And everyone knows imitation brings nothing but fake hopes and dreams, and fake lives full of lies, an that's what Mimes all have.
And this may be even true for most of them... but only because most of them are not true Mimes.
Mimes are considered magical by some, and probably they are somehow right, since most of the Mimes' abilities are tricks so elaborate and convincing that the Reality itself is bound to fall for them, and will obey them. Or so they will tell you if you ask them.
Others say Mimes are touched by the Chaos, and can touch the Chaos itself, and by it they can reach the Reality inner cords and twist them and bend them to their will and imagination, making true and tangible what is fake and thin like air. Unlike spellcasters, who canalize the magic through their bodies to make it flow to the Reality at their will, Mimes change the Reality itself.
That's why Mimes are usually hated by The Fey Folk: no one should ever change the Reality at his will, because along this path lies what they call the Blasting Solitude of Doom and the destruction of the fabric of Reality itself. Mimes of course do not care and do it anyway.
No one can become a Mime, if they aren't already. This means that no one can become a Mime, and those few who are, always have been.
There's no school of Mimes, as Mimes are as rare as tree leaves in a desert of salt.
Very seldom there will be a Master and an Apprentice but, more often than not, at some point only one will continue their path as their companion's corpse will be rotting and being eaten by flies.
Mimes are extremely jealous of their secrets and their tricks, an will tell lies and even kill to keep them secure.
Mimes are also not very trustworthy, and you can quite never tell when they're behaving as themselves or if they're imitating someone else. Few people get to really trust -and know- a Mime companion or even friend.
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| Mime by Kristoff-Kristoff on DeviantArt |
Mimes have Hit Dice and Saving Throws as Specialists, and use the Fighter Experience Table. They are Chaotic in Alignment.
Abilities: they have a +1 bonus to Dexterity and Wisdom due to their particular agility and their ability to trick other beings and the Reality itself; they also have -1 to Strength and -1 Constitution because they are not used to carry much equipment and weapons or do physical work.
Attack Bonus: Mimes have a natural +2 when attacking with a mimed weapon because there's no weapon to be seen by their opponents.
Encumbrance: since Mimes are not used to carry much equipment, they suffer Encumbrance more than other classes. They will be Lightly Encumbered with 1 Point, Heavily Encumbered with 2 and Severely Encumbered with 3 Points.
Tricks
Mimes, except for very few exceptions, have little practical skills. However, with their ability to bend the Reality they manage to do things other people must spend years of training on.Their tricks system is very similar to that of the magic system for spellcaster classes, but instead of memorizing spells, they memorize skills.
These skills (called "tricks" from now on) are the same of the other classes (Architecture, Stealth, Climbing etc.) plus the unique Pantomime.
They have a base of 1 point on any trick as every other class, plus a number of points they can distribute between them with the rules below.
Practicing Tricks
A Mime must rest for six continuous hours before practicing tricks. After resting, the Mime must practice the tricks for a number of hours equal to the total points of the highest trick being prepared.
A Mime can only practice tricks once every twenty-four hours, otherwise the fabric of Reality will tear apart along with the Mime himself.
The number of trick points that can be distributed on any level follow the progression below:
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| Points | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 13 | 15 | +2 |
Brokenjaw wants to distribute 5 points between Tinkering and Stealth, respectively with 2 and 3 points raising them to 3 and 4 points.
She will need to practice for 4 hours before being able to use these tricks.
Mimes cannot perform tricks if they are more than lightly encumbered, but do not need any equipment.
The only trick that works differently from the others is Languages, as described later.
Mime also get the unique skill Pantomime.
Languages
Mimes can talk like anyone else, but choose not to, because they believe that not talking sharpens their miming abilities in the same way a blind man sharpens his hearing. Apart from this Mimes use the standard language rules, also when coming in contact with them the first time.
Mimes mostly use their pantomime to communicate.
Pantomime
Their main "language" is the pantomime, a form of communication transmitted entirely by miming.
The pantomime is such a versatile skill that, other than being perfectly understandable to any sentient creature that knows the same languages as the Mime, can be comprehensible to different languages even from different cultural groups.
When practicing your tricks if you want to assign points to Pantomime you must declare for what languages you want to practice this trick, and how many points you will assign to these languages. You will then have more Pantomime skills, one for every language you have chosen.
You can only assign points to a language you don't know, and only if you already came in contact with it.
When pantomiming, you must roll for every concept you want to communicate, with the same modifier for the Languages skill used when coming in contact with a new language.
