Dungeons and Dragons: Mimic

The Mimic is an iconic monstrosity that has featured in every edition of Dungeons & Dragons.
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#dungeons&dragons #monsters #DnD #mimic
aj pickett, the mighty gluestick, dungeons and dragons, roleplaying, tabletop, 5E, 5th edition, faerun, toril, forgotten realms, Eberron, pen and paper, Dungeons and dragons lore, monsters, magic, magic items, monster ecology, greyhawk, mystara, krynn, golarion, spelljammer, planescape, homebrew, live stream, Magic the Gathering, Wizards of the Coast, WotC, Ravnica, Ravenloft, Theros, Strixhaven, Fizban, Mordenkainen, Drizzt, cosmology, planescape, spelljammer, lore, stories, outer planes, elemental, artifact, toril, faerun

[@SwedishFox]

In my homebrew world every mimic is named after Ikea furniture.

[@AJPickett]

Lol, that is brilliant!

[@Hostile_Design]

Does this also assume that the regular-sized mimics are of the "lagom" variety? And that when they decide to split, that is simply because they no longer feel that they are sized in moderation :D?

[@mountedpatrolman]

So they all are missing parts?

[@johngleeman8347]

An elder brain mind-wiping a colossal mimic to use as an attack platform? My goodness give him the voice of Krang from TMNT and we're off to the races!

[@colegardener9129]

Love your ghoulish thought

[@reeceandben4876]

Oh God I can feel my vocal chords shredd(er)ing already hahaha

[@derskalde4973]

A little something I came up with: Behold, the *Bedling* A subspecies of mimic, that, as the name suggests, primarily mimic things like beds, bedrolls, etc (very rarely other things like an armchair, but always something you can comfortly sleep on/in). A creature that sleeps on a Bedling has nice, peaceful dreams and restful sleep (a wounded creature can heal up to 1d4 additional Hit Dice during a Rest while sleeping on a Bedling), but prolonged exposure to the Bedling (usually several weeks) will cause the creature to more easily getting tired and feeling exhausted faster. It gets harder to do physical tasks (disadvantage as deemed fit by the DM) and have to make a DC 15 wisdom saving throw every morning to wake up from their pleasant dreams. The Bedling is a psionic symbiote. It gains nutrition from the psychic energies created while a sentient creature, that is in physical contact with the Bedling, is dreaming, gaining more energy from nice dreams. It doesn't cause the negative effects out of malicious intend, it simply does not know better, and just wants creatures to sleep and dream on it (the Bedling could potentially be trained). It is usually peaceful and non-aggressive, unless threatened. When threatened, a Bedling will rather immobilize a creature and flee, only resorting to fight as a last option. It has a few innate magical abilities (psionic). I recommend: _sleep, blur, calm emotions, confusion, expeditious retreat_ (and optionally _phantasmal force_ )

[@Ghastly_Grinner]

So much innocent and nearly priceless furniture has been dammaged over the years due to us randomly firing an arrow into it as a "mimic check"

[@AJPickett]

The death toll on Gazebos has been particularly brutal.

[@johnboettcher1962]

House-sized mimics are FANTASTIC tropes. I started a campaign off once with one.

[@AJPickett]

Fun Fact, all the eyeballs the mimic emulates festooning its body, are just for intimidation... they do not see with Eyes, the see via photosensitive patches all over their body, including all over their extended pseudopods. Also, the common mimic has Grey body tissue and skin, why they are so often depicted as being purple or pink and fleshy is just artistic license, its never been reflected in the lore.

[@kullinnmeilleur-finn5734]

That’s ridiculous. The imagination involved with this game blows my mind.

[@LordM46]

Yeah, What I have heard in the mimics true form they more or less look like a rock or granite skinned slime creature, without the acid skin. Great video and great choice in monster AJ.

[@Undeadking42o]

You said that Mimics don't appear to breathe but do they need to breathe?

[@samaugust5447]

The author Neven Illiev has a really neat take on mimics in his series Everybody Loves Big Chests. The whole story revolves around a mimic gaining sentience and doing monstrous things.

[@AJPickett]

@@Undeadking42o yes, but they can go without air for weeks as they produce oxygen internally as a byproduct of their body creating acids. They don't so much suffocate as become starved of oxygen eventually.

[@mr.incorporeal7642]

I Once played a character who was raised by an enormous sapient mimic named Ishma who took the form of an entire orphanage. They were genuinely altruistic and cared immensely for those living within them (think Danny the Street from Doom Patrol if they took a more parental role in the lives of their residents). They only ate with a mouth in the basement of a nearby butcher shop that a couple of the orphans that grew up there ran for that purpose of feeding them, never anything that was still alive. They even sometimes joked they would go vegetarian if their biology would have allowed it. 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 members of the community who grew up at the orphanage helped keep the mimic a secret (not through nefarious means of course), since if word got out it would probably lead to people assuming the mimic was eating kids or something, followed by adventurers showing up to slay the 'monster'.

