Chroniclum

Tiny construct, lawful neutral

Armor Class 13 (natural armor)
Hit Points 13 (3d4 + 6)
Speed 0 ft., 30 ft. (hover)

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
5 ( 3)	12 (+1)	15 (+2)	15 (+2)	13 (+1)	10 (+0)

Skills Insight +3, Perception +5
Damage Vulnerabilities fire
Damage Resistances cold; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities necrotic, poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, paralyzed, poisoned
Senses blindsight 30 ft., passive Perception 15
Languages any three languages
Challenge 1/2 (200 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Arcane Stenography. The chroniclum magically creates pages within itself and fills them with intricate notes and descriptions of all events it observes. The chroniclum only remembers what is currently recorded in it, and any pages that are older than 30 days turn into dust. Ripping a page from the chroniclum erases its memories of any event written on that page. The chroniclum can accurately recall anything written on its pages, and a creature can also open the chroniclum to read about any event it has recorded within the last 30 days.
• False Appearance. If the chroniclum is motionless at the start of combat, it has advantage on its initiative roll. Moreover, if a creature hasn’t observed the chroniclum move or act, that creature must succeed on a DC 18 Intelligence (Investigation) check to discern that the chroniclum is animate.
• Unending Editions. When the chroniclum drops to 0 hit points, its pages become blank. The chroniclum then starts reforming itself, mending any dents, burns, and torn pages. After 24 hours, the book regains its consciousness and all its hit points, but it has no memories.

ACTIONS

• Magic Quill. The chroniclum creates a glowing quill of magical force. The quill hits a creature of its choice that it can see within 60 feet of it, dealing 3 (1d4 + 1) force damage to the target. The quill always hits, and can only be blocked by the shield spell or similar magic.

REACTIONS

• Librarian’s Shush. When a creature the chroniclum can see within 30 feet of it begins to speak or cast a spell with a verbal component, the chroniclum utters a silencing shush. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw, or be unable to speak until the end of its next turn. If it was casting a spell, the casting fails and the action is wasted.

ABOUT

A chroniclum is a magically animated, leather-bound tome. Its cover wrinkles and creases to form the resemblance of a humanoid face on the cover. Empty voids fill the eyes and mouth, and it speaks with an eerily creaking voice. The chroniclum’s pages are made from stiff parchment and filled with beautiful calligraphy. Although it has no ears, it hears and observes everything. It is also highly sensitive to loud sounds and will shush any creature in its vicinity that is being too noisy.

Chroniclums work tirelessly to record everything they can, magically filling themselves with new pages truthfully and objectively describing all they observe.

If a chroniclum bonds with a creature, it dutifully repeats any knowledge it has recorded back to that creature if asked to (and sometimes without being asked).

However, each of a chroniclum’s magically transcribed pages is limited to 30 days, after which they crumble and turn to dust. If a chroniclum is left without anything new to record for too long, it eventually stops producing new pages until its magic finally withers and it is reduced to naught but an empty cover.