Puppeteer

The long chase is finally over. Their quarry, wounded and limping, has fled down an alleyway in the Textile District. Unfortunately for her, it is a dead end. The captain smiles and signals to the city guards to proceed in formation down the narrow corridor.

The guards spot the governor's mistress in the distance, lying on the ground against the dust and debris of forgotten memories. Upon seeing them, she desperately tries to scramble across the piles of refuse in a futile effort to get away, her mangled leg dragging like a dead weight behind her. Eager to end this hunt, the guards level their spears and charge past abandoned manikins showcasing outfits long out of style. They drive their weapons deep into her chest, ending the mistress' troublesome life once and for all.

The captain eventually catches up, laughing about their big payday. Suddenly, he freezes, his mouth dropping open in disbelief, staring at what should be dead. With their spears still embedded deep in her body, the mistress's dead limbs convulse to life once more. Eerie clicks and clacks echo through the alleyway in sync with the twitches of her body that seem to mock death itself. Her head lifts and her face crumbles apart as clay pieces loose themselves from a featureless visage and fall to the ground.

A sudden deafening crash brings their attention around. A huge mechanical golem wielding a gigantic morning star bursts forth from a pile of garbage, blocking their only exit from the alley. The golem's mouth opens with a mechanical whir revealing a low flame that quickly flickers to life. A scream turns their attention around once more. The faceless mistress stands behind one of the guards. She clacks with mechanical glee as she holds the other end of his spear, which now protrudes through his chest, dripping crimson. The captain and his remaining guards hesitate. Should they flee or fight? Immense flames erupt forth in a sudden blaze from the golem's mouth, engulfing the lot of them and sparing them from the weight of choice.

A score of yards away, a cloaked figure emerges from another pile of refuse, scanning the devastating scene and breathing in deeply the scent of sizzling flesh and burnt hair. With a quick twitch of fingers, the golem and faceless doll approach the figure ploddingly, unhurried with the battle now over. Moments later, they magically disappear into open scrolls that hang loose from the newcomer's outstretched hands. With a smooth motion, the scrolls are concealed beneath layers of cloth. In similar fashion, the mysterious stranger, hurrying away from the carnage, is concealed by layers of night.

Cloaks and Puppets

Puppeteers excel at the art of manipulation, either through direct control or subtle deception. Their primary tool and defining characteristic is the manikin, or puppet. Focusing their obsessive need to micromanage the world around them into designing these manikins, puppeteers customize and improve their unusual puppets to represent their distinct needs and personalities.

If forced to fight, the puppeteer prefers to stay out of the fray and let their wordless machinations do the "talking". Using their chakra strings to guide their manikins and direct the flow of battle, puppeteers, masters of performance, always have a trump card up their sleeve, just in case. Skillful in stealthfully manipulating their manikins from afar, they preside like an unseen conductor where the world is playing along to their every whim.

Putting on a Show

Unlike a typical puppeteer who uses physical wires or strings, a very rare few manage to learn the secret art of using chakra strings to manipulate manikins that are specially designed to respond to chakra. Even with this discovery, most puppeteers never stray from the realm of theatrics, simply enhancing their art to surpass their peers as an entertainer, but never being proficient enough to be useful off the stage.

Only one or two individuals ever find themselves so talented with chakra strings that it becomes instinctive, their talent almost beyond imagination, with the ability to not only manipulate small puppets but also control huge constructs and even random objects in their environment.

Never satisfied with the limelight of the small stage, these puppeteers become adventurers. They take their show on the road and pursue an advanced and sometimes deadly form of puppetry. Some use their skills to craft formidable battle puppets with a myriad of configurations, using their knack for invention to triumph in a fight. Others choose a more "organic" route, molding the dead flesh of corpses into macabre imitations that fight with the lifelike vigor of the original, even using the special abilities they possessed in life.

Creating a Puppeteer

As you create your puppeteer, consider your character's past. How did you learn the art of puppetry? Were you part of a performance troupe? Maybe your father taught it to you as a hobby. Do you have a desire to impress others and gain fame? Or do you wish to perfect your craft to prove your mettle?

