Cursed Form. As long as the alpha doll's curse remains unbroken, the dolls it created cannot be destroyed. If the doll is targeted by remove curse, the doll must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against the caster's spell save DC. If the doll fails this saving throw or drops to 0 hit points, it becomes inanimate for 24 hours. Whenever the alpha doll's curse is broken, the doll reverts to its true form.
False Appearance. While the doll remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a normal doll.
No Strings on Me. The doll is immune to any magic that attempts to charm or control it.
Repairable. The doll regains 1 hit point when a mending spell is cast on it.
Spider Climb. The doll can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
Multiattack. The doll makes two attacks: one with its shiv and one with its bite.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, or it begins to transform into a wooden doll and is restrained until the end of its next turn, when it must repeat the saving throw. The effect ends if the second save is successful; otherwise the target becomes a carrionette until the alpha's curse is broken.
Giggle. The doll releases a creepy giggle. This giggle has no effect on constructs and undead. All other creatures within 30 feet of the doll that can hear it must make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw, taking 7 (2d6) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one.
Shiv. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage.
Description
Easily mistaken for a common toy, the carrionette is as foul and sinister a creature as one will find in the Domains of Dread.
Carrionettes are living, animated puppets or marionettes. They are essentially wooden dolls, painted and clothed, brought to life by dark magic. All of their limbs are jointed and have small holes for a puppeteers strings. Carrionettes vary in height from 6 inches to 2 feet. They can look like anything, from clowns and knights to farm animals or monsters. Most, however, look like people. A carrionette's voice is hollow and shrill, and they enjoy twisting nursery rhymes and speaking in morbid rhyming couplets.
Accursed. Carrionettes are created, not born. They may be the result of a mad toymaker's wish to have a child, a sadistic trick played by a witch, or a demonic possession gone wrong. Sometimes, a child's ill intent can manifest in their favorite toy, creating a carrionette, which is often brought to life by stealing the child's soul.
Grievance. Carrionettes often carry some festering grievance, inherited from their creator, and they are driven to right this perceived wrong. For example, the childless toymaker may feel lonely and resentful, so a carrionette comes to life and sets out to create a legion of children to keep him company. Or, a child who resents being told what to do identifies with the plight of her marionette, proceeds to cut its strings until, finally, as the last one is cut, her soul is sucked into the doll. Determined to inflict its freedom on the world, the doll eagerly does the opposite of anything it has ever been told.
Alpha Doll. Carrionettes delight in mischief and mayhem and seem to exist solely to torment the living and spread their terrible curse. The original carrionette, the one that was created and infected the others, is known as the alpha. The only way to stop their virulent conquest is to find the alpha and break its curse. When the original doll's curse has been broken, all of its victims revert to their true forms.
Pins and Needles. Carrionettes have a knack for finding small, sharp objects to stab people with—from rusty knives and sharpened sticks to needles, forks, or even shards of bone. They wield these improvised weapons with gleeful malice.
Player Characters as Carrionettes
Player characters can be transformed into carrionettes. When this occurs, they become wooden marionette versions of themselves, their size becomes Tiny, and their weapon attacks deal half damage. They also gain a carrionette's special traits and actions, as well as their damage resistances, immunities, and vulnerabilities. As long as they retain free will, the characters retain their class abilities and spellcasting.
A player character retains their free will when they become a carrionette. At the end of every 24 hours spent in this form, the character must make a DC 14 Sanity saving throw. On a failure, their new nature takes over and they become a carrionette under the DM's control. Additionally, when a character becomes a carrionette, and for every 24 hours spent as one, the character gains a level of Corruption.
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