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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

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There is a Legacy version here.

PFS StandardSoulbound Doll

Soulbound dolls are eerie mannequins or playthings that have been imbued with a small piece of a deceased mortal's soul. These little constructs are created for a variety of reasons—such as to serve as companions or servants— but their free will means their obedience to their creators is hardly a given. Followers of Pharasma generally abhor soulbound dolls, viewing them as a perversion of the natural cycle of souls, and those who worship the Lady of Graves see the destruction of a soulbound doll, regardless of the construct's behavior, as an important service to the Great Beyond.

Soulbound dolls are the simplest in a series of soulbound constructs, including human-sized soulbound mannequins, powerful soulbound shells, and sentinel soulbound terra-cotta warriors. Creating them from unwilling living creatures is cruel, and an unwilling donor can resist the process with a successful Will save against the creator's Craft DC, ruining the doll if not preventing the donor's death. A doll can also be crafted from the soul of a person who has given consent to such use before their death.

Soulbound dolls encountered by adventurers are typically guardians of some sort; despite their diminutive size, the soul fragment's power makes the doll's fist more dangerous than a casual observer would expect. Further, it grants the doll a single spell of outsized power, given its stature. Because of their autonomy and remarkable intelligence, soulbound dolls are occasionally employed by their crafters as administrators over much more powerful but mindless constructs, allowing such dolls to control defenses far beyond their own capabilities.

Though soulbound dolls contain a small fragment of a soul extracted during or shortly after a person's death, this doesn't affect the deceased's resurrection or progress to the afterlife. This extraction process is typically lethal to otherwise living prospective soul donors.

The soul fragment resides in a soul focus gem (Hardness 10) typically embedded in the doll's neck or chest. The soul fragment generally clings to a strong personality trait of the original soul, but the doll continues to learn from its initial state, meaning its personality and abilities can change, possibly growing closer to the donor's or moving farther afield on its own individual path. The soulbound doll's focus gem retains the doll's memories even after the doll's destruction. The intact soul focus gem of a destroyed doll can even be placed into a new doll body by someone knowledgeable in the creation of soulbound creatures, effectively reconstituting the soulbound doll.

Recall Knowledge - Construct (Arcana, Crafting): DC 16
Unspecific Lore: DC 14
Specific Lore: DC 11

Elite | Normal | Weak
Proficiency without Level

Soulbound DollCreature 2

Tiny Construct Soulbound 
Source Monster Core pg. 318
Perception +8; darkvision
Languages Common; one spoken by its creator (typically Common)
Skills Acrobatics +8, Occultism +4, Stealth +8
Str -2, Dex +4, Con +3, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +0
Personality Fragments A soulbound doll shares fragments of its donor soul's personality, though none of that creature's memories. This causes a soulbound doll to match a strong personality trait of the donor soul (see sidebar). Because of its soul sliver, a soulbound doll is not immune to spirit as most constructs are.
AC 17; Fort +7, Ref +10, Will +6
HP 23; Immunities bleed, death effects, disease, doomed, drained, fatigued, healing, nonlethal attacks, paralyzed, poison, sickened, unconscious, vitality, void; Resistances bludgeoning 3, piercing 5, slashing 3
Speed 20 feet
Melee [one-action] fist +10 [+6/+2] (agile, finesse, magical, reach 0 feet), Damage 1d6+2 bludgeoningOccult Innate Spells DC 18, attack +10; 3rd levitate; 2nd one spell based on donor soul's personality trait (see sidebar) ; Cantrips (1st) light, prestidigitation, telekinetic hand

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Soulbound Personalities

A soulbound doll's additional 2nd-rank innate spell depends on a strong personality trait it had in life, as listed below.

