Doppelganger - Revision history

MrSurvivor1997: /* Origin */ Added info on scientific reasons for existence of doppelgängers.

2025-04-17T18:58:24Z

‎Origin: Added info on scientific reasons for existence of doppelgängers.

Umbire the Phantom: cite commits for fake player doppelgangers

2025-02-09T21:20:52Z

cite commits for fake player doppelgangers

Umbire the Phantom: /* Strategy */ word choice

2025-02-06T06:50:58Z

‎Strategy: word choice

Umbire the Phantom: /* Origin */ word choice

2025-02-06T06:41:43Z

‎Origin: word choice

Umbire the Phantom: /* History */ copyedit

2025-02-06T06:36:26Z

‎History: copyedit

Umbire the Phantom: /* History */ detail

2025-02-06T06:36:09Z

‎History: detail

Umbire the Phantom: /* History */ copyedit

2025-02-06T06:33:57Z

‎History: copyedit

Umbire the Phantom: /* SLASH'EM */ guild

2025-02-06T06:32:55Z

‎SLASH'EM: guild

Umbire the Phantom: move citation

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move citation

Umbire the Phantom: missed a detail

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 ==Origin==
 {{wikipedia|Doppelgänger}}
-"Doppelgänger" (sometimes spelled "doppleganger") is a German word that literally means "double-walker", and refers to a biologically unrelated look-alike or double of a living person. The concept of alter egos and double spirits has appeared in the folklore and traditions of many cultures throughout human history: doppelgängers in fiction are often portrayed as ghostly or paranormal phenomena, and are usually seen as harbingers of bad luck; some other traditions and stories equate a doppelgänger with an evil twin. A closely related concept is the [[wikipedia:Changeling|changeling]], a look-alike fairy that is usually left in place of a human child stolen by other fairies.
+"Doppelgänger" (sometimes spelled "doppleganger") is a German word that literally means "double-walker", and refers to a biologically unrelated look-alike or double of a living person. In real life, the science behind the existence of doppelgängers is a factor from shared genetic makeup (even if not related) and facial features being genetically limited.
 The doppelgangers of ''NetHack'' originate from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', where they appear as early as the 1st Edition. Doppelgangers are usually solitary and appear as tall, elven and androgynous gray-skinned humanoids in their base forms; they have bulbous heads with formless faces and bulging yellow eyes that lack pupils. Despite this weak appearance, doppelgangers possess exceptional strength and agility &mdash; their mutable form can take on the likeness of any humanoid between 4 and 8 feet tall, including their clothing and equipment, though without replicating the abilities of those items. However, doppelgangers can not duplicate the mental traits of the being they replace, such as personality or mannerisms, unless they keep their victim alive and close by.

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 [[Eating]] a doppelganger [[corpse]] or [[tin]] will cause a hero or monster to [[polymorph]].
-{{upcoming|3.7.0|Doppelgangers are given names on creation, pulled from the system or server's list of high scores.}}
+{{upcoming|3.7.0|Per {{commit|8e43b684e817e3ff0b462f2b9cbb7a9eefd8441e}} and {{commit|5daec07300b79055ff4cdbe8ebff6d122e24acdf}}, freshly-created doppelgangers have a significant chance of taking on the name and roles of players from the system or server's high score list if the hero can see them.}}
 ==Generation==

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 Thankfully, a doppelganger will often elect for the form of a player monster - though they can still deal significant damage to you in those forms if they pick up any suitable weapons while seeking you out, or else polymorph into a [[Monk (player monster)|monk]]. As with other shapechangers, deal with doppelgangers cautiously and quickly: the [[ring of protection from shape changers]] or some form of [[cancellation]] will force them into base form, whose sole attack is roughly as damaging as a chameleon on average (and thus much less lethal than most of the nasties it can imitate).
-As doppelgangers are human, human characters should be careful not to sacrifice them unless they are chaotic, and should not eat their corpse or meat unless they are a human [[Caveman]] that intends to polymorph. Additionally, be wary of leaving their corpses near carnivorous [[pet]]s, especially rare ones such as [[purple worm]]s.
+As doppelgangers are human, human characters should be careful not to sacrifice them unless they are chaotic, and should not eat their corpse or tin unless they are a human [[Caveman]] that intends to polymorph. Additionally, be wary of leaving their corpses near carnivorous [[pet]]s, especially rare ones such as [[purple worm]]s.
 {{upcoming|3.7.0|Pets will no longer eat corpses that would cause them to polymorph unless they are starving or on the verge of untaming.}}

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 The doppelgangers of ''NetHack'' originate from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', where they appear as early as the 1st Edition. Doppelgangers are usually solitary and appear as tall, elven and androgynous gray-skinned humanoids in their base forms; they have bulbous heads with formless faces and bulging yellow eyes that lack pupils. Despite this weak appearance, doppelgangers possess exceptional strength and agility &mdash; their mutable form can take on the likeness of any humanoid between 4 and 8 feet tall, including their clothing and equipment, though without replicating the abilities of those items. However, doppelgangers can not duplicate the mental traits of the being they replace, such as personality or mannerisms, unless they keep their victim alive and close by.
-In combat, doppelgangers prefer the element of surprise to close in on foes and slam them around with their brute strength; a doppelganger most commonly targets humanoids that they plan to kill and replace. They also possess a continuous spell-like ability similar to ESP that lets them detect the thoughts of their foes, and gives them resistance to sleep and charm-based spells. Dopplegangers would frequently use this ability to learn everything they could about their chosen target after replacing them.
+In combat, doppelgangers prefer the element of surprise to close in on foes and slam them around with their brute strength; a doppelganger most commonly targets humanoids that they plan to kill and replace. They also possess a continuous spell-like ability similar to ESP that lets them detect the thoughts of their foes, and gives them resistance to sleep and charm-based spells&mdash;dopplegangers frequently use this ability to learn everything they can about their chosen target after replacing them.
 ==Variants==