Why did you leave home to seek challenge and adventure? Perhaps you outgrew the simple plays of your troupe. Or maybe they grew jealous and frightened of your skills and decided to kick you out. Did you seek a way to fight while limiting casualties on the battlefield by using repairable puppets? Or could it be that you enjoy the stories of battle so much that you wish to reenact these tales of carnage using your life-size puppets?

Quick Build

You can make a puppeteer quickly by following these suggestions. First, put your highest ability score in either Dexterity or Intelligence, followed by Strength if you plan to take up the Collector archetype, or Charisma if you plan to become a Maestro or Imagineer. Second, choose the entertainer background.

Class Features

As a puppeteer, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d6 per puppeteer level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 6 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d6 (or 4) + your

Constitution modifier per puppeteer level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: None
Weapons: Simple weapons, hand crossbows
Tools: Tinkerer's kit, woodcarver's kit
Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence
Skills: Choose three from Deception, Investigation,

Performance, Persuasion, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a hand crossbow and 20 bolts or (b) any simple weapon
• (a) an entertainer's pack or (b) a scholar's pack
• Tinkerer's kit, woodcarver's kit, and two simple manikins with attuned scrolls

Puppeteering

A puppeteer is nothing without their puppets. All puppets are Medium constructs that are immune to poison and psychic damage and are immune to being blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, and poisoned. They can look however you want, though their appearance does not grant special abilities (e.g., giving your puppet wings does not automatically grant it the ability to fly).

At 1st level, you can use simple manikins, your most basic puppet. It can wield any simple weapon, but cannot wear armor. It cannot be modified in any way, aside from swapping weapons. It has a base AC of 10 + your Dexterity modifier. Its hit point maximum is five times your puppeteer level.

Preparing Puppets and Scrolls

Carrying your puppets would be cumbersome if not for a magical trick invented by one of the first puppeteers that was passed down over time. Puppets can be attuned to special scrolls that act as vessels to hold and transport your puppets. A scroll can only be attuned to one puppet at a time. You may use your action to summon a puppet from a scroll or return it to its scroll. The number of puppets you can have summoned at any given time is equal to your proficiency bonus.

Whenever you finish a long rest, you may modify the equipment of your puppets.

Crafting Puppets and Scrolls

You start with only two simple manikins and scrolls to hold them. However, with enough time and resources, you can build a vast collection of puppets designed to overcome any situation.

Simple mankins each cost 50 gp in raw materials and 4 hours to craft. Attuned scrolls to store your puppets each cost 25 gp.

Crafting a new puppet with abilities beyond a simple manikin's depends on your archetype: Tinkerer, Collector, Maestro, or Imagineer.

Range, Movement, and Control

One benefit of using flexible chakra strings for puppeteering is that line of sight is not required to maintain control of your puppets. You can move your puppet around corners and your chakra strings will remain attached, but they cannot pass through physical obstacles, such as a wall.

The range of your chakra strings is limited, especially at early levels. For example, at 1st level, your puppets cannot be controlled more than 30 feet from you in any direction.

The total movement of you and your puppets cannot exceed your base speed. For example, if your speed is 30 feet, you might decide to move 5 feet, then direct your puppet to move 15 feet to attack. You would still have 10 feet remaining to divide between you and your puppet during this turn.

You must use your chakra strings from both hands to control one puppet. A puppet is considered actively controlled when connected to your chakra strings. If a puppet is ever not actively controlled, it immediately collapses and is subjected to the unconscious condition.

Detaching your chakra strings from one puppet and attaching them to another is considered interacting with an object, which you may do once for free during your turn. If you want to do so again, you need to use your action.

Caught Red-handed

Since you do not need line of sight to control your puppets, a good battle strategy is to remain hidden or behind cover while your puppets do the work for you. However, your chakra strings are not invisible! If you are actively controlling a puppet, any creature that can see that puppet can trace your chakra strings back to you and has advantage on any check made to discover you.

