Mimics

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I prefer my mimics to be inanimate object shapeshifters (in limits based on size) but my friend swears blind that mimics shouldn't be able to do that and that it makes them OP somehow.

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The question only came up because one of my players wanted a tiny mimic as a familiar capable of shifting into most kinds of inanimate, nonmagical object within a few lbs with certain restrictions and I thought it was a pretty slick idea.

>>53837631
>inb4 he uses the mimic to shapeshift into any kind of key/similar thing he needs to break your plot

>>53837786
He'd have to let it see the key first, its too dumb to make a functional key from the lock itself, it'd be easier to just pick the lock.

>>53837528
One group I was in ended up with a friendly mimic named Mickey following us around. He ended up becoming our party mascot. He would usually take the form of a wagon, though the ST said that axles and wheels were too complicated for him to turn into, so we would need to attach the wheels to him ourselves. His ability to turn into nearly anything was really handy, especially when we'd have him turn into a short bridge or a sturdy ladder.

What's the most frightening mimic you can think of?

My first thought was a fleshlight mimic.

>>53837890

Rad, hopefully autonomous though. I'd not trust one of my players to have a full mimic like that.

>>53837930

Bed mimic.

Mug

Clothing... underwear.

>>53837932
Nah, Mickey was a GM NPC. He liked us because we kept feeding him goblins.

We ran into a mimic and one of the players decided to toss a dead goblin at it, so the mimic ate the corpse. Then we tossed it more and before we knew it the Mimic got attached to us and started following us around.

I like the idea of mimics that are some kind of mollusk/crustecean type of creature that grows inside of and forms its body shape to the object that its egg is laid inside of.

>>53837930
Either a hat mimic or a toilet mimic.

>>53837930
Man mimic

>>53837930
> Oh hey, I just found a sex toy in this ancient maze of deathtraps!
> No need to waste time, let's just stick my dick in it right now!
> Oh no!

You deserve every curse. All of them.

>>53838104
>Do not respond to Thing posts
>Hide Thing threads
>Sage Thing threads
Go away you.

anyone got that cellphone mimic image?

>>53837528
A vending machine mimic. Uses seemingly-abandoned fake food items or spare change as bait, to lure people into placing their hands in its mouth(s).

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>>53837631

>>53837930
Wife mimic.

>>53838482

Like this but without the mad OP spell-like abilities and poison.

>>53837528
If it can be found in ikea they can shape shift into it.

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>>53837786

>>53837528
What if Mimics were instead basically hermit-crab like monsters that moved into various physical objects and used them as an extended shell?

>have one more sock after doing laundry than before

>>53838553
Depends if you know she's a mimic or not.

>>53838866
I burn all my socks, just to be safe.

>>53838856
>>53838048

ok we all read dungeon meshi calm down.

>>53837930
>fleshlight mimic
>decides that being carried around and fed regularly is better than eating once and being thrown away
>behaves exactly as a regular fleshlight, only self-cleaning

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>>53839137

You actually chose to post this.

>>53837528
any cool abilities you can give a mimic to make him less generic?

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Compulsory dungeon meshi image.

>>53839369

Have them equipped with the magical loot they contain.

Have them use their adhesive abilities to crawl on the ceiling and dump objects on the players offensively or steal their shit and stick it to the roof.

Make them cowardly ambush predators who blow their sneak attack when confronted by multiple players disengage and run the fuck away leaving adhesive on the floor to cover their tracks in order to encourage paranoia down the track.

have them mimic dead bodies / clothing of previously killed enemies so when players backtrack they get ambushed what they assume are zombies.

>>53839369

Not exactly ability but their natural acid immunity means an obvious pit of acid in the same room as a grapple happy mimic can be a fun time.

>>53837930
A mimic can transform into anything with a certain size or weight limit?

air mimic

>>53839480
>that crab sliding its claw down his leg to his boot
no wonder he's so relaxed.

I prefer the "Default Form" Tis funnier that way.

>>53837528
I prefer the idea of a mimic being a bit like the boggarts from Harry Potter in that no one knows for sure what one looks like originally. They cobble together a disguise out of debris much like a bird building a nest. They base the disguise on something their prey(adventurers) would be drawn to, grafting the disguise directly to their bodies. They eat their prey whole, so they tend to also be full of valuable objects and gear that either hasn't or can't be destroyed by their digestive system.

>>53839621
>crab
its a mimic

>>53839854
It's mimicing a statue of a crab?

>>53839863
No, its the literal mimic.

>>53839863
In Dungeon Meshi, mimics are basically giant hermit crabs that hide in treasure chests, barrels, and other containers common in dungeons, in the hopes of catching unaware prey.

>>53840262

I hate it because it means that mimics are essentially just crabs hiding in boxes. It could be anything in the goddamn box so why a crab? Why not just have a Kobold with a spear pop out and stab you in the neck?

