Puppet Master v.16
To make things easier and more to-the-point, I’ve replaced the old Upgrade system with a Build system.
The four puppet builds are based around imitation, hidden weapons, offense, and defense. Check them all out on page 3. This is still in development, so feel free to make suggestions.
+ New Starting Move Set a Perimeter
+ New Advanced and Expert moves
– Attentive and Flying Marionettes
Changed Crowd Control MAX to 10 puppets at once.
EDIT: I just noticed the base damage die. It’s supposed to be a d6, not a d4.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9hnDZsDk5iIMGM3NVkwYllnUnc/view?usp=sharing
Too many starting moves
Jon Stewart I actually like having 5 starting moves, but I’ll combine Timber Guardian and String Marionette just for you, ol’ buddy ol’ pal.
UPDATE:
TIMBERSKIN: Gets one Structure Type and one Upgrade from any list. The hidden blades are +1 damage and Hand range.
GUARDIAN: Can choose two upgrades, new upgrades (Will post later)
FIEND:
Structure types
> Ambush: Choose one additional Fiend upgrade
>*Banshee: Flying*
BEAST:
Structure types
> Hound: +Messy, +1 weight
> Hare: +2 to evading damage
Medium damage is now +d4 and Large is now +d6.
Got rid of String to Bone, Element of Surprise, Drop It and Summon Puppet, added new advanced moves. Will post when I get to a computer.
Neat class! I’m confused about a couple things though.
Once you get in close range to string up the puppet, what is the range it can be actually used at? If it remains at close range, how in the world are you suppose to use “Climb a Tree”?
For the Fiend build, what are sites? For poisonous, what does it mean “choose 2 applied upgrades” and how many uses of poison?
For the Guardian build, you can choose “Can channel magic cast by users” but Puppet Master doesn’t have magic, so what is this about?
I would think Crowd Control should require both Twitch and Multitask. Otherwise, taking Twitch is almost pointless. Was this intentional?
Edit: Also, Large Beast build weighs 9… Starting load is 8+STR and starting equipment is 3 weight. Is this intended?
Jeremy Wood Thank you for your comments! Unfortunately, being pithy isn’t my strong suit, so get ready for some long responses! 😛
Puppet Range: There isn’t a cap on how far away it can be, but I feel like it should be Far to begin with.
Fiend Sites: Those were just to specify the amount of knives or whatever that the puppet can have, in case that ever came up. A newer version I’ve been stewing up doesn’t have sites anymore. “Choose two applied upgrades” just specifies that two upgrades you have already chosen can be poisonous. The new version states that the Fiend’s poison upgrade gets 3 uses per upgrade.
”Can channel magic cast by users”: The thing that makes Guardians cool right off the bat is that they can act like either a really tough shield or a huge set of armor for the player. So, if you’re a puppet master protected within the hollow torso of a Large puppet you’re controlling, how would you control any more puppets? I definitely want to make this a viable option – you’re right, though; weird wording. The upgrade now reads “Can string to other puppets”. What do you think?
Twitch and Crowd Control: I always figured Twitch and Invisible Strings were two sides of the same coin; both upgrades made it harder for you to be noticed. I eventually figured it would be too slow to take them separately, so I combined them into one move.
Large Beast build weighs 9… Starting load is 8+STR: Whoops, yeah, my bad. I don’t math good. Starting Load is 9+STR, Large Beast is 6 weight.
I think maybe “The rider may use moves through the puppet as a natural extension of its own body” or something along those lines. Unless the intent was only to allow further puppetry.
It seems the intent for the beast was to have it weigh more than the guardian at medium and large stages. Maybe the large guardian should be 5 and the large beast 6 or 7. Also, I don’t think it’s uncalled for for this class to have 10+STR load. They might be carrying around multiple puppets after all.
Good ideas. I’ll make sure to add those in!
Hmm.. What constitutes “serious damage” (as in, enough for a puppet to lose a break point). Also, how does sturdy armor/hard to damage shell tie into this?
Break Points were just a way of giving numbers to narrative-based damage, because puppets are objects and I didn’t feel like giving them a health bar was a good idea.
Sturdy Armor / Tough Shell were there to be mental notes for the DM whenever he thinks about what an enemy’s damage would do to the puppet. Looking back on it though, hit points seem favorable compared to the vagueness Break Points come with… What do you think?
Mostly I think because the game already uses hit points when taking damage it may just be more intuitive. The GM already has ways of deciding when someone will take hit point damage.
Very good. Hit points it is!
So, is there a new character sheet with all the new things?
charles slaughter To be honest, other things got in the way and I forgot about it until around 2 weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been making changes, and I’ll be happy to post it soon.