Attacking and Other Actions

Your puppets are an extension of you. Thus, your abilities, skills, feats, and proficiencies are used when performing any action with your puppets, such as an attack or ability check.

For example, if your puppet attacks with a finesse weapon, you may add either your Strength or Dexterity modifier to the attack roll. If you are proficient in the weapon being used by your puppet, you may add your proficiency bonus to the attack roll. Similarly, any social interaction you attempt via your puppet relies on your Charisma and related skills.

Your puppets take their turns on your initiative, though it doesn't take an action unless you command it to. On your turn, you can direct a puppet to move and you can use your action to command it to take the Attack, Dash, Disengage, Dodge, or Help action. At higher levels, you can make additional attacks between you and your puppet, control two puppets at once, and more. When determining reach for an opportunity Attack or other abilities, enemies within range of your actively controlled puppets are considered within reach.

Saving Throws & Spell-like Effects. Some of your features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature’s effects. This also applies when using one of your puppet's special abilities. The saving throw DC is:

Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for any spell or spell-like ability used by you or your puppets. Your Puppeteer level is used to determine the level at which a spell or spell-like effect is cast.

Repairing

Your puppets follow the same rules for healing as any creature with some exceptions. First, puppets are considered constructs. Second, when damage reduces a puppet to 0 hit points and there is damage remaining, it is totally destroyed and unable to be repaired if the remaining damage equals or exceeds the puppet's hit point maximum. If, on the other hand, damage reduces a puppet to 0 hit points and fails to destroy it, it immediately collapses and is subjected to the unconscious condition.

At the end of a long rest, a puppet that is not totally destroyed regains all lost hit points. You can also spend one or more of your own Hit Dice at the end of a short rest, up to your maximum number of Hit Dice, to repair a puppet. For each Hit Die spent in this way, roll the die and add your Intelligence modifier to it. Your puppet regains hit points equal to the total.

Dress Up

At 1st level, you are already an experienced performer and can disguise your puppet to appear as an actual living person or creature. Use of this feature requires a disguise kit and one hour of uninterrupted time.

To discern that your puppet is disguised, a creature can use its action to inspect your puppet's appearance and must succeed on an Intelligence (Investigation) check against your Puppet save DC. On a failed check, the creature cannot distinguish your puppet from a real person or creature and responds accordingly. At 10th level, on a failed check, you gain advantage on any ability check to interact socially with the creature using your disguised puppet.

Shared Sense

Your chakra strings allow you to sense things through your puppet. At 1st level, you can see and hear through your puppet regardless of its design or configuration (e.g., a puppet without eyes). You may also use your Action to see and hear through your puppet using any special senses it has that you do not already possess (e.g., darkvision).

Throw Voice

As an entertainer, it is important to make your puppets speak by throwing your voice. With countless hours of practice, you have now taken this talent beyond the norm. At 1st level, whenever you speak, you may a Bonus Action to instead throw your voice in such a way that mimics the effects of the Minor Illusion spell to create a sound within 30 feet of you or an actively controlled puppet, with your Puppet save DC as the Spell save DC.

Child's Play

Having played with puppets all your life, you know the underestimated value of using even the smallest puppets. These tiny, lifelike animal puppets will prove an invaluable asset in helping you scout and explore land, sea, and air.

At 2nd level, you gain a rat puppet. At 4th level, you gain a quipper puppet. At 8th level, you gain a raven puppet. See page 335 of the Monster Manual for stat blocks.

You have access to these puppets at all times and they do not count toward the limit of puppets you can summon between long rests.

Puppeteer Archetype

At 3rd level, you choose an archetype that you strive to emulate: the Tinkerer, Collector, Maestro, and Imagineer are detailed at the end of the class description. Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level.

Nimble Fingers

At 3rd level, you only need one hand to control any puppet that is Large or smaller, but can still only control one puppet at a time. At 5th level, you can simultaneously control two Large or smaller puppets, one with each hand. You can also use a bonus action to give one puppet you are controlling an additional command. At 11th level, you may detach and attach your chakra strings from one puppet to another up to two times per turn for free instead of only once.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 10th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Smarter Strings

While manipulating puppets typically requires incredible Dexterity, there are some cases in which highly intelligent individuals can compensate for a lack of manual finesse with more intentional and shrewd string manipulation. At 5th level, you can use Intelligence instead of Dexterity for the attack and damage rolls of your puppets, as well as for calculating your puppets' AC and your Puppet save DC.