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 ==History==
-Doppelgangers first appear in [[NetHack Plus]], a variant of [[NetHack 3.1.0]], and makes its vanilla debut [[NetHack 3.3.0]].
+The doppelganger first appears in [[NetHack Plus]], a variant of [[NetHack 3.1.0]], and makes its vanilla debut [[NetHack 3.3.0]].
 In [[NetHack 3.6.0]], [[Vampire (monster class)|vampires]] become shapeshifters, introducing a bug that causes doppelgangers which polymorph into any type of vampire to remain stuck in that form, leaving them unable to cycle between random forms or use the vampire's own shapeshifting. This is fixed in [[NetHack 3.6.1]] via {{commit|885de116e1e93faa8ad5dc2685d16a9f553c50ed}} and {{commit|45ba0addf25a6a0f29b6de793524e5250a6c039a}}.

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 Doppelgangers first appear in [[NetHack 3.3.0]].
-When [[Vampire (monster class)|vampires]] became shapeshifters in [[NetHack 3.6.0]], a bug was introduced that caused doppelgangers that polymorphed into any type of vampire to remain stuck in that form, leaving them unable to cycle between random forms or use the vampire's own shapeshifting. This was fixed in [[NetHack 3.6.1]] via {{commit|885de116e1e93faa8ad5dc2685d16a9f553c50ed|commit 885de11}} and {{commit|45ba0addf25a6a0f29b6de793524e5250a6c039a|commit 45ba0ad}}.
+In [[NetHack 3.6.0]], [[Vampire (monster class)|vampires]] become shapeshifters, introducing a bug that causes doppelgangers which polymorph into any type of vampire to remain stuck in that form, leaving them unable to cycle between random forms or use the vampire's own shapeshifting. This is fixed in [[NetHack 3.6.1]] via {{commit|885de116e1e93faa8ad5dc2685d16a9f553c50ed}} and {{commit|45ba0addf25a6a0f29b6de793524e5250a6c039a}}.
 ==Origin==

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 In [[SLASH'EM]], doppelgangers are a playable race, adapted from the [[Defunct features (SLASH'EM)|former role]] in older versions&mdash;the [[Doppelganger quest]] and other related data is still present in the game, as well as within some variants based on SLASH'EM.
-Polymorphed monsters in SLASH'EM will return to their base form upon death much like the hero: this makes doppelgangers far more dangerous, especially due to the amount of new monsters they can take the form of, since a polymorphed doppelganger that is killed can quickly shapeshift again after resuming their normal form.
+[[The Guild of Disgruntled Adventurers]] generates two hostile doppelgangers in the main room at level creation.
 ===NetHack brass===

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 }}
 {{otheruses|the randomly-generated monster|the player race in [[SLASH'EM]], [[SlashTHEM]] and [[Hack'EM]]|Doppelganger (starting race)}}
-A '''doppelganger''', {{monsym|doppelganger}}, is a type of [[monster]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]''. The doppelganger is a [[Human (monster attribute)|human]] [[shapeshifter]] that has a {{frac|6}} chance of changing form each turn: they have a {{frac|4|7}} chance of becoming a random [[player monster]], a {{frac|7}} chance of becoming a monster that can be summoned via the [[summon nasties]] [[monster spell]], a {{frac|2|21}} chance of becoming a random [[quest guardian]] other than the one corresponding to the [[hero]]'s current [[role]], and will otherwise become a random monster with selection heavily weighted towards [[humanoid]]s.{{refsrc|src/mon.c|3490|nethack=3.6.7}} A doppelganger cannot be permanently polymorphed or subjected to [[system shock]] unless they are locked in their base form by [[protection from shape changers]].{{refsrc|src/zap.c|251|nethack=3.6.7}}
+A '''doppelganger''', {{monsym|doppelganger}}, is a type of [[monster]] that appears in ''[[NetHack]]''. The doppelganger is a [[Human (monster attribute)|human]] [[shapeshifter]] that has a {{frac|6}} chance of changing form each turn:{{refsrc|src/mon.c|3490|nethack=3.6.7}} they have a {{frac|4|7}} chance of becoming a random [[player monster]], a {{frac|7}} chance of becoming a monster that can be summoned via the [[summon nasties]] [[monster spell]], a {{frac|2|21}} chance of becoming a random [[quest guardian]] other than the one corresponding to the [[hero]]'s current [[role]], and will otherwise become a random monster with selection heavily weighted towards [[humanoid]]s. A doppelganger cannot be permanently polymorphed or subjected to [[system shock]] unless they are locked in their base form by [[protection from shape changers]].{{refsrc|src/zap.c|251|nethack=3.6.7}}
 In its base form, a doppleganger has a single weapon attack and possesses [[sleep resistance]].