>>53837930
Gold coin mimic
Various forms of loot mimic (i.e. swords, armor, etc.)
Door mimic

>>53837528
At least in old DnD on up through the current editions they can turn into any object, chests are just common because they have the right volume and people walk up to them looking for treasure.

>>53840470

Well, crabs are more appetizing than kobolds, and this is a manga about both eating monsters and exploring how they function in weird ways.

>>53840470
Because there's very little reason for there to be a boxed kobold in every possible situation a mimic could be in, and "thematically appropriate minion locked in a box" isn't nearly interesting enough to make an iconic dungeon hazard.

>>53840470
Because kobolds are lame, and crabs are spooky

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>>53840107

>>53840820
neither is 'crab in a box' thats the problem.

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>>53840470
Kobolds in this setting are man-sized dogs.

>>53840878
the box is its shell. it is a hermit crab.

>>53837528
Reversest mimic
>semisapient slime-esque creatures that can feel surface thoughts and emotions.
>feed on joy and surprise
>they stick pieces of wood to their outer surface in an attempt to look like boxes or chests.
>collect scraps from around the dungeon when they can't feel anyone around.
>sometimes it's wood, sometimes metal, sometime cloth, sometimes flesh, hide, and bone from corpses.
>when it senses someone who might find it, it scuttles off to find a place to sit and starts using what it's collected to make various objects for visitors to find, smushing themselves flat against their wooden shell so that they look normal when opened.
>mimics don't inherently understand what living things want, but make guesses based on past experiences and what they manage to glean from visitors.
>young mimics will often mistakenly not recognize that some shapes are only supposed to be made from certain materials or it might mix up patterns
>This is why sometimes you'll see weird things like underwear made out of chainmail, sharpened wooden swords, or leather armour with inexplicably placed metal studs in it come out of dungeons. It's doing its best, but doesn't know any better.
>More experienced mimics figure out how to make more detailed or appealing equipment, and also copy trinkets and objects that they've seen visitors using, including magic items if they can find the right materials.

They just want to make you happy when you see what they've made for you.

>>53840878
You say that, but most lists of the most popular D&D monsters include "box-shaped slime monster", "bear with an owl head", and "Cthulhoid". All that matters is that they're widespread and/or dangerous enough to stick in the player's mind, and that the players encounter them before encountering stranger and more exotic fare.

>>53840985

I'm not saying its a dumb premise (at least, not dumber than any other) or anything I just feel like 'the box IS the monster' is a more palatable and thought provoking idea than 'crab in box', you've already said that 'appropriate monster locked in chest' is dumb and boring and thats essentially what I'm saying, I don't find box-crab to be greatly engaging.

Like ok, the idea of a mimic hermit-crab is cool narrative wise (and would be cooler if it used weapons like old cannons or crossbows or swords for limbs, just saiyan), but there's a reason the razor-toothed many limbed chest is the more iconic choice.

>>53840982


This is also a great explanation for studded leather existing.

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>>53841046

A crab using random weapons in place of or as part of its pincers or body sounds pretty rad.

>>53841046

A golden colored hermit-crab with a treasure chest for a shell and swivel-guns in place of pinsers and pirate sabers for legs sounds cool as fuck.

>>53837528
>cooler
yes
>doable/plausible
yes

>>53837578
>but my friend swears blind that mimics shouldn't be able to do that and that
your friend is retarded

>>53837930
Doorknob mimic

Let me shill this story about a power fantasy with mimic as MC
http://royalroadl.com/fiction/8894/everybody-loves-large-chests

>>53840107
I like girls with big chests.

>>53839369
Last one I ran could spit gobs of mucus covered coins to deal light bludgeon damage and apply the mimic slime at range
Give it ranks in climb
Although the mimic disguised itself as an iron reinforced chest, the iron reinforcements are real and act as armor
The mimic gets resistance to the last damage type that hit it
Every time you attack the mimic it learns to copy the attack
Iron Maiden mimic
Table mimic

>>53839369
pc put on helmet he found
helmet was a mimic

>>53837528
I always just saw them as something which took the shape of mundane objects of a certain size or type. Things like Dungeon Meshi have recently made me wonder how mimics would actually work, though.

What kind of ecology would call for something which has the primary lifestyle of "sit completely still as a treasure chest deep inside a cave"? If they need to eat, that suggests this is a valid strategy for finding food. It only seems to work in settings where adventurers are exploring dungeons constantly, but never quite clearing them out somehow.

Assuming a setting where adventurers are rarer, the only thing I can think is that mimics are sort of like some kind of surface mimic octopus. They are mostly amorphous, camouflage as something in the area close to their size (though they can stretch and compact a little), and prowl around when nobody is looking to search for a good spot to hunker down in for a little while. It's some sort of cross between an octopus and a trap-door spider on a humanoid scale.

