The Barkeeper asked why we carried weapons on us in the bar. I said "Mimics". The Barkeeper laughed, the party laughed, the table laughed, we killed the table. It was a good time.
Yeah, but he's also so pleasant about it too. He's not dour evil, or megalomanic about it - it's just his job that he happens to love. His laugh would be more genuine than evil, even as it comes from truly evil things. It's not an act - it's a way of life. And Skenk loves life. Living the life he has, and taking the lives he doesn't.
Once played a character who was raised by an enormous sapient mimic that took the form of an orphanage. The mimic was genuinely altruistic and cared for the kids (think Danny the Street from Doom Patrol), only eating with a mouth in the basement of a nearby butcher shop that a couple of the orphans who grew up there ran for that purpose of feeding them. For the sake of privacy and trying to minimize the freakiness of living inside a sapient creature, they'd only see and speak from statues, busts, paintings, and other stuff with a clearly recognizable face. Unless there was an emergency of course. Once someone broke in to kidnap a kid, tentacles formed from the walls and floor to beat the guy senseless then spit him out the window. All the orphans helped keep the mimic a secret, since if word got out it would probably lead to people assuming the mimic was eating kids, followed by adventurers showing up to kill the 'monster'.
That's really cool! I once came up with an adventuring village housed inside a trench coat of holding. A single party inhabited at first but over time they accumulated a town's worth of people and creatures and I could see a benevolent mimic orphanage being a resident there.
That's awesome as hell! Sounds like a slightly more horrifying Hogwarts, except in this case the school actually doesn't want to murder and devour children.
My wizard found a "baby" mimic. Decided to raise it as my familiar, which turned out to be a lot of trouble. But eventually, I had a handbag that contained my spellbook, gold, and other small valuable trinkets that would bite the hand off of anyone who reached in who didn't smell like lavender. Yes, my wizard would use Presti to flavor her hand to bypass the mimic defenses. Sigh...I miss Bitey.
Mimics only add one thing to dnd in vanilla, scaring all players into thinking every chest is a mimic. But having you're big evil boss's army have speedily buildable war machines and bridges that is cool. They could even set up a bunch of mimics as grass and earth so when the first wave comes they are devoured by the very earth under their feet
mimics can only be brown like wood or grey like stone. they are unable to copy other colors, so they couldn't be grass. a mimic's transformation isn't magical, it's a biological process and is thus limited to the biology of the mimics. a mimic chest will never have metal fasteners, a mimic door will never have a glass handle.
If you're encountering mimics disguised as chests, your DM is either uncreative or they're setting you up for the big mimic. However that leads players to assume everything is a mimic. But the example in this video of an out of place "clean" item, plus some context clues feels fair.
@@Sparrow_Bloodhunter so in Sloanes scenario, you'd have a field of busted trees and medium/large rock formations and it would still work. Just not as grass. Also, homebrew rules, and I'd love to see more complex versions of mimics, that could transform into various other materials. Maybe they would have to like, ancient mimics that have been around for 1000s of years before they get the ability to change their mimic makeup
@@scottbarrie1279 Does that first statement about being uncreative for using Mimic chests apply to first time DMs who are just getting their feet wet in the world of running a campaign or do they get a free pass? 🤔
Skenk Mcganc is quick becoming the final boss of a D&D campaign. Murderer of innocents and downtrodden heroes, backstabber of friends, a necromancer with an army of undead, and now an army of mimics.
Watch he finally gets foiled not by a bunch of epic adventurers, but some low level adventurers dismantle his armies, destroyed his back-up clones, and gave his brother a charlie horse by sheer luck
he would be hilarious to encounter, especially since instead of monologuing he tries to reasonably discuss things with you. All while setting up his own traps.
Point of contention, Mimics are listed as "neutral" not "evil." and I suspect their diet is not limited to adventurers. You live in a dungeon as an ambush predator, you can't be particular about the things you eat.
I favor the idea that mimics are only aggressive because they are hungry predators. With proper socialization, even low intelligence animalistic mimics can be tamed and are no more intrinsically dangerous than wolves. Intelligent talking mimics, meanwhile, are people who can be dealt with as people. They seem rare only because they don't usually broadcast their nature to the world. That woodcutter whose a bit weird and really likes his steak? Mimic. Bank owner who always seems to be inside the vault inventorying things and escorting patrons? Mimic ( as is the vault).
a magical trinket shop was selling a hat that could transform into any hat on command. He claimed it was a transmuting hat, but detect magic did not register any magic on the hat at all, and yet it did transform. The merchant offered the players one common magical item or magical trinket of their choice from his shop in exchange for running the tailor out of business. The ranger picked the hat. Over the next week the Ranger noticed his packed rations going missing, and even after a zone of truth no one fessed up to eating them. They camped every night in a tiny hut, so they knew it wasn’t some animal sneaking in. The ranger figured it out, and began feeding the hat directly, it kept it a secret from the other players.
I ran a game where the pc's found an abandoned fishing village, only to later to witness benches, tables, anvils and drawers all meet in the square to discuss living there and raising more babies. The babies were disguised as envelopes and coin purses. It was a delight watching my players sweat bullets trying to avoid just about everything in the town.
I can't believe how nobody is talking about the death of Norp. He was too beautiful and trusting for this world. I'm hope he and Billy are having fun in whatever plane of existence they got sent to.
my innkeeper is a lvl 20 druid, he's managed to convince an entire colony of mimics to act as his inn. He feeds them the people who try to start shit with him.
You could always just find a Genius Loci, they are basically giant super mimics that spawn into existence in magic rich areas that have been abandoned or untouched. They developed a personality that mirrors the first sentient being that enters their area. And develop a close relationship with said being. They can be anywhere between the size of a large building or as big as a forest, heck they can even be as large as a small moon. As long as it's large, magically rich, and no sentient creature is there it can develop a Genius Loci! Make a cult whose crazed leader believes it's a extension of himself and proof of his godhood! Make it a magical friendly forest that was discovered by a kind priest and is thus kind and helpful. Or make it a giant castle that is now lumbering through the country side ruled by the kobalt king who discovered it and is now using it to conquer the continent. (He was just a random kobalt when he found it)
One of the more fun characters I've played in DnD was a 'mimic' character named "Chest". He was a treasure chest. Who sprouted arms and legs to move. Circle of the Lands druid, so he had some shapeshifting, and the Faceless background so he could turn into his alter ego: "Crate". Yes, it worked _exactly_ how you think it did. His backstory was basically he lived in a dungeon for a while, kept seeing it get looted by adventurers and his buddies getting killed repeatedly. His take: "Okay, _clearly_ these adventurers know what's up, I'mma go join them instead." So, he made his way into town and registered as an adventurer. Then he found out "Oh hey, If I do this 'adventuring' stuff I get lots of gold and can use that to buy meat/food. Awesome."
"so, let me get this clear. you are saying I am encouraged to eat ALL the goblins and you will give me MORE food for that? this 'work' thing sounds awesome."
@@AkiKii519 Oh it gets better. Chest's means of melee combat was a Cantrip called "Primal Savagery" (the _other_ druid melee spell) which causes the caster to grow teeth and/or claws and deal acid damage. So yes, he _was_ regularly making _acidic bite attacks_ ... leaping acidic bite attacks on several notable occasions.
I once played a mimic pretending to be an anime girl. The “girl” looked oddly wooden and doll-like. Technically the cloak “she” was wearing was the mimic’s actual body with red button eyes, and the “girl” was its shapeshifted tongue. It was incredibly creepy and didn’t understand the concept of morality so it ate people a lot.
Remember, mimics can impersonate so many things! Coffins! Wardrobes! Outhouses! Bookshelves! Shoes! Bathtubs! Outhouses! First aid kits! Bags of marbles! Sinks! Outhouses! Buckets! Outhouses!
ive had an idea for a while of a neutral mimic colony that runs, or more accurately is a tavern. all the staff, including the bartender are walking amorphous vaguely humanoid (to fit the guests' expectations) mimics. but the whole building and everything in it is made of mimics, down to the furniture, the dishes and silverware and anything else. which means the Furniture can change itself or rearrange at the guest's request. The colony facilitates people because gold is useful to buy food, but its favorite guests are adventurers, because it can do trade with them, giving them free services in return for bringing it the monsters they slay to feed it. the tavern can also protect itself pretty well, and any patrons who try to swindle, attack it, or make to much of a ruckus, usually aren't seen again.
That’s pretty dope Personally I would have a mimic colony at the beck and call of an illusionist villain that uses them for stuff like turning into physical objects in a mostly illusory space or landscape to further sell the illusion. You know, real mysterio shit.
a mimic collective, a huge air elemental, earth elemental, fire elemental and water elemental all team up. you arrive at a town in a valley by a lake with a mountain on the opposite side, the clouds look beautiful in the bright morning sun. you get to the town and as grognak steps his foot into the city limit he finds himself glued to the road. roll for initiative as the scenery comes to life to kick your ass.
