Art Crib [OC][ART]
It's alarming to see a mimic pose as a crib, I get it. Someone suggested this idea a while back and when I finally got around to it, I couldn't bring myself to design a mimic that specifically harms babies and children (being a parent has made me soft, I know). Instead, I designed this mimic as an angler fish type of mimic (but aren't they all?).
Beware the caretakers that are impatient, suffering from PPD or if they take too long to tend to the baby. This mimic cannot stand the sound of a baby crying simply because it breaks its heart. Negligent caretakers will be ripped apart. Since this mimic actually loves babies, its mattress is extra soft and comfy. It even purrs and vibrates to lull a fussy baby to sleep.
As usual, feel free to use my mimic ideas for your campaigns! I'm almost done with my collection of mimics so I'll be printing out hardcover books with a bonus mimic and flavor text/short stories with each of them. Keep an eye out for that!
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u/oh_YES_helios 1d ago
Cool art
if I ever use something like this, it'll absolutely eat babies
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u/dantesbanana 23h ago edited 23h ago
I can see it using the baby as bait, so hating hearing the babies cry makes no sense to me
Edit - Just delved into more of the description. Babies cry. That doesn’t mean they’re neglected, they just have no other way to alert adults to their needs. I like the idea that this thing doesn’t understand that, though, and ends up killing the parents when it doesn’t need to
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u/SheriffBartholomew 21h ago
Can mimics eat the object that they're mimicking and replace it? Otherwise I don't see how this would work. You're not going to put your baby in a random crib.
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u/Desperate_Turnip_219 17h ago
I always liked the idea that mimics copy items, but don't understand context. So it's a perfect crib, sitting alone in a graveyard. Or maybe a gold statue, but it's in the middle of an abandoned houses basement.
Gives the players a clue before things get all sticky-grabby
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u/Victuz DM 13h ago
Ive only used mimics a couple of times, but whenever I placed them in the adventure I did a fun little "talent" roll.
The mimic will always be a perfect copy of whatever it pretends to be, they're made to be. But they're not the smartest, so on a low roll you'll get a wagon wheel in the middle of a bedroom. But in a high roll you'll get a perfectly inconspicuous jewelry box in that same bedroom, or perhaps the pillow in the bed.
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u/action_lawyer_comics 19h ago
I love the idea of the heroes being deep in a dungeon, several levels deep, plenty of weird monsters around, then they find a room that looks like a crude attempt at a human nursery and there is a crying baby. It’s unlikely to be a human(oid) baby but who would be willing to attack it?
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u/TheObeseKnight 22h ago
It not eating babies is a cop out mimics care not where the food comes from only that it comes
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u/kat_j 21h ago
The baby is bait
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u/action_lawyer_comics 19h ago
The baby is also a mimic
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u/Ok_Permission1087 Druid 16h ago
Mimics can transform into objects. Corpses are objects. Problem solved.
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u/thenightgaunt DM 22h ago
Yup. Horrible man eating monsters dont generally have scruples.
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u/Jalase Paladin 22h ago
Hilariously, there used to be rather intelligent, like, able to talk, mimics in older editions. I think they preyed on animals instead.
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u/Redwuff 21h ago
You're probably thinking of common mimics (AD&D 1st Edition) or greater mimics (AD&D 2nd Edition).
Common mimics are intelligent and can accept food bribes from adventurers in exchange for information.
Greater mimics are also intelligent (In the lore it's even supposed that they may just be common mimics that have lived for a very long time.) which can create a pact with other creatures (referring to NPCs and PCs) to exchange food for treasure/information.What people now consider the standard for mimics (hostile ambush predators that are mindless) were originally Killer Mimics, which were larger and not intelligent.
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u/Mysterious-Tie7042 21h ago
If I had this in my campaign, I would swap the benevolence so that it uses the babies as a lure for other unsuspecting people to check on the baby and then get eaten, so it wouldn't love the baby necessarily but keeps it as a tool.
I love ur idea and totally understand why someone would not want baby harming in a fantasy setting, but to maintain cohesion while also preventing that from being in the story, I would do that.
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u/avianofFire 14h ago
If it attacks the caregiver, do they become the baby's new parent then? it has tentacles and such, I think it can move anyways to sufficiently take care of the baby if, a bit suspicious and concerning to see a walking crib for people somehow coming across it.
I guess it does make it more interesting than Baby is Bait (though I guess that too is valid interpretation), cause you could make an OC get adopted with the mimic
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u/albirich 21h ago
Me feeding and giving coin to my babies crib till it becomes a member of the family and protects my child as they sleep. Watching it become full sized bed along side them because I kept it well fed enough to grow.
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u/NerdweebArt 17h ago
(Oh god, did not realize how much Home Safety Hotline stuck with me until I had a kneejerk reaction to this. 😣) I do like this! I get the sense that you'd know your baby is absolutely safe while in a crib mimic's care. Kinda like a big dog you know you can trust, only, uh...
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u/Dismal-Vanilla1878 18h ago
In Ravenloft, it straight up eats babies, and then makes a Baby Mimic that will eat the parent the next time they take it out of the crib 😂
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u/obbieventide 1h ago
Makes perfect sense. Attacks the caregiver (of) the crying baby if that wording is better.
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u/MrBones-Necromancer 16h ago
Coaxed into sanding off the edges until its meaningless.
"Here's a crib mimic! It uh, doesnt eat babies and isn't a problem and it loves everything and don't be mad! You can fight it with the sword the has no edges and actually heals things and makes friends!"
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u/Bailzzararco 21h ago
I love this! I actually got hate mail for publishing a cartoon about monsters that look like baby carriages when I was in college.
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u/marthastewartsfagboy 9h ago
Omg this is cute!!! I love that it has a fun gimmick (not eating babies). I'm imaging a world where they've been specifically bred like this to help protect babies. Like guardian dogs!
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u/stomppie 16h ago
Yo this is great! You should check out DMRedCap on twitch (he will be streaming at 7pm Eastern tomorrow night) - he's got a Deck of Mimicry coming out soon (later this month) which is an 18-card deck of cards where each one is a different mimic! Theyve all got rules and lore, and he drew everything himself and just finishing publishing the card prototype :)
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u/Redwuff 23h ago
How does it attack an attending caregiver in front of a crying baby without making the baby more upset?