Doppelgängers
Basic Idea: A mastermind primary set that summons clones of enemies hit by its attacks.
How it may work:
The powerset contains 3 summon powers: Minion Doppelganger, Lieutenant Doppelganger, and Boss Doppelganger.
Unlike other MM sets, these summon powers are ranged Single Target attacks.
When these powers hit an enemy of the valid type, a doppelganger of that enemy will be summoned at the player's side as a pet. The power also stores the enemy's info for later.
If these powers are used without an enemy target selected, they will instead use stored enemy info to summon a doppelganger pet but at a higher endurance cost.
Doppelgangers have the same powers and appearance of the enemy they were cloned from but have their levels adjusted relative to the player's combat level. (-2 for minions, -1 for lts)
If the enemy hit cannot be adjusted down to the appropriate level then a pet is not created and enemy info is not stored. This also applies to stored enemy info. This is to prevent low level or exemplared MMs from using high level pets that can't drop down to their level.
The player can have up to 3 Minions, 2 Lieutenants, and 1 Boss depending on level like other MM sets.
Summoning a new doppelganger will replace the oldest of the same type if already at maximum for that type.
Minion Doppelganger has 3 different slots for storing enemy info while Lieutenant Doppelganger has 2. This is for storing a variety of different enemies to these powers. Boss only has 1.
Each use of these powers will cycle through their slots one at a time. If on slot 1 when used, Minion Doppelganger will only summon or replace the enemy info of slot 1 then step to slot 2 for the next use.
Doppelgangers will spawn behind the player without needing a target location, similar to the way Energy Font pets are summoned from the Controller's Overpowering Presence ATO.
What about the other powers?
The attack powers could be magic ranged attacks that use the Dark Blast or Energy Blast animations, something that would appear fitting in most factions for theme builds. The Equip powers would not grant new powers but instead be generic and permanent buffs to base stats for the doppelgangers, such as increased HP.
Custom AE enemies?
If the enemy storing system works then this could be an alternate way to have custom MM pets. Create your pets as enemies in AE, run a test mission, then store their enemy info by attacking them with the appropriate powers. This would also save the need to create a new costume/ability editor just for custom pets. Because of custom powers, AE pets will no doubt be broken and overpowered without limitations in place. Perhaps a filter could be added to prevent the use of AE enemies if their Experience Value is over 100% for the MM's combat level. This unfortunately may require frequent adjustments to the custom enemies when sidekicking or exemplaring.
Will it be overpowered anyways?
Yes. Somebody will inevitably find a really good combination of enemies to clone but I don't think it'll make the game less fun. It will be really entertaining to see what doppelganger teams people will come up with, or themed teams such as all Longbow or Family. There are also some really interesting enemies out there to consider like healers, enemies with summons of their own like Sky Raider Engineers, enemies that have on-death mechanics, or the Possessed Scientists that can cast Fortitude on allies.
The game Path of Exile has a spell with a similar functionality called Summon Spectre, which summons a clone of a nearby dead enemy to fight by your side. These clones are stored to the ability like I described above so you can re-summon them if you disconnect or change zones. People have found really good and almost game-breaking combinations of spectres to use. It's quite fun to experiment with.
