Challenging my high-lvl group (NPCs and monsters; my players shouldn't read this!)
- Thread starter Piratecat
- Start date
Piratecat said:
I don't have my books with me but I think one of the Creature Collection books had a couple dream themed monsters.
Me, I'd take an incorporeal undead as a base (wraith) and change it's appearence and the reason it's powers do what they do. You'd have to pump the thing way up to challenge your players, so it should be unrecognizable.
In a nastier mood, I'd make something that would "fight" the character solo in the dream world while they were asleep (dream world built using the alternate plane rules). If the player lost, they'd lose some of their abilities or take stat damage or be cursed for the next day. That would make them think twice about saying "we rest to get our spells back."
Many years ago (1995) there was a Ravenloft suppliment/adventure that dealt extensively with the Nightmare realm.
It's just a bad dream - a very bad dream....
Beware the night, for sleep provides another path to the Demiplane of Dread. In the unique domain called the Nightmare Lands, darkness offers not blissful slumber, but ultimate terror. Heroes enter this realm at the bidding of the night, drawn from their dreaming bodies and captured by an enigmatic figure known only as the Nightmare Man. Trapped in this region of psychological fear, heroes face their worst nightmare in strange, surrealistic terrain. If they escape the treacherous clutches of dark slumber, they'll be safe - at least until the next time sleep overtakes them....
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_297_311&products_id=1571&
It sounds like something you could use or rip ideas from. I would offer to send you my copy but its cheaper to download it from that link than international postage.
It's just a bad dream - a very bad dream....
Beware the night, for sleep provides another path to the Demiplane of Dread. In the unique domain called the Nightmare Lands, darkness offers not blissful slumber, but ultimate terror. Heroes enter this realm at the bidding of the night, drawn from their dreaming bodies and captured by an enigmatic figure known only as the Nightmare Man. Trapped in this region of psychological fear, heroes face their worst nightmare in strange, surrealistic terrain. If they escape the treacherous clutches of dark slumber, they'll be safe - at least until the next time sleep overtakes them....
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_297_311&products_id=1571&
It sounds like something you could use or rip ideas from. I would offer to send you my copy but its cheaper to download it from that link than international postage.
Last edited:
arwink
Clockwork Golem
Piratecat said:
Malhavoc's Beast's of the ID had the malafide (malice made manifest on the astral plane - easy to convert to a dream beastie), the mournblade (creatures touched by a dark dream-force while in the womb), the scapeworm (again, not quite dream related by easy to convert), and the CR 20 Xenocrysyth. All of these were pretty nifty critters that I've been looking to make use of.
An evil dream faction could also use mortal creatures they enslaved using dream-magic - immersing people in a sort of permanent lucid dream which allows them to move and react normally, but with their perceptions controled by the creatures of nightmare.
Last edited:
RangerWickett
Legend
Piratecat, you might recall that I have a recurring theme in my game that involves the Mother of Dreams, a psionic dragon who was infused with demonic and celestial energy, which caused her dreams to manifest as semi-corporeal creatures. This young dragon girl, named Trilla, fled deep into the tunnels beneath the earth, where now her nightmares roam unbound.
I named these nightmares the Trillith.
Most of the dream incarnations the various parties of my setting have encountered have been based on specific concepts, like Deception, Vengeance, Agony, and Helplessness, each with trappings specific to the nightmare that spawned them. They have mastered the methods of shaping the dreams of their mother, so that each night they can create new allies of their choosing, though Trilla resists with what little will she has left. Sometimes she dreams of hope, freedom, or justice, and some of these dreams manage to survive the rigors of their more cruel kin.
Trillith dislike the physical. Normally they exist as intangible psychic presences, able to affect the world through telepathy and telekinesis. If there is appropriate material nearby, they can animate it into a form that matches their nightmare aspect. These are often a reflection of Trilla herself, so they tend to forms that are vaguely draconic, or that are mockeries of how she perceives herself as a young Elvish girl, even though now she is thousands of years old, kept alive by her dreams.