Pulling Strings

At 6th level, your versatility with chakra strings improves to grant you limited influence on objects around you within range of your chakra strings. You may use this feature as a bonus action to do one of the following with your chakra strings from one hand:

• Attach a chakra string from each fingertip to a different small-sized object and hurl them at targets within range of your chakra strings plus 30 feet. You can hurl them at one target or several. Make a ranged attack for each object. On a hit, the target takes 1d4 + 1 bludgeoning damage.
• Attach your strings to a creature’s weapon to interfere with its use. The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or makes all attacks with that weapon at disadvantage until the start of your next turn. If the target succeeds on the save, the chakra strings fall to the ground.
• Your strings wrap around a creature and the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be restrained. A Large or larger creature has advantage on this saving throw. If the target succeeds on the save, the chakra strings fall to the ground. A target restrained by the strings can use its action to make a Strength check against your Puppet save DC. On a success, it frees itself.

You might be able to achieve something beyond the scope of the above examples at your DM's discretion.

Click-Clack

While smooth operation of a puppet is ideal for a show, the unnatural and eerie sound of joints bending and twisting under strain can be purposely used to frighten or antagonize.

At 7th level, you can use your action to cause any puppet you are controlling to contort and move erratically while emitting an overwhelming clacking noise. Each creature in a 10-foot-radius around the puppet is targeted by one of the following effects of your choice.

Torment. Each target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Puppet save DC. On a failed save, the target becomes tormented by the sound for 1 minute and is now driven to silence it. The target loses concentration and has disadvantage on all attack rolls against targets other than the puppet until the effect ends.

Discord. Each target must make a Constitution saving throw against your Puppet save DC, taking 3d8+20 psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save.

Fear. Each target must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Puppet save DC. On a failed save, the target becomes frightened for 1 minute. While frightened, the target drops whatever it is holding and must move at least 30 feet away from the puppet on each of its turns if able.

If a creature's saving throw is successful, the creature is immune to further uses of Click-Clack for the next 24 hours.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest. Beginning at 13th level, you can use Click-Clack twice between long rests.

Mobile Manikin

The distance you can manipulate objects and puppets increases, allowing you to extend your control to farther distances. At 7th level, your control range increases to 45 feet, and your puppets can move an additional 15 feet during your turn, divided any way between them. At 11th level, your control range increases to 60 feet, and your puppets can move an additional 30 feet during your turn, divided any way between them. These bonuses to movement only apply to your puppets and not to you.

Rapid Retreat

At 9th level, you may use your bonus action to command a puppet you are controlling to move toward you by the shortest and most direct route, stopping in an unoccupied space of your choice within 5 feet of you. The starting distance between you and your puppet, as well as your remaining movement, does not impact use of this feature. In addition, any attack of opportunity made against the puppet has disadvantage.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a short or long rest.

Working in Concert

Beginning at 14th level, you have learned to coordinate your attacks in a synchronized dance of death. Whenever you or one of your puppets hits a creature with an attack, that creature is marked until the end of your next turn. Any subsequent attack against that creature by you or your puppets is made at advantage.

Thinner Threads

At 15th level, you have refined your chakra strings to create much finer strings that are harder to spot. Any creature trying to trace the strings back to your location no longer has advantage on checks made to discover you.

Heavy-handed

At 18th level, your battle hardened puppets can inflict a devastating attack. When one of your puppets hits a creature with an attack, you may consider that attack a critical hit.

Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Reassemble

At 20th level, you have become so familiar with the intricacies of your puppets and so well-practiced with string manipulation that you can restore a broken puppet in the midst of battle with the mere twitch of your fingers. When a puppet's hit points are reduced to zero, if you are within control range, you may use your reaction to restore a quarter of its maximum hit points.

Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.