[@RotaFury]

This sounds awesome.

[@DamonDraven]

I'll incorporate this in my world for sure, it's an awesome idea for an adventure too!

[@immediateegret2120]

I'm currently playing a goliath who uses a smallish mimic as a backpack. It stays in the shape of a wood chest as that is the only form it currently knows how to take, and extends a pseudopod shifted to look like a chain around his torso to help keep it in place, along with its natural adhesive. Its name is Box. It understands basic commands, intellect on par with a (not so smart) dog. To retrieve items while Box is still stuck to his back, my goliath has to verbally request what he wants. At the DM's discretion I must roll to see if Box gives him the right item, gives him the wrong item, or ignores him.

[@DominicCuda]

Had a thought about making a whole haunted ghost town using a juvenile mimic colony, one or two house hunter mimics, a couple oblex, a couple wolf-in-sheep's-clothing, and a yellow musk creeper, and just have the whole town, including the plants, want to eat them.

[@SystemLordNemo]

What if entire town just appears from nowhere or perhaps it replaces already existing town (maybe the original town was burnt down) as semi accurate replica... The original town might have been birth place of some player characters.

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

Metal Mimics can imitate raw metals. So in theory, there could be an Ore Vein Mimic just waiting to decimate a Dwarven mining operation.

[@dylanjoyce8104]

The thing but its a dwarven mining outpost

[@zacharyhawley1693]

Dwarves do love to dig too deep after all.

[@Raso719]

Just this weekend I made a ship that was adrift at sea, filled with Mimics in the guise of chairs, desks and chests. Also the ship itself was a giant mimic. I modeled my mimics off of extra dimensional mollusks who make both fibrous and chitinous shells to disguise themselves. When the ship's mast became a set of arms and they were thrown into the cagohold which was filled wall to wall with treasure chest Mimics that's when shit got real!

[@Purple.mind...Honored.one.]

The real reason so many people are disappearing in New York, The entire city is one mimc, Every skyscraper every trashcan every tree...

[@Balcamion79]

I used a gargantuan mimic (mountain sized actually) that had been exposed to energy from the Far Realm as my bbeg. It was tired of taking the shape of other things and wanted to infect all vertebrate life with it's own mutability, so it had collected and ingested all manner of infectious and shape shifting creatures to make itself the ultimate mutagen.

[@AeronHale]

I poke stuff in dungeons with a torch before touching anything as a personal rule thanks to mimics.

[@coreyeaston6823]

Thank you for this. My parties (both of them) seem to have a very narrow view of creatures. When I introduced a mimic the size of a tower (there is a home brew Tower Mimic out there) they thought I was pulling their leg. "No I said, why do all mimic need to be smaller? This one is the size of a tower and has more mimics living inside. Barrel mimics, mimics shaped like beds, ect". They didn't know how to deal with it and took off.

[@AJPickett]

Fair enough, I would be out of there like a shot.

[@coreyshorter8526]

Just remember every time you stub you toe on a piece of furniture in your home , a piece you have walked by and lived with for decades with out incident. It might just be that said object has been replaces with a slightly malicious mimic one that just wants to see you in a little bit of pain.

[@XainMexi]

23:00 ... ... ... A mimic eats an adventurer with a ring of sustenance, and is just smart enough to figure out what it is... Once you take away the constant need to eat, the growing intelligence can shift to other focuses... Oh.... My PCs no longer like you, at all... But I love you more than I should...

[@AJPickett]

Tell them I say Hi

[@SeraphimKnight]

A thing to maybe look into if you wanna know what a gigantic, legendary mimic could potentially do; the Sea God arc from Berserk, where a giant sea creature uses its shape-shifting tentacles to impersonate an entire village, a pirate crew and a ship. It's a very Shadows Over Innsmouth kinda situation and could be an interesting mini-adventure to run. Your players are never gonna see this one coming lol

[@Blakobness]

The Mimic just launching a pseudopod to launch it into the air and full-force into a player feels like a pretty devastating maneuver. Mimics are supposed to weigh like a ton.

[@AJPickett]

Yeah, like getting sat on by the Big Show.

[@danlbug]

Maybe there are planet sized mimics drifting in space that have become god-like super geniuses... better hope they don't come across your planet. They're probably hungry from a very very long hibernation and the heat of your world's sun has just started to alert them that there could be tasty worlds nearby to consume... Great video AJ, they just keep getting better!

