I wanna try something new here. I've been working (as you frequenters will know) on several tabletop RPGs over the past year and change. The process has been fun, and it's immersed me in more consideration of tabletop game mechanics than I've had in a very long time. Because of that I've had quite a few ideas that simply don't make sense in the games I'm developing, but I still like them and think they're good. So rather than wait around for a game to slot these concepts into either as an author or a GM (or, more likely, letting them rot for eternity), I've decided I'm going to put those concepts here for other people to use if they find them equally intriguing.
I'll start out by presenting the concept at a high level, and then wrapping it in a blanket of mechanics. Those mechanics will be for whatever system I was thinking in at the time, whether that was one of my systems or just a system I've played or run, as well as 5e, because that's generally going to be more useful to more people.
Okay, are you ready? First up, may I present The Cardinal Twins. They are a pair of northern cardinals, a male with bright red plumage and female much more subdued in color, tied to each other either literally or invisibly, that together act as a method of communication with their owner. One can open its mouth and the words of its owner will speak forth, while the other listens with a twitchy anticipation, sending everything it hears back to said owner. They can be tasked to follow a person, they can be sent together to a far off place as messengers, or they can be carried along in a cage. If the setting is more steam-punk than magical, they can be mechanical constructs, or perhaps enchanted necrotic creatures if you'd like.
These guys were actually conceived of for D&D in the first place, but from an aesthetic standpoint I just like the thought of two little birds tied together by about a ten-foot long thin cord that can follow people around to facilitate communication over a great distance. They can be used to spy on a party, communicate with a quest-giver, or even be stashed on the shelf of a pet shop somewhere in the world as a useful piece of loot someone could buy.
In 5e they would work as a pair via some combination of Sending and Thaumaturgy. The effect is that one has the ability to receive messages telepathically and speak them aloud, the other has the ability to telepathically send on anything they hear. Their source or destination respectively is tied either to a magical bond with their owner or, in the event that their owner isn't magically inclined, an enchanted token that they have to carry on their person.
The twins can be treated as an item or an animal companion with available actions, etc. They are nimble and difficult to attack, but could be defeated in several ways. If somebody is quick, they could trap one, because they are small. If they are physically tied together, severing the cord would break the enchantment and both birds would flee. A statblock has been provided below to enumerate how hard it is to attack these intelligent little birds, but if it works better for your setting to make them effectively invulnerable, feel free to do so.
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