Our DM had made several stores for the party to go and purchase items at. One of them was a magic items shop. Upon entry, nobody is at the counter, a chest is at the side of the counter, and there are dozens upon dozens of items strewn about the store, swords, armor, shields, tankards, scrolls. You name it. Our warlock investigates the counter,, attempting to find some service while the party starts examining. The Warlock goes behind the counter until a sharp 'Stay on the other side, Please' - and a big THUD of the Chest jumping and landing on the counter. The Warlock screams, the Chest screams, we rush forward, screaming. - And we discover that the owner of the store is a Mimic, of whom is very friendly and is happy to do trade with the Party. . . And then we come to realize that every single item in the store is a Mimic. The Armor, Mimic. The Weapons, Mimics. The Scrolls -(Were scrolls)-. We ended up buying a Great Club, named Billy. A Morningstar named Crash. A Satchel named Big Lug who was a bag of Holding, but required to be fed lest he eat a stored item. Two Twinned Machetes named Hack and Slash. A 'Wood' Shield named Gripply, Beloved twin daggers Stibbity and Stabbity, an Estoc Rapier named Quip, and a small satchel named Eggy. They ALL had unique abilities associated with them, all were sentient, and the DM said that they would progressively level up alongside us the players so long as we took care of them. The Entire Party had Mimic equipment that all willingly chose to come with the party, and we all paid a handsome price for the opportunity. Then we all devised ways to buy more later for our home. Good game...
@@maxwilliamson3701 Eggy, the satchel would allow you to retrieve and use an item as a free action. Gripply, the shield. Would, if the person targetting the wearer got a crit failure, steal their weapon and inflict a 1d4 bite attack. Then fling the weapon away. Billy the great club could have his head flung at an enemy. Allowing our barbarian a ranged attack that dealt Great Club damage and on a hit, if the target failed a con save. Would be knocked prone from a giant mouth chomping on their face. And youd have to retrieve the head to return to foing damage, as it would turn into a quarter staff weapon when you did that.
@@matapavosgamer There is a monster in Hackmaster that messes with players that do this, it basically flies out of the door and burrows into thier head when they go listen through the door or look through the key hole. Then there's doors made out of treants that are like super pissed off about the whole thing and combative.
one of my favorite dm moments was a mimic that contained a mimic key, a seed of life if you will for mimics. my party had a habit of holding onto all sorts of crap for sessions. imagine my surprise when they immediately use it on the door to the top of their tower. turning the door into a mimic. they failed to pacify it and had to have a carpenter come by for a new door.
It would be especially funny if the Wizard thinks that it's a normal spellbook, and that it's normal for spellbooks to demand food. Bonus points if the mimic is smarter than the wizard and is manipulating them.
We had a 5e Spelljammer game with very strong Pratchettean/Red Dwarf vibes. We came across a group of sentient mimics, and adopted them mostly by accident. I think our non-verbal warforged cleric convinced them to be friendly by donating a few rolls of toilet paper to the chest, and we sent them redshirts every now and then to keep them satisfied once they joined the crew. Eventually it was discovered that this universe's mimics are constructed from sapient pearwood, which happened to be what we wanted to build a new, more powerful, ship from. One of them volunteered to become the "ship's computer", getting a sex-change in the process. It made sense at the time, but it seems a bit weird in hindsight.
Make a deal with a group of mimics. Pretend to be a merchant. Travel where bandits are, mimics pretend to be boxes and creates...get paid to kill bandits, mimics eat. Bandits are dead
Interestingly, in one of our campaigns, the party did actually befriend a mimic. He now lives in the basement, serving loyally as garbage/corpse disposal. His name is Gym, and we love him very much.
@@coyraig8332 homebrew rules would allow it, but in pure vanilla, all mimics are incredibly heavy, like a regular chest sized mimic is 400lbs. also, im not sure how effective theyd be as armor unless you get incredibly close to someone and your armor all of a sudden takes a bite out of them. would be intersting tho
One of my best moments was having the party work for a shady guy at an inn in the middle of nowhere: for their final job, they stole an artifact from a convoy, and brought it back to the inn, where it would be sent to places unknown. Just as they were leaving, an angry young dragon landed right in front of the inn, intent on getting his artifact back by smashing the whole thing. Then the inn bit the dragon by the neck, and snapped it, with a sickening crunch. The party started running, and never looked back.
This inspired me. I really love the idea of a traveling merchant that travels dangerous roads and safely does so because of the mimic they keep in the back. Any time there's danger they just BAMF out, abandoning the cart, and let the bandits' greed take care of the rest.
I had the idea for a human shaped mimic to play as. It would link up with adventurers to lure out it's favorite food....goblins. I was gonna play it like they were just a really weird and quiet person. It would also have a horrible The Thing transformation sequence when it was eating time. I was gonna make sure only the dm knew, as well.
I had my rogue once promising marriage to an armour stand mimic with a beautiful hanger in order to escape the mimic without a fight. I laughed so hard that I rolled with it. I also created the hanger mimic later on.
My goblin sat on a mimic disguised as a chair. It attempted to grapple her, but due to her being a barbarian grappled it instead. The mimic thus subdued quietly replaced her backpack because that’s where all the snacks are kept.
So funny story. Mimics capable of speech, rational thought and bargaining are actually called Common Mimics, because they are, as the name suggests, the most common members of their species, having been cultivated by wizards and what-have-you to guard their shit, although the exact origins of the Mimic as a species have been lost to the ages, although old lore suggests that Mimics have a common origin based on their language and dialect having developed over time based on traceable patterns similar to human language. However, because they usually don't have much cause to leave whatever dungeon or cavern they live in because there's usually enough bugs, rats, and stray adventurers for them to survive, and they're usually in some kind of contract, magical or otherwise, to stay in that area, ecounters with these intelligent Mimics are decisively rare. The other type, sometimes referred to as Lesser Mimics or Feral Mimics, are basically mutants with the intelligence of a wild animal; they can't speak, be reasoned with, or even really trained, but they also tend to be the Mimics that will be most frequently encountered as they are pushed out of their natural hunting grounds by their older and smarter brethren, and are generally the only type of Mimic you will encounter on the surface. This is ironic given that both varieties of Mimic dislike the bright light of the surface, but the Lesser Mimic is so compelled by its instincts that it will take its chances on the surface rather than wait patiently in a dungeon for a light snack in between adventuring parties. A rule of thumb by the way is that while you might be able to bargain with a Common Mimic, and they are typically good conversationalists, they will still try to eat you if they are hungry and you leave yourself vulnerable. In all due likelihood, the generally welcoming personality of the Common Mimic was probably cultivated to keep their masters entertained, while also making intruders more likely to let their guard down.
@@0_Body MrRhexx and AJ Pickett are my go-to sources for detailed D&D lore, because I do not have the time or budget to go finding old D&D corebooks, supplementary books, novels, and obscure articles from gaming magazines from like 20 or 30 years ago. And again, it's usually old lore that just hasn't been touched on in decades. Like Red Dragons refusing to have sex in human form, even though they can and will have sex with humans...
i love the idea of a mimic trader that sells the items its gotin from eating adventurers to others for gold or food. i just like the idea of trading with a sentient treasure chest that eats people theres something fun about that.
this just gave me an idea for an adventure where a giant colony of thousands of Mimics form a village and castle occupied by a figure who appears to be a classic invisible man style character, constantly wearing bandages all over his body, also sometimes appearing to be invisible, terrorising the residents of the village and drawing in parties of adventurers to be feasted on by the mimics. The final revelation is that the invisible man is not in fact an invisible man, but rather a bunch of mimics transforming into the clothes and bandages to imitate such a man, with the cases where he seemed ‘invisible’ in fact being the mimics encompassing the area, well, mimicking his voice and actions.
I have a shop in my homebrew world that is a mimic that became a shop table. It puppets a big breasted elf puppet to lure in adventurers and only wants gold. It sells the gear of dead adventures to get more gold.
My party adopted a miniature mimic after it accidentally trapped itself inside of their bag of holding. It was a kleptomaniac, so they kept finding extra gold in it's little nest (sometimes including their own if they didn't hide their coin pouches before sleeping).
We had one guarding our cart,.. portable body disposal and item storage. It now mimics a suit of Armour outside the castles throne room in the town we inadvertently became rulers of after all the nobles were killed
You all meet in a tavern sitting at a table reserved by the quest giver Party starts making jokes about what the quest giver will look like The table laughs and says "Looks like you all are here"
My party befriended the mimic in the death house after the chef bard (funnily enough named Beaucephalus) gave it some food. They named it Faux Dgeorge (fake door). He's a 3rd level monk now, and also a dhampir.
I had an infamous Pirate in one of my games and as my adventurers aproached him he was being attacked by a bronze Dragon. They didn't interfere with the situation because they didn't feel like being spitroasted for some criminal's sake but then when the Pirate finally lured the Dragon on his ship it was overwhelmed by the ship itself as it slowly, painfully, devoured the the giant lizard for nutrition. The Mimic ship was a fun toy for brewing in the campaign as describing its actions was somewhat creepy but with time the party grew on it and its fun banter with the Captain, where he would complain that the chewed on whale corpses where leaving a trail and it would respond by reminding him he didn't have any crewmates left for sacrifice so it would do what it pleased.
I made a western D&D where a member of the party bought a mimic gun. Basically a mimic that ate gunpowder so the guy would feed it bullets and it would spit out the shrapnel like a normal gun. Difference was the more he bonded with it the more it would help him aim (he could get up to a +3). Now I'm making a pirate D&D.
Thanks to the sidekick rules in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, you can (DM permitting) have a juvenile mimic as a travel companion that levels up with your group. The juvenile mimic stat block is conveniently located in Tasha's in the environmental hazards section p.167.
Idea moment. Your character carries a fancy looking bag with them. It can store stuff in it just like any other bag, except now, nobody can really steal anything from it. In other words, that new fancy bag is actually a mimic that eats anyone who tries to pick pocket it's owner.