[@AJPickett]

Swarms of moon sized planet eaters

[@Dile0303]

My favorite type of "mimic" to use are the Gomazoa from Zendikar “Zendikar's seas and skies tend to blur, and creatures typically found in the sea often find their way into the clouds, slipping through gravitational currents, consuming the mana infused in the wind. Gomazoas are similar to aquatic jellyfish, but their bodies are enveloped in stony growths. Gomazoas drift immobile on floating rocks or Hedrons with their long, sticky tentacles hanging below. When they come in contact with another creature, those tentacles grab and constrict it, or they may throw too large a prey against a cliff face. Some species can retract their tentacles into their bodies, extending them only to grab their prey. Gomazoas almost never release their prey once captured.”

[@kthereturned2874]

So you mean I could put a fairly large "treasure chest" in a gelatinous cube like boss monster and then when when the party has finished it off they get the "treasure"? 😉

[@thehillz726]

Mimic culture is just foodies Mimics are my favorite type after dragons abd orcs. I imagine the rare mimic cultures would be very alien foodie or gorme centric or they'd mimic similar things from under dark cultures like the drow and appreciate Mimic culture is just foodies Mimics and architecture.

[@Greenscyth22]

I absolutely love the idea of colossal and gargantuan sized mimics. Imagine a small "town" on the outskirts of a forest which is infested with massive mimics disguised as cottages and houses, all subservient to the "Grand Mimic". A colossal abyssal Mimic disguised as a hotel/Inn, summoned by accident by a foolish wizard it attracts lesser mimics and other foul things to it's location. It's even able to lure victims "inside" with the ability to replicate lanterns in windows and other non threatening displays of light with illusions. Anything to put it's prey off from the eminent danger they're in until it's too late.

[@wowo10101]

A possible idea for Mimics as treasure guardians could be a programmed response to certain effects. Like a chest mimic opening and falling asleep when a certain cantrip is used on it, most likely Prestidigitation with a specific effect (for example creating a harmless static effect around it). Essentially the wizards equivalent of a combination lock, with all the same ways to defeat it, only that it fights back when you pull out your crowbar

[@HBHaga]

One of my early DMs threw a mimic in as a faux magic item, the Spiked Shield of Trom if I remember correctly. Bound weapons or limbs that struck it, could be used in a shield 'bash' to cause horrific wounds for our level ... and we didn't tumble to it being a mimic for a couple of months.

[@thetophatnerd2664]

In my game I gave my players a piece of paper with a spell written as a song that when read out loud, will help them find a mimic much faster (That song-spell is Come and get your love by Redbone)

[@LSDireWolf]

Oh yes my players next session are about to enter a room that has two chairs, a table and a chest on it. The table and the chest are going to be mimics so perfect timing!

[@AJPickett]

Mimic takes the form of a stone alter with an impression that matches the shape of a medium humanoid body, the alter appears to be glowing, it has some symbols on it that nobody can identify, probably magical... how long before an adventurer climbs into that perfectly snug deathtrap?

[@logannicolay5830]

The druid in my campaign befreinded a chest sized mimic that had been awakened by a NPC. He couldn't understand why the rest of the party REALLY didn't want Chester to come with them on quests lol.

[@derekstein6193]

Chester; solid name.

[@bigsarge2085]

Traversing a mountain pass you've travelled before only to encounter a "fortress" that wasn't there last time.

[@Kaiju-Driver]

This video gave me the idea of a mimic storefront that trades food for valuable crafted items I can't wait to drop that in my newest D&D game with a couple of newcomers they're going to not see it coming

[@ajhoward8888]

Can't remember when I came up with this but I ended up giving Mimics the ecology that they were originally designed/grown as individual modular parts of adaptive Spelljamming ships by The Original Spelljammer ship as a way to house the refugees it created through the destruction of the first crystal sphere. These semi-sentient parts were meant to be assembled together and adapted to the changing needs of their captain/Cloakmaster and crew. Once joined together they were meant to become a fully sentient singular organisms able to partner seamlessly with their Cloakbearing captain and crew to adapt to any situation or need. Being an organic, communal organism the ship was also designed to provide for its crew by consuming and recycling organic waste, refuse and organic space debrit into food and objects usable by the crew. Each ship would eventually reproduce sexually with others of it's kind and thereafter each part would self replicate and assemble into a new ship, ready to provide for a new crew. Unfortunately before the new Control Cloak could be completed, a handful of the original parts were lost in an eruption of superheated gas and resulting sinkhole collapse on the field where the great assembly was taking place. Still choked by the exotic volcanic gasses, a few of the organisms which were more badly burned began to self-replicate rather than self-heal. Lacking the materials and energy that they were meant to be provided to them by their crew for this endeavor, these organisms fled further into the underground system of caves selected by the Spelljammer to provide it with geothermal energy and exotic elements needed to fuel the creation. Due to the heat and gasses in the caves being deadly to it's current crew, this left the great ship unable to recover most of the parts lost. By examining the one that was killed outright, it was able to reabsorb the creature and identify the error made in it's creation. Thinking long on the issue, the great ship was eventually able to admit to itself that it lacked the knowledge and wisdom needed to prevent all the failings, ailments and cancers that living beings might face. Without this perfect foreknowledge, the ship decided that any new creation would likely end in catastrophic failure, just as it's prior lack of knowledge had doomed the entire crystal sphere it was now attempting to atone for. Once the Cloak was completed, the great ship silently abandoned it to the surface, hoping that a captain could someday be found to find and perfect it's lost children. Reluctantly it broke planetfall for the first and last time. As a way to reserve power, the newly-minted monstrosities it left behind settled into a low-power mode where they mimiced the appearance of various objects used by sentient beings in the hopes of being found and recovered by a Cloakbearing Captain. After several millennia, when the lava and heat surrounding these creatures finally cooled, they were able to overcome their programming and venture forth, migrating into other dark places where a Captain might find them. Those non-captains that found them no longer needed to provide them with the sustenance they needed to divide and grow strong. They would eat everything and grow until they were many. They would hide and travel to everywhere that was until there was no way they could not be found. Whether it was their Cloakmaster or more food, it no longer mattered. As their memory of a purpose beyond hiding, feeding and fleeing into the stars slowly faded, they slowly became what they are. Unless someone could actually find that original cloak...if it even exists. For it's said that whoever bears that cloak would be able to assemble an armada of ships large enough to blot out the stars.