Pantomime cannot be used to understand other languages nor to communicate detailed information, but only to communicate simple concepts and ideas.
Chimpkiller wants to assign 5 points to Pantomime. When practicing skills he declares he will assign 3 points to Japanese (getting Japanese Pantomime at 4) and the remaining 2 points to Italian (getting Italian Pantomime to 3).
When trying to communicate a concept to a Japanese speaker, he will roll with a -2 penalty being Japanese an exotic language, but he will not have penalties when pantomiming the Italian language if it is from his same cultural group.
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| The picture that inspired this madness |
Fighting
When fighting Mimes use a special technique called "mimefight" consisting on miming the use of weapons, being them melee or distance or firearms, but causing real damage as if really brandishing them.They can choose the weapon to mimefight with, but they can choose only one weapon at a time until level 3 and two weapons until level 9.
When choosing a weapon, a Mime must practice with the mimefighting technique related to that weapon in a similar way spell-casters prepare their spells.
When mimefighting Mimes heavily exaggerate their movements, leaving more openings to their opponents than those who use real weapons. Because of this Mimes get a penalty to the AC equal to half the damage die of the chosen weapon.
If the weapon has a setback (like the Rapier) the AC penalty is decreased by 1, otherwise if the weapon has an advantage the AC is increased by the same amount.
Both a Medium Weapon and a Rapier deal 1d8 damage, giving AC -4. However, since the Rapier has a setback, its AC penalty is decreased by 1, giving only AC -3.
Both Shortbow and Longbow deal 1d6 damage, giving AC -3. However, since the Longbow has an advantage (a longer range) its AC penalty is increased by 1, giving AC -4.
Option: if using personal initiative, in case of a tie not solved even with the Dexterity modifier, the Mime always acts last.
Mimefighting Practice
Before being able to mimefight with the chosen weapon, they must practice the technique following the same rules for practicing Tricks.
They must practice for as many hours as the highest damage die of the chosen weapons.
If the Mime wants both to prepare Tricks and practice mimefight, the total time spent is the sum of the two.
Carrot, a level 3 Mime, wants to practice mimefighting both with a Rapier and a Bow. She must therefore practice for 8 hours, since the Rapier damage die is a d8.
If she also wants to practice his Climbing trick raising it to 5 of 6, Carrot must practice for a total of 13 hours.
Shields
Mimes can mime a shield when mimefighting, with the same advantages as a real one. When miming one, however, they cannot perform Special Tricks and of course cannot mime two handed weapons.
To mimefight with a shield they have to declare it when practicing their weapon. If they initially practiced mimefighting without a shield, they must practice it again spending half the time they would spend practicing their chosen weapon.
If Sweatmeat has practiced mimefight with a Rapier for 8 hours, and now he wants to mime also a shield when fighting, he must practice mimefighting again for 4 hours.
Special Tricks
Mimes have Special Tricks they can use also when mimefighting.Mimes cannot perform Special Tricks if they are more than lightly encumbered or when they are mimefighting with a shield, being it real or mimed.
Invisible Wall
If the Mime spends an entire combat round to mime the presence of an invisible wall, any sentient being who sees them must save against Magic (plus the non-magic save modifier). If the Save is failed the being will firmly believe there's an actual, although invisible 8' tall and 5' wide wall between him and the Mime. This belief will last until it is demonstrated in any way that the wall is actually not real.
If during the miming the Mime is interrupted the illusion will not work.
For every round the Mime spends miming the wall without interruption, they can "increase" its length by 5' feet.
This Special Trick can be used to mime other objects, and the same rules apply.
Invisible Box
Works the same way as the Invisible Wall, but the illusion breaks as soon as the Mime moves outside the area of the box. While inside that area, however, opponents who fell for the illusion will not try to attack them, believing it useless.
Draw Attention
With his annoying and exuberant manners a Mime can draw the attention of any sentient being who can see him. They can choose to draw the attention of one or more sentient beings by taunting them, miming them or by just distract them.
When using this Special Trick all targets must save vs. Magic (plus their non-magic save modifier) or stare at the Mime scratching their heads or even charge at them angry to be taunted.
Tangible Illusion
Once per day a Mime can create a tangible, although invisible, illusion that will last 1d6 x level rounds by reaching the Reality inner cords and twisting and bending them at their will.
If the Mime is interrupted, this Special Trick will not work for the next 24 hours due to the risk of tearing apart the Reality fabric already weakened by the first attempt.
The Mime must mime the illusion in the necessary detail before this trick can work.
Bonus points if the player mime the illusion themself!
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