Little Horrors of Dungeons and Dragons: Mimics

“Eyyo Bro, can you pop that chest open for me?”

“Yea sure, I gotchu. Here’s my thieves' tools, and my tumblers and-wait.”

“Mm? What’s wrong?”

“My hand’s stuck to the top.”

“You’re hand’s stu-WAIT PULL IT BA-”

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”

REAL MIMICS!

…if you get that, I salute you.

Yes, we’re talking about Mimics, but why? WHY are we talking about mimics? Well, on top of them being one of my favorite monsters, they’re an iconic staple in dungeon crawling. From tabletop games like DnD, to JRPGs like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, to gritty visceral RPGs like Dark Souls, To Mario.

Yes. You heard me right.

Mario.

But what…is a mimic?

The long and short is that they’re shapeshifting predators. They change their shape into something that looks like an ordinary. They could be a chest, like what they’re normally depicted in games, but they could be a crate, a stalagmite(roper) and…potentially anything, really! Looking at them dead-on, though, it would be hard to tell if they’re actually mimics or not, as they are indistinguishable from the objects that they’re mimicking. The only thing that’ll give them away is if some unsuspecting person happens to touch them. Their skin is adhesive, which means the moment that someone touches it, they’re stuck…which means, they’re dinner.

On top of that, you have some mimics that can be fairly intelligent, understanding and speaking in Common or Undercommon. On top of this potentially developing into a “FEED ME, SEYMOUR!” situation (Again, if you get that, I salute you), this could get you past some sticky situations (no pun intended) where you can slip past it in exchange for food.

Most of us know what a Mimic is, most of us know how a mimic operates. But in this spooky season, what is it about a mimic that is scary? Easy: their unpredictability.

Again, a mimic is indistinguishable from the object that they’re mimicking. Sure, chests are the go to.

But what about a door? Yup, a door can be a mimic.

What about a corpse? Yes, a corpse can be a mimic.

Hells, there’s an entire book of mimics, if you wanna look up what kind of mimics you can imagine. One look at that list can tell you that anything can be a mimic.

Anything…

…

Including me.

Choco (10/30/23)

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