[@Purple.mind...Honored.one.]

God there's so many things in the D&D universe that you could say was it's original master and nobody would bat an eye

[@rumorcontrol7873]

Today we had an adventure where the creepy cabin in the middle of the dark cursed woods, filled with musty old air, corpses, and furniture ended up being a House Mimic. We had to escape out a hole in it's side before fighting it in a clearing

[@amberkat8147]

I want to make a race of small intelligent mimics that start out TIny and kinda catlike, or like puppies, then become Small and child-like, then finally get to medium and with normal PC-level intelligence. I'm gonna do it. My next game I run the party is going to end up being followed by a tiny mimic that keeps pretending to be random stuff around them.

[@AJPickett]

You have the new plasmoid player character race from Spelljammer, it would be interesting if they met some doppelgangers and such eh?

[@vrybicboi6895]

HECK YEAH MY HALF HOUR LUNCH JUST GOT DEEPLY NERDY

[@samuelmeasa9283]

When you said Companion Creature I was reminded of Rincewind and the Wardrobe from the Diskworld books. Any one who's read the books knows that the Wardrobe is a mimic in everything but name and sometimes acts like a Tardis. This has me thinking of a mage character who has one that follows them around. The Mimic acts as a sometimes body guard, sometimes disposal system, and sometimes storage. Regularly feeding it a "Body" two to three times a week keeps it happy and from snacking on random villagers. Something the size of a dog/wolf would be its normal diet, a rat or chicken might serve as a snack between meals. A large bandit would be the equivalent of a thanksgiving dinner and might keep it happy for say up to four days. The thing would be an NPC who acts in accordance to the GM so it doesn't break the story. I'm also thinking of the video Zee Bashew made a few months ago "Befriending Mimics in 5e D&D". Lets hope that McGenk does not get that colony idea of his up and running. Mimic bridges/towns are not something you'd want to walk into.

[@pensador6953]

mimic, the nightmare of ever adventure, malicious little thing, no rogue alive likes it, stroke of genius, Gigax. and now we feed the mimic algorithim with our comments.

[@TyLarson]

Florian is an excellent artist. Nice to see his art show up.

[@22thevoice22]

I relate mimicks more to D&D than I would even dragons. Quintessential.

[@lancearmada]

Burbur are like a keystone species for the underdark?

[@AJPickett]

One of them, yes.

[@whitewyvernX]

I run a one- shot game I call "oops, all mimics!" Which uses a lot of these ideas

[@derekstein6193]

Was the BBEG a huge, intelligent mimic named Capt'n Crunch? Because if it wasn't, you kinda dropped the ball.

[@whitewyvernX]

@@derekstein6193 IT IS NOW!

[@genobreaker1054]

Fought a House Hunter once. Scary as ****. What if the more intelligent mimics herded the less intelligent mimics towards the routes frequented by humanoids, while themselves having staked out territories in more remote areas where they can prey on large game away from dangerous humanoid threats? This could be the reason that humanoids tend to think of mimics as being violent predators with little-to-no intelligence, while mostly being unaware of how intelligent a mimic can truly become?

[@destonlee2838]

I've never much used the mimic. But now I see an outhouse sized mimic coming.

[@masonabbey6353]

*...far more than meets the eye...* - fun reference and it gave me life - Thank u Aj

[@zacharyweaver276]

I love the idea of mimic information brokers working for the forces of good and evil in exchange for food

[@AJPickett]

Absolutely... You thought it was three kobolds in a trenchcoat... nope, very wrong, roll initiative.

