So I had an idea for a Homebrew character. It was a magically enchanted puppet that could cast magic, think Wizard Pinocchio. My fellow DM was skeptical if it was allowed because it wasn't alive so it couldn't cast magic. So I wanted to ask y'all, can an animated Homebrewed puppet cast magic?
I’m curious why your DM believes that an animated puppet (presumably with sentience) is not alive. There’s also nothing in any book that says you must be “alive” to learn spells. My feelings on the matter is that if the puppet is sentient, then it can learn to cast spells.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
In the novel The Andromeda Strain, one of Michael Crichton’s characters gave compelling arguments for classifying a wristwatch or a scrap of black cloth as “alive.” Why not a puppet, or more probably you mean a marionette?
Ok, so as the other DM mentioned, my stance is that being "self aware" doesn't automatically mean that one can learn and cast spells just because one wants to. It could be argued that an Iron Golem is capable of casting spells (imbued with that ability) but only the original spell(s). The Golem would not be able to learn additional spells as is being suggested for the wizard puppet. This is where the discussion originated and has progressed to this forum.
I think a golem is fundamentally different than a player character puppet. An iron golem has an Intelligence score of 3, is unaligned, and is unable to speak. In other words, the golem lacks sentience, free will, and the ability to create verbal components. A player character would have an Intelligence score of at least 8, an alignment, and the ability to speak one language. The spell Feeblemind appears to correlate having an Intelligence score that is greater than 1 with the ability to cast spells, as does the intellect devourer (incapacitated creatures can’t cast spells).
In short: golems are far too dumb to cast spells. Player characters, no matter their race (excluding some orcs), are smart enough to cast spells.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
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So I had an idea for a Homebrew character. It was a magically enchanted puppet that could cast magic, think Wizard Pinocchio. My fellow DM was skeptical if it was allowed because it wasn't alive so it couldn't cast magic. So I wanted to ask y'all, can an animated Homebrewed puppet cast magic?
I’m curious why your DM believes that an animated puppet (presumably with sentience) is not alive. There’s also nothing in any book that says you must be “alive” to learn spells.
My feelings on the matter is that if the puppet is sentient, then it can learn to cast spells.
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"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Warforged are constructs and can cast spells, so I would think Wizard Pinocchio could too.
In the novel The Andromeda Strain, one of Michael Crichton’s characters gave compelling arguments for classifying a wristwatch or a scrap of black cloth as “alive.” Why not a puppet, or more probably you mean a marionette?
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Ok thanks everyone. I had forgotten that warforged existed and the other dm does more older editions and hadn't even heard of one.
Ok, so as the other DM mentioned, my stance is that being "self aware" doesn't automatically mean that one can learn and cast spells just because one wants to. It could be argued that an Iron Golem is capable of casting spells (imbued with that ability) but only the original spell(s). The Golem would not be able to learn additional spells as is being suggested for the wizard puppet. This is where the discussion originated and has progressed to this forum.
I think a golem is fundamentally different than a player character puppet. An iron golem has an Intelligence score of 3, is unaligned, and is unable to speak. In other words, the golem lacks sentience, free will, and the ability to create verbal components. A player character would have an Intelligence score of at least 8, an alignment, and the ability to speak one language. The spell Feeblemind appears to correlate having an Intelligence score that is greater than 1 with the ability to cast spells, as does the intellect devourer (incapacitated creatures can’t cast spells).
In short: golems are far too dumb to cast spells. Player characters, no matter their race (excluding some orcs), are smart enough to cast spells.
Tooltips | Snippet Code | How to Homebrew on D&D Beyond | Subclass Guide | Feature Roadmap
Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett