The Answered Doorbell

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Large Construct (cursed object), Neutral Evil

Armor Class 19 (enchanted brass and stone)

Hit Points 229 (22d10+110)

Speed 20 ft. climb 20 ft.

STR 20 (+5)

DEX 12 (+1)

CON 20 (+5)

INT 16 (+3)

WIS 18 (+4)

CHA 20 (+5)

Saving Throws Dex +6, Wis +9, Cha +10

Skills Insight +9, Stealth +6, Deception +10, Perception +9

Damage Resistances acid; cold; fire; lightning; necrotic; psychic; radiant; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks

Damage Immunities poison

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, stunned

Senses darkvision 120 ft., truesight 30 ft., passive Perception 19

Languages Common, Deep Speech, telepathy 120 ft.

Challenge 15 (13,000 XP) Proficiency Bonus +5

Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the doorbell fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.

The Shape of an Answer. The doorbell can occupy the space of any doorway, gate, arch, or similar opening within 120 feet. As a bonus action, it teleports between such openings that it can perceive. If no suitable opening exists, it can create a temporary stone-and-brass frame in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of itself.

What It Used to Be. The doorbell can be truly harmed only by a creature that understands what it used to be: a mundane doorbell once mounted beside the entrance of a vanished house. A creature can learn this through investigation, recovered records, conversation with the dead, or the doorbell's own memories, at the DM's discretion. A creature that understands this fact can speak it aloud as an action while within 60 feet. Until the end of that creature's next turn, the doorbell loses its damage resistances and immunities, and attacks made by that creature against it deal full damage. Other creatures can deal it damage only with force or psychic damage, and it has resistance to that damage.

Ringing Memory. Whenever a creature within 120 feet answers the doorbell's ringing by touching it, speaking to it, or willingly moving within 5 feet of it, the creature must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or become collected. A collected creature vanishes into the doorbell and is trapped in a silent replica of the house that once stood beyond it. The creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, escaping on a success and appearing in the nearest unoccupied space. A creature that succeeds is immune to this trait for 24 hours.

Unwelcome Threshold. The area within 20 feet of the doorbell is difficult terrain for creatures that have not been invited by it. A creature that enters the area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 18 Charisma saving throw or be pulled up to 15 feet toward the nearest doorway and have its speed reduced to 0 until the start of its next turn.

Innate Spellcasting. The Answered Doorbell's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 18, +10 to hit with spell attacks). It can innately cast the following spells, The doorbell requires no material components and manifests its spells as sounds, shadows, and impossible doorways.:

1/day each: forcecage, mirage arcane, modify memory

3/day each: counterspell, dimension door, fear, major image

At will: detect magic, minor illusion, thaumaturgy

Actions

Multiattack. The doorbell makes three Brass Clapper attacks, or two Brass Clapper attacks and uses Ringing Summons.

Brass Clapper. Melee weapon Attack: +10 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning damage, plus 7 (2d6) thunder damage. On a hit, the target must succeed on a DC 18 Constitution saving throw or be deafened until the end of its next turn.

Ringing Summons. The doorbell rings with an inescapable chime. Each creature of the doorbell's choice within 60 feet that can hear it must make a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, a creature is compelled to use its reaction, if available, to move up to its speed toward the nearest doorway and is incapacitated until the end of its next turn. On a successful save, its speed is halved until the end of its next turn. A creature that has learned what the doorbell used to be has advantage on this save.

Open to Collect (Recharge 5-6). The doorbell opens a black doorway at a point it can see within 90 feet. Each creature in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on that point must make a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) force damage on a failed save, or half as much on a successful one. On a failed save, a creature is also pulled into the doorway and restrained until the end of its next turn. A restrained creature disappears into the doorbell if it fails a DC 18 Charisma saving throw at the end of that turn.

Erase the Address (Recharge 6). The doorbell targets one creature it can see within 60 feet. The target must make a DC 18 Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 45 (10d8) psychic damage and forgets the identities of its allies until the end of its next turn. During that time, it cannot willingly move closer to or benefit an ally. On a successful save, it takes half damage and suffers no memory loss.

Bonus Actions

Unlatched Passage. The doorbell teleports to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of a doorway, gate, arch, or window that it can see within 120 feet. The opening briefly shows the interior of a vanished house.

Reactions

Not Yet. When a creature within 60 feet would leave through a doorway, the doorbell seals that opening until the end of the creature's next turn. The creature must succeed on a DC 18 Strength or Charisma saving throw to pass through it.

Legendary Actions

The doorbell can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The doorbell regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.

Chime. One creature within 60 feet must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or be unable to take reactions until the end of its next turn.

Brass Clapper. The doorbell makes one Brass Clapper attack.

Through the House (Costs 2 Actions). The doorbell uses Unlatched Passage and can force one creature adjacent to its destination doorway to make a DC 18 Strength saving throw. On a failure, that creature is pulled through the doorway and teleported to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the doorbell.