Weak Trillith are usually bound to a single physical form, and they lack strong psychic abilities, though their appearances are often the most distrubing. They focus on flesh-shaping just as their stronger kin perfect dreamshaping. Greater Trillith seldom assume physical form, and are treated almost as gods by lesser Trillith.
In general, the Trillith are a mix of the powers of elementals and outsiders, and occasionally undead. Whenever you defeat a Trillith (whatever 'defeating' means), you might gain a bit of freedom from whatever nightmare it represents, or if it is a positive dream you might gain some of its strength. When you slay a Trillith, the psychic energy of its death floods into your mind, and if the weak-willed will be tainted by the Trillith's aspect.
One example of the Trillith show up in my Mother of Dreams storyhour (others will show up later, of course). And in my last campaign the party dealt with several Trillith, primarily stronger ones with a specific aspect.
Deception was the most refined of the Trillith, playing something like a classical Satan from Milton. He could project illusions of appearing as a personable old man, and it was almost impossible to not believe his lies. When forced into a physical form, he was nothing but shadows and writhing tendrils.
If you've seen The Grudge, you know what Agony sounds like when she moves.
The strangest one ever was The World Falling Upon Itself, a Trillith that evoked complete claustrophobia in those around it. It could grab people and drag them xorn-like into the earth.
There were others, tied heavily into the specific events of the games. One element that encouraged the Trillith as intriguing villains was the Song, created by the Worldshaper Worm that carved the tunnels beneath the earth. One of the great elemental spirits, it possessed sway on all things physical, and it created a song that could drive the psychic Trillith into a physcial body. It taught the song to Trilla, and to fey native to the land below, and it was the first weapon against their tyranny of dreams.
I named these nightmares the Trillith.
Most of the dream incarnations the various parties of my setting have encountered have been based on specific concepts, like Deception, Vengeance, Agony, and Helplessness, each with trappings specific to the nightmare that spawned them. They have mastered the methods of shaping the dreams of their mother, so that each night they can create new allies of their choosing, though Trilla resists with what little will she has left. Sometimes she dreams of hope, freedom, or justice, and some of these dreams manage to survive the rigors of their more cruel kin.
Trillith dislike the physical. Normally they exist as intangible psychic presences, able to affect the world through telepathy and telekinesis. If there is appropriate material nearby, they can animate it into a form that matches their nightmare aspect. These are often a reflection of Trilla herself, so they tend to forms that are vaguely draconic, or that are mockeries of how she perceives herself as a young Elvish girl, even though now she is thousands of years old, kept alive by her dreams.
Weak Trillith are usually bound to a single physical form, and they lack strong psychic abilities, though their appearances are often the most distrubing. They focus on flesh-shaping just as their stronger kin perfect dreamshaping. Greater Trillith seldom assume physical form, and are treated almost as gods by lesser Trillith.
In general, the Trillith are a mix of the powers of elementals and outsiders, and occasionally undead. Whenever you defeat a Trillith (whatever 'defeating' means), you might gain a bit of freedom from whatever nightmare it represents, or if it is a positive dream you might gain some of its strength. When you slay a Trillith, the psychic energy of its death floods into your mind, and if the weak-willed will be tainted by the Trillith's aspect.
One example of the Trillith show up in my Mother of Dreams storyhour (others will show up later, of course). And in my last campaign the party dealt with several Trillith, primarily stronger ones with a specific aspect.
Deception was the most refined of the Trillith, playing something like a classical Satan from Milton. He could project illusions of appearing as a personable old man, and it was almost impossible to not believe his lies. When forced into a physical form, he was nothing but shadows and writhing tendrils.
If you've seen The Grudge, you know what Agony sounds like when she moves.
The strangest one ever was The World Falling Upon Itself, a Trillith that evoked complete claustrophobia in those around it. It could grab people and drag them xorn-like into the earth.
There were others, tied heavily into the specific events of the games. One element that encouraged the Trillith as intriguing villains was the Song, created by the Worldshaper Worm that carved the tunnels beneath the earth. One of the great elemental spirits, it possessed sway on all things physical, and it created a song that could drive the psychic Trillith into a physcial body. It taught the song to Trilla, and to fey native to the land below, and it was the first weapon against their tyranny of dreams.
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