Oneiromancy: When Dreams Become Reality

[Aeolius]

I have been toying with the idea of having a creature dwelling in the Region of Dream/Dreamscape enter the material world as a physical being. Is there already a precedent for this in 3.5e?

The campaign has a fledgling Oneiromancer (Heroes of Horror).

The creature in question is a beastie of my own design, a spirit hag. She was once a night hag, progressed to the ranks of Midnight Hag (epic hag of my own design), was murdered by her granddaughter, then returned as a spectral hag (borrowing from Van Richten's Guides). Now she has become a spirit hag; manifesting only in the dreams and nightmares of those she knew in life.

I am working on an elaborate ritual involving the breath of an ethereal dragon and other components. It may involve the cooperation of the hag's last offspring, a mechanatrix warlock (long story).

 

[Set]

I have been toying with the idea of having a creature dwelling in the Region of Dream/Dreamscape enter the material world as a physical being. Is there already a precedent for this in 3.5e?

I'm not aware of such a thing, but writing up dream-critters-turned-manifest using the MM guidelines for Ghosts using Manifestation / Materialization seems like the best way to go.

Add in the feature where they can't be permanantly killed, like a Ghost, as the dream-manifest is just dispersed when 'killed' and can reform a few nights later.

"A dream, to some. A nightmare, to others!"

 

[irdeggman]

In the Eberron setting there is the Dal Quor, the Region of Dreams.

The Kalashtar and their nemesis the Inspired are from the place.

They manifest as spirits that form a sort of dual consciousness in the character.

 

[Jhaelen]

I have been toying with the idea of having a creature dwelling in the Region of Dream/Dreamscape enter the material world as a physical being. Is there already a precedent for this in 3.5e?

Well, the 'Hyperconscious' 3rd party supplement includes several monsters originating from dreamscapes. The one thing they have in common is that when they 'manifest' on the material plane they're treated as having 20% concealment.

 

[taliesin15]

I heard about this one guy's campaign 20 odd years ago using a high level Mage who folks referred to as a Capnomancer (Magic of Smoke), his lair being located on the Plane of Smoke, sort of like a Shadow world. That and the Ethereal Plane (and maybe the Astral Plane)--or any number of other imagined magical other worlds--are similar to the idea you are proposing here. In one sense it boils down to Semantics. Game mechanic wise it should be easy, use the Ethereal Plane paradigm, put some different window dressing on it, and bam! You've got your dream plane.

In a recent campaign, I had the PCs do a mini-Quest where they entered a Gate which opened up during a Samhain ritual--it worked very well. It ought to be fairly easy for you to set up something like this too.

 

[Aeolius]

I have reached the point where the spirit hag will guide the party to various locations; areas where, in the future, she had placed items in the form of temporally-displaced geocaches. These clues will help the party determine how to pull Xaetra from the Dreamscape and restore her to life.

In the Manual of the Planes, it mentions some possibilities; dreamscape ruptures, items gained using Dream Travel, and the like.

Assuming the party is able to capture the spirit hag's soul, they may need to place it in a proper receptacle to bring it back. Magic Jar is a good start, but souls within magic jars cannot transfer into soulless creations (clone, simulacrum, etc).

 

[roguerouge]

Yes. War of the Burning Sky has such creatures.

 

[pawsplay]

Occult Lore by Penumbra also has some dream-based stuff.