily as the doppelganger-disguised-as-ranger mounts it).
#6
doomsought
Nov 21, 2008 21:58:44
Not if you dress it up as something else. Let the players who aren't in on the trick think they're rolling to check Perception on their surroundings or something, but use their rolls to determine the outcome of their social skill checks. If their roll succeeds, you can signal your accomplice to take some action that's a bit OOC for their apparent character (e.g. happy-go-lucky PC complains), or mention some minor incongruity in your next bit of descriptive text (e.g. ranger's horse whinnies unhappily as the doppelganger-disguised-as-ranger mounts it).

If they fail note some environmental nonsense, like dropped coins.
Have three levels of success,
Fail
Insignificant clue, that may be unrelated
success
success should be hard, and will be revealed in a closed note to the player.
But communicate all successes, even partials, of perception with notes, even if it is not on the player's character..

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 tufrat Nov 19, 2008 9:23:16	So, I'm running an Eberron campaign and I have decided to have a long-running changeling (doppelganger) villain infiltrate the party and stick with them through a handful of encounters, only to betray them at a critical moment. The player being replaced is in on the surprise, and is ok with it since he wants to replace his character anyways. My concern about this: I do not want my other duped players to feel robbed when the villain is unmasked. I want them to be surprised and for it to be fun moment. I'd like to hear your suggestions on the game mechanics and the art of this deception. I am willing to stack the deck in the villain's favor to help this succeed, but I don't want to ram this deception down the players/pc's throats either. In a way, I want the pc's to have had the chance to notice the clues and then realize that they missed them. The villain will be with the party for up to four days, so naturally, pulling off an extended deception could be tough. On the other hand, change shape grants a +20 to bluff checks to imitate someone, and the villain has a +15 to his Bluff skill
#2 falstyr Nov 19, 2008 9:42:21	Sounds like something in my party... The Dwarf rogue was tricked by one of the more upscale dwarves in charge to go fetch a specific artisan recipy and deliver it to the dwarf in fallcrest who would ship it off to the contractor. But the rogue was tricked into doing it and now has entire Hammerfast after her. They send assasins and such after her. Then she decides to join an adventuring party for her own safety and to buy time to found out what the hell has happened and what she wants to do about it. In the group she pretends to be a silly girl with knives and gets silly when being nervous. But instead she's pretty cool and calculated. At one point when the PC's sleep this dwarf will be captured and a doppelganger takes her place in the group. Just to find out what the group knows. When the party finds out what will they do...they found out that their companion is not what she has said all this time. Will they still go after her to the resque or not. It's part of a personal background story of that character. She has to find out lots of things and I'm planning this stolen recipy to have fallen in the hands of one of the Red Hand of Doom officers. A campaign I'm trying to get a 4e version of to use. So yah an infiltrator is cool. In my case the players don't really know the dwarf rogue PC well meaning that an infiltrator will be able to copy her easily for a short time. But if in your party the PC's know each other well then the infiltrator will muck up personality wise and thus give hints to the others. But its gonna be so subtle that the others probably wont notice it unless its played in an exegerated fashion. Or you can make a social skill challenge so the PC's can find out personality quirks...but when you do that they isntantly know out of character that something is going on. As you can tell...I'm still trying to find a good way as well.
#3 carios Nov 19, 2008 14:39:06	By having the player carry on running the character how much is given away will depend on how well he roleplays it. He might be able to drop a few hints when you need him too. If there are combat encounters and he is only able to use the powers that the villain knows then that could be a massive sign if the character's power source is different to the villain's. It might just be up to the player to explain his odd behaviour or change in tactics, see how well he does.
#4 Bobfred21 Nov 20, 2008 0:59:06	In that kind of situation I wouldn't necessarily give them any roles. I know if my friend was acting a bit funny I'm not going to assume there's something crazy happening like they've been replaced by a doppleganger. Given, these events are -somewhat- less common on Earth than your typical fantasy world but until they start picking up on the hints I wouldn't worry too much about it. Once they've started to notice it maybe hint that the characters been acting weird lately - maybe the stress of adventuring is getting to them. Make it seem innocuous but like they need to talk to their friend to make sure their alright. Then maybe start doing some roles behind the screen, but make sure they don't know the role is being made.
#5 rotipher Nov 21, 2008 15:33:59	Or you can make a social skill challenge so the PC's can find out personality quirks...but when you do that they isntantly know out of character that something is going on. Not if you dress it up as something else. Let the players who aren't in on the trick think they're rolling to check Perception on their surroundings or something, but use their rolls to determine the outcome of their social skill checks. If their roll succeeds, you can signal your accomplice to take some action that's a bit OOC for their apparent character (e.g. happy-go-lucky PC complains), or mention some minor incongruity in your next bit of descriptive text (e.g. ranger's horse whinnies unhappily as the doppelganger-disguised-as-ranger mounts it).
#6 doomsought Nov 21, 2008 21:58:44	Not if you dress it up as something else. Let the players who aren't in on the trick think they're rolling to check Perception on their surroundings or something, but use their rolls to determine the outcome of their social skill checks. If their roll succeeds, you can signal your accomplice to take some action that's a bit OOC for their apparent character (e.g. happy-go-lucky PC complains), or mention some minor incongruity in your next bit of descriptive text (e.g. ranger's horse whinnies unhappily as the doppelganger-disguised-as-ranger mounts it). If they fail note some environmental nonsense, like dropped coins. Have three levels of success, Fail Insignificant clue, that may be unrelated success success should be hard, and will be revealed in a closed note to the player. But communicate all successes, even partials, of perception with notes, even if it is not on the player's character..