One of my players in my last game kept talking about this backpack mimic that was essentially a magical item that just sort of stopped other creatures from stealing from you. So I had them encounter this Ethereal Filcher, which was working with a mimic to kill anyone that had magical items on them. They killed the filcher, fed the mimic with goblin bodies and after like the 5th one, I had him hork up a baby mimic like the walkers in Tremors 2. Kutz, the main mimic, was indifferent to its offspring, so the player took it and named it Herbert. It's literally his adopted son now.
Actually the player himself was kind of brand new to D&D, and sort of wound up being a morally questionable character. Because I was playing off of the idea that kids tend to either emulate their parents, or go against them and their teens, this particular mimic is more of a good guy than his father is. He's actually saved the party a couple of times, because I happen to roll well. He's also staying a baby for quite a while because from what I read mimics age pretty slowly.
I ran a game where the players went into an underground stronghold that held a vault. At the entrance was a couple of guards that they killed and farther down the hall was an elderly man starved that asked the players to free him. The guards strangely didn't have the keys as you would assume they would. So one plan was to bend the bars, they looked rickety and unkept. One of the players passed rations through the bars and became stuck to the bars. It was a trap, a mimic. The players had been slightly suspicious, but had never guessed this mimic to angler fish them into its maw. A horizontal line appeared across the bars as they split apart, the bars becoming teeth. The elderly mans limbs became tongue tendrils as they yanked the player inside the cage to be devoured. Combat instantly broke out and the fighter pulled out the sorcerer. They pummeled it into the ground. The players were excited. They hadn't expected it and ran through theories of what they thought the trick was going to be with the man in the cage. They never expected it was a mimic.
In second edition there was a mimic called a House Hunter the small ones would be about 10' tall where the more Ancient ones would range about 30'-40' tall and are very...very scary it's also stated that they develop a hard shell that they use to look like buildings. A fun adventure idea would be a "haunted house" sort of set up when it's really something much more terrifying while the treasure of the location is in it's belly. I may have to GM the party and convince them to enter one *evil plotting*
The key for a successful town of mimics is twofold: 1: They can't stay in one place for long. If they do, enough people are going to go missing, and enough stories about a town that 'suddenly appeared' will start to circulate. This will inevitably attract a lot of the staby, burny attention that gets mimics killed. 2: They have to pick their prey properly. Not everything that enters you should be considered prey, since particularly strong adventurers would wipe the town, and particularly fast ones would bring back trouble that will wipe the town. They need to let a few go, unaware that something was amiss, otherwise they'll bring more trouble on themselves than it's worth. To use this encounter properly, you want to foreshadow it (the PCS recieve a tip about this town that suddenly appeared where none were before, as well as rumors about travelers and caravans going missing. When they go there, however, it's gone. Later on, after they've probably forgotten about it, have them find the town in a different spot, which they then take the time explore it), and lull the players in with a false sense of security (Don't spring the trap immediately. Instead, have the mimics and their doppleganger allies treat the party to a festival, some drinks and food, and a good night's sleep at really cheap rates. Then, have the party attacked by the building they're sleeping in during the night;). If the players are paying attention, they'll pick up on the foreshadowing, and maybe a few hints during the festival that should tip them off (An improper manerism , an eye that suddenly closed on a building you get the drift). If they notice, it's a good encounter for a mid-level party. If they don't, well, this could be a deadly one for even high-level adventurers...
the festival and cheap inn is basically a giant warning klaxon that a town has a Dark Secret, if you really want to keep mimic town a secret scatter quest hooks around that coincedentally can only really be investigated the following day. if the party refuses and keeps digging a house loses it's patience and tries to eat them and you have a wacky fight scene an equally funny possibility is that mimic town is home to a grazing mimic mutation and they're actually completely benign, but everything they do is extremely suspicious
This might be a fun murder mystery one shot where a travelers hub is founded but the founder is suspected to be murdered by one of the adventurers at night. Everyone investigates the town and every other another until the gig is up and a massive encounter with the whole hub attacks the adventurers. Makes a great final encounter for the day.
i think this sort of village should be in a poorly mapped forrest or other area where such a thing could be hidden from any reasonable sightlines. exceptionally rugged mountains may be another good choice.
love when Skenk feeds a doggie biscuit to the mimic coin. Skenk Mcgank is every Player Character I adventured with in the late 80s after they reached level 18+. "Hey, can I use (x ability/spell) with (y monster) to do an obscenely cool thing?" My old community was the Strategic Games Society at Southern Illinois University and we had a bunch of players who put theories much like Skenk's into practice.
OOH! I USE MIMICS IN A SIMILAR WAY IN NY GAME! There’s a town full of mimics that share a symbiotic relationship with the people in it where the people basically maintain the well being of their mimics who take the shape of houses and roads and in exchange the mimics eat any would-be invaders as well as the occasional payment in livestock. The town itself is situated in a spot of decent strategic value so there’s always someone who wants to park their army there. It has a long standing reputation of being the home of “the only truly free people.”
I carried around a mimic that I had polymorphed into a quarter staff, if shit got dicey (get it?), I'd throw it at my enemies and pretend I was casting a forbidden spell, while in reality, I was just dropping the polymorph, and sicking my pet Mimic on some poor unsuspecting gobo.
I have this concept of an entire town that's made up entirely of, like, 20 mimics and 8 or so changelings that just keep altering their configurations to simulate different parts of the town as the adventurers or merchants or whatever travel through it. The mimics feed on the bodies, the changelings steal their possessions, and then they all pack up into a bunch of wagons and move on down the road.
Sounds more like a carnival, maybe? A bit less suspect than a settled town that springs up overnight, and it would be easy for changelings to put up various roadside attractions to attract victims.
@@havcola6983 Honestly I prefer a town for how ominous it can be at the time of the big reveal, but you're right. What can be done is that, instead of moving fast, it can move slow but on underpopulated areas close to roads and such, so only adventurers encounter it. You can include it as a little adventure while travelling, so when they arrive to the destination (that I would put close after the town) someone would talk to them about the nature of this place, some details and such.
I was inspired by McGank to create a chaotic evil character. His name is Boomsie, he's a goblin wizard, he would take any risk to help out his friends, and he hopes to one day be a dark lord. Not _the_ dark lord, that's how you get killed; just _a_ dark lord.
A self-repairing bridge for your evil army you say? Holy shit am I ever adding this to my game. I already put my players through a dungeon in which every room was mirrored, one being real, the other being filled with mimics. They'll love it.
My group is composed entirely of DMs for other games, so it can be difficult to surprise each other. So when a mimic in a tomb we explored for a one shot offered to spare our underleveled lives if we cpuld make a deal with him, we were shocked. My wizard convinced the mimic he'd bring people and/or game in every week for it to eat *and* give it a snack (his arm) for it to eat right now in exchange for access to the library of the wizard who made the tomb. Now the mimic is his familiar and people and pets go missing from time to time.
What's the arm situation looking like? We talking full-metal automail? We talkin using mage hand as a replacement outside of combat? We talkin peg-arm?
The fact that this Mimic has the same name as Alexander the Great's legendary horse gives me life. I was not expecting that to be the name it spoke but I am so glad it did
I once ran a town of mimics. town had disappearances, party went exploring. split the party only for one member to get attacked by a lightpost he was leaning on. meanwhile the others realized that cupboard in one person's house was actually part of the wall, the mimic had eaten a hole in the wall and then replaced both cupboard and wall behind it. soon it was a race as the whole town started coming to life, coins and fenceposts and wagon wheels skittering and trundling at them. mounted a grand defense in the center of town until they went rumbling off into the woods come daytime.
I had a pet mimic... (after very determined effort and some excellent animal handling roles) it was like Rincewinds luggage! He carried my stuff, kept it safe from sticky fingers and I kept him fed..regularly and plentifully! Gosh i miss that ravenous little guy.
My favorite interpretation of mimics comes from Dungeon Meshi. Basically, mimics there are hermit crabs that make various objects their temporary homes.
Man it started so strong and light hearted in-spite of its subject matter started to get way too serious around the third or fourth book instead of embracing it’s ludicrous nature…what a waste of a fun concept.
I like to homebrew that mimics are adolescent dopplegangers and only when they eat enough humanoids they grow large and smart enough to be considered a doppleganger
Reminds me of when my party and I trapped some mimics in a bag of holding, named them all "Clyde", and went around threatening people with the "Clyde Collective".
I actually made an encounter based around “How big can mimics be?” This was inspired by the ice cream lady from the Sponge-bob Movie. You enter the small town of Cimim, which is strange because it’s not marked on any maps you have come across before. *Interacting with an object, the player must make a dc 10 athletics check. Success results in the Mimic battle *Interacting with a person requires a dc 8 performance check. On success, Mimic battle, otherwise the person ignores you. Mimic battle: toss AS MANY MIMICS AT THE PLAYERS AS POSSIBLE. If the battle lasts more than 15 rounds, the ground starts to shake, and giant 30ft teeth begin to surround the town (if there are gaps, in the teeth and wether you tell the players about the time limit is up to you). If the players fail to escape the town by the time the mouth closes, the town begins to fill up with a lake of acid. Breaking through the wall of the Town Mimic requires a DC 17 strength check, or DC 15 ranged/melee spell attack. (If they escape and the town gets up and begins to chase them, is up to you)
I once ran upon a small mimic colony that essentially adopted the job of a bridge troll. They made up the bridge towards a small city that was built into the side of a cliff, said bridge being the only way in. The mayor demanded a toll for everyone crossing it and the mimics would aid in enforcing that rule as well as keep enemies out. As payment they simply got food (more or less half of each fee would be spent on stuff for them to eat) and the privilege to devour anyone who refused to pay up.
