Monster Monday - Mimic

Sorry everyone, I missed last week's Monster Monday. I was finishing up the Silvery Moon Tavern, and was able to push it to have copies in print for Gary Con. It should also be on sale Thursday (March 9) on RPGNow. Now that I'm done with my excuses, let's get to the monster of the week!

The Mimic is a strange creature. It morphs its body into something that intelligent creatures might want in order to eat them. The classic example is a treasure chest, but there are several other examples that we will look at shortly.

Mimics first showed up in D&D around AD&D 1E, at least in the Monster Manual. PC Gamer says they showed up as early as 1974, but I don't know where. Mimics appear in the Monster Manual, where Gygax writes: " . . . are subterranean creatures which cannot stand the light of the sun. They are able to perfectly mimic stone or wood. There are two varieties, the large . . . and the slightly smaller, intelligent sort. While the former will attack anything . . . the latter are generally friendly if offered food."
There is a "killer mimic" in the Slavers series (A3), the Juggernaut in Temple of Elemental Evil is a "cousin." But, the most famous mimic of all is quite disgusting: Dungie. Dungie is a mimic that appears in Rappan Athuk. He was turned into an immortal mimic when he ingested a Staff of the Magi. He has a natural form: "a disgusting bubbling mass of vile feces and gurgling fluids." But, usually, he is sitting on a privy as a super clean toilet seat.

Mimics are the ultimate trap. They are a monster that can assume the form of what the characters want most: an exit, a treasure chest, even a bench to sit on.

Deep within the bowls of Devil's Dilemma, it is said that a room full of levers exists. All of these need to be pulled down simultaneously. But, one lever (and part of the stone wall behind it) is actually a mimic. When the mimic lever is pulled, the entire wall envelops whoever pulled the lever.

The Old Manor has a pipe organ, rumored to grant wishes if a particular series of notes is played. The bench near the keys is actually a mimic, waiting for the next victim.

A mad wizard bound a mimic to an iron golem as an outer "skin." When the golem attacks, the mimic lashes out and grabs the target, often carrying them into the air (if dwarf sized or smaller) or forcing them to Save or lose their weapon.

The rats in the basement of the inn snuck through the sewers to get there. Eventually, a mimic found the same path, and now resides as a bed in the least-rented room.

Artwork by Indi Martin © 2015