Guys i must share this most awesome RP experience i had in the last 17 years of my RPG carrier.
I play a human barbarian/bard in the Age of Worms series and my DM asked me if I was up for playing a doppelganger from a point in game. I was supposed to be captured by the doppelgangers and a chameleon prestige class doppelganger took over my PC. So he gave me the actual stats and powers that the doppelganger chameleon had and I started playing it from a point that we agreed on earlier. It was crazy fun! Here is how it went down:
I invited everyone for a meeting (we play in FR so it was in Waterdeep's Bloody Fist Tavern, where my PC usually went to pick a fight or to socialize) when the doppelgangers took one of our PCs form and killed the bartender and ran upstairs to frame the PCs.
The mob broke into our private dining area and looked for the supposedly killer PC. They were drunk and we couldnt tolerate their attitude so a fistfight broke out, city watch came and we all ended up in prison (as the doppelgangers wanted it).
As the locale was Waterdeep my DM choose the Unseen as the organization being behind the scene. They had doppelganger guards among the prison guards so they attacked us there where "we" were separated. Each the other PCs were attacked separately in thier cells and me and the DM also played that I am attacked as well beacuse later i told them so. So we roll the dice, they dont suspect anything, we meet up after, start shouting with the watch guards about their incompetence and leave. I played the doppelganger so that he had a bluff of 16 and +4 for the mind reading which the DM always rolled for in secret.
The PCs find the key to the warehouse hideout so I said i will keep them and as a bard I will research them. I wrote the DM that he should tell that my house was robbed and key stolen which I told him later. Again the bluff worked against their low sense motive and the other players did have a clue that i was not who i played :)
The problems was that the key hada sign on it which a wizard player started researching. He found out that it belongs to a warehouse and my doppelganger got nervous. They wanted to fly in in gaseous form and invisibility so said will do the job and flew in. The DM was clever and while drawing the map he said the lie that i was about to tell when i flew back to them. They also knew that the invisibility doesnt last long and thus i couldnt stay long so they were not totally persuaded that there is nothing inside and they also wanted to go in .. That was the point where we agreed with the DM earlier that I will attack them inside where the other doppelgangers waited. Ofcourse we played it so that i alerted the other doppelgangers when i went in earlier.
So we go in, i keep telling them that there is nothing here and we should not waste time, i also send someone into the trap in front of the fake door, but that just made them more concerned that they are at the right place. They have found the secret door to the prison area.
We entered in the prison area so that i drew myself on the map standing behind them. The scene both ingame and in reality was astonishing. The DM started describing the cells and when he got to the point where he told that my PC was in one of the prison cells... well that was where the other players started to get confused. The other doppelgangers were also disguised as prisoners and they attacked immediately as we entered. This made the other players think that the doppelgangers took my form and that that one will also attack soon after the rest. We rolled for initiative and when it was my turn i said i attack the other two PCs. You should have seen their faces. Everyone was sitting there for a min, trying to understand what is going on exactly... It was amazing fun! The cleric cast a curing spell on my unconcious real PC and the DM took over the doppelganger i was playing so far. A harsh battle started and we won, only to dive deeper into the dungeon this sunday...
The others were totally happy about the way things were organized by the DM. They started telling me that they had points where they could feel that something wasnt according to the way i usually play my PC, but it wasnt strange enough for them to realize that there is something wrong. They loved our cooperative mischife with the DM regarding the story about the keys being stolen, and they immediately understud why i wanted to fly in to investigate tha area so badly.
This game was one of the best RPG sessions i ever had! I totally recommend any DM who is about to tell this tale to contact a player and get him involved. The shock on the face of others at the revelation stage alone worths the whole thing :) It is also fun to play a chameleon prestige classed doppelganger because it will definitely not have all the powers the original PC had (still it can imitate most things) and leave this door open for the other PCs to notice that something is just not right about the PC. For example my barbarian/bard had extra rage (3 rages/day) but the doppelganger could just imitate 1 rage/day. The others told me it was strange that i wasnt raging during the battles... The same goes for skills, spells, etc...
well that was it. I had to put it down :)
I forgot to mention that the keys to the warehouse had a motif of an octopus grabbing a large ship, so I (as the doppelganger) immediately started to pull the wet blanket on the Church of Umberlee... :) The other Pcs almost fell for my deception and wanted to go straight to the Queenspire (Umberlees newly built church). My (doppelganger) plan was ruined when the party wizard came to know that the key belonged to a warehouse and not to Umberlee's clerics.
ah this game was just so cool... something that is totaly unrepeatable for an other 5 years with the same players :)
Hey Gaborg,
I am truely envious. I remember reading HoHR and realizing how many different things could go awry trying to pull off this caper. I am glad to hear that the plan went as written and your group was surprised and enjoyed the whole conspiracy. I wish I was there.
Utak