I've always wanted to play a mimic, with the idea being the mimic is in the shape of a suit of armour, it swallows up bodies to give the appearance of being a person until the body decays enough that they need to release it and find a new one.
Story time! One of the best sessions I've ever played in or DM'd was a session I ran where part of our party couldn't make it, so they picked a job from a 'help' board in the tavern. They chose to help a little old lady who had a huge house spider in her basement. The woman couldn't offer much, but promised to give them what she could. As they ventured into her cluttered basement, everything seemed fine - until they got into the root cellar. There was a house spider - a medium-size mimic that was the runt of the litter and was a dollhouse with spider legs. It attacked, and they defended themselves... at which point I had a bunch of mimics - crates, jars, etc. - all attack. They fought their way out, then a rogue haggled on payment. While the rogue they realized she didn't have much, other party members realized the infestation may not be limited to the basement. They ended up escorting the old lady while she packed her important belongings - keeping an eye out for mimics, including some baby mimics that were pieces of clothing - then had her move in with her children. Finally, they burned the house down, standing guard at the doors to make sure none escaped. A one-off from a prompt generator turned into a 'secretly saving the town' story we wouldn't forget.
I had a chat with a DM about the most evil uses for a mimic. My favorites were: 1. Disguise as a dead body. Adventurers will NEVER resist looting a fellow fallen adventurer in a cave or ruin. 2. As a ladder. A particularly devious mimic will break a necessary ladder and then assume its form. It's super reliable and can potentially split the party if it uses this ability at an inconvenient time.
This is how I realize my dream of The Californ Hotel- A giant mimic colony living in the desert that tempts weary travelers in, letting some go to tell the story, eating others. The only way to escape it is to test your knowledge of the greatest '80's rock hits...
A 3.5 campaign I was in some years back had an encounter with a mimic.... unfortunately for the mimic, it happened to stick itself to the party's grapple build barbarian. Very much a "I'm not stuck in this grapple with you, you're stuck in this grapple with me" situation.
My players have been lugging a mimic around for a while now, occasionally feeding it defeated enemies or unlucky goblins they befriend. They should probably be concerned it appears to be learning but I never accused them of having self preservation.
Ah yes, from his humble upbringing by Lizardfolk to his rite of passage into the School of Necromancy and his eventual addition to Team Funsize, replacing the prior dearly departed Johann Von Generico. RIP
You know, this is funny. My players just befriended the Mimics from Dragon of Icespire Peak (if you played it you know which one ;) instead of murdering it. It was a great subversion to the trope and my players' hearts melted when the suspicious wooden shield by the slippery bridge next to the waterfall changed its message from "slippery when wet" to "Family" when asked what it wants. So the mimic has been adopted.
one of my players IS a mimic! as the player says, his char is chaotic hungry (chaotic evil, but more leaning towards chaotic than evil) its very fun and sometimes game breaking since he is a shapeshifter, doing things like turning into a 10ft board to act as a bridge for his companions (who let him munch on bandit and cultist corpses, its an all "monster" party) or turning into a corpsebag to hide among other corpses for perfect stealth. its fun and sometimes headache inducing, but there are ways to counter him. he cannot turn into objects that classify as large UNLESS he drank a potion of Growth or whatever its called, he once used that to turn into a diving bell btw, his class is monk and i let his bite attacks count as unarmed attacks (same damage but piercing instead of bludgeoning), he sometimes lucks out REALLY hard with his flurry of blows and obliterates an enemy in 1 turn, i then let him describe how he obliterates the enemy. yes, its a graphic campaign with some gruesome encounters, like the current dungeon the players are in, where dragon cultists gathered piles upon piles of dead corpses to use in necromatic rituals to create undead corpse behemoths. I really love the ideas my co DM has for this arc (a player becomes my Co dm when its the players characters arc, although i still do most of the heavy lifting since im better at dming))
@@micahwest3566 it is the current endgoal for the end of the campaign is to have them fight inside a GIANT mecha Tarrasque against the dragon cult leader that infused himself with the majority of the energy of the prime chromatic dragons (the very first ones) and trying to superimpose and become Tiamat with the bonus infusion of this planets Tarrasques energy, turning into a multiheaded draconig abomination. I hope to be able to make it a bossfight in the style of Grandia 2, where the boss is made up out of multiple parts you can destroy to take out those parts abilities or directly destroy the main body. maybe i will allow the campaign to continue after that but what would the players then look towards then? what would be their goals after that? also the mecha tarrasque would be kaiju level in size, probably even larger since it pierces the clouds when standing up. its an ancient super weapon created by a now extinct civilisation that tried to intimidate the gods with it in their hubris.
I’d also like to throw in the idea of a mimic sail ship for anyone running a nautical campaign, complete with rigging that strangles, sentient cannons and grappling hooks, and the ability to lurch upward and literally eat other smaller vessels ⛵️
Wow... mimics just jumped up to the most horrifying eldritch terror on my list. Whole cities turning into blood baths as people are consumed and shredded by the environment around them, hiding in a closet only to be surrounded by teeth and the last thing you hear is your own blood curdling scream of anguish... holy shit...
Кино
The Barkeeper asked why we carried weapons on us in the bar. I said "Mimics". The Barkeeper laughed, the party laughed, the table laughed, we killed the table. It was a good time.
Underrated comment.
@@gammothguy297 maybe cause it’s an overused meme..
@@nadiabairamis3854 Then it’s overused for a reason.
@@gammothguy297 I don’t disagree!! I love that meme.
@@nadiabairamis3854 I hadn't heard it before, just coz you've heard it before doesn't mean it's not worth saying.
Skenk Mcgank is a beautifully evil character. He is an inspiration.
The whole Mackgank family is
Yeah, but he's also so pleasant about it too. He's not dour evil, or megalomanic about it - it's just his job that he happens to love. His laugh would be more genuine than evil, even as it comes from truly evil things. It's not an act - it's a way of life. And Skenk loves life. Living the life he has, and taking the lives he doesn't.
He prefers the term "Cartoonishly Evil"
@@sechran "And taking the lives he doesn't"
*~Slow clap~* I lost it.
It's a crime that there isn't a playlist of his adventures and lessons thus far.
Once played a character who was raised by an enormous sapient mimic that took the form of an orphanage.
The mimic was genuinely altruistic and cared for the kids (think Danny the Street from Doom Patrol), only eating with a mouth in the basement of a nearby butcher shop that a couple of the orphans who grew up there ran for that purpose of feeding them. For the sake of privacy and trying to minimize the freakiness of living inside a sapient creature, they'd only see and speak from statues, busts, paintings, and other stuff with a clearly recognizable face. Unless there was an emergency of course. Once someone broke in to kidnap a kid, tentacles formed from the walls and floor to beat the guy senseless then spit him out the window.
All the orphans helped keep the mimic a secret, since if word got out it would probably lead to people assuming the mimic was eating kids, followed by adventurers showing up to kill the 'monster'.
Damn that’s incredibly creative
That's really cool! I once came up with an adventuring village housed inside a trench coat of holding. A single party inhabited at first but over time they accumulated a town's worth of people and creatures and I could see a benevolent mimic orphanage being a resident there.
@@Banchoking I love that idea too!
I was actually thinking of Danny the Street myself after watching this!
That's awesome as hell! Sounds like a slightly more horrifying Hogwarts, except in this case the school actually doesn't want to murder and devour children.
My wizard found a "baby" mimic. Decided to raise it as my familiar, which turned out to be a lot of trouble. But eventually, I had a handbag that contained my spellbook, gold, and other small valuable trinkets that would bite the hand off of anyone who reached in who didn't smell like lavender. Yes, my wizard would use Presti to flavor her hand to bypass the mimic defenses.
Sigh...I miss Bitey.
That is a stroke of genius.
The person who designed their chest to look suspiciously like a mimic so no one would steal their shot had the right idea
Mimics only add one thing to dnd in vanilla, scaring all players into thinking every chest is a mimic. But having you're big evil boss's army have speedily buildable war machines and bridges that is cool. They could even set up a bunch of mimics as grass and earth so when the first wave comes they are devoured by the very earth under their feet
mimics can only be brown like wood or grey like stone. they are unable to copy other colors, so they couldn't be grass. a mimic's transformation isn't magical, it's a biological process and is thus limited to the biology of the mimics. a mimic chest will never have metal fasteners, a mimic door will never have a glass handle.
If you're encountering mimics disguised as chests, your DM is either uncreative or they're setting you up for the big mimic.
However that leads players to assume everything is a mimic. But the example in this video of an out of place "clean" item, plus some context clues feels fair.
@@scottbarrie1279 My favorite is a mimic disguised as a wooden floor in an old run down shack. If the mimic is big enough, it can be the entire shack.
@@Sparrow_Bloodhunter so in Sloanes scenario, you'd have a field of busted trees and medium/large rock formations and it would still work. Just not as grass. Also, homebrew rules, and I'd love to see more complex versions of mimics, that could transform into various other materials. Maybe they would have to like, ancient mimics that have been around for 1000s of years before they get the ability to change their mimic makeup
@@scottbarrie1279 Does that first statement about being uncreative for using Mimic chests apply to first time DMs who are just getting their feet wet in the world of running a campaign or do they get a free pass? 🤔
Skenk Mcganc is quick becoming the final boss of a D&D campaign. Murderer of innocents and downtrodden heroes, backstabber of friends, a necromancer with an army of undead, and now an army of mimics.
Watch he finally gets foiled not by a bunch of epic adventurers, but some low level adventurers dismantle his armies, destroyed his back-up clones, and gave his brother a charlie horse by sheer luck
he would be hilarious to encounter, especially since instead of monologuing he tries to reasonably discuss things with you. All while setting up his own traps.
with revive action for a payback campaign.
