Face-stealer

Face-stealer

8 HP, 10 STR, 10 DEX, 14 WIL, fists (d4)

• Their true form is that of a writhing mass of oily black worms, topped with a fleshy, mask like face. More often they wear the form of someone who's face they've stolen.
• They cannot steal a face against one's will, but instead must receive it through a consensual trade--usually an exchange for information or some object of value.
• An object received in trade from a Face-stealer is indistinguishable from the real thing by mundane means, and dissolves into a clump of black worms d4 days later. The worms eventually find their way back to the Face-stealer.

From the shadows, a figure approaches. What at first seems to be a mass of writhing worms resolves into the silhouette of a human figure, black as pitch, but with a beautiful and pleasant human face. The face smiles at you, and in a bewitching voice as sweet as honey it speaks: "How may I serve you?"

Face-stealer is a misnomer, for they neither take your face from you, nor is the transaction without your consent. No, what face-stealers do is far more insidious: they offer you something you need, for what seems such an easy price--only the free use of your countenance. In a dire situation, you may forget to consider the true consequences of such an action: before you know it your friends and loved ones begin to look at you differently, people whisper when you pass. If you're lucky, the face-stealer has only borrowed your visage for hedonism and debauchery. But more likely the face-stealer will set about to destroy you, slowly, by turning everyone you know against you. There are even reports of face-stealers completely replacing their victims, convincing everyone their victims love that it is they who are the impostor.

Commentary

First, this is a more deliberate attempt at sharing a creature that is more explicitly dungeon coded. I have a native affinity for naturalistic, bestial creatures, and have to remind myself to lean into weird things that lurk in dark, unnatural places. I imagine this entity as something of a product of that twisted environment, taking advantage of wandering adventurers to get it's turn in the sunlight. (There's definitely a note of Jordan Peele's Us in there.)

A doppelganger is fun, but I think we can do better. What if the doppelganger couldn't imitate you for free? To be sure, a doppelganger is already a concept ripe for tension and paranoia: "it could be anyone". 

I think this version still gives you that potential, it just comes with a delicious catch: what if you knew the havoc was your fault? What if you could remember the exact moment you took the devil's bargain that brought you to this point?

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