Freebie Friday–The Puppeteer
The Puppeteer
Though similar to other types of Bards, the Puppeteer is unique in his or her mastery over the arts of puppetry and the mystical nature in which he or she controls the puppets. They are masters of illusion and can mesmerize the average person with their wiles and their deft handiwork.
While the majority of his or her puppetry involves the traditional marionette, the Puppeteer is equally adroit in the use of shadow puppets, hand puppets, rod puppets, and the like. Likewise, the Puppeteer is skilled in the art of puppet making and should never find him or herself lacking for a puppet to use.
Ability Score Requirements
The Puppeteer must have a minimum Dexterity of 14 and a minimum Charisma of 12.
Skills
If you use a skill system (such as White Box), the Puppeteer gains sills as Thieves/Rogues/Specialists at two levels lower than their actual level. If your skill system is percentage based, assume that the Puppeteer has skills at -10% of what a Thief/Rogue/Specialist of the same level would have. IF you are playing with the LotFP skill system, assume that the Puppeteer begins play with two skill points and gains one skill point per level.
Puppets
The Puppeteer can create as many puppets as he or she desires, though his or her particular ability to animate them can only be applied to a number of puppets equal to the Puppeteer’s level at one time. For instance, Montreux, a 3rd level Puppeteer can animate a maximum of three puppets at once. All puppets will have the following base stats, plus modifiers granted by the particular class of puppet and the Puppeteer’s whims:
Hit Points: 1d4
Armor Class: 14 (5)
Climb: 2:6
Pick Pockets/Sleight of Hand: 2:6
Stealth/Move Silently & Hide in Shadows: 3:6
Sneak Attack/Back Stab: 2:6 (+4 to hit, double damage)
Tinkering/Open Locks & Removing Traps: 1:6
In addition to these base abilities, the Puppeteer can add a total of his or her level number of points to the aggregate of the puppets that he or she has currently active. For instance, Montreux, a 3rd level Puppeteer has activated two puppets. He can give a total of three points to the puppets and choses to add one point to the first puppet and two points to the second.
Furthermore, each type of puppet is slightly different. The following puppet types get additional modifications:
Marionette:
+1d4 hit points, +1 to Tinkering/Open Locks & Removing Traps
Shadow Puppet:
+2 to Armor Class, +3 to Stealth/Move Silently & Hide in Shadows
Hand Puppet:
+2 to Pick Pockets/Sleight of Hand
Rod Puppet:
+1 to Armor Class, +2 to Climb
To create a puppet, the Puppeteer needs almost no supplies—he or she is a master of improvisation and can use almost anything at hand to create something that will suit his or her purposes. Given enough time and access to tools and supplies, creation of a puppet is automatic and the referee should not bother with calling for a roll at all. Under duress, without proper supplies, or with time running out, the player may then be required to make a check. Failure means that the Puppeteer was unsuccessful, but may try again the following round. Success means that the Puppeteer was able to make the puppet and should be able to animate it on the next round. If the animating the puppet exceeds the Puppeteer’s maximum number possible, the oldest existing puppet will simply lose its animation as the new one takes its place.
Charm Audience
Given the opportunity to perform a puppet show, the Puppeteer may use his or her special skills (and, perhaps, a bit of magic) to charm those watching. After at least a minute of puppetry, the Puppeteer may roll a check to see if the audience was charmed. If the goal is simply to improve reactions and make friends, this roll is all that is required. If the Puppeteer wishes to influence the audience in any way beyond this, each charmed individual also gets a save vs. magic before it can take effect.
Advancement:
| Level | XP | Hit Dice | Fighting Ability | Create Puppet | Charm Audience | Puppet Spells |
| 1 | 0 | 1d4 | +0 | 2:6 | 1:6 | – |
| 2 | 1,500 | 2d4 | +0 | 3:6 | 1:6 | – |
| 3 | 3,000 | 3d4 | +0 | 3:6 | 2:6 | +1 first |
| 4 | 6,000 | 4d4 | +1 | 4:6 | 2:6 | +1 first |
| 5 | 12,000 | 5d4 | +1 | 4:6 | 3:6 | +1 second |
| 6 | 24,000 | 6d4 | +2 | 5:6 | 3:6 | +1 first |
| 7 | 48,000 | 7d4 | +2 | 5:6 | 4:6 | +1 second |
| 8 | 96,000 | 8d4 | +3 | Automatic | 4:6 | +1 third |
| 9 | 192,000 | 9d4 | +4 | Automatic | 5:6 | +1 second |
| 10 | 288,000 | 9d4+1 | +5 | Automatic | Automatic | +1 third |
| 11 | 384,000 | 9d4+3 | +6 | Automatic | Automatic | +1 fourth |
| 12 | 480,000 | 9d4+5 | +7 | Automatic | Automatic | +1 third |
