i had a concept for a bard archetype who uses magical puppetry to take mindless undead and use them as marionettes. the idea is it loads up on lots of weaker marionettes and buffs them into a lethal army with spells and performance
it's primary schools are illusion enchantment and necromancy, and while it too uses living puppets, the primary focus is undead puppets that can actually each invidually take a good full attack from a minmaxed barbarian and deal some nasty damage to your opponents
it is primarily meant for a villain, but if it were balanced for PC use, it would be fine. it needs a few necromancy spells and a focus on the use of undead minions animated by its performance.
and yes, the villain using it is a small framed faerie lolita fashion clad noblewoman so i am fine with animeing it up. Ilina and her boyfriend never really change certain things, like our love for cute pint sized fey.
A Dirge Bard who UMDs a wand to create a bunch of permanent Zombies and Skeletons should fit the bill already - why create a whole new archetype?
A Dirge Bard who UMDs a wand to create a bunch of permanent Zombies and Skeletons should fit the bill already - why create a whole new archetype?
because in your example, it isn't the bard animating the skeletons and zombies of her own power, it is the wand that is doing it. it is a different thing that ruins the visual. i really don't like including a villain whose whole concept is dependant on one highly specific magic item, especially a consumable magic item that players can loot and use for themselves.
i prefer the appeal of the puppeteer animating the dead of her own power, rather than relying on an item that could be misplaced, stolen, sundered, looted or even used against her.
now that i think about it, most of this can be solved by asking to take animate dead and lesser animate dead as 1st and 2nd level bard spells known, and use background to weasel it.