[@zacharyweaver276]

@@AJPickett lol mimic disguised as a humanoid shape in a trench coat

[@brandondiotte2104]

So I may or my not have once had a hag which kept three particular creatures to use in her plot. The three creatures being a Troll, a Mimic, and an AJ Pickett special the Pink Ooze. That hag then may or may not have been selling meat pies to the local community turning it inhabitants into abominations, with the troll and mimic meat slowly mutating the populous with the pink ooze disusing the horrid taste of the "street meat". The hag would cut of the trolls arms/legs and either use it in her pies or feed them to the oozes and mimics, whom being sated and feed regularly were content with occasionally sacrificing their smaller spawns for the hags purposes.

[@brettonalwood4173]

I'm stealing elements of this. That is brilliant!

[@AfroChef]

My favorite mimic I've used was nice and simple, we were in the desert for a few sessions and water was low, the players stumbled upon an abandoned campsite with empty tents, old pile of firewood, and of course three unattended casks that look like water casks. The players actually being suspicious of what I intended to be a nice gesture of free water made me change the leftmost cask into a mimic. Players love nothing more than when you make their predictions come true 👍

[@AdamTehranchiYT]

Octopus hardware cat software with spider updates got it

[@Doughy_in_the_Middle]

My players made it to level 10 before I brought one in. They had been walking through a large city's sewer for hours, having fought a Gelatinous Excretory Removal Cube (GERC) and were almost swept away from the backlog of muck behind it, but then found a secret passage. The tunnels belonged to thugs and they had prison cells. In one cell, I had it completely empty except for bedrolls...that were mimics. Our barbarian laid down for a nap and nearly got murdered by a starved mimic.

[@Diditallforthexp]

Twoflower's luggage from Discworld always reminded me of the classic treasure chest mimic despite it being an awakened object. The chompiness, attitude and even traveling on hundreds of tiny legs has really influenced how I run mimics, especially their insane strength for their body size.

[@travislewis5058]

I always liked the idea of a wizard or artificer trying to create artificial life and accidentally made mimics by combining octopus slimes and a bag of holding together

[@whyuhatan]

In one campaign I was part of Our monk would frequently poke objects with a spear and ask Are you a mimic? 50% of the time it would get a response 😂

[@amberkat8147]

That's hilarious. I especially like my mental image of a small voice going "uh, no?"

[@whyuhatan]

@@amberkat8147 Yeah that monk wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed ended up selling his soul for a sandwich once and getting us all teleported to the feet of Asmodeus himself Was a very tense session with a lot of negotiation and a near fatal delivery mission to get out of that mess Fun time's I miss that group

[@migcasas1]

I made a "Shrine Mimic", which combined Kruthik (alien looking bug things in DnD) and the typical mimic with a few dark twists. Almost murdered the entire party

[@AJPickett]

Kruthik are actually reptilian. Good idea!

[@migcasas1]

@@AJPickett oh really, damn. Must've missed that part out. Can't tell which is which anymore in D&D. Haha

[@moonringXD]

17:21 ahh you forgot my favorite space mimic fact! that they enjoy spending time reading space lore, tomes on magic, and other arcane volumes. Unlike their common cousins, space mimics have various cultures, usually based on their readings. These mimics are intelligent; they exchange books they already read for food or other books.

[@moonringXD]

Also space mimic would probably be the most likely too join a adventuring party so they could get more Arcane knowledge!🧙‍♂️

[@moonringXD]

Also a fun fact I found on the forgotten realms wiki is that a space mimic was among the staff of Feldyn's Old Monster Shop in Waterdeep's Southern ward!

[@NSG0079]

Okay, Wizards of the Coasts NEEDS to bring back "Spelljammer" just so that we can have these amazingly bad-ass creatures again! :D

[@imperialpresence3331]

back in the day when i played..i regularly employed shape shifters in my scheming.....got the idea from doctor doom...you never knew if you were dealing with me...or with one of my many hired and trained changlings

[@Goucvdidah]

OMG, what about a bed mimic. That is truly scary. Also, you probably wouldn't have armor on if you were about to go to bed.

[@thegingergrasshopper3908]

Never played D&D, and probably will never but I love mimics ever since the first time I saw a mimic. Was in the Dark Souls series when I was chomped on by a chest mimic. I saw some really cool concept art for mimics after that were ladders, chairs, and for the dark souls games the bon fires in which you rest and fast travel to and from. Thanks for this. it was just really cool to see what these can actually become.

[@Mare_Man]

Love me some classic mimics, but there's something about the Mimics from Dark Souls standing up and roundhouse kicking a guy that I'd be delighted to see in D&D

[@AJPickett]

Roadhouse mimics

[@dpme3fan193]

Can a mimic assume the form of a construct e.i. a golem. Since many golems are made of stone & some are made of wood or metal.

