Animate puppet soldier

**School** Transmutation [Life]; **Level** Witch 5, Sorc/Wizard 5, Psychic 5, Mechanician 5, Merchant 5

CASTING

**Casting Time** 1 Hour
**Components** V, S, M (The base form of a construct or creature to bind a soul into, A Soul Vial, as well as the cost of the construct. Upgrading a creature through this spell doesn't require the use of a soul vial, simply the upgrade costs)

EFFECT

**Range** Touch
**Area** Construct touched
**Duration** instantaneous
**Saving Throw** none; **Spell Resistance** no

DESCRIPTION

Invoking life giving powers and harnessing the souls of your fallen enemies, you imbue a spirit within a creature and create a Puppet Soldier. Puppet Soldiers, like other magical beings, are known as manania. They are normally lifeless but when exposed to mana they become animate.

Before casting the spell, the materials must be collected and assembled together for the price listed below. Upon beginning the ritual, the spell then sacrifices an amount of hl equal to the cost listed below and expends a single Soul Vial. Expending a soul vial in this way still triggers the soul vial's usual properties dependant on it's type. Other constructs can be created through this method, utilizing the cost for materials and the crafting cost. The cost listed is doubled if the witch doesn't possess the craft construct feat.

You cannot control more than twice your level in hit dice of constructs at a time. If creating a new construct would make another leave your control, the previous one becomes a rogue agent.

Upon the end of the ritual, the construct is created and under your control as if you had built it normally. You can also add construct upgrades to the construct by casting this spell again, or by providing the necessary materials upon casting the spell initially. Doing so has costs as listed below.

**Armor Modification**: This modification adds an enhancement bonus to the construct’s natural armor bonus or adds a magic armor property. The cost for magical enhancements equals the cost for creating magic armor.

**Hit Dice Modification**: Hit Dice represent the overall strength and power of a construct. They affect a number of subsequent abilities, including hit points, saving throws, and base attacks. Determine the effects of a Hit Dice modification using the rules for adding creature Hit Dice. Because a construct’s size is limited, a Hit Dice modification cannot increase its size. Therefore Hit Dice modification can never increase the base construct’s Hit Dice beyond 50% of its total HD. Some constructs have a defined cost for increasing Hit Dice. To calculate the cost per Hit Die of other constructs, divide the construct’s construction cost by its existing Hit Dice.

**Weapon Modification**: This modification enhances a construct’s physical weaponry. This process includes adding actual weapons (such as blades or spiked chains) to the physical structure of the construct or enhancing existing weapons with additional magical properties. Structural changes alter the construct’s damage only. A construct is automatically considered proficient with any weapon added to its structure as a weapon modification. The cost for adding a weapon is determined by the cost of the weapon or weapon enhancement added. The cost for magical enhancements to these weapons is the same as the cost for creating magic weapons as described on page 468 of the Core Rulebook. Performing a weapon modification also requires the Craft Magical Arms and Armor feat.

**Ability Score Modification**: Using this modification, a crafter can permanently increase one of the construct’s ability scores by +2 per modification. He cannot increase any abilities with a score of 0. The cost for permanently increasing an ability score is 5,000 gp.

The Spell can also be used to create creatures of the Soul Bound Poppet Race, or Creatures of the Monster Classes Marionette, Dark Knight, Golem, or Gargoyle.

A Monster Class Creature is created like a normal construct, but are treated as if their hit dice were doubled to determine cost, and what can be controlled. When creating a monster class construct, use the rules for creating a normal construct, however the creature becomes the monster class determined by the creator. This instead allows it to use the class's bonuses to BAB, Saves, hit dice, and other similar things instead of it's base hit dice. The creature possesses ability scores of 16, 15, 14, and 8 with no constitution or intelligence score. They can distribute these ability scores however they'd like and add their ability bonuses. The creature loses feats and skill points as well as their monster techniques, and they possess a single evility slot with the monster's staring evility, but otherwise retains their class abilities. In addition it gains +1 Natural armor for every 4 hit dice it possesses. Finally the construct gains the following techniques based on it's number of hit dice. The saving throws are dependant on the monster type and listed below.

**Marionettes**

**Dark Knights**

**Gargoyles**

**Golems**

The Any other Construct special attacks or qualities can be granted to one of these creatures by treating the Construct's hit dice as 4 higher for each ability upon creation, or by double the cost for the Magic immunity ability. For instance, one could create a Gargoyle and grant it the powerful blows ability by treating it's hit die as 4 higher to determine the price.

These constructs can be given construct upgrades as usual, however they can only receive the ability score modification 4 times for each ability score.

**SOUL BOUND POPPET**

If creating a Soul Bound Poppet, the creature is created with ability scores of 18, 16, 15, 14, 12, 8, as well as with the Soulbound puppet starting racial abilities.

Upon crafting the puppet, you must Select a Class. These classes are Peer Fortress Heavy Knight (Fighter), Shinobushi (Ninja), Marginal Maze (Arcanist), Aster Knight (Barbarian), Mad Raptor (Paladin) and Theatrical Star (Bard).

These Soulbound Poppet gain Feats as a normal creature leveling up, And also gain Skill points as well, and in all ways are treated as an actual creature with class hit dice. Soulbound Poppet cannot multi-class, however if they reincarnate, they can instead select another Class from this list.

Soul Bound Poppets can never possess more hit dice than 1/2 of it's creator.

Soul Bound Poppets possess 1/2 of the listed technique slots for their class.

The Marginal Maze, Theatrical star, and Mad Raptor do not gain spell slots naturally. Instead upon their creation, the caster of this spell must sacrifice spell slots to instead grant to the poppet. These spell slots remain spent until you choose to relinquish the power from the poppet or until it dies. The witch can only grant the poppet spell slots up to it's base spell slots per day as granted by the class and it cannot have additional spells for having a high ability modifier. The Caster can only grant the poppet spells that it would be able to cast based on it's hit dice. The caster expends these spells upon creating the poppet, and can add additional spells by performing a 1 hour ritual, or upon other castings of this spell to upgrade the poppet. Mana can be expended instead of spell slots if the caster possesses the manacaster feat, and the poppet can do so as well if it gains the feat.

Even if the Marginal Maze wasn't granted spell slots, it can sacrifice the spell slots it should normally have access to, to add to it's arcane pool.

 Below is a quick Reference for the classes.

A Spellbound Poppet has a mind of it's own and doesn't listen to the creator like most mindless constructs. A Spellbound Poppet often has traits similar to the soul used to craft it, and sometimes acts identically to the creature and even thinks it is said creature. A Spellbound Poppet often does feel a feeling of obligation to aid it's creator, but will not always do so. Many can be convinced to work for the creator through the same means as getting any living creature to work alongside someone.

These constructs can be given construct upgrades as usual, however they can only receive the ability score modification 4 times for each ability score.

*Mythic:* By expending a use of mythic power to create a Puppet Soldier, the puppet soldier can be given the use of mythic power to expend once per day as if you were using it. This permanently sacrifices the use of mythic power until the Puppet Soldier is destroyed or dead. At 4th tier four uses can be expended to grant the puppet soldier the abilities of a 1st tier mythic rank. This however only allows them 2 uses of mythic power per day instead of the amount they would normally gain. At 5th mythic tier, by expending 4 uses of mythic power, The puppet Soldier can be animated as a Hundred Knight instead. This works like creating a Soulbound Poppet, however it gains all of the capabilities of the Hundred Knight. Only 1 hundred knight can be created by you at a time.