New Class - Puppeteer, Arcane Controller ~ Updated now with PDF

[Omnifarious Grey]

I have always liked the idea of a manipulator class that controls marionettes or puppets to carry out commands. Therefore, I decided to start work on a arcane controller of the sort. So far I have started with a rough outline of the class from levels 1-3. I hope to get some feedback on the class to determine how it balances out. I welcome feedback whether it be that a power is too strong, or maybe if my wording is too convoluted, or even if I made some spelling errors.


UPDATE: I have now converted everything that was on here into a nice little pdf. I have also made a few changes to some powers in order to test out how they would look. I am still working on the next tier for the class, possibly including some paragon paths. However, I hope to get some good feedback on the heroic tier so that I will see how well my ideas have been translating.

Let me know what you all think.

 

[yesnomu]

Interesting! Kind of a Shaman-esque controller. I like the way it works. A couple of points:

-You might point out the key ability scores at the beginning, just for easier reference.
-Why doesn't the puppet get your full defenses? Attackable conjurations do, and it would help it survive longer, especially since it'll be in melee.
-1d4 is sucky damage, even for a Controller. 1d6 is more in line, and the druid's single-target attacks do 1d8 or better--that seems fair.
-Why do you get Druid HP? I can see more surges than normal, but the Puppeteer won't be in melee, so Invoker/Wizard HP seems more appropriate.
-Is there a way to restore HP to the puppet? Might be a good idea.

Also, under the Implement section, you forgot to change "shaman" to "puppeteer".

Anyway, looks neat. Keep plugging away!

 

[Omnifarious Grey]

Interesting! Kind of a Shaman-esque controller. I like the way it works. A couple of points:

-You might point out the key ability scores at the beginning, just for easier reference.
-Why doesn't the puppet get your full defenses? Attackable conjurations do, and it would help it survive longer, especially since it'll be in melee.
-1d4 is sucky damage, even for a Controller. 1d6 is more in line, and the druid's single-target attacks do 1d8 or better--that seems fair.
-Why do you get Druid HP? I can see more surges than normal, but the Puppeteer won't be in melee, so Invoker/Wizard HP seems more appropriate.
-Is there a way to restore HP to the puppet? Might be a good idea.

Also, under the Implement section, you forgot to change "shaman" to "puppeteer".

Anyway, looks neat. Keep plugging away!

Thanks for the feedback.

I didn't want to give the puppet the full defenses that any magic items, armor, or feats would allow because I don't see how they would be passed. I also had to consider the puppet's HP at being your bloodied value and you would only lose a single surge when they stop being animated. I felt the lower defenses and attack would help that out. Though, maybe d6 damage would still be fine in most cases.

The HP in general was just something I was tossing around but I will probably lower it back down to a 10/4 and leave the surges.

As for the puppet being able to be healed. You allies will have the ability to heal it, and I was considering later powers to do the same or different variations such as regeneration. I didn't want everything to revolve around the puppet doing the work and essentially becoming a tank for the party. In my eyes the puppet acts as disposable help, similar to a summon, but he can be brought back multiple times already.

Also, I plan to have more powers down the road similar to Puppet's Vengeance wherein you can take a number of powers that can be used when your puppet stops being animated. One talk of a power was something going to be called "Re-tether the Strings" which would dominate a foe who reduced the puppet to 0 HP.



All in all I liked to basic feedback for this class as that was my biggest worries of how it would work.

 

[yesnomu]

I didn't want to give the puppet the full defenses that any magic items, armor, or feats would allow because I don't see how they would be passed. I also had to consider the puppet's HP at being your bloodied value and you would only lose a single surge when they stop being animated. I felt the lower defenses and attack would help that out. Though, maybe d6 damage would still be fine in most cases.

The HP in general was just something I was tossing around but I will probably lower it back down to a 10/4 and leave the surges.

As for the puppet being able to be healed. You allies will have the ability to heal it, and I was considering later powers to do the same or different variations such as regeneration. I didn't want everything to revolve around the puppet doing the work and essentially becoming a tank for the party. In my eyes the puppet acts as disposable help, similar to a summon, but he can be brought back multiple times already.

Also, I plan to have more powers down the road similar to Puppet's Vengeance wherein you can take a number of powers that can be used when your puppet stops being animated. One talk of a power was something going to be called "Re-tether the Strings" which would dominate a foe who reduced the puppet to 0 HP.

Defenses: Who cares? Summons use your defenses, and they're huge fire angels or whatever. This is 4e, we go for the easy route with this stuff. Since you still are hurt (indirectly) when the puppet is hurt (and your bloodied value is not much HP at all), I think it's fair.

You might let the Puppeteer spend a surge as a minor action to give the puppet a surge's worth, kinda like a Ranger can do with his companion.

I like that "Re-tether the Strings" idea, that's very clever. Keep up the good work!

 

[Omnifarious Grey]

Defenses: Who cares? Summons use your defenses, and they're huge fire angels or whatever. This is 4e, we go for the easy route with this stuff. Since you still are hurt (indirectly) when the puppet is hurt (and your bloodied value is not much HP at all), I think it's fair.

You might let the Puppeteer spend a surge as a minor action to give the puppet a surge's worth, kinda like a Ranger can do with his companion.

I like that "Re-tether the Strings" idea, that's very clever. Keep up the good work!

I changed the wording for defenses and left it as the same as yours. I think you are correct on how this makes things easier. I will add powers that deal with healing the puppet later on. I had been using both the shaman and beast ranger for some guidelines for moves, so there is plenty to work with.


Does anyone find anything wrong with any of the powers or do they seem fairly balanced as they stand?

 

[Omnifarious Grey]

I made changes to the Puppet Possession at-will to try and encompass actually spending power in order to animate the puppet as well as a mechanic to gain the surge back by using it when the puppet is animated. This has turned into a standard action instead of a minor so that the two actions cannot be done in the same turn (action point aside) and to prevent replenishing the puppet's HP easily. I also added a special ruling for the power so that when the Puppeteer first acts in a round he can use the power as a minor action, this is mainly due to snapping into action and in order for people to not have to worry about always having an animated puppet.


I have also started work on the next levels of powers. I hope to get some feedback on the current powers so that I can continue with a fairly balanced design that is running so far.

 

[Omnifarious Grey]

I added the level 5-10 powers for the Puppeteer.

I realize this thread is getting long so I will be trying to work on getting it into pdf form for the next updates.


Let me know what you think about the powers. Any criticism is welcomed.

 

[Wraith Form]

Is it possible for you to PDF-ize this?

 

[Omnifarious Grey]

Is it possible for you to PDF-ize this?

Yes, however it might take me a while to do so. I don't have any program on hand to organize the data into a template for the pdf, but yes I am working on it.

 

[Omnifarious Grey]

Updated the class so it is in pdf format now.