Burials of Teganshire post 9 of 30
Let’s depart the campaign and adventure philosophy and dive into encounters. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the Lothmar meta mimic for Pathfinder 1E. Yes, it’s a mimic of a mimic. Ha. Ha, ha, ha, AH HA HA AH MWA HAHAHAHAHA!
Ahem.
Encounter: The Old Man and the Ghost Wagon
On any road the PC party is traveling on, they find a wounded, delirious old man in the ditch. He claims that a “wagon with no horse or riders,” came across their own wagon in the opposite direction. When the animated wagon got closer, it “screeched like the damned, laughing and giggling” as it attacked the horses, and then the other occupants of the old man’s wagon.
This is the extent of his knowledge. He claims it was a “haunted ghost wagon” and doesn’t have any details of how it attacked or if the rest of his companions are alive or dead. He says the wagon took a bite of him and then yelled, “Begone, old fool, least GHOST WAGON kills you too!”
The old man is thoroughly traumatized and is suffering from post-traumatic stress. Still, PCs with a Perception check of 13 or higher will reveal that he wants to deliver a helpful description, but no longer has the mental faculties to do so. Giving him some water and tending to his wounds will go a long way into calming him down, but the old man, who says his name is “Old Jim,” is helpless if left outdoors by himself.
The Battle Site
It doesn’t take long for the party to find the gruesome battle site: a broken wagon, two dead draft horses, and two dead men, all four mostly eaten, body parts everywhere.
A Heal DC check of 15 reveals the wounds from a large mouth with sharp teeth. A DC 20 shows sticky, goo-like substance from the meta mimic’s adhesive. A DC or 25 reveals the men also suffered from some other type of catastrophic damage, the meta mimics cosmic damage delivered by its bite. Only a Knowledge Arcana DC of 25 or more will type the damage as “cosmic damage from the void beyond.”
Wagon tracks go down the road (without horses or oxen to pull them), the ghost wagon seemingly heading back from which it came. No tracking roll needed.
Combat Encounter
The Ghost Wagon will not be hard to find. It is moving at 30 ft. per round (using its movement for both its action and movent phases). Touching it or using ranged weapons will start combat. The meta mimic, while battling the PCs will periodically go “Oooooooo!” and “Mwahahahaha GHOST WAGON WILL EAT YOU!” It also taunts any healer in the party if another PC dies, calling them a “loser” and blaming them for the PC’s death.
It fights to the death. If the PCs only use ranged weapons, it turns into its true form, flies above the archers/crossbowmen, and then turns into a wagon to fall on their heads.
The meta mimic is reasonably intelligent. If it incapacitates a PC, it will keep attacking the PC until the PC is dead.
Combat variation
A fiendish DM can dramatically bump the encounter difficulty by having two regular mimics, as chests, hitching a ride in GHOST WAGON. All three of them think this is hilarious, and as the GM, you should find it pretty funny, too.
Your players, however, as play-testing revealed, will not think it funny at all.
Pathfinder 1E Lothmar Meta Mimic
Lothmar Meta Mimic | CR 5 | XP 1,600
Lothmar meta mimic | NE Huge to tiny aberration (shapechanger)
Init +3; Senses greensight 120 ft., see in darkness; Perception +12
Defense
AC 18, touch 10, flat-footed 18 | hp 90
Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +7
Immune acid, mind-affecting effects; Resist negative energy 5
Weaknesses vulnerability to force effects, vulnerability to sonic
Offense
Speed 15 ft., fly 30 ft. (good)
Melee bite +10 (1d10+6), pseudopod slam +10 (1d10+6 plus adhesive grasp effect)
Space 0 to 15 ft.; Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks cosmic acid constrict (1d10+6) on adhesive grasped victims
Statistics
Str 18, Dex 8, Con 18, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 10
Base Atk +6; CMB +12; CMD 21 (can’t be tripped)
Feats Improved Initiative, Step Up, Throw Anything
Skills Acrobatics -1 (-9 to jump), Climb +15, Disguise +0 (+20 when mimicking objects), Fly -1, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +12, Perception +12, Spellcraft +12, Stealth +2; Racial Modifiers +20 Disguise when mimicking objects
Languages Common, Undercommon, Aklo
SQ cosmic shapechange
Special Abilities
Adhesive Grasp (DC 18) (Ex) Automatically grapple, those grappled cannot get free while the meta mimic is alive. Victims can make a contested Strength roll to remain in place (the meta mimic has a +4). Otherwise, the meta mimic will draw the grasped victim in range of its mouth to bite. Anyone attempting to grapple the mimic is automatically grappled in return.
