In years of solitude and study of magics, mainly that of the soul, to entertain yourself you decided to combine a skill of yours, woodcarving, and to make animated puppets that use a fragment of your soul, therefore linking you mentally and physically.

Originally the puppets you craft are emotionless, and devoid of personality. Overtime they gain traits, for example, they could be tough and protective due to being used for hard work and protecting the puppeteer, or intelligent and caring due to caring for the puppeteer's injuries. Their personalities differ from puppeteer to puppeteer and how they are used.  

• You gain proficiency in woodcarving tools. 
• You learn the cantrip mending at the 3rd level

 

Puppeteer’s Soul Link

The puppets are an extension of the user's soul, if a puppet is destroyed, the puppeteer takes 1d6 psychic damage and becomes stunned until their next turn. The damage increases by 1d6 on your 6th, 12th, 18th bard level, for example 2d6 for 6th and so on. 

Puppeteer’s Strings

You’ve mastered the art of controlling your puppets through your soul, with the ability to have one active puppet out on the battlefield, and the other one dormant and unusable. As a bonus action you can command it to move 10ft or use an action. Using the Puppeteer’s Strings, you can also withdraw a puppet that is within 30ft of you and swap the active puppet out with the dormant one. The puppets can only go so far from the puppeteer, with a range of 80ft. When the active puppet is switched, the newly switched puppet is placed around the puppeteer within 5ft, the newly dormant puppet being pulled back onto your person. 

 

Puppet Caster

Small construct

Armor Class: 13

Hit Points: 2 + your Charisma modifier + 5 times your bard level (the defender has a number of Hit Dice [d6s] equal to your bard level)

Speed: 10ft

 

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
4 (-3)	8 (-1)	12 (+1)	10 (0)	16 ( +3)	10 (+0)

 

Saving Throws: Con +1 plus PB, Wis +3 plus PB

Skills: Arcana +0 plus PB x 2, Perception +3 plus PB

Damage Weaknesses: fire

Damage Immunities: poison

Condition Immunities: exhaustion, charmed, poisoned, paralyzed (unless magical)

Senses: darkvision 60ft, passive Perception 10 + (PB x 2)

Languages: understands the languages you speak

Proficiency Bonus (PB): equals your bonus

Vigilant. The defender can't be surprised.

Known Spells: Can learn 2 cantrips that the puppeteer already knows. The puppet can know up to half of the puppeteer's known spells, for example, if the puppeteer can know 4 spells, the puppet knows 2, if the known spells is odd, round up.

Spell Slots: The puppet has half of the puppeteer’s, rounding up if odd. It gains higher level spell slots at Bard levels, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12, 14th, and 18th.

Actions

Spell Casting. Can use one of the known spells.

Repair (3/Day). The puppet can use the cantrip Mending to repair itself for 1d8. Increase the amount of 1d8 by one every 4 levels.

Puppet Warrior

Small construct

Armor Class: 13

Hit Points: 2 + your Charisma modifier + 6 times your bard level (the defender has a number of Hit Dice [d6s] equal to your bard level)

Speed: 10ft

 

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
16 (+3)	12 (+1)	14 (+2)	10 (0)	4 ( -3)	8 (-1)

 

Saving Throws: Con +1 plus PB, Str +3 plus PB

Skills: Perception -3 plus PB x 2, Athletics +3 plus PB

Damage Weaknesses: fire

Damage Immunities: poison

Condition Immunities: exhaustion, charmed, poisoned, paralyzed (unless magical)

Senses: darkvision 60ft, passive Perception 10 + (PB x 2)

Languages: understands the languages you speak

Proficiency Bonus (PB): equals your bonus

Vigilant. The defender can't be surprised.

Actions

Puppet’s Splinter: Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit + strength modifier , reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: (2d6 + 3) piercing damage. Every 4 levels, gains an extra attack.

Soulbound Fury: You have advantage on strength checks and strength saving throws, when attacking, you gain a bonus to the damage roll (add a 1d8 per 4 bard levels), gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. This rage lasts for 1 minute or until the puppet doesn’t attack or get hit in a round.

Repair (3/Day). The puppet can use the cantrip Mending to repair itself for 1d8. Increase the amount of 1d8 by one every 4 levels.

 

 

Mending of the Soul

At the 3rd level, the puppeteer can use mending on the puppet, or spend 1 hour using their woodcarving set to mend the puppets out of battle for 2d6. Mending a damaged puppet will heal the puppeteer half of what the puppet healed. For example, If the puppet healed 10 hit points, the puppeteer would restore 5 hit points. If the puppet is destroyed in battle, if it’s been less than an hour since the puppet was defeated, it can be repaired after a long rest.

Soul Threading

At the 6th level, the puppeteer can use their bonus action to control their puppet to both use their action and move. Puppet caster can learn 2 spells from any spell list that are unique to this specific puppet. Each time you level up, you have a choice of changing the puppet caster’s 2 unique spells.

The Marionette’s Boundful Melody

At 10th level, as a Reaction, the puppet can play a boundful melody when seeing an ally reach 0 hit points, filling the puppet with immense sorrow, lending a portion of its hit points to revive a player and prevent them from having to roll death saves. This takes 3d8 hit points from the puppet and transfers them to the saved ally. This reaction can only be used by each puppet once every long rest. 

 

Soul Resonance

At the 14th level, the puppeteer can use their second puppet on the battlefield, with a movement range of only 30ft away from the puppeteer. If the puppeteer wishes to swap long range and short range puppets, the long range puppet must return to the 30ft area range around the puppeteer. Only one puppet can take action, but they can both move.

Puppeteer’s Final Thread

At level 18, you have fully mastered the movement of the puppets and can fully control them both on the battlefield within a 150ft range. The Puppet Warrior’s movement range increases to 25ft, and the Puppet Caster’s increases to 20ft.
As the puppeteer, you can use your action to use Puppeteer’s Final Thread, this gives ally inspiration (1d12) and a +8 to the damage modifier for each of the allies damaging dice rolls if the ally is within 30ft of one of the puppets. The Puppeteer’s Final Thread makes it to where the puppets cannot make any actions until 2 rounds have passed, but still allowing movement.