[@chickenmonger123]

Probably not well. Unless it ate it. Mimics eat Magic Items often enough. It’d probably end up like those Lekgolo from Halo. Hunters. Hard armor, with a sort of interstitial hive mind of worm creatures.

[@AJPickett]

Its a bit outside of their normal behavior, but, mimics are nothing if not cunning creatures.

[@itaykerensm1629]

Loved you used The weakly Roll comic panel!

[@AJPickett]

I love it!

[@WolfHreda]

The Coffin Mimic at about 6:50 reminds me of the Dark Dice podcast. In their campaign, they ran into a Mimic disguised as a coffin. Because one of the party members fell on top of it.

[@atomicnectar]

A little homebrew lore is they swallow treasure to vomit out when attacked or to lure in adventruers

[@rossdiggle]

Used a mimic last week, disguised as a door. The wizard went to go through the door and had his hand bitten and grappled him. Stopped him casting.

[@mattnerdy7236]

Hey AJ, you are so cool man. Who else in the world would tell people you can't eat a Mimic and what there insides look like. I really enjoyed the extra information at the end of the video. It was like getting two videos in one. Thanks AJ you have a wonderful day!

[@nickh3205]

Have you heard of the Horrifying “CE” Healing potion mimic? It is roughly the equivalent of an Xenomorph face hugger

[@starslayer8390]

Shush! You're not supposed to mention that. That information is very dangerous to my character's health.

[@destonlee2838]

Mimics eat slimes an oozes? Now I'm getting news of a house huntermimic that has a slime and pudding farm inside of itself, and it's M.O is to go primordial/old ones on a town, pretending to be entire new neighborhoods with rent free homes built overnight and filled with the oozes, slimes, etc... ok, still working on it.

[@Bashamo257]

Imagine this: a massive Galleon mimic piloted by a crew of dopplegangers

[@AJPickett]

Sounds like they are singing a sea shanty, but its just nonsense, gibberish words... an imitation of a sea shanty. :) *"Yo ho ho and shimber yon down, one up ma sailer, gone down timber town. Yo ho ho, rum and a gun, four and four sailer, down timber town.."* (creepy accordion sounds)

[@rhettr4923]

Well finally. 😆 You got False hydra & Tsochar before mimics lol

[@AJPickett]

Do I need to state its a remastered video every time? Seems so...

[@dungeonguide6015]

Mimics are brilliant design if you think about it. They're specifically made to exploit PC's biggest weakness.... LOOT

[@bray2964]

I should get myself a Mimic buddy, how's "Chester" for a name?

[@AJPickett]

Solid choice

[@thehillz726]

Could a mimic take the form of a hundnoid statue, or even an animal statue, or a construct like a warfordged and be able to walk ?

[@AJPickett]

yes (might want to give them a dex check if they try to pass themselves off as a humanoid in a coat)

[@Jernewein]

Definitely borrowing this for the next campaign I DM

[@dbensdrawinvids8390]

In the nautical adventure campaign I'm running, my players encountered a ship mimic. They screamed. I cackled. A good time was had by all.

[@mattdeelight]

May be a dumb question, but aren't mimics essentially very similar to a Doppelgangers? They seem about the same hinting that they may have some sort of commonality of origin/ancestry.

[@AJPickett]

Not officially, but that is a lot of people's homebrew concept, yes.

[@tysondennis1016]

Apparently, mimics can speak. Seeing how much flexibility they have with their body shape, I wouldn't have said that they couldn't. Imagine a treasure chest asking you to open it, and then when you open it...that's the last thing you do.

[@moonringXD]

17:02 Do you think you'll do a video on the burbur? I'd love to know more about them they look like something you would see in in Star Wars!🧙‍♂️👾

[@AJPickett]

Probably a good idea, I might lump them in with a few other harmless but useful creatures you never really hear about.

[@zacharyweaver276]

I love burburs. One way you could make them dangerous and add reason to why predators avoid them is they could spit up the dangerous slime and spores they feed on to protect themselves

[@RaccoonKing1676]

I am currently playing as a mimic in my current campaign and it’s so much fun we are like 3 sessions in and it’s by far the best campaign I’ve played in haha

[@2icecubman]

Hey AJ, I just want to say that your videos not only help me become a better story teller by being well informed about various stories and entries from role-playing games about places, creatures, and distant lands but they also help touch me as a Person. Everyone who has the ability to create or imagine and explore with their minds in a safe environment and with people who foster creativity and self expression bolster happiness and fufillment in a world where the small things are what shine the brightest. Your videos help me become a better me, and to that I am ever grateful for what you do. I can't wait to congratulate you on your Silver Play button soon because I feel you've earned each and every one of our thanks and appreciation for time well spent. Much love from here in America, stay safe and keep doing what brings you happiness! That goes for everyone else too!

