College of Puppetry (5e Subclass)
College of Puppetry[edit]
Bard Subclass
There are more ways to entertain than to strum a lute or warble a melody. One of the purest forms of entertainment that children learn to relish is the puppet show. As with most forms of entertainment, the true masters of the medium are bards. Who isn't mesmerized by an act of ventriloquism or a thrown voice? Who doesn't have fond memories of skits and battles played out by tiny works of art? Who hasn't jolted awake in a cold sweat after dreaming of one of these uncanny creations staring into your sleeping soul? The Puppeteer bard (sometimes called "Quists", derogatively short for Ventriloquists) can make them all happen, and perhaps more.
- Bonus Proficiencies
At 3rd level, when you select the college of puppetry, you gain proficiency with puppets as if they were a musical instrument. This includes marionette and hand puppets, and possibly others at the DM's discretion. You are also proficient with one artisan's tool that can be used to craft or maintain your puppet (wood carving tools, weaver's tools, or any other that the DM allows).
- Ventriloquist
Also at 3rd level, you learn the minor illusion cantrip (or another bard cantrip if it's already known). Your range for sound illusions with this cantrip is doubled and the somatic component can be met as part of manipulating your puppet (moving the mouth, jiggling the head, etc.). Whenever you use Minor Illusion as part of a charisma (Performance) check, do so with advantage.
You are capable of throwing your voice without magic, but the range is 10 feet and it offers no advantage.
- From Both of Us
Also at 3rd level, whenever a creature rolls a die from your bardic inspiration or song of rest, they roll the die twice and choose the result they prefer.
- Little Buddy
At 6th level, you can use an action and expend a spell slot to manifest a lifelike version of your puppet - your "Little Buddy". The Little Buddy lasts for 10 minutes and has the stats of a Homunculus Servant (from the Artificer section of Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, only its hit points equal your Charisma modifier + your bard level + twice the spell slot level).
In combat, your Little Buddy shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to maneuver your puppet to emulate the action you want your Little Buddy to take. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. If you are incapacitated, your Little buddy can take any action of its choice, not just Dodge. If you or your Little Buddy dies or the 10 minutes expires, it vanishes. You can manifest your little buddy a number of times equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded up). You regain all uses of this feature when you finish a long rest.
At 11th level, your Little Buddy is small sized, adds your Charisma modifier to its AC, and heals itself hit points equal to your Song of Rest die each time it takes the dodge action.
- Master of Puppets
At 14th level, you learn spells that you can cast by expending bardic inspiration dice instead of spell slots. Only spells from this list can be cast this way. If these spells are not already on your spell list, you cannot cast them with spell slots.
When casting this way, 1 bardic inspiration die is equivalent to a 3rd level spell slot and 2 dice is equivalent to a 5th level spell slot. At bard level 16, you can use 3 dice for the equivalent of an 8th level spell slot.
| Spell | Minimum B.Insp. Dice |
|---|---|
| charm person | 1 |
| tiny servant | 1 |
| animate objects | 2 |
| danse macabre | 2 |
| dominate person | 2 |
| dominate monster | 3 |
The expended dice can each be used once to bolster the spell's effectiveness in one of the following ways:
- One die can be added to one instance of damage caused by the spell or its subjects
- One die can be subtracted from a target's saving throw against the spell (roll before the save)
- One die can be added to a Constitution save to maintain concentration on the spell (roll after a save fails to attempt to turn the failure into a success)
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