Cosmic Acid Constrict: When the Lothmar meta mimic grapples a creature, it uses its strength and connection to the void to do 1d10+6 void damage. If already grasping a victim, the meta mimic can generate another pseudopod to slam other opponents. It can do this an unlimited number of times (once per round), although once constricting a victim the meta mimic will not attack it with an extra pseudopod—preferring to bite it instead.
Cosmic Shapechange (Ex) The Lothmar meta mimic can use its action to polymorph into an object (huge or smaller) it can see or sense, making an exact duplicate of the object in both form and function. It can also shapechange back into its pure form, a viscous, semitransparent blob-like cloud of smoke. Its statistics are the same in each shape (although the Lothmar meta mimic can only fly in its smoke form). Any equipment it is wearing or carrying isn’t transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Immunity to Acid The Lothmar meta mimic is immune to acid damage.
Immunity to Mind-Affecting effects The Lothmar meta mimic is immune to Mind-Affecting effects.
Energy Resistance, Negative energy (5) The Lothmar meta mimic has Energy Resistance against Negative Energy attacks.
Vulnerability to Force Effects The Lothmar meta mimic is vulnerable (+50% damage) to force effects that deal damage.
Vulnerability to Sonic The Lothmar meta mimic is vulnerable (+50% damage) to Sonic damage.
Fly (30 feet, Good) The Lothmar meta mimic, when in smoke form, can fly.
See in Darkness Sees perfectly in darkness of any kind, including magical darkness.
Greensight (120 ft.) (Su) Senses through thick plant matter as if it was transparent.
Step Up When a foe makes a 5 ft step away from the meta mimic, it can move 5 ft to follow them.
Throw Anything Proficient with improvised ranged weapons.
Description
Thoroughly malevolent, witty, and annoyingly snarky, the Lothmar meta mimic is an evil aberration from “somewhere else.” Often confused with regular or giant mimics, the meta-mimic is much more dangerous due to its innate ability to copy objects it can sense, including complex objects composed of smaller pieces, such as a wagon.
Meta mimics seem to bend the laws of physics to copy objects, and they can mimic anything from a tiny teacup to horse carriage to a wine barrel. They cannot “invent” objects to copy; they must see or have seen an object to polymorph into.
Mistaken Identity
Explorers and their like often confuse a meta mimic with an animated object or construct, that is, up until the meta mimic reveals its mouth with sharp teeth. Compounding the problem is the meta mimic will “hang out” with animated objects, mimics, or giant mimics, and striking at the most convenient time for maximum comedic effect, according to the mimic.
Cruel Monsters
Meta mimics are cruel, but only insofar as amuse itself with its morbid sense of humor. For example, a meta mimic would think it’s quite funny to suddenly lunge at an adventurer in armor standing over a pit of alligators, in hopes of having them slip and fall in surprise. Then it would attack anyone coming to rescue, or, if the adventure is alone, extend a pseudopod to help, but leave the legs to the alligators as it feasted on the “top part.”
Unknown Ethereal Origins
Little is known about the meta mimic, other than it is susceptible to force damage, lending evidence to its origin being the Ethereal Plane. While it can speak (often to taunt people that it is munching on), it never reveals anything about its culture (if it has one), origins, or anything of import. Some guess that the meta mimic originally came across an actual mimic, and copied as much as its form and attributes as it could.
Survivors of the Lothmar meta mimic describe it as having some “soul-sucking, void attack from the beyond.” They also specify that it is not concerned with its safety or any natural functions, and seems only to exist to kill, maim, and taunt surprised victims.
It is also unknown why Lothmar meta mimics are bothered and damaged by loud noises. If the meta mimic knows, it isn’t telling. They even don’t seem to have a brain or at least a normal one, and they are entirely immune to psychic damage (nor do they respond to telepathy).
When a meta mimic dies, it reverts to its non-object form and dissolves into smoke until gone.
Burials of Teganshire
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Crossbow Man Don’t Need no Wagon
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