Homebrew Arcane Doll Species Details

Unlike the warforged, arcane dolls were not originally made for war, and instead created for menial tasks around the home and town. They started as mindless creations, being fuelled by magic of different kinds, and eventually some gained life. While most do not know how they gained life, scholars have theorised that the arcane dolls house lost souls from death. Questioning the dolls yields little answers as they don't seem to understand their situation too well either, and if they are lost souls, have no memories of such. As an arcane doll gains sentience, they often are a little lost, since their only memories are working as a servant for labour. Continued use of a sentient arcane doll is regarded as slavery once and if they gain sentience.

Living Wood

Most arcane dolls are created from wood, with the lightweight material easy to acquire, and capable of ranging from lightweight to heavy. There are occasionally some arcane dolls made from metal, but typically wood suits the purpose of home-workers much better. They are often created in image of their creators, but lack their capability for expressions, full movement and abilities. They are made to blend in, but cannot actually become that race. They are typically created by magic-driven races, and unlike warforged, there are not many arcane dolls due to the unusual nature of them.

Arcane Doll Personality

Arcane dolls were created originally as non-sentient servants for menial tasks and manual labour. Upon gaining sentience, they have little purpose and direction, often required to seek it out for themselves, since their creators or owners tend to give them freedom after becoming alive. In some cases, an arcane doll will become essentially a slave, or may continue working for the same people. It depends on the doll.

Most tend to leave though if possible. They seek out answers for their state. Just like warforged, arcane dolls show little emotion, but mostly due to their newness to a living state. They learn by watching others, and learning to form and make their own opinions on who to be. An arcane doll surrounded by evil people may not turn out to be evil, since they have enough awareness to form their own choices and opinions, they just tend to struggle with emotions.

The bodies of arcane dolls are created by the original creators, so they vary from female, male, anything between and otherwise. Their creation is all dependent on the creator. The soul itself can end up having a different identity from the body originally made, which can sometimes cause a disconnect, and often results in arcane dolls seeking some of these creators to make adjustments.

Arcane Doll Traits

Your arcane doll has the following traits. Some traits give you a choice and will reflect the purpose the arcane doll was created for.

Age

Their bodies are often centuries old at this point, while the souls inside have been around anywhere from 200 to 10 years old. There are so few arcane dolls that there lifespan remains a mystery. You are immune to magical aging effects.

Alignment

Arcane dolls start their sentience as true neutrals, but can lean into any alignment as they grow as individuals. Their alignment starts as very flexible and easily swayed, and often hard to pinpoint. Their alignment becomes easier to discern the longer they have been sentient usually.

Size

Your size is determined by the race you are modelled after. Typically arcane dolls are medium sized. You will need to change this manually.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Language

You can speak Common.

Ability Score Increase

Two ability scores increase by 1, they can be the same ability.

Arcane Sight

Due to your arcane nature, you may see through your "eyes", but you actually see through magic. It cannot perfectly replicate vision, and seems to lack colour, but in return, you cannot be blinded and darkness does not affect you, unless magical.

Sturdy Body

Your base AC is increased by 1.

Doll Resilience

Your wooden body benefits you in certain ways, but has a major drawback.

• You are immune to disease.
• You are vulnerable to fire.
• You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
• You don’t need to sleep and don’t suffer the effects of exhaustion due to lack of rest, and magic can’t put you to sleep.

Doll's Rest

When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn’t render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.

Specialised Design

You gain one skill proficiency of your choice, one tool proficiency of your choice, and fluency in one language of your choice, which reflects the purpose you were created for.

Integrated Tool

Choose one tool you’re proficient with. This tool is integrated into your body, and you double your proficiency bonus for any ability checks you make with it. You must have your hands free to use this integrated tool.