Brave: enlarge
Calm: calm
Careful: augury
Cruel: harm
Gentle: peaceful rest
Impish: disguise magic
Jolly: laughing fit
Kind: heal
Rash: breathe fire
Sassy: dispel magic
Timid: invisibility

All Monsters in "Sahkil"

NameLevel
Chakanaj14
Esipil1
Ijhyeojin14
Kimenhul20
Nenchuuj19
Nucol4
Pakalchi9
Penqual15
Soulbound Doll2
Tumblak18
Wihsaak6
Ximtal17

Sahkil

Source Pathfinder #162: Ruins of the Radiant Siege pg. 84
Dreadful creatures that stoke mortal fears, sahkils lurk on the Ethereal Plane where they slip into nightmares or dark places of the world to torment the living

Sidebar - Locations At Home in Cities

Both penquals and nenchuujes are at home in large cities, but for different reasons. Penquals like slipping in among throngs of people, where they can inflict their terrors upon the lost or disoriented. Nenchuujes stalk magic academies, universities, or other places where spellcasters learn their craft, preying upon spellcasters' imposter syndrome.

Sidebar - Advice and Rules Check with Friends

Sahkils are creatures of fear and terror. Roleplaying encounters with sahkils could be troubling to some players, and delving deep into the kinds of traumas sahkils relish in unleashing could have unintentional effects on your game and your friends. Before introducing sahkils into your game, talk with your players to learn about any particular phobias or limits to determine what content you bring to the table, and consider that on your own behalf as well. Some specific elements to be aware of are the ximtal's abilities around sensory deprivation and social isolation, as well as the kimenhul's trauma-related abilities and themes.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Couatls and Sahkils

Legends in Arcadia say that couatls and sahkils both rose to prominence as the first mortals walked on Golarion. Each saw unique potential in the mortals; couatls saw hope and the potential to rise to achieve great feats, while sahkils saw the potential for fear. Fearful mortals would never accomplish anything, becoming useless piles of flesh whose souls would languish. These withered souls would be unable to properly travel the River of Souls, disrupting the delicate balance of the afterlife. To this day, couatls work to inspire mortals and push them toward greater tasks while striving to keep the sahkils' terror at bay

Sidebar - Additional Lore Embodiments of Fear

All sahkils have horrifying appearances, and each type specializes in exacerbating a specific fear in mortals. Penquals embody not only a fear of crowds, but also of confined spaces and of being lost within a sea of unfamiliar faces. Nenchuujes embody both the fear of magic's horrifying side effects as well as the fear that one's own magic might be twisted to an unexpected or tragic end.

Sidebar - Additional Lore Feeding on Fear

Sahkils are immortal planar beings and don't require material sustenance, but they do seem to gain some semblance of nourishment from the fear they spread. Whether this is psychological or biological remains to be seen, but their obsession with frightening other creatures is clear. Sahkils recognize that they are already feared, so it may be that they are simply fulfilling what they believe is their ultimate purpose.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Planar Relations

Sahkils collaborate with divs (page 68) to corrupt and corrode mortals. Velstracs, who appreciate sahkils' depredations, sometimes work with these fiends to enact terrible horror on their victims. Nihilistic and disaffected, daemons tolerate sahkils but tend to view them as useless provocateurs.

Sidebar - Related Creatures Sahkil Tormentors

The most powerful among sahkils are the sahkil tormentors. These deific beings rule over sahkils as a whole, and many personally direct the actions of their lesser cousins. Others fall into ambivalent routines, focusing more on their own personal acts of torment rather than launching widespread, ambitious depredations upon unsuspecting mortals.

Sidebar - Related Creatures War Against Hope

Sahkils and couatls are eternal enemies. The creatures each vie for the hearts of mortals, but from different sides of a single ideological coin. Sahkils wish to instill only fear into mortal hearts, trying to reduce them into useless piles of flesh who accomplish little. Couatls work to light the fires of hope, inspiring mortals to rise up and achieve their potential.

Sidebar - Locations Xibalba

Within the ghostly realm of the Ethereal Plane, sahkils inhabit a terrifying realm known as Xibalba. The Land of Dread is a realm of nightmares made manifest. At the center of this demiplane is a tiered pyramid known as the Black Pyramid, where the sahkil tormentors rule their brethren and sow fear through the mortal realm.