Foldable Pet (Patreon)

Wondrous item, rare

This magical piece of paper is folded into an animated origami creature. When found, it is either in the folded form of a bird, a cat, or a fish. While holding the pet, you can use an action to speak its command word to magically refold the paper into one of its other forms.

Tiny, fading words cover the pet's paper form, recording everything that it's seen or heard in the last 10 minutes. You can use an action to unfold the pet and read the transcription of what it's seen and heard in this way. Once you do, it takes 10 minutes for the pet to magically refold itself and reanimate.

The pet is considered a magical object and is not a creature. The pet's movement changes in each form. Its bird form has a flying speed of 30 feet, its cat form has a walking speed of 30 feet, and its fish form has a swimming speed of 30 feet. While it remains motionless, the pet is indistinguishable from a normal origami figurine, but a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check reveals that the writing on its paper changes to record its immediate surroundings.

Dealing 10 piercing, slashing, acid, or fire damage to the pet (AC 15) causes it to unfold and remain motionless for 24 hours, after which it magically reanimates and folds itself into the last form it was in. If the pet unfolds in this way, any writing on the paper is lost.

Sentience. The foldable pet is a sentient neutral item with an Intelligence of 2, a Wisdom of 12, and a Charisma of 7. It has hearing and darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. Regardless of the form it's in, the pet has a +5 Dexterity (Stealth) modifier and a +5 Wisdom (Perception) modifier, and it has a passive Wisdom (Perception) score of 15. It can't speak or read, but understands Common. If you write an instruction on its paper, it understands the command regardless of what language it was written in (although it needn't obey it). The instructions fade into the paper after 10 minutes.

Personality. The foldable pet is incredibly curious and loves to explore, finding joy in taking notes of everything it sees. It avoids combat as best as it can, preferring to instead examine every nook and cranny of wherever it happens to be.

"Ok, let's see what you saw... chased a mouse... found a spot to perch... had a staring contest with a bird... Ah! There we go, you spotted a passphrase the guard had written down! Good kitty!"