I'm pretty sure he was the BBEG of Trevor's campaign, even if Trevor lost the campaign.
@@enixxe Don't say that! Trevor could always be reincarnated! XD
Point of contention, Mimics are listed as "neutral" not "evil." and I suspect their diet is not limited to adventurers. You live in a dungeon as an ambush predator, you can't be particular about the things you eat.
I favor the idea that mimics are only aggressive because they are hungry predators. With proper socialization, even low intelligence animalistic mimics can be tamed and are no more intrinsically dangerous than wolves. Intelligent talking mimics, meanwhile, are people who can be dealt with as people. They seem rare only because they don't usually broadcast their nature to the world. That woodcutter whose a bit weird and really likes his steak? Mimic. Bank owner who always seems to be inside the vault inventorying things and escorting patrons? Mimic ( as is the vault).
"I'm going to seduce the chest."
"Ok... On your way to seducing the chest, you're grappled by the cabinet who likes to shout their name."
Freaking dittos.
BuCEPHaluuus!
You know, this sort of situation could also apply to bards.
Think about it.
Floopsy the Troubadour and his mimic harem.
I love the blink-and-you-miss-it Coin Mimic Skenk is holding
The chest is an interesting idea. Make it look like a badly disguised mimic to ward off low-level adventurers and keep the goods safe.
Adventurer: If you're a mimic, you HAVE to tell me if I ask.
Chest: There's no law that says that!
. . . wait. Ah, sh*t.
Some dude :Oh damn. The front wheel of my cart broke.
McGenk: Animate dead can solve this
a magical trinket shop was selling a hat that could transform into any hat on command. He claimed it was a transmuting hat, but detect magic did not register any magic on the hat at all, and yet it did transform. The merchant offered the players one common magical item or magical trinket of their choice from his shop in exchange for running the tailor out of business.
The ranger picked the hat. Over the next week the Ranger noticed his packed rations going missing, and even after a zone of truth no one fessed up to eating them. They camped every night in a tiny hut, so they knew it wasn’t some animal sneaking in. The ranger figured it out, and began feeding the hat directly, it kept it a secret from the other players.
I ran a game where the pc's found an abandoned fishing village, only to later to witness benches, tables, anvils and drawers all meet in the square to discuss living there and raising more babies. The babies were disguised as envelopes and coin purses. It was a delight watching my players sweat bullets trying to avoid just about everything in the town.
I can't believe how nobody is talking about the death of Norp. He was too beautiful and trusting for this world. I'm hope he and Billy are having fun in whatever plane of existence they got sent to.
my innkeeper is a lvl 20 druid, he's managed to convince an entire colony of mimics to act as his inn. He feeds them the people who try to start shit with him.
Im stealing this for my game
You could always just find a Genius Loci, they are basically giant super mimics that spawn into existence in magic rich areas that have been abandoned or untouched. They developed a personality that mirrors the first sentient being that enters their area. And develop a close relationship with said being.
They can be anywhere between the size of a large building or as big as a forest, heck they can even be as large as a small moon.
As long as it's large, magically rich, and no sentient creature is there it can develop a Genius Loci!
Make a cult whose crazed leader believes it's a extension of himself and proof of his godhood!
Make it a magical friendly forest that was discovered by a kind priest and is thus kind and helpful.
Or make it a giant castle that is now lumbering through the country side ruled by the kobalt king who discovered it and is now using it to conquer the continent. (He was just a random kobalt when he found it)
"don't start none. Won't be none."
Pub rules:
Pay your tab.
Violence outside (NO EXCEPTIONS).
F*** AROUND= FIND OUT.
We DO NOT TALK ABOUT FIGHT CLUB.
One of the more fun characters I've played in DnD was a 'mimic' character named "Chest". He was a treasure chest. Who sprouted arms and legs to move. Circle of the Lands druid, so he had some shapeshifting, and the Faceless background so he could turn into his alter ego: "Crate". Yes, it worked _exactly_ how you think it did. His backstory was basically he lived in a dungeon for a while, kept seeing it get looted by adventurers and his buddies getting killed repeatedly. His take: "Okay, _clearly_ these adventurers know what's up, I'mma go join them instead." So, he made his way into town and registered as an adventurer. Then he found out "Oh hey, If I do this 'adventuring' stuff I get lots of gold and can use that to buy meat/food. Awesome."
gold can be exchanged for goods and services
"so, let me get this clear. you are saying I am encouraged to eat ALL the goblins and you will give me MORE food for that? this 'work' thing sounds awesome."
@@AkiKii519 Oh it gets better. Chest's means of melee combat was a Cantrip called "Primal Savagery" (the _other_ druid melee spell) which causes the caster to grow teeth and/or claws and deal acid damage. So yes, he _was_ regularly making _acidic bite attacks_ ... leaping acidic bite attacks on several notable occasions.
I once played a mimic pretending to be an anime girl. The “girl” looked oddly wooden and doll-like. Technically the cloak “she” was wearing was the mimic’s actual body with red button eyes, and the “girl” was its shapeshifted tongue. It was incredibly creepy and didn’t understand the concept of morality so it ate people a lot.
This is amazing
Remember, mimics can impersonate so many things! Coffins! Wardrobes! Outhouses! Bookshelves! Shoes! Bathtubs! Outhouses! First aid kits! Bags of marbles! Sinks! Outhouses! Buckets! Outhouses!
Don’t forget doors and windows.
Definitely outhouses. There's nothing like catching your players with their pants down.
@@ntolman You forgot about the outhouse.
I once ran a mimic that impersonated an entire horse-drawn carriage, driver and all. Super fun.
"Step inside, Travellers! Rest your weary bones and I'll take you to your next destination free of charge!"
@@TinySwanGrandAdventures The driver melds into the body of the carriage, promising the gang that he knows a shortcut.
It's like that icecream-stand-worm-thing from spongebob.
I'd've least made it multiple.
ive had an idea for a while of a neutral mimic colony that runs, or more accurately is a tavern. all the staff, including the bartender are walking amorphous vaguely humanoid (to fit the guests' expectations) mimics. but the whole building and everything in it is made of mimics, down to the furniture, the dishes and silverware and anything else. which means the Furniture can change itself or rearrange at the guest's request. The colony facilitates people because gold is useful to buy food, but its favorite guests are adventurers, because it can do trade with them, giving them free services in return for bringing it the monsters they slay to feed it. the tavern can also protect itself pretty well, and any patrons who try to swindle, attack it, or make to much of a ruckus, usually aren't seen again.
Great idea!
I'll be using this if you don't mind
@@OrangeColt yeah of course! go ahead
Particularly rowdy customers just get eaten where they stand
That’s pretty dope
Personally I would have a mimic colony at the beck and call of an illusionist villain that uses them for stuff like turning into physical objects in a mostly illusory space or landscape to further sell the illusion. You know, real mysterio shit.
a mimic collective, a huge air elemental, earth elemental, fire elemental and water elemental all team up. you arrive at a town in a valley by a lake with a mountain on the opposite side, the clouds look beautiful in the bright morning sun. you get to the town and as grognak steps his foot into the city limit he finds himself glued to the road. roll for initiative as the scenery comes to life to kick your ass.
Holy shit. I’m doing this.
Our DM had made several stores for the party to go and purchase items at. One of them was a magic items shop. Upon entry, nobody is at the counter, a chest is at the side of the counter, and there are dozens upon dozens of items strewn about the store, swords, armor, shields, tankards, scrolls. You name it. Our warlock investigates the counter,, attempting to find some service while the party starts examining.
The Warlock goes behind the counter until a sharp 'Stay on the other side, Please' - and a big THUD of the Chest jumping and landing on the counter. The Warlock screams, the Chest screams, we rush forward, screaming. - And we discover that the owner of the store is a Mimic, of whom is very friendly and is happy to do trade with the Party. . . And then we come to realize that every single item in the store is a Mimic. The Armor, Mimic. The Weapons, Mimics. The Scrolls -(Were scrolls)-.
We ended up buying a Great Club, named Billy. A Morningstar named Crash. A Satchel named Big Lug who was a bag of Holding, but required to be fed lest he eat a stored item. Two Twinned Machetes named Hack and Slash. A 'Wood' Shield named Gripply, Beloved twin daggers Stibbity and Stabbity, an Estoc Rapier named Quip, and a small satchel named Eggy.
They ALL had unique abilities associated with them, all were sentient, and the DM said that they would progressively level up alongside us the players so long as we took care of them.
The Entire Party had Mimic equipment that all willingly chose to come with the party, and we all paid a handsome price for the opportunity. Then we all devised ways to buy more later for our home. Good game...
That took a different turn than I expected. Sounds like it was a fun campaign.
Awesome idea! What sort of abilities?
@@maxwilliamson3701 Eggy, the satchel would allow you to retrieve and use an item as a free action.
Gripply, the shield. Would, if the person targetting the wearer got a crit failure, steal their weapon and inflict a 1d4 bite attack. Then fling the weapon away.
Billy the great club could have his head flung at an enemy. Allowing our barbarian a ranged attack that dealt Great Club damage and on a hit, if the target failed a con save. Would be knocked prone from a giant mouth chomping on their face. And youd have to retrieve the head to return to foing damage, as it would turn into a quarter staff weapon when you did that.
This is amazing!
People always suspect the chest, but no one ever prematurely stabs a door…
great way to stop adventurers from even entering a treasure room!
I just realized that I have a fighter in my party that always checks doors by trying to hear things on the other side
@@matapavosgamer Hope he doesn't like his ear.
