Puppeteer

Medium aberration (greater), neutral or unaligned

Armor Class 16 (natural armor)
Hit Points 99 (18d8 + 18); Wound Threshold 25
Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
14 (+2)	14 (+2)	12 (+1)	22 (+6)	16 (+3)	16 (+3)

Saving Throws Int +10, Wis +7, Cha +7
Skills Deception +7, Investigation +10, Perception +7
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, frightened, poisoned
Senses true seeing 60 ft., passive Perception 17
Languages Deep Speech, telepathy (120 ft. and throughout its lair)
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Anticipation. The puppeteer has advantage on initiative rolls and adds its proficiency bonus to them.
• Deep Concentration. The puppeteer can maintain concentration on two spells at once.
• Chessboard. The puppeteer can use an action to place one of the 16 magic symbols of its Chessboard within 10 feet (see The Chessboard). Once placed, the chess piece lasts for 24 hours or until activation. After 24 hours have passed or the piece is activated, the puppeteer must finish a long rest to use it again.
• Innate Psionic Spellcasting. The spellcasting ability of the puppeteer is Charisma (spell save DC 15). The puppeteer can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components:
  • At will: dancing lights, detect thoughts (usable on any target that can be contacted with telepathy), mage hand
  • 3/day each: dominate person, misty step, suggestion
  • 1/day each: greater invisibility, hypnotic pattern, slow

ACTIONS

• Multiattack. The puppeteer makes two attacks with crystal blade or detain in thread.
• Crystal Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage.
• Detain in Thread. The puppeteer chooses a creature in a 60-foot radius that it can see. The creature must succeed a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw, or be grappled within interlacing threads (escape DC 18). As long as it struggles, it is restrained.

BONUS ACTIONS

• Activate/Deactivate a chess piece. The puppeteer can activate or deactivate placed chess pieces at will. It can choose to target a single piece or all pieces within 20 feet of it.
• Free From the Void. The puppeteer can end the stunned condition on a creature it can telepathically communicate with.
• Grand Rook (Recharge 5-6). The puppeteer targets a creature (including itself) it can see within 60 feet. The creature rerolls initiative and uses the new initiative rank at the beginning of the next round. If the target is not willing, it can resist by succeeding on a DC 18 Charisma saving throw.

ABOUT

Puppeteers are humanoid creatures that may, at first glance, look like animated, idealized human sculptures.

Each of these beings is unique, whether in its appearance, the mission it was given, or the manner in which it perceives the world.

Puppeteer’s Mode of Operation

The puppeteers’ personalities are marked with the prime directive to serve Blackwater’s cause, but at the same time, these intelligent creatures are given complete autonomy and may develop tastes and sensibilities that conflict with their initial mission. These dissonances sometimes prompt puppeteers to end up in strange situations, where it seems to be setting itself up for a splendid failure.

A puppeteer may have thoroughly prepared an attack on a town. It contaminated the drinking water and transformed part of the population into aberration subtypes. It surveilled the extent of the territory. Yet the moment Fate-chosen arrive, it plays a game of cat and mouse with them instead of taking them by surprise and eliminating them immediately.

Puppeteers’ Strategies

As artificial beings, puppeteers discover the world during the first mission given to them. They sometimes have quite extensive theoretical knowledge.

It could be said they’re book-smart, if that were possible, because they are infused with the knowledge of greater aberrations like the aboleths.

• Anticipation. Puppeteers are able to access the memory of subjects whose minds they read, and they often have the time to observe their opponents’ actions. As a result, they learn of typical strategies and secret weapons. A puppeteer prepares the battlefield with its Chessboard ability.
• Distaste for mundane reality. Generally, puppeteers don’t like getting their hands dirty-literally-or engaging in combat that might expose them to the sight of bodily fluids. They set magical traps via their Chessboard and make use of servants.