D&D 5E of elves and dream sequences

[pukunui]

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?

 

[Valmarius]

I see no reason why Elves couldn't experience visions during their trances. Unlike regular dreaming, I suspect they would have more control over it, more like Lucid dreaming perhaps.

I had an elf druid with the Hermit background in my first 5e group and he periodically received visions.

 

[epithet]

Drugs.

In the Primeval Thule setting, elves easily become addicted to the black lotus, because it allows them to sleep and to dream. If you want your party to share a collective dream vision, dope their ale. Don't tell them they're asleep, just have the tavern start to get really weird. When they go outside, things are definitely wrong, and they follow a talking dog to a house made in a giant mushroom, where an erudite lizard man sings a song about a lobster that thinks it is a bear.

Then they wake up with crusty drool and pounding headaches, wondering why the tavern wench keeps calling the paladin "my husband."

 

[pukunui]

Cool.

The gist of it is this: In my campaign, the elf rogue PC suffered a head injury that gives him the confusion-based madness effect from the DMG. He's been seeking a cure, and while a human paladin did offer to help him, he decided he didn't want to be beholden to any human gods. So he's been keeping an eye out for an elf priest who might be able to help him instead.

Since he's currently in an area where it is unlikely that there would be an elf cleric of high enough level to cast greater restoration, what I was thinking was that when he goes to the local shrine to the Seldarine, the priestess could suggest that the gods themselves might be willing to help, if he opens himself up to their influence. She'd then get him to drink from a sacred pool at the shrine or something, whereupon he'd fall into a trance and experience a waking vision, which would consist of iserith's Barrow of the Evensong adventure, except that instead of having the portal lead to Arborea, it is the "way out" of the vision. If he successfully completes the quest, he'll be cured of his affliction.

His companions will be there with him - but whether they're really there, or they're just figments of his imagination, is open to interpretation. But at least one bit of treasure will come back with him into the "real world". So whether it's just a dream or was some kind of alternate reality ... who knows? The gods work in mysterious ways, right?

 

[Imaculata]

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?

You're the DM. If you say they have a vision or a waking dream, then they do. I had this come up in a recent session. One of my players is an elf, and so he always trances. But I wanted to convey some important information to him, that he could only get through a dream. So I gave him a vision instead, and gave him the freedom to either focus on the vision, and let it draw him in, or resist it. If he would have resisted it, he would have continued to trance as usual. But since he didn't, he had a sort of dream.

However, I made sure to describe the difference to him, because I thought it was interesting. So I told him that he could still feel that he was sitting down on the wooden deck of the ship, despite him walking around in the vision. He could also still feel the wind blowing in his face, even though in the vision he was inside a large building. So he was always experiencing conflicting information, and knew that he was still sitting on the deck of the ship trancing. It kept him firmly grounded in the real world, unlike a dream, where you don't usually know that you are dreaming.

 

[pukunui]

You're the DM.

Of course. I just wanted to make sure it was a plausible idea.

 

[Imaculata]

By the way, I also had a situation in my campaign a while back that was very similar to yours. The party was traveling to a mystical location called The Lake of Whispers, where they would have to drink from the lake to be tested.

And I had two elves in the party, who both drank from the lake. I simply ruled that this was a magical effect, and thus different from actually dreaming. It was as if their souls traveled into the depths of the lake, leaving their bodies out cold along the side of the water.

You can always come up with some sort of magical reason why it works on elves.

 

[pukunui]

Yeah, that's true. It doesn't necessarily have to be a vision or dream. It could just be a magical thing. I mean, gods are involved, after all. Maybe it's like he's entered the spirit world, like in the Avatar cartoons.

 

[Imaculata]

Maybe this idea is something you can use as well:

Sometimes a dream sequence can take up quite a bit of time, and it may only be just one player that is having the dream, which is boring for the other players. So often I have the rest of the players take part in the dream as well. They are basically playing dream figments of their normal characters, and can take part in the dream to help the dreamer reach his/her goal, and offer council. After the dream is over, their characters will have no memory of the events that happened in the dream, obviously. But its a simple way to involve those players that aren't actually there.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Astrally-projecting to the Astral Plane springs to mind.

I'd say it's up to the DM whether elves can dream or not. That being said, I'd also balance that against the probability that one of the players running an elf will say "I don't sleep, so there's no way I'd be dreaming." If they're the kind of folks that will see the hook and be cool with it, that's one thing. But if they're the sorts to mule in and object, than that could be problematic.

Yeah, that's true. It doesn't necessarily have to be a vision or dream. It could just be a magical thing. I mean, gods are involved, after all. Maybe it's like he's entered the spirit world, like in the Avatar cartoons.