[@AJPickett]

Thanks AetheriousKnight, I'm so happy I have helped. :)

[@2icecubman]

@@AJPickett You're welcome, and thanks again for all you do! 😊

[@dragonballtalk8527]

Good video good audio good picture quality good narration

[@dragonballtalk8527]

We need more ecology vids

[@zmishiymishi5349]

Now that is something. Totally new informations about a creature that i know over half of my life!

[@jaymevosburgh3660]

I like to make them take the shapes ov doors, floors & ceilings. Or hanging fixtures and artworks.

[@joshchandler13]

A SpellJammer elder brain in control of a legendary space mimic. Eeek!

[@VerityAran]

So what I am getting from this is that… in my highly modified and very tense Out of the Abyss campaign that has been going on for a year… i have had a shameful lack of mimics. Not even one. I will have to amend that. I think once i give them a breather i will have them tripping over them evey which where from now on. 🎃

[@samuelteare8160]

I love that you mention playing a mimic. That is one of my dreams, to play a mimic in a campaign.

[@bitterzombie]

Awesome video! Really hints at the capabilities of these monsters, the creative options available. Is it any wonder that Mimics are so iconic of the setting? I like to play a Golden Mimic into some starter adventures as a sort of miniboss. I love the reactions players have to coming upon a treasure hoard overflowing with coins, chests, even golden swords, shields, and armor, appearing to be completely unguarded. Its almost as good as their reactions when they test it for traps and confirm that most of the mass is a large, hungry mimic ("I KNEW it!"), and it creates an opportunity for either an epic fight or some interesting bargaining (horse for a chest of coins, or a magical piece of weapon/armor is usually his rate). An intelligent mimic who likes "repeat customers" is fun too, especially if it insists on bartering with each encounter and becomes hostile if no arrangement can be made. I also enjoy giving intelligent monsters in my settings a taste for riddles, and mimics are good candidates for riddlers too. I explain it as a sort of cultural thing for monsters, if they are clever enough they use riddles to contest territory with other monsters using their wits instead of their brawn. It helps them develop a sort of pecking order in dungeons, and gives them something to ponder as they guard their lair. This is why they value good riddles and will often accept challenges of them, if they can stump other monsters with riddles they've learned it gives them the edge in negotiations

[@derekstein6193]

I homebrewed something akin to your "Golden Mimic", called a Miser Mimic. It functions the same as the basic mimic with the following exceptions: 1) because humanoids like shiny stuff and the mimic's body can't digest them, coins, golden statuettes, and gems are absorbed into its form and worn on its surface. This increases its AC and helps disguise it as a treasure pile. 2) it has a Split mechanic that roughly follows what AJ covered. 3) it has a special action that forces a humanoid within range to make a Wisdom save or be compelled to approach and touch the "treasure pile". This is a psionic effect that only newly made Miser Mimics can't use. Not too much different from a typical mimic, but I intend to one day incorporate them into an adventure for my players.

[@Miskatonic-University]

One of our all times favorite monsters of D&D, I've always had great fun finding one, despite being pretty dangerous 🙂

[@aviongris4233]

The most horrifying application of a mimic I've used is in the case of a mimic disguising itself as a chainmail shirt. A party member put it on and was none the wiser until they realized the "armor" had glued itself to them and was stuck fast. Poor guy thought that it was just cursed armor and left it on overnight. The mimic slowly digested him overnight, and when he the damage woke him up it was largely too late. By the time it took the other players to get to his room, he was already unconscious with a failed death save. No one knew how to get what they thought was the "cursed armor" off, and no one had the ability to heal him(low level party consisting of two fighters, a rogue, and a wizard with no healing potions at the time.). He died right there on the floor. The "armor" then burped and the rest of the party proceeded to beat the snot out of it. In retrospect I should have waited a bit before initiating this particular encounter, as at the time they had no way of dealing with it effectively.

[@AJPickett]

That is nasty, I mean, its cool, but yeah, they didn't seem to have any options there.

[@aviongris4233]

@@AJPickett Yeah, I wholeheartedly agree. This particular story is from my younger days of DMing when I was a lot more inexperienced. From mistakes like these, I've learned to give the party at least 2 ways to effectively deal with any situation I throw at them. It's not fun to have a party suffer without giving them an out or two.

[@heathharris2545]

I made a mimic based off of Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors. One big main body and dozens of tiny psuodopods. Hundreds of mouths. My players hated it.

[@thedescendedangel]

OK 15:57 OK so we need a massive army of mimics and we can take over jubilexs layer of the abyss.

[@xinryokux]

Mimic that was apart mindflayer experiment to make a mindflayer mimic a mind mimic...