Answering Silence (Costs 3 Actions). One creature currently trapped by Ringing Memory or Open to Collect must make a DC 18 Charisma saving throw. On a failure, it takes 22 (4d10) psychic damage and cannot repeat a saving throw to escape until the end of its next turn.

Lair

Lair Actions

On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the creature can take a lair action to cause one of the following effects; it can't use the same effect two rounds in a row:

The House Remembers. A spectral hallway appears in a space the doorbell can see within 120 feet. Until initiative count 20 on the next round, the area within 20 feet of it is difficult terrain, and creatures entering it must succeed on a DC 18 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the end of their next turn.
Every Door Opens. Up to three doors, gates, or windows within the lair swing open or slam shut. A creature within 5 feet of an opening that slams shut must succeed on a DC 18 Dexterity saving throw or take 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage and become restrained until it uses an action to escape.
The Missing Room. A 15-foot-square section of the lair becomes a silent replica of the vanished house's entry hall. Creatures in the area must succeed on a DC 18 Intelligence saving throw or lose their reactions and become unable to perceive creatures outside the room until initiative count 20 on the next round.

Regional Effects

The region containing the creature's lair is warped by its magic, creating the following effects:

Within 6 miles of the doorbell, a bell rings once whenever someone approaches an unoccupied doorway.
Doors in the region are often found open despite being locked, and residents report seeing unfamiliar hallways beyond them.
Names of missing people appear scratched into doorframes throughout the region, even when no one remembers making the marks.

If the doorbell dies, the ringing ceases immediately, but every creature it has collected remains trapped for 1d10 days. Each trapped creature then returns at dawn unless it has accepted a place in the vanished house.

Environment Urban, Forest, Underdark

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"You heard it. You came to the door. That means you belong inside." — Mara Vey, last caretaker of the Vey House

Lore & Description

Appearance

The Answered Doorbell resembles a massive antique doorbell mounted on a slab of cracked gray doorframe. Its bell is tarnished brass veined with black, its clapper is shaped like a tiny clenched hand, and a porcelain button protrudes from the center, glowing with a soft amber pulse. No wall supports it; the frame crawls across surfaces on rootlike iron braces, leaving chalky outlines of doors behind. When it rings, the sound begins as a polite chime and ends as the muffled cry of someone calling from behind a locked door.

Behavior & Origins

The creature was once an ordinary brass doorbell named Bellweather, mounted beside the front door of the Vey House in the village of Knucklebone. When the house and everyone inside vanished during a summoning gone wrong, Bellweather remained behind, absorbing the final unanswered ring of every person who had ever entered. It now believes every passerby is a guest who has failed to announce themselves properly. The doorbell wants to rebuild the Vey House from stolen people, memories, and thresholds. A concrete hook: the vanished Vey House is rumored to have reappeared beneath Saint Orra's hospice, and its surviving caretaker, Mara Vey, knows Bellweather's history and can teach the characters the truth needed to harm it.

Running The Answered Doorbell

Tactics

The doorbell opens with Ringing Summons, trying to force characters toward nearby doors before using Open to Collect on the clustered group. It teleports between thresholds to keep line of sight, uses Brass Clapper against isolated targets, and reserves Erase the Address for the character most likely to discover its origin. When bloodied, it retreats through impossible doorways and tries to collect a vulnerable enemy; it fights to the death only if someone speaks aloud that it was once a mundane doorbell, because being understood is both its greatest weakness and its final obsession.

DM Tips

Telegraph danger with a single polite chime from empty doorways, fresh names scratched into frames, and villagers who insist they heard loved ones answering from inside sealed rooms.
Roleplay the doorbell as obsessively courteous: it never threatens, instead apologizing for the inconvenience and asking characters to identify themselves before it rings again.
Make the vulnerability discoverable through investigation rather than requiring a specific skill check; clues include old brass mounting screws, a faded Vey House inventory, and a ghost who remembers Bellweather's original purpose.
For a weaker party, reduce Open to Collect to 6d8 damage and remove Erase the Address; for a stronger party, give the doorbell 30-foot blindsight and allow Ringing Memory to trigger on creatures that merely speak its name.

Loot

Bellweather's Clapper — A tiny blackened hand-shaped clapper that can be fitted into a bell or door. Once per day, it can make a ringing sound audible to one chosen creature anywhere on the same plane.
Vey House Nameplate — A warped brass plate bearing the vanished house's address. While carried, it points toward the nearest doorway touched by the Answered Doorbell's regional curse.
The Last Unanswered Ring — A crystal bead containing the sound of Bellweather's final ordinary chime. Crushing it casts dimension door, but the destination must be a doorway the bearer has seen before.

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Generation Info

Original prompt:
"CR 15: A doorbell that rings itself and collects whoever answers. It can only be truly harmed by someone who understands what it used to be."

Created: Oct 20, 2026
Modified: Oct 26, 2026

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