Springjaw Doll

Small construct, unaligned

Armor Class 11
Hit Points 13 (3d6 + 3)
Speed 25 ft.

STR	DEX	CON	INT	WIS	CHA
11 (+0)	13 (+1)	12 (+1)	3 (-4)	10 (+0)	3 (-4)

Damage Vulnerabilities lightning
Damage Immunities poison, psychic
Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages –
Challenge 1/4 (50 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +2

SPECIAL TRAITS

• Constructed Nature. The doll doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.
• False Appearance. While the doll remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a normal doll.

ACTIONS

• Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) piercing damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it is grappled (escape DC 10). Until this grapple ends, the doll can’t bite a different creature.
• Finger Bolts. Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 3 (1d4 + 1) piercing damage.
• Turn the Screw. One creature grappled by the doll takes 3 (1d4 + 1) piercing damage. The doll then makes a finger bolts attack against the creature as a melee attack with a reach of 5 feet.

REACTIONS

• Wind-Up Scream (1/Day). When the doll is hit with a melee attack, it lets loose a shrill, mechanical screech to alert its master of dangerous intruders. The screech is audible within 300 feet. Each creature within 5 feet of the doll must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution save or be deafened until the end of the doll’s next turn. A creature that fails the saving throw by 5 or more is also stunned until the end of its next turn.

ABOUT

Springjaw dolls have no treasure on their own, but they are often used to guard the treasures of their creators. Once disabled, a springjaw doll itself makes a fine prize for a burglar who knows how to rewind and reprogram the complex toy.

A springjaw doll appears to be nothing more than a finely made porcelain doll standing about 2-1/2 feet tall and weighing 20 pounds. Underneath its innocent exterior, however, the doll hides a complex structure of heavy clockwork machinery. When a springjaw doll attacks, its face splits open, revealing terrifying metallic jaws capable of clamping down and rending flesh.

Tinkers and toymakers construct springjaw dolls to guard their shops and domiciles. Most people don’t even realize that these unassuming dolls are fierce and even sometimes deadly-wardens. Like other clockwork creatures, upon its creation a springjaw doll can be programmed to perform a small selection of actions or a specific routine. A particularly talented or haughty engineer might craft a springjaw doll for a purpose as menial as cracking walnuts; while springjaw dolls have no will or personality of their own, dolls created to perform such inglorious drudgery nevertheless have a peculiar tendency to nip at their master’s fingers a little more often than can be attributed to pure chance.

Every springjaw doll looks different depending on the whims of its creator, but some dolls have vastly different abilities than the one presented here. Such dolls might fire bolts of electricity out their fingers (in which case they lack weakness to electricity), while others might instead breathe oil and fire. Larger variants of springjaw dolls also exist; such human-sized dolls might be mistaken for wax sculptures, lifelike mannequins, or common dressmakers’ dummies to better surprise would-be thieves.