Dream: No Rest for the Wicked
Usable By: Bard, Warlock, Wizard
Spell Level: 5
School: Illusion
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Special
Duration: 8 hours
Components: V, S, M (a handful of sand, a dab of ink, and a writing quill plucked from a sleeping bird)
This spell shapes a creature’s dreams. Choose a creature known to you as the target of this spell. The target must be on the same plane of existence as you. Creatures that don’t sleep, such as elves, can’t be contacted by this spell. You, or a willing creature you touch, enters a trance state, acting as a messenger. While in the trance, the messenger is aware of his or her surroundings, but can’t take actions or move.
If the target is asleep, the messenger appears in the target’s dreams and can converse with the target as long as it remains asleep, through the duration of the spell. The messenger can also shape the environment of the dream, creating landscapes, objects, and other images. The messenger can emerge from the trance at any time, ending the effect of the spell early. The target recalls the dream perfectly upon waking. If the target is awake when you cast the spell, the messenger knows it, and can either end the trance (and the spell) or wait for the target to fall asleep, at which point the messenger appears in the target’s dreams.
You can make the messenger appear monstrous and terrifying to the target. If you do, the messenger can deliver a message of no more than ten words and then the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, echoes of the phantasmal monstrosity spawn a nightmare that lasts the duration of the target’s sleep and prevents the target from gaining any benefit from that rest. In addition, when the target wakes up, it takes 3d6 psychic damage.
If you have a body part, lock of hair, clipping from a nail, or similar portion of the target’s body, the target makes its saving throw with disadvantage.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
The best way to use Dream is basically as a free form creative VR space to mess around in. I would want that; spending an hour creating worlds and massive images in my buddies dreams sounds like it could be both hilarious and epic. The nightmare part is a bit too hostile for my liking, of course. Would I take it on characters I build? Absolutely not! It, like Awaken, is neat in principle, and can lead to a few incredibly memorable moments, but unlike Awaken it is just so niche I can’t say it’s worth taking.
There are two main use cases for Dream: you need to talk to somebody you know, or you need to deny the rest of somebody you hate. Both these cases can occur, but are hyper dependent on the campaign. If a villain in your arch doesn’t sleep, even if they escape injured and you’re looking to keep them injured for a single rest, it won’t work. Undead, elves, elementals, constructs, and a multitude of other creatures all ignore this spells existence entirely, and likewise can’t be contacted through it. Even if whoever you want to torment does sleep, it can always deny them health, but many monster’s resources are daily based and reset after a set amount of time passes. Dream can’t interact with monsters in the same way it can players, and thus feels like a spell that’s actually a monster’s ability.
As a means of communication, if your campaign is built over a sprawling world map with huge travel times centered around navigating wartime conflicts, it can work as a warning message or information acquisition tool. There will be campaigns where Dream and spells like it like Animal Messenger can have a home, it just isn’t most of them.
If you’re playing in an evil game and you’re looking to become a hag, this can be a tool for emulating horrific person specific magic aimed at maiming those who wronged you or otherwise tormenting them for fun. DMs can give their hag covens Dream as a way to torment the players from a distance, or alternatively give it to an important NPCs that needs to contact the players hurriedly. This is probably where the spell belongs; in the hands of the DM as a flexible tool for tormenting players or adjusting their knowledge or goals. In the hands of a player it reads cool as hell, but ultimately isn’t going to actually do anything.
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