[@mikegould6590]

The mimic from 7:30 is from my book! Awesome! (One of my favorite encounters too, and one that shows mimics to be more than mindless "chests". I have another encounter where the mimic took the shape of a stray or lost rowboat. When you account for the actual mas of the "wood" used, consider displacement, and think about the repercussions, you have a creature that can float on water and use currents to travel. PLUS, it sticks to any curious fish or amphibians as a free lunch presents itself. Not to mention the drowning hazard it presents to anyone trying to capture this lost boat. ;) I *WILL* be incorporating it's shapeshifting into movement options, including gliding, climbing like an inchworm, extending itself such that it can reach greater heights, and so on.

[@AJPickett]

Excellent!

[@lordnaarghul]

If there is evidence of tbe influence D&D has had video game culture as a whole, it is the prevalence of mimics in many, many RPGs. Dragon Quest has the Cannibox/Mimic/Pandora's Box line, the Shining Series had the Handeater for the more traditional chest monster, and the Grimwall for an alternative. The Handeater could cast really powerful ice spells, and could howl like a mandrake and atrempt to kill the entire party. The Pandora's Box and Mimic from Dragon Quest could do something similar, while the Cannibox just did absurd amounts of damage. Even the Legend of Zelda had one of these in the shape of a door that attacked when you tried to open it. To kill it, you had to bomb it. Long atory short, mimics are EVERYWHERE in fantasy games. And I believe Dungeons & Dragons played a role in that.

[@shazamsanders4901]

Love mimic’s, imagine a Mimic Dragon 😈

[@AJPickett]

Dragons are mimics (well, shapechangers) quite often.

[@user-rv8yv4yh9n]

You can very quickly turn a session of DnD into a scene from 'The Thing' with a few well-placed mimics, they can be very versatile and horrifying if you're willing to play around with what they can shift into

[@Mortablunt]

Did this last year for a Halloween special oneshot. Combined with deliberately gaslighting my players a little, it was a genuinely terrifying time that made them feel like they were losing their minds and there was a ton of drama and PVP.

[@logannichols5848]

I have never seen a mimic encounter that doesn't kill 2 players.

[@haydenrobbie7368]

my fav mimic creation is the old "the mimic mansion on the haunted hill"... basically the group is sent to investigate a "haunted" mansion out in a dark far off area... when they enter strange things start to happen as they are trapped inside... only once they realise the mansion and all the items inside are all mimics does the real adventure begin... this mansion mimic is acting as a halfway house to help rehabilitate bad mimics into good ones that don't harm fellow sentience, but some are trying to escape and eat a city... the group is tasked with helping to find the lead bad mimic down in the only now accessible dungeon filled with a lot of larger mimics... none close to the mansion mimic bar the lead bad mimic who is the same size as a house... once they have beaten the lead bad mimic all the other bad mimics fall in line and start acting nice... not to leave for a few more centuries but will play nice with anyone who enters... before leaving the mansion mimic gives the players group their rewards and says that the god of all mimics thanks them (will refuse to say more only that their god is the only mimic bigger then a mansion mimic and can teleport anywhere it wishes along with it's followers if pressured further)... after the group has left the mansion and get off the hill have the group roll a perception check... if any get higher the a 18 they'll turn around and notice that the mansion along with the hill that housed the dungeon of mimics had disappeared, implying they group was inside the mimics gods for the most part of the adventure... mix and match your own ideas, loot, encounters and lore to make it more fun for your players... and always remember to have fun... and that sometimes when looking at a distant hill only for it to disappear once you look back isn't always a trick of the mind :D (edit: once the "god" mimic disappears there is a massive sickhole in the group once it leaves)

[@rubyamateurtactician4354]

Agh! The outtro was, itself, a mimic!

[@christopherknorr2895]

Could a mimic learn agriculture? If they became intelligent enough they could keep herds of animals or humanoids to guarantee a steady and reliable food supply. With enough surplus, they could feed and keep less intelligent mimics as guard dogs

[@AJPickett]

Easier for the Mimic to cultivate a tribe of fanatical doppelgangers, Oblex, Deep Spawn or some such, to do all the work as it instructs them.

[@christopherknorr2895]

@@AJPickett what about a special breed of awakened small mimic that wraps around a PC early game and threatens to eat them unless they continue to provide it with fresh food?

[@JoseMolina-ij3xx]

Are the mimics related to Bags of Devouring, Lurker Above, Trapper or Executioner's Hood? Would the Sci-Fi equivalent of a mimic be The Thing?

[@AJPickett]

Odo from Star Trek Deep Space Nine is vaguely close, but no, they are all quite distinct from each other.

[@Blackdude27]

Very insightful vid! Whenever I think of mimics the mimics from dark souls that sprout arms and beat your ass comes to mind lol

[@HumbleMemeFarmer]

All fun and games until the loot stands up and punts you like a football.