Annabel the Poppet Master (NPC)

[sorryjzargo]

Hi, I was making an NPC to possibly use in my campaign, and I thought I'd share it. Please let me know if I did anything wrong, because this is the first Witch I've ever made.

Annabel
She would be terrifying if she wasn’t so adorable.
Human Witch (Gravewalker archetype) 8
LE Young Humanoid
Init +5; Senses Perception +1

DEFENSE

AC 13, touch 13, flat-footed 12
hp 37 (8d6)
Fort +1, Ref +3, Will +6

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft.
Melee +2 dagger (1d4-2, 19-20/x2)
Special Attacks hexes (blight, cackle, evil eye, misfortune, swamp’s grasp, unnerve beast, water lung)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 8th)
Possess Undead (Sp) A gravewalker may take direct control of one of her undead minions within her aura of desecration, as if using magic jar; the witch’s poppet acts as the soul receptacle for this ability. The minion gets no saving throw against this ability.

Witch Spells Prepared (CL 8th)
4th- poison (DC 16), summon monster iv
3rd- deep slumber (DC 15), malediction (DC 15), pain strike (DC 15)
2nd- death candle (DC 14) levitate, pernicious poison, pox pustules(DC 14)
1st- beguiling gift (DC 13), ray of enfeeblement (DC 13), ray of sickening (DC 13), reduce person (DC 13), restore corpse
0 (at will)- bleed (DC 12), detect magic, light, read magic

Patron Time (Gravewalker)

STATISTICS

Str 6, Dex 12, Con 8, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 12
Base Atk +4 CMB +2 CMD 13
Feats Accursed Hex, Extra Hex (x3), Improved Initiative
Skills Intimidate +10, Knowledge (Arcana) +15, Spellcraft +13, Use Magic Device +12
Languages Common, Fey, Undercommon
SQ spell poppet
Gear dagger, poppet, wand of animate dead (50 charges)

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Deliver Touch Spells (Su) At 3rd level or higher, a gravewalker can use her poppet to deliver touch spells. After casting a touch spell, as a full-round action, the witch can designate a target and stab a pin into her poppet, delivering the spell as a ranged touch attack. The target must be within range of her aura of desecration ability.
Aura of Desecration (Su) At first level, a gravewalker can create a 20-foot-radius aura of evil power. This aura increases the DC of channeled negative energy by +1 and the turn resistance of undead by +1. At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, the radius of the aura increases by 5 feet, to a maximum of 70 feet at 20th level.
Bonethrall (Su) At 1st level, a gravewalker can take control of an undead creature within her aura of desecration by forcing her will upon it (Will negates, using her hex DC.) If it fails the save, the creature falls under her control as if she had used command undead (once control is established, the undead remain controlled even if outside the witch’s aura). Intelligent undead receive a new saving throw each day to resist her command. The witch can control up to 1 HD of undead creatures per caster level. If an undead creature is under the control of another creature, the witch must make an opposed Charisma check whenever her orders conflict with that creature’s.

Annabel was a normal 10 year old girl when she found an abandoned doll in the forest. When she picked it up, the doll spoke to her, and when Annabel responded the doll possessed her. Now Annabel terrorizes the forest and leads vermin, monsters and undead to attack and torment travelers. Annabel rarely kills, but instead takes pleasure in harming and terrifying. When in trouble, Annabel will attempt to use her childish form to her advantage. Even the most calloused will hesitate to strike down a child, and she will use this opportunity to reduce them and run away.

The nearby village of Dun has only heard rumors of a child witch haunting the forest, but the superstitious folk avoid the forest just in case.

[Dalebert]

How does a wand of animate dead work? I mean, how much is it worth? The material components have to be provided for each charge. Does that mean you have to pay for the maximum undead that a lvl 5 caster could create, i.e. 250gp? I think that wand is worth 750 x 3 x 5 + 250 x 50 = 23750. Good haul for the party.

[sorryjzargo]

Knowing my party, they'll probably try to recruit Annabel to their cause rather than kill her, but yeah, that's a valuable item if they decide to take it. Thanks for the feedback!

[Dalebert]

I would put a little though into using her Posses Undead creatively. She could start out with her body well-hidden and her poppet maybe hanging from a tree or something for line of sight to various undead. Depending on how smart you want to make her (she's just a little girl, after all) she could have cast mask dweomer (http://www.pathfindersrd.com/magic/all-spells/m/mask-dweomer) to make it not radiate magic. She might even hang a bunch of similar decoy dolls which would make the scene extra creepy. She could posses a bloody skeleton and cast spells or hexes from it. When it dies, she just takes over a new one and catches the party off-guard from an unexpected direction. She might even have some of her undead "playing dead" until she animates them so the party doesn't just wipe them out too quickly. Maybe even bury them in debris except for the head so she has LOS for possess undead.

She should also have at least one reasonably powerful intelligent undead. If she took the Undead Master feat, she will have a lot more mindless undead. My DM house-ruled that UM affects a witch's Bonethrall. If so, then she will probably have 12 HD worth of intelligent undead as minions which she may also possess. She could potentially have more via the Command Undead spell but you need to decide what's a reasonable challenge for the party. You can easily explain it as that's the most she feels comfortable trying to control considering they get new saves every day and could potentially turn on her.

[Socksy]

Shouldn't she get a size bonus to AC? Sticking the Young template on a human makes them Small doesn't it?

So her scores using the Young template, if you haven't already applied it, would change to
Str 4, Dex 14, Con 6, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 12.

Her AC would become 13.

She would get Fort +0, Ref +4, Will +6

Her CR would be lowered to 7.

[Dalebert]

Knowing my party, they'll probably try to recruit Annabel to their cause rather than kill her, but yeah, that's a valuable item if they decide to take it. Thanks for the feedback!

BTW, it's obviously fine if you want that to be a potential treasure item. Just so you know, she doesn't really need it. Gravewalkers get Animate Dead as a patron spell as well as command undead and eventually create undead and create greater undead. And since animate dead is permanent, she could easily have already animated quite a lot, especially if she took the Undead Master feat (and she should). In fact, the wand will be limited to animating 10 total HD of creatures as the caster's total pool, assuming it was made at minimum caster level. Meaning, it wouldn't be able to animate more undead for the same user until some of the 10HD worth of undead had been killed off or until she had purposefully released them from the 10 HD pool. She could do that by casting command undead or bonethralling them though. Her personal limit will be higher casting it herself so the wand is handy but not particularly useful for her. She can also use Blood Money in place of the pricey onyx material component.

It's a bit fuzzy, but you could probably rule that those created by the wand just become part of her personal limit of undead which will be higher. Anything else gets really complicated. She just wouldn't be able to animate more than 10HD in one casting with the wand.

[sorryjzargo]

Thanks, Socksy, the page I used to get the Young template wasn't done well.