Homebrew Doll Species Details
Dolls are sophisticated pieces of artifice the secrets to which have long been lost. These automatons have awoken after ages of slumber, returning to life for unknown reasons. Their memories however are mostly gone, only flashes of their former lives returning to them like dreams whenever they rest or become unconscious. This had an adverse effect on many dolls, many believing that these dreams are a clue to their purpose, the reason for their creation. Dolls often conform to their believed task and try to find solace and meaning in them.
It is unfortunate that none know how to maintain dolls properly, their minds deteriorate with time causing them to lose touch with reality. This often manifest in visions and waking dreams, these dolls lose themselves in their pasts. Many however also turn violent as a mysterious enemy appears in their shared past and this combined with hallucinations forces them to lash out against friend and foe alike.
Clockwork Hearts
Dolls get their name from their appearance and behaviour. Most dolls are sclupted after the many mortal races of the realm but mostly elves and humans, they are indistinguishiable from them at a glance. They often possess perfect or artistic features and sometimes their hair and eyes have unnatural colouration or pattern due to some whim of their mysterious creators. Their outer layer is a skin-like matterial which feels nearly identical to the real thing but it often lacks the true flush of life and easily gets dusty giving it a porcelean hue. This combined with their often 'doll-like' demeanor makes others think of childrens dolls which came to life. Dolls sometimes struggle to convey their feelings possessing no natural tells like breathing or blushing and their inherently logical minds sometimes fail to understand the escoteric (to them) thought patterns of others.
Living Automata
Dolls are made using a mysterious lightweight matterial known as 'living metal'. This strange matterial has the capability to heal like flesh and reacts to healing energy in a similar manner. However if severed from a doll this metal quickly loses these properties and becomes something akin to mithril. This matterial also imparts the ability to feel pleasure and pain to the doll. This however combined with the innate nature of their thaumic consciences makes dolls particularly suseptable to antimagic effects, reacting similarly to antimagic fields and dispelling as animated objects and weapons do. This fatal flaw is unfortinuately often exploited by those who seek to harm and use these creatures for their own gains.
Creator's Note - If you want to add Dolls to your world consider the culture of the precursor civilazation which created them and what legacy they have left behind.
In the Ebberon setting Dolls could be a vanity created shortly after the war or during it as an attempt at a higher functioning officer or commander to warforged armies, they however would have likely been discontinued due to the difficulties in their creation. Dolls after the war are few and are likely in possession of wealthy and the powerful who like that sort of thing. As for their relation with the warforged there can be jealousy or they can act as faces for them.
Otherwise if you have already included warforged into your world i recommend Dolls to occupy the civilian role in the aspect of robotic servitute, as replacement family members, administrative assistants and other servants. Comparitevly to the two, Dolls should be significantly rarer than warforged as they are a luxury to create compared to the Warforged.
Doll Traits
You are a construct of living clockwork granting you keen intellect and versitility.Ability Score Increase
Your Intelligence and Constitution scores increase by 1, one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.
Age
Dolls tipically appear as young adult version of the race they were modeled after, child, middle aged or elderly versions are know to exist. This has no effect on the doll as they show no visible signs of physical detireoration. However the mental stability of a doll varies and they tipically show anomalous behaviour after 30 years of function, the upper limit of this is not yet known and remains a mystery as each case is unique to each doll. You are immune to magical aging effects.
Alignment
Most dolls enjoy order and their calculating approach to most things makes them fairly pragmatic, they tend towards neutral and lawful alignments. Some however absorb morality, or lack thereof, of the beings they encounter and serve.
Size
Dolls are moddeled after existing races, tipically humans and elves. They posses their size traits.
Speed
Your base walking speed is 30 feet unless you are moddled after a race with a different base speed.
Living Clockwork
You are a clockwork machine made of magically living metal which heals like flesh. You gain the following benefits:
- You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
- You don't need to eat, drink, or breathe.
- You are immune to disease.
- You are treated as always wearing metal for the purpose of abilites, spells and effects, and magic can't put you to sleep.
Winding
Instead of sleeping you enter a semi-unconscious state where you magically wind and mend your internal mechanisms, this process typically takes 6 hours. While in this state you aren’t treated as unconscious and can see and hear normally, although any perception check you make is at a disadvantage.
Thaumic Soul
You know the mending cantrip. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
You also possess intuitive understanding of magical artifice. Whenever you make an Intelligence (Arcana) check to understand the function of magical objects or constructs, you are considered proficient in the Arcana skill and add double your proficienct bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
Versitile Function
You gain proficiency in 1 skill or tool of your choice.
Overclock
You may wilfuly accelerate your function granting you unnatural speed and power at the cost of your wind. You may use your bonus action to take the dash action or gain advantage on your next attack roll, strength or dexterity ability check before the end of your turn.
If you use this ability for the second time before you finish a long rest you gain 1 level of exhaustion at the end of your turn and each time you subsequently use this ability, exhaustion accured in this manner cannot be lifted by any means other than resting. You do not gain exhaustion if you have taken lightning damage since the end of your last turn and you ignore any exhaustion you have if you have taken lightning damage since your last turn.
Antimagic Susceptibility
You are incapacitated while in the area of an antimagic field. If targeted by dispel magic, you must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against the caster’s spell save DC or fall unconscious for 1 minute. You may repeat this save at the end of each of your turns to repower early.
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