This would mean that, say, at night you might find a mimic scuttling around half-disguised as a chest and scavenging, or building some kind of "nest" to wait for prey. They wouldn't all be chests, but they'd often disguise as something mundane for the environment while still being interesting enough for an animal or other creature to come look at.

I don't know, it's the best I could think of.

>>53842008
I did that too.

>>53837930
A Dungeon mimic.
There was an anon who posted a picture a while ago of his map. The was a huge maze and you had to race out whilst being careful, since literally everything around you could alert the mimic.

>>53842010
Oh, forgot to mention... they'd have to move around and change shape from time to time. Otherwise their primary prey (animals and monsters, probably) would move on out of fear of the area.

>>53842010
Maybe mimics are mostly immobile not by choice, but by necessity.

In the Hadopelegic zone, other than Cthulu and miscellaneous lovecraftian nightmares, there's a bunch of fish who live almost entirely on moving as little as possible and using ambush tactics when prey comes near, because at those levels, food is scarce enough that any amount of unnecessary movement will expend the few calories you can manage to get.

Maybe Mimics just have incredibly slow metabolisms, and can survive on just one or two adventurers every few hundred years by virtue of conserving every single calorie they get from their prey.

Why can't Unbodied and Changelings change into inanimate objects?

>>53842010
This already exists. They just haven't evolved lungs yet.
https://youtu.be/BFda1MZ54G4

>>53839137
It's not only convincing, it may work a bit better than a regular one, won't get worn out as easily and takes care of my fetish of tentacle blowjobs all at once.
I'll take two.
Please.

>>53841753
Kek'd

>>53842363
I'm well aware of the octopus. There's a few different kinds out there like this, which is sort of what I was inspired by for how the mimic might work.

>>53841046
They're not universally crabs, they're crustaceans of various types. Dungeon Meshi is also a setting with a high degree of thought and verisimilitude. I think a magical box is more "neat", but the hermit crab thing is a much better fit for the setting.

Similar to how a fighter riding a golden lion into battle is neat, but wouldn't make sense in, say, game of thrones.

>>53842644
I mostly just wanted the excuse to show people the video. They're neat, aren't they?

>>53837528
Mimics that can only turn into chests make no fucking sense unless they're extremely rare and dangerous so that literally nobody knows they exist.

There's no reason why anyone would ever use a treasure chest of that shape instead of dozens of other potential containers ever again if they knew it could try to eat them

>>53839752
The trick with boggarts, as I remember, was that they transformed when they saw you, not when you saw it. No one knew what one really looked like because no one could X-ray vision through a box containing one.
I daresay Moody knew, but he's dead.

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>>53837528
>>53842010

What I've found works best for me over the past few years is: Mimics are molluscs with some -limited- ability to grow a shell that basically mimics whatever they think would make a good disguise to attract or lure prey items close enough to get eat. While they aren't sapient by any means: they are quite clever and they can learn, grow, develop their skills, and even begin adding or decorating their shells to be more convincing mimics.

Examples:
-Mimics in more natural environments would grow shells (a process that takes about a week) in the shapes of logs, stones, stumps, etc. They'd shape themselves into nooks or cranny environments with a very clear hole leading animals directly into their mouths for them to lap up with their spiky, stick, clam-tongues. Older mimics however can and will make more convincing disguises: they'll put more effort into the shape, colour, & physical texture, of their shells- even going so far as to decorate them with debris or allow smaller unappealing food items to rest upon them undisturbed.
-Mimics in more urban or man-made environments though will obviously develop shells that mimic man-made objects, ideally ones they see humans or livestock interacting on a regular basis: chests, barrels, feeding troughs, even large or unconventional objects such as bridges or doors can potentially be a mimic.

With all that said though, it's obviously not a perfect process and a mimic is still just an animal: it can't recreate how an item smells, how much it weighs, it's density, it can only copy the physical appearance- anything more complicated is beyond the skills of such an animal. Mimics, as well, need to make "portholes" in their shell disguises to breath and SEE, besides the obvious mouth-hole.

>>53843480
I hate this fucking mimic. Who the fuck doesn't look up when they're climbing a ladder?

>>53837528
>>53837528
My mimics are like hermit crabs. They find protective homes and attempt to make themselves look tantalizing to adventurers.
As for why they focus on hunting rare travelers over much more common creatures, no comment.

>>53843554
I think the idea is that the moment you put your hand on it, it grabs and coils you up. It still requires someone inattentive though.

>>53843554
Most of Vemp's mimics were made with the Souls series in mind, where the camera is angled slightly downwards when climbing ladders.

