Poppet

Poppet

(Creature)

Construct

Poppet

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Images of poppets

Source: Pathfinder Society Guide, pg(s). 123

Type

Construct

CR

Varies

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Images of poppets

Source: Adventurer's Armory 2, pg(s). 30–31

Poppet (awakened)

(Creature)

Rare

Construct

Humanoid

Level

By class level

Alignment

LG	NG	CG
LN	N	CN
LE	NE	CE

Images of poppets

Source: Grand Bazaar, pg(s). 61

See also: tsukumogami

A poppet is a small, mindless magical construct designed to serve as familiars and help with simple tasks. They can be controlled by their owner via a token. Due in part to their simplicity, poppets can be augmented and customized in many ways. In very rare cases (occurring in less than 0.1% of all poppets), a poppet manifests a spark of life and becomes an intelligent being; such poppets often call themselves 'awakened'.

Appearance

Poppets are crudely fashioned into humanoid forms, usually from wood, cloth, and wicker. Most poppets are 1 to 3 feet tall and weigh between 6 and 30 pounds. Their materials make them particularly flammable. Some poppets are animated by mechanisms instead of magic, and might possess ingenious hinges or even resemble clockworks. These poppets are particularly paranoid at how their inner workings might be ruined by rust, grit, or water.

Ordinary poppets cannot talk or can only repeat pre-programmed phrases, and usually communicate through notes pinned to their bodies.

Adventurers

A wishborn poppet wields a sword and shield.

Poppets like aiding others and novel experiences; both of these motivations lead naturally into the life of an adventurer. Rarely are they driven by a desire for treasure, but they like adorning themselves with jewellery and using their finds to better the lives of others. Because poppets like to help others, they gravitate toward becoming bards or champions. Some might think that poppets' tiny size and general clumsiness make them poor fighters or rangers, but certain poppets take on these classes out of a drive to display their courage and prove the naysayers wrong.

Ecology

Most awakened poppets are animated by magic, when a fluke happens during their construction, resulting in programmed commands becoming true intelligence. Sometimes, poppets are awakened by an ephemeral sliver of another being, like an errant fragment of a soul; they might occasionally glimpse this being but are still separate persons. The rarest ones come into being by love, mostly when their master earnestly wishes that they were real.

Poppets are instantly intelligent, conscious, and self-aware when their sentience awakens, although they might know little at first. They need sleep, air, food, and water, which they can magically digest to restore their form.

Because of their ramshackle construction, poppets naturally live only up to 30 years. A few exceptions, built by ancient civilisations like Azlant and the Jistka Imperium, might be very old, but rarely remember their creators or their original mission.

Habitat

Most poppets live in cities since toy and clockwork specialists usually live there, though poppets made by reclusive creators might prefer the wilderness.

Society

Sweeper, a poppet janitor.

Awakened poppets acknowledge their creators or former owners as friends, but not masters, and usually leave their home to seek their place. Most celebrate two birthdays: the day they were created (which usually must be learnt secondhand or through their creator's diaries) and the day they awakened.

Intelligent poppets are so rare that most have never met another of their kind. Instead, they tend to live alongside larger creatures and get along well with them. They often look for other creatures that also found self-awareness, and politely speak to mindless constructs and items in the hope of making a good impression when these objects also awaken.

Poppets are built to aid others; awakened poppets retain this instinct and are often good, though some only want to stay out of trouble, look for others, or unearth their own secrets. Poppets are rarely religious, except those whose creation was defined by a faith; these are often very religious, to the point of zealotry. Brigh, Casandalee, and Nethys are popular among poppets who found faith later in life.

Poppets are usually regarded well in most communities, save for the most insular and superstitious ones. They are known to make a master or aristocrat's life easier, especially in large trade cities like Absalom and Katheer. Even jaded city-dwellers are often delighted by an awakened poppet's ability to carry on long conversations.

On Golarion

Poppets are basic and widely available constructed familiars among Pathfinders.

In nations with an entrenched aristocracy like Cheliax and Taldor, poppets are specifically built as toys by nobles for their children. These expensive poppets are sometimes armed with hidden weapons to protect their charges, and are treated with deference and caution by commoners who do not wish for a spoiled child's tantrums. Once awakened, these poppets can be snooty and consider themselves aristocrats.

In magic-heavy nations like Osirion and Nex, where construct servitors are common, poppets draw little attention and command little respect; while they are usually assumed to be working for powerful masters, their tasks must be not very important if a simple poppet was dispatched. These poppets have to barter or wait in lines like everyone else, and tend to understand common folk well if they awaken.

Poppets are feared in Ustalav, where stories speak of common objects given life to terrorise a household, while poppets themselves are often given life by eccentric inventors, desperate professors and possessing spirits. These poppets learn caution quickly.

In Tian Xia, thought still a minority, the continent boost a high population of poppets call tsukumogami, outnumbering the unawakened doll and mannequins poppets found in Avistan. Minkai has a notable population of poppets.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.