Miniature Monday! Boom Goes the Mimic!

Fact – everything is better with pirates! So that makes this week’s installment of Miniature Monday even better, mateys!

We’re unearthing another masterful STL from the dastardly crew at EC3D Designs and their must-own Depths of the Savage Toll Kickstarter (which anyone can still late pledge). And 3D RPG probably won’t stop until we’ve printed and painted every last file from this underwater adventure.

This chest mimic is absolutely brilliant. First off, it’s a treasure chest mimic which is quite common in any DnD campaign. Even better though, when it activates, it releases a barrage of cannon fire (four shots). Your party will never trust another chest…treasure chest…again.

This one is fresh off the boat from our resident painter, Kimmy Utah. Her color selection made DM Ben shiver his timbers but in the best way possible. The mix of brown, bronze, gold, and red was just what the Captain ordered!

We have an upcoming campaign that will include a host of mimics and that got us thinkin’ about what sorta stats we’re going to apply to them (for a level 4, five-character fight).

Naturally, we’ll use the slam dunk stats from D&D Beyond (but with fewer HP). However, we plan on having several pieces of furniture in the witch’s den come to life including a rug, cabinet, and even a boiling kettle. So what sorta stats and abilities can we utilize to make the fight as entertaining as possible?

DM Ben wants a lot of tension when they go inside the dingy woodland cabin and start talking to the old lady (who is using a very powerful Illusion spell to hide her witch form). So for starters, the group will be making numerous room perception checks during the conversation but they all be to no avail, since mimics aren’t detectable. It’s all just to make the party extra paranoid.

As far as differentiating the mimics from one another, this will happen with their specific attacks:

• Chest Mimic: springs four attacks from its cannons.
• Rug Mimic: releases a smoother spell that will force party members to come to each other’s aid.
• Kettle Mimic: Rains down a cloud of boiling water area of effect spell.
• Barrell Mimic: shoots wooden splinters as a multi-range attack.
• Anvil Mimic: hits with a thunderous force and holds a high AC.

The goal of her mimics is simply to preoccupy the party until she can escape as the witch has never encountered a party force like this before. If necessary, she will cast a couple more spells to bring even more surrounding room objects to life including a wardrobe, sack, and even her hat!

Once the witch has escaped, the mimics will drop their spell form entirely and instantly return to their inanimate form with a loud thud.

The real challenge though is how do we make this mimic encounter less predictable? The good news is the group hasn’t encountered any mimics to this point so they won’t see these pesky guardians coming. The bad news is the group sorta knows what they’re getting into with this mission and the old lady.

Rumors are swirling around Waterdeep that children are going missing and the inhabitant in a spooky cabin deep in the forest could be the kidnapping culprit. At first, they’ll see a frail old woman doing old woman things outside her dilapidated shack before popping back inside. If the party kills or scares her off, the deed to the cabin is theirs and thus, they now have a home to which to build upon.

The trick though is how the DM lures the characters inside to set up the proper chaotic fight. Information is our golden ticket here. The party needs to know where a particular child is and if they kill the witch outright, that secret dies with her. Thus, they must get inside and charm their way into extracting that information before any sort of weapons are drawn. A child safe and sound naturally delivers a bigger reward. Sounds good, ey?

If you’re looking for some additional inspiration on Mimics be sure to watch the Dungeon Dude’s “How to Run Mimics in Dungeons & Dragons 5e” and Pointy Hat’s “The Problem with Mimics in D&D” for even more fun ideas and mimic goodness!