It’s Midgard Monday! Each week, we visit a corner of the wide world of Midgard. Look for standalone content you can drop into your campaign—whether it’s in Midgard or your own homebrew. Find new inspiration each Midgard Monday!

Unlike many of my previous reports, I’ve had to rely on external resources for this monster. I, Casimir, enjoy a surprise just as much as anyone, but if that surprise tries to eat you as part of the experience? I prefer to avoid that fate.

I am, of course, referring to mimics, which are more pervasive than one might at first imagine. Fortunately, the creatures aren’t just ravenous predators with endless pits for stomachs, so one might survive an encounter with them with a bit of foreknowledge!

Find mimics and more in the Monster Vault! Now on sale in the Kobold store!

Gourmands, not Gluttons

The salacious image of a mimic as a monster that lies in wait for its prey so it can inconspicuously consume them is only partially true. Mimics do have healthy appetites—akin to other predators matching their size—but prefer variety in their meals, even if that requires variation upon humanoids.

Since they have numerous sensitive taste buds, mimics recall past meals and are strangely picky eaters. Therefore, a mimic that has recently devoured a human may let the next several go without so much as a gnashing of teeth but immediately snags an orc accompanying those humans. Mimics employed by more powerful creatures as guardians reluctantly devour all intruders, regardless of recent repasts. Such mimics grow to despise their conditions and turn on their erstwhile masters, especially if interlopers offer variety to their meals.

Mimics prefer living, fleshy fodder over plants and undead. However, adventurous specimens choose the latter two types of creatures to expand their palates. Mimics in well-traveled areas might switch their diets entirely to avoid competition with their kin.

Contrary to popular stories told by adventurers, mimics don’t limit themselves to intelligent prey. While they experience a rush from surprising unsuspecting prey, the reaction doesn’t flavor the food the way it does for creatures who feed on fear. They grow bored with vermin as quickly as they do any meals, but mimic-filled lairs often see few rats and other pests.

Mimic Progeny

As mimics consume prey, they grow larger with no apparent limit. Space requirements force them to produce offspring by budding. These young mimics have a suite of basic shapes they absorb from their parents as extensions of the older mimics, but they are wholly independent organisms.

Offspring sometimes remain near their parents to learn more shapes and the best hunting spots. However, outside of spawning, mimics feel no familial ties. Soon after birth, an elder mimic sees offspring as competitors or convenient allies, and might even eat them if resources are scarce (I am told that mimic meat is utterly bland). After its first kill, a young mimic soon leaves their parents to continue elsewhere.

A rare few mimics find themselves in conditions where continual growth is both possible and advantageous. Without the limits of space, food, and the incongruity of assuming the same, ever-larger shape, mimics can grow to become entire rooms or caves and add “features.” This allows them to feast on larger prey they may not have experienced previously. While researching mimics, I heard rumors in the Mharoti Empire about a dragon-devouring mimic pretending to be an underground lair, and I’ve received reports of a mimic underneath Zobeck that grew to the size of a small dungeon.

Pride in Imitation

Even less intellectually adroit mimics take pleasure in fooling prey into mistaking them as ordinary objects. In mimic-rich environments, the shapeshifters pride themselves in fooling other mimics, which lack special senses to detect their brethren and must instead rely on general wariness.

The closed treasure chest is their most chosen form, since it attracts the most attention from potential meals. Mimics also enjoy appearing as doors and stairs, because their prey likely assume these objects work as intended. However, they can transform themselves into ordinary crates or barrels, or into more elaborate furniture. Because of the limitations on the types of objects they can duplicate—mostly stone and wood—they add flourishes to sell disguises more convincingly. They might gather up tomes and maneuver them onto shelves in their bookcase form, or use clothing taken from their victims to present as more realistic chests of drawers.

Much as mimics grow bored with food choices, they also lose interest in using the same shape constantly. Mimics change their shapes even in the presence of potential prey to liven things up, determine whether their prey is paying attention, or further entice victims to approach.

The creatures have a repertoire of instinctive shapes and may receive instruction from creatures employing them as watchdogs or from the mimics that spawned them. Beyond this initial set, they must experience, hear detailed descriptions about, or at least study images of additional objects to imitate them. Mimics untethered to a specific location often migrate to other places so they can witness these things firsthand.

Mimics Are Everywhere

This may sound alarmist, but mimics don’t just hide in dungeons and underground lairs. They often make their way to urban locations or settle in outdoor locations. A bureau that is wildly out of place in a dungeon fits in seamlessly in a residence. Well-visited mountain trails become homes to mimics that have transformed into dead and gnarled trees, interesting rocks, or convenient outcroppings.

Because mimics desire variety in their food choices and the objects they replicate, they move from comfortable surroundings to other spots where they can broaden their horizons. This is especially true if their haunts see fewer visitors. While most mimics content themselves with long journeys, some enjoy assuming the shape of irresistible objects that convince other creatures to carry them away. The shapechangers can remain in a single form for multiple days and, despite the dullness of one shape, they exercise patience to benefit from effortless relocation.

The next time that caravan from Zobeck visits with a seller promising cheap furniture fashioned from expensive or rare wood, give it a poke or two with a dagger to ease your mind!

New Magic Item: Form Fixative

In cases where a shapeshifter, such as a mimic, takes on a harmless appearance, this magic item forces it to lose access to more dangerous forms.

FORM FIXATIVE

Wondrous Item, Uncommon                     250 gp

Consisting of 1d4 + 1 vials of pink liquid, this kit weighs 1 pound. As an action, you can apply one vial of the liquid to a Medium or smaller creature within your reach, or two vials to a Large creature. If the creature has the Shapechanger tag, it becomes locked into its current form for 1 minute, and it must succeed on a DC 14 CON save or become paralyzed for the duration. The creature can repeat the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the paralyzed effect on a success, however, the creature remains locked into its current form for the remainder of the minute.

---

Get into Midgard with the Midgard Worldbook! This acclaimed campaign setting is rich and deep, with a decade of support from Kobold Press.

Want a more focused start? Try the Zobeck Clockwork City Collector’s Edition! This detailed sourcebook
gives players plenty of room to run, and includes adventures within the Clockwork City itself!

---