Guardian Doll

Tiny construct, neutral evil

Armor Class 13
Hit Points 25 (10d4)
Speed 30 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
8 (-1)	17 (+3)	10 (+0)	13 (+1)	12 (+1)	10 (+0)

Saves Wis +3
Skills Perception +3, Stealth +7
Damage Immunities cold, poison
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and flashing from nonmagical attacks
Damage Immunities fire
Condition Immunities exhaustion, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13
Languages Common, one or more others
Challenge 1 (200 XP)

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Doll’s Dagger. If the guardian doll is destroyed, its weapon becomes a useless child’s toy.
• Innate Spellcasting: The doll’s innate spellcasting ability is Intelligence (spell save DC 11). The doll can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:
  • 3/day each: alarm, charm person, light, mage hand, prestidigitation
  • 1/day each: levitate
• Magic Resistance. The doll has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
• Soul Focus. The soul bound to the doll lives within a focus integrated into the doll or its apparel, typically one of the doll’s eyes or a gem embedded into its neck or chest. As long as this soul focus remains intact, it can be used to animate another doll, using the same process as creating a new construct. Once bound into the soul focus, the soul continues to learn. If it is put into a new doll body, the soul retains its personality and memories from its previous bodies. A soul focus has AC 17 and 12hit points.

ACTIONS

• Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d3 + 3) piercing damage and 3 (1d6) cold damage, and the target must make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target is paralyzed for 1 minute. At the end of each of its turns, the target can make another saving throw. On a success, it is no longer paralyzed.
• Ray of Frost. Ranged Spell Attack: +3 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d8) cold damage and the target’s speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of the doll’s next turn.
• Frost Patch (Recharge 5-6). A 10-foot square within 60 feet the doll can see is covered in chilling frost. All creatures in the area must make a DC 11 Constitution saving throw. On a failed saving throw, a creature takes 10 (3d6) cold damage and is incapacitated until the beginning of the doll’s next turn. On a success, a create takes half damage and is not incapacitated.

ABOUT

Guardian dolls are constructs created by witches to serve as spies and sentries at places that require ever-vigilant wardens—especially the wintry nation’s borders. These strange automatons are infused with fragments of the souls of living beings slain during the dolls’ creation. The doll is sentient, and though a small part of the soul’s original personality remains, the witchery employed largely strips it of its individuality. Many guardian dolls sit inside another form of construct—a sentinel hut—and stand vigil at one of the borders and monitoring those who would enter.

Others are sent on scouting missions or to spy on targets, usually posing as inanimate dolls to hide their true nature.

Soul Focus. A guardian doll’s body is made of porcelain or wood, plus one exquisite item worth at least 600 gp to serve as the soul focus. Creation requires a soul fragment from a dead creature that dies at some point during the creation of the doll. An unwilling soul can resist with a successful DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. Stripping a soul fragment from a dead creature does not prevent the rest of the soul from continuing to the afterlife, nor does it prevent the body from being resurrected or raised from the dead.