D&D 5E of elves and dream sequences

pukunui · Oct 23, 2015

[MENTION=6801286]Imaculata[/MENTION]: Thanks. If you have a look at post #4, you'll see that's exactly what I'm planning on doing!

[MENTION=30438]Ralif Redhammer[/MENTION]: Yeah, I think my player will be fine with it.

pukunui · Oct 24, 2015

On a related note: What do you guys think I should do about treasure? The adventure I'm planning on running has some treasure in it, but obviously if I'm running it as a sort of dream, then the treasure might not be real. I thought maybe one magic item could be real, in that it appears in the elf PC's hands when he "wakes up", but the rest wouldn't. Should I let them collect fake treasure, or just not include it in the first place so they don't get confused?

Cody C. Lewis · Oct 24, 2015

Fun > Story > Rules

If you think it will be fun and/or add to the story. Do it.

SunGold · Oct 24, 2015

dakotahorn said:
Fun > Story > Rules

If you think it will be fun and/or add to the story. Do it.

This. Always, this.

Personally, I'd give loot to everyone. (Loot that goes "poof" when the elf's doesn't is...rough.) Their stuff doesn't have to be as grand as the elf's.

If you're worried that letting them keep it would be too unrealistic, remember two things:

1. This happens often enough in storytelling that it's a TVTrope.

2. Nobody at the table is going to exclaim, "But wait! We shouldn't get this loot!"

Valmarius · Oct 24, 2015

pukunui said:
On a related note: What do you guys think I should do about treasure? The adventure I'm planning on running has some treasure in it, but obviously if I'm running it as a sort of dream, then the treasure might not be real. I thought maybe one magic item could be real, in that it appears in the elf PC's hands when he "wakes up", but the rest wouldn't. Should I let them collect fake treasure, or just not include it in the first place so they don't get confused?

What could be quite cool is to tell them that they can choose one of the items they find to take back with them. Then, losing the other stuff won't be annoying, but it will still be worthwhile finding as many as possible to expand their choices.

S'mon · Oct 24, 2015

Arwen did in the movie - she was even riding a horse at the time!

aramis erak · Oct 24, 2015

pukunui said:
Elves don't sleep, and they are immune to things like the dream spell ... but can they still have like prophetic visions and "waking dreams" while trancing? I ask because I had this neat idea for a sort of dream sequence quest for the elf PC in one of my campaigns, but then I remembered that elves don't sleep and don't really dream (other than their meditative exercises or whatever).

Anyone got any thoughts on the matter?

It's explicit that they can dream (D&D 5e PHB page 23): "While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep."

THus, the dream spell can work on Elves. The spell itself gives no immunity to elves, and the elven write-up is only immunity to sleep, and the Trance specifically allows dreams.

pukunui · Oct 24, 2015

[MENTION=6779310]aramis erak[/MENTION]: From the description of the dream spell (PHB, pg 236): "Creatures that don't sleep, such as elves, can't be contacted by this spell."

Also, dreaming "after a fashion" is not the same thing as dreaming. As the quote says, an elf's "dreams" are really just reflexive exercises.

It doesn't really matter, though. The player in question was actually rather pleased with the idea. He said he'd never gotten to have a "vision quest" before so was quite keen to play it out. The others seemed to enjoy playing their characters as though they were merely aspects of the one PC's psyche, as well.