Geppettin

“As soon as he reached home, Geppetto took his tools and began to cut and shape the wood into a Marionette.” —Carlo Collodi, Le Avventure di Pinocchio

Lore

Lore

Ever a joy to children, geppettin resemble living playthings made of wood, cloth, or porcelain. Though easily mistaken for puppets, geppettin aren’t manipulated by a just out-of-sight puppeteer; they are animated, sentient, and independent.

Diverse Oddities

As a race, the geppettin are an oddity. Though rare, they are numerous enough and share enough similarities with each other that they may be counted as an actual race of people, and not just freak mishaps of magic. While it may be that there are dedicated creators of geppettin, as there are with golems, a significant number of them have come to life on their own. Physically, geppettin are quite small, often slightly shorter than halflings. Their physical features vary greatly from type to type, but they are almost always humanoid in shape. For simplicity, geppettin are classified by the materials of which they are composed: bisque are porcelain, marionettes are wood, and raggedy are made of fabric. Despite being made of somewhat flimsy materials, sentience seems to grant them an odd hardiness. Additionally, due to their non-living nature, they never hunger, rarely tire, and are adept at being innocuous. Most find some form of work or profession in entertainment, but a few find fantastic success as spies and assassins.

Charming, Yet Uncanny

Though they bring delight to children, geppettin instill a cold fear in many adults—the type of fear that accompanies the uncanny realization that something inanimate is, in fact, alive. A person’s first reactions to a geppettin can be most telling, and usually fall into two camps: those that find the geppettin delightful, perhaps recalling cherished childhood memories; and those that are taken by an unnerving phobia, feeling a sudden chill upon seeing a doll move of its own impetus.

Geppettin Names

Like other constructs, geppettin rarely name themselves. Typically, a construct has no conception that living creatures obsessively name everything, and have a name bestowed upon them—in this case, geppettin are normally named by children, or are given terms of endearment by adults.
Names Birdie, Cuddles, Desmond, Dusty, Hobbes, Fluffie, Frowny, Lizzie, Patches, Princess, Pup-pup, Red Jacket, Teddy

Features

Alignment

Geppettin, as varied as they are, run the gamut of alignments. Raggedies are generally good, bisques tend towards evil, and marionettes are usually in between.

Darkvision

Geppettin have superior vision in dim light and darkness. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it was bright light, and darkness as if it was dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Construct Anatomy

Even though you were constructed, you are a living creature. You are immune to nonmagical diseases. You do not need to eat or breathe, but you can ingest food and drink if you wish. Instead of sleeping, you enter an inactive state for 4 hours each day. You do not dream in this state; you are fully aware of your surroundings and notice approaching enemies and other events as normal. You can still be placed into a torpor by sleep inducing magic.

Innocuous

Geppettin are generally indistinguishable from non-living dolls of the same type. Because of that, they can be very stealthy when required. You have advantage on Charisma (Deception) checks you make to appear as a mundane toy.

Languages

Geppettin can read and write Common as well as one other language based on their creator’s race (your choice).

Subrace

Geppettin are divided into subraces based on material. Choose bisque, marionette, or raggedy for your subrace.

Bisque

Bisque geppettin are a form of porcelain doll, crafted with exacting specification and often luxurious clothing materials. Though they are designed to look as realistic as possible, they are often thought to be the most terrifying of geppettin due to their lifeless visage. Though their faces are often very fragile, their construction is generally much hardier than their brethren’s.
Ability Score: Con+1

China Doll

Any Wisdom (Insight) check made to discern your true emotions has disadvantage.

Surprise Attack

Bisque know that their small size and natural stealth lead to being very efficient stalkers. If you surprise a creature and hit it with an attack on your first turn in combat, the attack deals an extra 2d6 damage to it. You can use this trait only once per combat.

Terrifying

Your lifeless eyes and face tend to instill fear in people, often without even trying. You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill, and have advantage on any Charisma (Intimidation) rolls in which you are attempting to scare someone that wasn’t initially aware you are alive.

Marionette

Marionettes are made mostly out of wood, with painted faces and carved clothing. Due to their construction, their jointed limbs are quite flexible, and they are known to be fantastic dancers.
Ability Score: Dex+1

Clipped Strings

You can manipulate your old strings, using them to attack. When you make a melee attack with a light weapon on your turn, the weapon gains the Reach property if it didn’t already have it.

Pantomime

Fitted with strings, all marionettes are taught to dance. You gain proficiency in the Performance skill, and have advantage on Charisma (Performance) checks made to dance.

Raggedy

Raggedy geppettin, also commonly called plushies, are any form of stuffed or soft doll. Though they often look humanoid, they may also look like animals, monsters, or any other form of anthropomorphic creature.
Ability Score: Char+1

Adorable

Raggedy, before coming to life, were designed to be appealing to children. As such, you gain proficiency in the Persuasion skill, and have advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) rolls you make against children or other humanoids that are fond of cute things.

Stuffed with Fluff

Raggedy are filled with a lightweight, soft material. When you take bludgeoning damage, you can use your reaction to gain resistance to the damage, and you are also knocked 5 feet away from the source of the damage.

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Ability Score: Dex+1, Char+1
Speed: 25 ft.
Size: Small
Age: do not age