@@matapavosgamer There is a monster in Hackmaster that messes with players that do this, it basically flies out of the door and burrows into thier head when they go listen through the door or look through the key hole. Then there's doors made out of treants that are like super pissed off about the whole thing and combative.
one of my favorite dm moments was a mimic that contained a mimic key, a seed of life if you will for mimics. my party had a habit of holding onto all sorts of crap for sessions. imagine my surprise when they immediately use it on the door to the top of their tower. turning the door into a mimic. they failed to pacify it and had to have a carpenter come by for a new door.
Someone at my table is playing a wizard who has a mimic spellbook. Lots of fun shenanigans
I never thought about a mimic spell book. thats amazing
It would be especially funny if the Wizard thinks that it's a normal spellbook, and that it's normal for spellbooks to demand food.
Bonus points if the mimic is smarter than the wizard and is manipulating them.
@@DarkKnightofIT The PC is actually the mimic who is using the wizard as a front for his operations!
The Monstrous Book of Monsters.
We had a 5e Spelljammer game with very strong Pratchettean/Red Dwarf vibes.
We came across a group of sentient mimics, and adopted them mostly by accident. I think our non-verbal warforged cleric convinced them to be friendly by donating a few rolls of toilet paper to the chest, and we sent them redshirts every now and then to keep them satisfied once they joined the crew.
Eventually it was discovered that this universe's mimics are constructed from sapient pearwood, which happened to be what we wanted to build a new, more powerful, ship from. One of them volunteered to become the "ship's computer", getting a sex-change in the process.
It made sense at the time, but it seems a bit weird in hindsight.
Make a deal with a group of mimics. Pretend to be a merchant. Travel where bandits are, mimics pretend to be boxes and creates...get paid to kill bandits, mimics eat. Bandits are dead
I'm sad when I started reading this I assumed utter evil. Like worst case scenario.... And I was wrong...
That's epic.
Nom nom
Interestingly, in one of our campaigns, the party did actually befriend a mimic. He now lives in the basement, serving loyally as garbage/corpse disposal. His name is Gym, and we love him very much.
Imagine if he turns into a suit of armor to fight with the party. Gym the Knight might fit in surprisingly well.
@@coyraig8332 homebrew rules would allow it, but in pure vanilla, all mimics are incredibly heavy, like a regular chest sized mimic is 400lbs. also, im not sure how effective theyd be as armor unless you get incredibly close to someone and your armor all of a sudden takes a bite out of them. would be intersting tho
@@gideonclark8629 (I mainly did it as a projared joke but it was funnier in my head)
@@gideonclark8629 They're sticky right, just have your armor grapple for you or use it to disarm people
Same. Ours is named Peanut Butter.
One of my best moments was having the party work for a shady guy at an inn in the middle of nowhere: for their final job, they stole an artifact from a convoy, and brought it back to the inn, where it would be sent to places unknown. Just as they were leaving, an angry young dragon landed right in front of the inn, intent on getting his artifact back by smashing the whole thing.
Then the inn bit the dragon by the neck, and snapped it, with a sickening crunch. The party started running, and never looked back.
This inspired me. I really love the idea of a traveling merchant that travels dangerous roads and safely does so because of the mimic they keep in the back. Any time there's danger they just BAMF out, abandoning the cart, and let the bandits' greed take care of the rest.
That's a fire idea I really wish I could play dnd but it's a bit to far for me to get to any and work
I had the idea for a human shaped mimic to play as. It would link up with adventurers to lure out it's favorite food....goblins. I was gonna play it like they were just a really weird and quiet person. It would also have a horrible The Thing transformation sequence when it was eating time. I was gonna make sure only the dm knew, as well.
I had my rogue once promising marriage to an armour stand mimic with a beautiful hanger in order to escape the mimic without a fight. I laughed so hard that I rolled with it. I also created the hanger mimic later on.
That’s a weird warp of Corpse Bride
My goblin sat on a mimic disguised as a chair. It attempted to grapple her, but due to her being a barbarian grappled it instead.
The mimic thus subdued quietly replaced her backpack because that’s where all the snacks are kept.
Well done you asserted your dominance and gained a mimic friend.
So funny story. Mimics capable of speech, rational thought and bargaining are actually called Common Mimics, because they are, as the name suggests, the most common members of their species, having been cultivated by wizards and what-have-you to guard their shit, although the exact origins of the Mimic as a species have been lost to the ages, although old lore suggests that Mimics have a common origin based on their language and dialect having developed over time based on traceable patterns similar to human language. However, because they usually don't have much cause to leave whatever dungeon or cavern they live in because there's usually enough bugs, rats, and stray adventurers for them to survive, and they're usually in some kind of contract, magical or otherwise, to stay in that area, ecounters with these intelligent Mimics are decisively rare. The other type, sometimes referred to as Lesser Mimics or Feral Mimics, are basically mutants with the intelligence of a wild animal; they can't speak, be reasoned with, or even really trained, but they also tend to be the Mimics that will be most frequently encountered as they are pushed out of their natural hunting grounds by their older and smarter brethren, and are generally the only type of Mimic you will encounter on the surface. This is ironic given that both varieties of Mimic dislike the bright light of the surface, but the Lesser Mimic is so compelled by its instincts that it will take its chances on the surface rather than wait patiently in a dungeon for a light snack in between adventuring parties.
A rule of thumb by the way is that while you might be able to bargain with a Common Mimic, and they are typically good conversationalists, they will still try to eat you if they are hungry and you leave yourself vulnerable. In all due likelihood, the generally welcoming personality of the Common Mimic was probably cultivated to keep their masters entertained, while also making intruders more likely to let their guard down.
Sauce? I have only heard MrRhexx video on Mimics before and I am hungry for more - not a mimic probably
@@0_Body MrRhexx and AJ Pickett are my go-to sources for detailed D&D lore, because I do not have the time or budget to go finding old D&D corebooks, supplementary books, novels, and obscure articles from gaming magazines from like 20 or 30 years ago. And again, it's usually old lore that just hasn't been touched on in decades. Like Red Dragons refusing to have sex in human form, even though they can and will have sex with humans...
Good video on this phenomenon would be MrRexx's "what they dont tell you about minics" video.
[Wakes up to feeling something biting my feet]
Gods damn it Mimik, I told you there was food in the Bag of Holding!
I honestly thought the mimic was going to be the sword.
Damn. The idea of the whole town of mimics... It's horrifying.
It's in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. It's such a fucking cool idea.
Bucephalus will not permit nicknames
i love the idea of a mimic trader that sells the items its gotin from eating adventurers to others for gold or food. i just like the idea of trading with a sentient treasure chest that eats people theres something fun about that.
Aight time to add a wandering emporium that is just a mimic colony
@@ted5610 :D nice mimic love
this just gave me an idea for an adventure where a giant colony of thousands of Mimics form a village and castle occupied by a figure who appears to be a classic invisible man style character, constantly wearing bandages all over his body, also sometimes appearing to be invisible, terrorising the residents of the village and drawing in parties of adventurers to be feasted on by the mimics. The final revelation is that the invisible man is not in fact an invisible man, but rather a bunch of mimics transforming into the clothes and bandages to imitate such a man, with the cases where he seemed ‘invisible’ in fact being the mimics encompassing the area, well, mimicking his voice and actions.
do you know of critical role season 2 the last area of the campaign its basically that but made from a bunch of people
>The Entire town is a mimic
Dear God
Went through a dracolich lair with a party of friends. The lair was also a mimic colony. It was a very tedious 8 hour session.
The entire campaign, your characters included, is a mimic.
I have a shop in my homebrew world that is a mimic that became a shop table. It puppets a big breasted elf puppet to lure in adventurers and only wants gold. It sells the gear of dead adventures to get more gold.
*Gasp* Diabolical.
My party adopted a miniature mimic after it accidentally trapped itself inside of their bag of holding. It was a kleptomaniac, so they kept finding extra gold in it's little nest (sometimes including their own if they didn't hide their coin pouches before sleeping).
Awwwwww
An untold rule of mimics is that if you ask if they are a mimic, they must answer in some way.
Well are you?
We had one guarding our cart,.. portable body disposal and item storage. It now mimics a suit of Armour outside the castles throne room in the town we inadvertently became rulers of after all the nobles were killed
* Builds massive moving bridge for undead army.
* Bridge eats army as it crosses.
You could use skeletons.
It doesn't say they don't eat the bones.
You all meet in a tavern sitting at a table reserved by the quest giver
Party starts making jokes about what the quest giver will look like
The table laughs and says "Looks like you all are here"
My party befriended the mimic in the death house after the chef bard (funnily enough named Beaucephalus) gave it some food. They named it Faux Dgeorge (fake door). He's a 3rd level monk now, and also a dhampir.
I had an infamous Pirate in one of my games and as my adventurers aproached him he was being attacked by a bronze Dragon. They didn't interfere with the situation because they didn't feel like being spitroasted for some criminal's sake but then when the Pirate finally lured the Dragon on his ship it was overwhelmed by the ship itself as it slowly, painfully, devoured the the giant lizard for nutrition.
The Mimic ship was a fun toy for brewing in the campaign as describing its actions was somewhat creepy but with time the party grew on it and its fun banter with the Captain, where he would complain that the chewed on whale corpses where leaving a trail and it would respond by reminding him he didn't have any crewmates left for sacrifice so it would do what it pleased.
MIMICS CAN BE FRIEND SHAPED
Murder mystery campaign where it turns out the real murderer is the castle cuz its one giant mimic
I assume that detective novels in the forgotten realms are basically all like the X-files.
