Attributes: The Doppelganger is the thief of identity. Medieval tales of fetches and changelings are probably based on half-remembered echoes of the Doppelganger, or on its avatars. This archetype was in decline for some time but is becoming more powerful with modern worries about human cloning and electronic identity theft.
Taboos: Avatars of the Doppelganger spend their lives trying to be someone else. Their own true identities are closely guarded secrets. An avatar can never reveal his true identity to anyone and must take any necessary actions to prevent its discovery.
Symbols: The traditional symbol of the Doppelganger is the mask. Other symbols include the white egg, the question mark, dark glasses, and the sheep.
Suspected Avatars in History: The earliest recorded avatar of the Doppelganger in the historical record is "Martin Guerre". In recent history, Doppelganger avatars have been responsible for the multiple Lee Harvey Oswalds seen in various places prior to the Kennedy assassination. Sightings of rock icons Jim Morrison and Elvis Presley after their deaths are probably also the work of Doppelganger Avatars.
51% - 70%: The character becomes a cipher. Any attempts to locate, identify, or track down the character are reduced by his Avatar: Doppelganger skill. The universe conspires to hide the Doppelganger's avatars. This ability cannot be turned off at will--avatars of the Doppelganger are often surprisingly lonely people. [Example: John Doe is sloppy and leaves his fingerprints at the scene of a crime. He now has an Avatar: Doppelganger skill of 55%. The police must make checks at -55% to lift his fingerprints, and must make Mind rolls at -55% to identify them. (A computer would have a 100% chance to identify John Doe's fingerprints if they are on file, so it now has only a 45% chance.) Assuming they can find a witness to the crime and get John into a line-up, the witness must make a Mind roll at -55% to identify John as the perpetrator.]
71% - 90%: If the character can initiate flesh-to-flesh contact with another human being, he can magickally change into a physical replica of that person. An avatar may keep one form in his memory for every full 10% of skill in Avatar: Doppelganger. After that, he must lose forms to memorize new ones. No special knowledge or abilities are transferred, and the avatar retains his own physical statistics. [Example: John Doe has been working very hard at his Avatar: Doppelganger skill and is now up to 80%. He goes to a political rally and gets to shake the hand of a presidential candidate. Later, he wants to smear the candidate, so he changes into that person and proceeds to live it up in several Nevada brothels. He's arrested (again) and questioned. His physical disguise is perfect, but he doesn't know anything about the candidate's personal life.]
91% +: The physical transformation now includes the target's Body and Speed statistics (even if they are lower than the avatar's). The avatar gains access to the target's memories, but not to any skills or special abilities. These memories disappear as soon as the disguise is dropped. Any forms that were gained when the character's Avatar skill was below 91% have no memories or statistics attached and must be re-memorized to gain the higher effects of this level. [Example: John Doe needs to break into a computer system. Masquerading as a security guard in the office building where the system is housed, he manages to meet and shake hands with the computer programmer. Later that night, he transforms into the programmer. He remembers all of the passwords that the programmer himself knows for getting into the computer, but he could not program a different computer, as he doesn't pick up the skill. While getting into the computer, his house is broken into by Alex Abel's hitmen. The computer programmer's body is nearly useless in a fight, so he changes to his own, which is not much, but at least it's better. In order to remember the passwords, he'll need to become the programmer again.]