>>53843554
>>53843480
>>53843699
It hides it's body over the ledge obv and doesn't lunge over until you get near the top

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>>53843107

With that said: I've been using the "Dungeon Hermit Crabs" as well, but prefer they be... A direct predator/by product of shellfish mimics in the first place and not in fact "THEE" mimics themselves. People mistake them for mimics all the time, of course, but the crabs don't make the shells- they just find them or substitute them with man-made objects or skulls.

I originally knew it from Monster Hunter; those large crabs that stuff themselves inside dragon or dinosaur bones before waddling off, but I think Dungeon Meshi's crabs are fine too.

It's also just something Hermit Crabs will do in real life if they can't find adequate or appropriate shells: improvise with whatever is available since tourists take all the fucking shells and leave behind trash.

Mimics should be enchanted objects, but shapeshifters acceptable.
mimics as a species that evolved to look like "the one model of chest that everyone uses for some reason" is retarded.
they would never succeed at luring travelers when they were at the stage of "kind of looking like a chest" if waiting for someone to go by them was their only way to eat.
once the became prevalent, everyone would change the way real chests looked, and a mimic would have to evolve to that.

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>>53842025
I did something like that once, based on pic related.
I had a player who enjoyed drawing out maps of dungeons, so I decided to make a dungeon that was shaped like a typical chest mimic.
When they reached the central room, they encountered a chest with a giant worm-like creature inside. They immediately assumed that it was the mimic that they had been sent in to kill. After "killing" it, the player took a long look at the map he had drawn and then looked at me with the eyes of a man who had lost all hope.

>>53840470
Hermit crabs wear scavenged things (usually shells) as armor/housing, almost like it's a part of their body, so the author took that concept and extended it to hollow dungeon objects.

I think shapeshifter makes more sense, but the idea of there being a hundred different subspecies of mimic is hilarious to me

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>>53839480
I kinda like the hermit-crab interpretation but feel it should still have shape-changing capabilities like a rearranging shell.
My personal mimic head-canon is as an evolutionary intermediary between oozes and doppelgangers with properties of both and qualities of crustaceans and caterpillars. Inspired by various interpretations and an older edition monster entry I saw on /tg/ of a pudding that could camouflage as stone and was speculated to be related to mimics.

>>53839494
There's also smarter/more experienced mimics that might go for the long game and stay hidden as some kind of loot until the party is unarmed and asleep back at camp.
Or mimics that disguise themselves as part of a trap.

>>53840262
They also had a kinda interesting ecological interaction with those treasure bugs.

>>53840614
Definitely, check out >>53839480 for some of that.

>>53840626
>chests are just common because they have the right volume and people walk up to them looking for treasure
Hell, they'll open it up and lean right inside to take a look.

>>53841046
There's room enough for both types but I think you may be missing the appeal in "realistic" mimicking monsters. Real life organisms that mimic other things can be pretty terrifying if you're on its scale. A simple bug sized up for humans and specifically adapted to prey on us is it's own kind of freaky.

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>>53841657
Read this story its incredible.

>>53845981
>>53843480
The Bonfire mimic would be the most sadistic.

You think that you've reached safety at a new Bonfire, then suddenly it shoots up from the ground and flings you into the air.

>>53840470
Because hermit crabs are awesome
Crabs are tasty
And it's a fun and believable version of mimics.

>>53843831
Two things.

Firstly, how does this work if it relies on you never looking up?

Secondly, how does it consistently find buildings with second floors with man-sized holes leading up to them and something it can perch on?

>>53838553
>wife gets replaced by a mimic
>she turns into the perfect wife
>but the moment you try to sleep with her the mimic devours you whole
Is it worth it?

>>53847060
How is that different from a normal woman?

>>53847060
>implying I'm not into that

>>53847079
The type of person who gets eaten by mimics is the type of person who marries a divorce-rapist, so it works out just as well.

>>53846813
1.Not sure what you're asking there.
2.Once you found one with good foot traffic you don't need to find another one.

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>>53846254

>>53848246
You said that the mimic relies on them climbing the ladder.

If the look up even once, they will not climb the ladder.

>>53849582
I didn't say anything. I was just trying to answer your question. I believe the other anon was saying it would hide itself over other side of the ledge so you couldn't see it while looking up. Another possibility to me is that the mimic would mimic a part of the wall.

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>>53847060
>mimic wife
>can shapeshift into a wide range of inanimate objects
>can't mimic living creatures
>the closest she can get to human is an empty suit of armor
Would you?

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>>53849735
Sure.

>>53849735
sounds sexy

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>huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhohohoho

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>>53852081
>When you realize the mimic's tongue is it's head, Nyralathotep style.

>>53850179
>>53845981
I really don't understand these images. Who thought that retarded rectangle with words and rating was a good idea?

>>53852537
Dark Souls. It's based on a video game in which players can leave write public messages on the map, that other players can see in their own games.