Blood thirsty creature: *exists*
Party member: "I'm gonna make you my pet"
Not blood thirsty, just hungry... and creepy...
I made a western D&D where a member of the party bought a mimic gun. Basically a mimic that ate gunpowder so the guy would feed it bullets and it would spit out the shrapnel like a normal gun. Difference was the more he bonded with it the more it would help him aim (he could get up to a +3).
Now I'm making a pirate D&D.
Isnt this Gunther from enter the gungeon? I love this
Thanks to the sidekick rules in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, you can (DM permitting) have a juvenile mimic as a travel companion that levels up with your group. The juvenile mimic stat block is conveniently located in Tasha's in the environmental hazards section p.167.
a whole city made of mimic??
now that is nightmare fuel
Sounds like the inspiration for Cognoza
Dude there is a moon thats a mimic in 5e. Perfect flawless hungry city.
Skenk's officially reached BBEG status, we're so proud.
Didn't he already do that in the video with the Help Action?
Idea moment.
Your character carries a fancy looking bag with them. It can store stuff in it just like any other bag, except now, nobody can really steal anything from it. In other words, that new fancy bag is actually a mimic that eats anyone who tries to pick pocket it's owner.
One of my players in my last game kept talking about this backpack mimic that was essentially a magical item that just sort of stopped other creatures from stealing from you. So I had them encounter this Ethereal Filcher, which was working with a mimic to kill anyone that had magical items on them. They killed the filcher, fed the mimic with goblin bodies and after like the 5th one, I had him hork up a baby mimic like the walkers in Tremors 2. Kutz, the main mimic, was indifferent to its offspring, so the player took it and named it Herbert. It's literally his adopted son now.
Sounds like keeping a Tiger cub... cute and cuddly until it turns into 300lbs of murder
@@3L3C7R0N0 The perfect pet for murder hobos?
Actually the player himself was kind of brand new to D&D, and sort of wound up being a morally questionable character. Because I was playing off of the idea that kids tend to either emulate their parents, or go against them and their teens, this particular mimic is more of a good guy than his father is. He's actually saved the party a couple of times, because I happen to roll well. He's also staying a baby for quite a while because from what I read mimics age pretty slowly.
Awwwwwwwww
Oh, that Mimic Bridge is going on all of my random encounter tables for the rest of time.
I ran a game where the players went into an underground stronghold that held a vault. At the entrance was a couple of guards that they killed and farther down the hall was an elderly man starved that asked the players to free him. The guards strangely didn't have the keys as you would assume they would. So one plan was to bend the bars, they looked rickety and unkept. One of the players passed rations through the bars and became stuck to the bars.
It was a trap, a mimic. The players had been slightly suspicious, but had never guessed this mimic to angler fish them into its maw. A horizontal line appeared across the bars as they split apart, the bars becoming teeth. The elderly mans limbs became tongue tendrils as they yanked the player inside the cage to be devoured. Combat instantly broke out and the fighter pulled out the sorcerer. They pummeled it into the ground. The players were excited. They hadn't expected it and ran through theories of what they thought the trick was going to be with the man in the cage.
They never expected it was a mimic.
In second edition there was a mimic called a House Hunter
the small ones would be about 10' tall where the more Ancient ones would range about 30'-40' tall and are very...very scary it's also stated that they develop a hard shell that they use to look like buildings. A fun adventure idea would be a "haunted house" sort of set up when it's really something much more terrifying while the treasure of the location is in it's belly.
I may have to GM the party and convince them to enter one *evil plotting*
That was actually a Halloween one shot our DM did a few years back with the mimic based on Montser House!
The key for a successful town of mimics is twofold:
1: They can't stay in one place for long. If they do, enough people are going to go missing, and enough stories about a town that 'suddenly appeared' will start to circulate. This will inevitably attract a lot of the staby, burny attention that gets mimics killed.
2: They have to pick their prey properly. Not everything that enters you should be considered prey, since particularly strong adventurers would wipe the town, and particularly fast ones would bring back trouble that will wipe the town. They need to let a few go, unaware that something was amiss, otherwise they'll bring more trouble on themselves than it's worth.
To use this encounter properly, you want to foreshadow it (the PCS recieve a tip about this town that suddenly appeared where none were before, as well as rumors about travelers and caravans going missing. When they go there, however, it's gone. Later on, after they've probably forgotten about it, have them find the town in a different spot, which they then take the time explore it), and lull the players in with a false sense of security (Don't spring the trap immediately. Instead, have the mimics and their doppleganger allies treat the party to a festival, some drinks and food, and a good night's sleep at really cheap rates. Then, have the party attacked by the building they're sleeping in during the night;).
If the players are paying attention, they'll pick up on the foreshadowing, and maybe a few hints during the festival that should tip them off (An improper manerism , an eye that suddenly closed on a building you get the drift). If they notice, it's a good encounter for a mid-level party. If they don't, well, this could be a deadly one for even high-level adventurers...
the festival and cheap inn is basically a giant warning klaxon that a town has a Dark Secret, if you really want to keep mimic town a secret scatter quest hooks around that coincedentally can only really be investigated the following day. if the party refuses and keeps digging a house loses it's patience and tries to eat them and you have a wacky fight scene
an equally funny possibility is that mimic town is home to a grazing mimic mutation and they're actually completely benign, but everything they do is extremely suspicious
@@Yinlock470 That's the point, though. You want to red flag things so that, when they lose characters, they have no one to blame but themselves.
This might be a fun murder mystery one shot where a travelers hub is founded but the founder is suspected to be murdered by one of the adventurers at night. Everyone investigates the town and every other another until the gig is up and a massive encounter with the whole hub attacks the adventurers. Makes a great final encounter for the day.
imagine a city that slowly crawls across the countryside as mimics shift around
i think this sort of village should be in a poorly mapped forrest or other area where such a thing could be hidden from any reasonable sightlines.
exceptionally rugged mountains may be another good choice.
One of my characters actually tamed one by biting it to assert dominance. We named him morningwood and I fed him stray cats
love when Skenk feeds a doggie biscuit to the mimic coin. Skenk Mcgank is every Player Character I adventured with in the late 80s after they reached level 18+. "Hey, can I use (x ability/spell) with (y monster) to do an obscenely cool thing?" My old community was the Strategic Games Society at Southern Illinois University and we had a bunch of players who put theories much like Skenk's into practice.
OOH! I USE MIMICS IN A SIMILAR WAY IN NY GAME! There’s a town full of mimics that share a symbiotic relationship with the people in it where the people basically maintain the well being of their mimics who take the shape of houses and roads and in exchange the mimics eat any would-be invaders as well as the occasional payment in livestock. The town itself is situated in a spot of decent strategic value so there’s always someone who wants to park their army there. It has a long standing reputation of being the home of “the only truly free people.”
I carried around a mimic that I had polymorphed into a quarter staff, if shit got dicey (get it?), I'd throw it at my enemies and pretend I was casting a forbidden spell, while in reality, I was just dropping the polymorph, and sicking my pet Mimic on some poor unsuspecting gobo.
"You ever feel like maybe we're a little, I dunno, cartoonishly evil?" lol
A mimic colony also known as how to permanently and irreparably scare your players
Paranoia ACTIVATE
i love how his wagon is pulled by skeleton legs
Its a mimic
I remember a druid in our party used to breed coin mimics and give them to beggars, guess her alignment.
Your druid is my Psion's spirit animal
@@mohammedalshirawi7584 She is a horror and terror unto her self
Neutral Evil!
@@videogollumer I mean the evil was obvious and the neutral was druidic:p
@@videogollumer Huh you guessed right
I have this concept of an entire town that's made up entirely of, like, 20 mimics and 8 or so changelings that just keep altering their configurations to simulate different parts of the town as the adventurers or merchants or whatever travel through it. The mimics feed on the bodies, the changelings steal their possessions, and then they all pack up into a bunch of wagons and move on down the road.
Man, this sounds creepy as fuck and I love it. I hope you don't mind if I use the idea for a campaign of mine!
Sounds more like a carnival, maybe? A bit less suspect than a settled town that springs up overnight, and it would be easy for changelings to put up various roadside attractions to attract victims.
@@havcola6983 Honestly I prefer a town for how ominous it can be at the time of the big reveal, but you're right. What can be done is that, instead of moving fast, it can move slow but on underpopulated areas close to roads and such, so only adventurers encounter it.
You can include it as a little adventure while travelling, so when they arrive to the destination (that I would put close after the town) someone would talk to them about the nature of this place, some details and such.
I was inspired by McGank to create a chaotic evil character. His name is Boomsie, he's a goblin wizard, he would take any risk to help out his friends, and he hopes to one day be a dark lord. Not _the_ dark lord, that's how you get killed; just _a_ dark lord.
We once fought a Mimic the size and shape of an entire tavern in one campaign.
A self-repairing bridge for your evil army you say? Holy shit am I ever adding this to my game. I already put my players through a dungeon in which every room was mirrored, one being real, the other being filled with mimics. They'll love it.
My group is composed entirely of DMs for other games, so it can be difficult to surprise each other. So when a mimic in a tomb we explored for a one shot offered to spare our underleveled lives if we cpuld make a deal with him, we were shocked. My wizard convinced the mimic he'd bring people and/or game in every week for it to eat *and* give it a snack (his arm) for it to eat right now in exchange for access to the library of the wizard who made the tomb. Now the mimic is his familiar and people and pets go missing from time to time.
