Doppelganged Spellcaster

[Rumbletough]

Can Doppelgangers cast the spells of the spell caster they assume the form of?
What are their limitations?
How extensive is their ability to blend in (abilities, etc)?
Please clarify, elaborate, and explain?

[Morgen]

No. They can activate spell trigger and completion items, but they don't gain any kind of spell caster abilities or anything like that of the people they assume the form of.

Nothing in their bestiary entry says they can do that. What gave you the idea that they might be able too? It's just Alter Self that can work better to match appearances because that's what they do.

[TriOmegaZero]

Doppleganger Special Abilities wrote:

Mimicry (Ex) A doppelganger is proficient in all weapons, armor, and shields. In addition, a doppelganger can use any spell trigger or spell completion item as if the spells were on its spell list. Its caster level is equal to its racial Hit Dice.

Perfect Copy (Su) When a doppelganger uses change shape, it can assume the appearance of specific individuals.

A doppleganger can only assume the form of the spellcaster, not his powers. Thanks to his Mimicry ability he could active items to cast the spells. If he could hide the activation, he could fool others into thinking he was casting the spells himself. This is the extent of a normal doppleganger to imitate another person. Study of the person they want to replace is required to prevent acquaintances from noticing something is wrong, along with their detect thoughts SLA to help them in conversations. While Pathfinder mentions more advanced dopplegangers that can assume the powers of their victims, no stats have been released as of yet for them.

[Rumbletough]

That was what another DM did, and I didn't think they could and wanted additional thoughts on the matter.

Thanks for the response.

I don't have the ability to check right now, but was it different in 3.5 or earlier versions?

[mearrin69]

I think it has alway been the same but I'm not 100% sure of that. The last time I ran into dopplegangers as a player (Age of Worms) we used this fact to figure which person-that-looked-like-our-party-member actually was.
M

[Morgen]

Mimicry and Perfect Copy are new abilities in the Pathfinder RPG that it didn't have in 3.5 D&D.

[Snorter]

Rumbletough wrote:

That was what another DM did, and I didn't think they could and wanted additional thoughts on the matter.

Before you call him out on it; he may be using a conversion of the Greater Doppelganger from Dungeon magazine.

[TriOmegaZero]

Or from whichever of the Monster Manuals it was printed in.

[James Jacobs]

The best way for a doppleganger to fake being a spellcaster is for it to actually have spellcasting levels. Make a doppleganger bard, for example, with lots of Use Magic Device ranks, and that doppleganger will be able to fake being all sorts of classes, be they cleric or wizard or sorcerer or bard or whatever.

[LazarX]

Then again there was also the Chameleon class. Although even such a character would need some time for preparation. If he assumed the abiliteis of a wizard for a matter, he still would not have spells to cast until the next day when he had prepped from whatever spellbook he'd managed to obtain.

In the Forgotten Realms comic a diviner the heroes go to consult has been replaced by an Ogre Mage who was able to fake a lot because he had spellcasting abilities himself.

[Ughbash]

Rumbletough wrote:

That was what another DM did, and I didn't think they could and wanted additional thoughts on the matter.

Thanks for the response.

I don't have the ability to check right now, but was it different in 3.5 or earlier versions?

A regular doppleganger no.

A Greater Doppleganger from "monsters fo Faerun" could eat the brain of a victim and then Consume his identity.

He would then possess the victims allignment, memories, and abilities. The exception to this was Cleric spells of greater than second level, paladin abilities, and other abilities which were granted by the victims deity.

Thus if he ate the brain of an archmage he could cast spells as that archmage. If he ate Elminsters brain he would gain all his spell casting, but not get his "chosen of Mystra" abilities.