Little Shop of Mimics
What's the arm situation looking like? We talking full-metal automail? We talkin using mage hand as a replacement outside of combat? We talkin peg-arm?
@@bodaciouschad ... or ... Mimic Arm!
@@chrisflanagan7564 Oof, now we are getting into that anime Parasyte levels of crazy ideas here.....
@@furiouskaiser9914 ... Yes!
The fact that this Mimic has the same name as Alexander the Great's legendary horse gives me life. I was not expecting that to be the name it spoke but I am so glad it did
I once ran a town of mimics. town had disappearances, party went exploring. split the party only for one member to get attacked by a lightpost he was leaning on. meanwhile the others realized that cupboard in one person's house was actually part of the wall, the mimic had eaten a hole in the wall and then replaced both cupboard and wall behind it. soon it was a race as the whole town started coming to life, coins and fenceposts and wagon wheels skittering and trundling at them. mounted a grand defense in the center of town until they went rumbling off into the woods come daytime.
I had a pet mimic... (after very determined effort and some excellent animal handling roles) it was like Rincewinds luggage! He carried my stuff, kept it safe from sticky fingers and I kept him fed..regularly and plentifully! Gosh i miss that ravenous little guy.
Gotta love Scank Mgank. He’s like the mischievous ‘leader’ of the party making sure he slowly comes out on top.
Gary Bucephalus... I had to make that joke.
My favorite interpretation of mimics comes from Dungeon Meshi. Basically, mimics there are hermit crabs that make various objects their temporary homes.
Man it started so strong and light hearted in-spite of its subject matter started to get way too serious around the third or fourth book instead of embracing it’s ludicrous nature…what a waste of a fun concept.
Actually had a fun idea to have an “abandoned” town that was really friendly to adventurers. The town is made of mimics.
I like to homebrew that mimics are adolescent dopplegangers and only when they eat enough humanoids they grow large and smart enough to be considered a doppleganger
if that's adolescent, what's a juvenile dopellganger?
@@DiamondAppendixVODs my guess is a smaller mimic
Bug coin mimics most likely, like that dungeon cooking manga showed
Look up DnD House Hunter, that's what I like to think is the adult stage
My dm has been throwing mercenaries with mimic swords at us
When the swords hit they do bonus damage because they take little bites
Reminds me of when my party and I trapped some mimics in a bag of holding, named them all "Clyde", and went around threatening people with the "Clyde Collective".
I actually made an encounter based around “How big can mimics be?”
This was inspired by the ice cream lady from the Sponge-bob Movie.
You enter the small town of Cimim, which is strange because it’s not marked on any maps you have come across before.
*Interacting with an object, the player must make a dc 10 athletics check. Success results in the Mimic battle
*Interacting with a person requires a dc 8 performance check. On success, Mimic battle, otherwise the person ignores you.
Mimic battle: toss AS MANY MIMICS AT THE PLAYERS AS POSSIBLE. If the battle lasts more than 15 rounds, the ground starts to shake, and giant 30ft teeth begin to surround the town (if there are gaps, in the teeth and wether you tell the players about the time limit is up to you).
If the players fail to escape the town by the time the mouth closes, the town begins to fill up with a lake of acid. Breaking through the wall of the Town Mimic requires a DC 17 strength check, or DC 15 ranged/melee spell attack.
(If they escape and the town gets up and begins to chase them, is up to you)
Easy there, Satan. What level is the party you want to sling this at?
@@smartestmoronx19 Depends on how much fun the DM wants to have.
I absolutely love Skank's bone-drawn carraige
The little pitter patter of the feet I'm dying
I once ran upon a small mimic colony that essentially adopted the job of a bridge troll. They made up the bridge towards a small city that was built into the side of a cliff, said bridge being the only way in.
The mayor demanded a toll for everyone crossing it and the mimics would aid in enforcing that rule as well as keep enemies out.
As payment they simply got food (more or less half of each fee would be spent on stuff for them to eat) and the privilege to devour anyone who refused to pay up.
I think a mimic colony would make a perfect setting for a horror campaign
DuckTales 2017 does this well.
I've always wanted to play a mimic, with the idea being the mimic is in the shape of a suit of armour, it swallows up bodies to give the appearance of being a person until the body decays enough that they need to release it and find a new one.
I don't see why not. Only problem I've seen with mimics are usual weak compared to others and rely on surprise attack.
"Hey, who turned out the lights?"
Story time! One of the best sessions I've ever played in or DM'd was a session I ran where part of our party couldn't make it, so they picked a job from a 'help' board in the tavern. They chose to help a little old lady who had a huge house spider in her basement. The woman couldn't offer much, but promised to give them what she could. As they ventured into her cluttered basement, everything seemed fine - until they got into the root cellar. There was a house spider - a medium-size mimic that was the runt of the litter and was a dollhouse with spider legs. It attacked, and they defended themselves... at which point I had a bunch of mimics - crates, jars, etc. - all attack. They fought their way out, then a rogue haggled on payment. While the rogue they realized she didn't have much, other party members realized the infestation may not be limited to the basement. They ended up escorting the old lady while she packed her important belongings - keeping an eye out for mimics, including some baby mimics that were pieces of clothing - then had her move in with her children. Finally, they burned the house down, standing guard at the doors to make sure none escaped. A one-off from a prompt generator turned into a 'secretly saving the town' story we wouldn't forget.
I had a chat with a DM about the most evil uses for a mimic. My favorites were:
1. Disguise as a dead body. Adventurers will NEVER resist looting a fellow fallen adventurer in a cave or ruin.
2. As a ladder. A particularly devious mimic will break a necessary ladder and then assume its form. It's super reliable and can potentially split the party if it uses this ability at an inconvenient time.
Outhouse. People step in voluntarily, and other people are averse to interfering once it's occupied, regardless of what they hear or smell.
I love the animate dead leg wagon.
This is how I realize my dream of The Californ Hotel- A giant mimic colony living in the desert that tempts weary travelers in, letting some go to tell the story, eating others. The only way to escape it is to test your knowledge of the greatest '80's rock hits...
that is dastardly evil and i love it. definitely gonna use it to rope in my friend
A 3.5 campaign I was in some years back had an encounter with a mimic.... unfortunately for the mimic, it happened to stick itself to the party's grapple build barbarian. Very much a "I'm not stuck in this grapple with you, you're stuck in this grapple with me" situation.
My players have been lugging a mimic around for a while now, occasionally feeding it defeated enemies or unlucky goblins they befriend.
They should probably be concerned it appears to be learning but I never accused them of having self preservation.
"Don't bite the hand that feeds you" is basic survival.
A fully animated movie of Skenk McGank's origins would be amazing.
Ah yes, from his humble upbringing by Lizardfolk to his rite of passage into the School of Necromancy and his eventual addition to Team Funsize, replacing the prior dearly departed Johann Von Generico. RIP
You know, this is funny. My players just befriended the Mimics from Dragon of Icespire Peak (if you played it you know which one ;) instead of murdering it. It was a great subversion to the trope and my players' hearts melted when the suspicious wooden shield by the slippery bridge next to the waterfall changed its message from "slippery when wet" to "Family" when asked what it wants. So the mimic has been adopted.
one of my players IS a mimic!
as the player says, his char is chaotic hungry (chaotic evil, but more leaning towards chaotic than evil)
its very fun and sometimes game breaking since he is a shapeshifter, doing things like turning into a 10ft board to act as a bridge for his companions (who let him munch on bandit and cultist corpses, its an all "monster" party) or turning into a corpsebag to hide among other corpses for perfect stealth. its fun and sometimes headache inducing, but there are ways to counter him. he cannot turn into objects that classify as large UNLESS he drank a potion of Growth or whatever its called, he once used that to turn into a diving bell
btw, his class is monk and i let his bite attacks count as unarmed attacks (same damage but piercing instead of bludgeoning), he sometimes lucks out REALLY hard with his flurry of blows and obliterates an enemy in 1 turn, i then let him describe how he obliterates the enemy. yes, its a graphic campaign with some gruesome encounters, like the current dungeon the players are in, where dragon cultists gathered piles upon piles of dead corpses to use in necromatic rituals to create undead corpse behemoths. I really love the ideas my co DM has for this arc (a player becomes my Co dm when its the players characters arc, although i still do most of the heavy lifting since im better at dming))
That is hilariously ridiculous. What a campaign!
@@micahwest3566 it is
the current endgoal for the end of the campaign is to have them fight inside a GIANT mecha Tarrasque against the dragon cult leader that infused himself with the majority of the energy of the prime chromatic dragons (the very first ones) and trying to superimpose and become Tiamat with the bonus infusion of this planets Tarrasques energy, turning into a multiheaded draconig abomination. I hope to be able to make it a bossfight in the style of Grandia 2, where the boss is made up out of multiple parts you can destroy to take out those parts abilities or directly destroy the main body. maybe i will allow the campaign to continue after that but what would the players then look towards then? what would be their goals after that?
also the mecha tarrasque would be kaiju level in size, probably even larger since it pierces the clouds when standing up. its an ancient super weapon created by a now extinct civilisation that tried to intimidate the gods with it in their hubris.
I’d also like to throw in the idea of a mimic sail ship for anyone running a nautical campaign, complete with rigging that strangles, sentient cannons and grappling hooks, and the ability to lurch upward and literally eat other smaller vessels ⛵️
Did that once, it was really fun.
Wow... mimics just jumped up to the most horrifying eldritch terror on my list. Whole cities turning into blood baths as people are consumed and shredded by the environment around them, hiding in a closet only to be surrounded by teeth and the last thing you hear is your own blood curdling scream of anguish... holy shit...