Lucid Dreaming(Wis)
This skill is one of the few ways a character can enter the dreams of others (and the Region of Dreams, if it exists in your campaign) and the only known way in which he can directly manipulate the dream-matter around him. Full rules for dreaming and the Region of Dreams can be found on p201 of the Manual of the Planes. You can use this skill to realize you are dreaming, wake up, consciously direct the elements of a dream, detect intruders into your dreams, and to move into other dreamscapes. Throughout the discussion of this skill subsystem, the terms Dreamscape, Dreamer and Dreamwalker will be used. A Dreamscape is a virtual plane of existence, which exists within the Plane of Dreams. Each time someone sleeps and dreams, they create a new Dreamscape, which normally dissolves when they awaken. A Dreamwalker is someone who is within the Dreamscape of another (either intentionally or otherwise). A Dreamer is a person within their own Dreamscape.
Most usages of this skill require expenditure of Dream Points. Each Dreamer or Dreamwalker has a number of Dream Points equal to their ranks in Lucid Dreaming, or to their highest mental ability modifer, whichever is higher. Each usage of Lucid Dreaming below has the cost in Dream Points listed. For abilities which have a duration longer than instantaneous, Dream Points spent on them do not return until the effect ends (they remain "invested"). For instantaneous abilities, they return at the end of the Dreamer's turn. A Dreamer can end an ongoing effect that they have Dream Points invested in as a free action on their turn.
Unless otherwise noted, all usages of this skill only affect the dreamworld and the dream personas of creatures in it, and do not carry over into any other reality in any way. However, all information gained and conversations had in dreams touched by the Lucid Dreaming skill will be remembered, as such dreams are always especially vivid to all involved.
Check: Unless otherwise stated, making a Lucid Dreaming check is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity. It can be made defensively, so as to avoid drawing attacks of opportunity, by making a concentration check with the same DC as the Lucid Dreaming usage being used.
|
Task | DC | Cost (Dream Points) |
Realize you are dreaming | 15 | 0 |
Wake Up | 15 | 0 |
Change one aspect of your personal dreamscape | 20 | Varies (see text) |
Change one aspect of another's dreamscape | 30 | Varies (see text) |
Change your personal appearance | 20 | 1 |
Instill Doubt | * | Dreamer's Wisdom modifier |
Implant Waking Suggestion | 15 | 5 |
Locate Dreamer/Dreamwalker | varies, see text | varies, see text |
Depart one dreamscape for another | 25 | 5 |
Depart a dreamscape for the Dreamheart | 30 | 10 |
Pull another with you into another dreamscape or the Dreamheart | * | 2 per person |
Leave the Dreamheart | 30 | 0 |
Dream of Times Past, of What May Come | DC varies, see text | 20 |
Emulate Spell | DC varies, see text | 2x Spell level |
* This is an opposed Lucid Dreaming check.
Change Aspect: An aspect of a dreamscape includes background features such as lighting, terrain, architecture of a given building, vegetation (or lack thereof) and other relatively innocuous characteristics of a dreamscape. You cannot use Lucid Dreaming to make a bolt of lightning to strike a foe, or open a pit below an enemy, or other such attacks with this usage of the Lucid Dreaming skill. You could however make a wall appear in front of them to block their path, etc.
You may also create a new level of the Dreamscape which may only be entered by falling asleep in the level immediately above it. The DC for this increases by +5 for each level above the current one. See the rules on Layered Dreams for details on how these lower layers differ from the primary dreamscape.
All uses of this ability are instantaneous in duration. The amount of Dream Points required to make a change depends on how big of an area it will affect. 1 point allows you to affect 1 cubic foot per rank in Lucid Dreaming (minimum 1) which is within close range. 4 points increases this to an area up to 1 foot per rank in Lucid Dreaming in radius, which must still be within close range. 7 points increases the radius to 10 feet per Lucid Dreaming rank, centered up to medium range from you. 10 points increases the radius to 100 feet per Lucid Dreaming rank, and the change can be anywhere within the Dreamscape level within which you currently reside. 13 points lets you make changes which affect the entire Dreamscape level at once. 16 points lets you affect all layers of a Dream at once.
Change Appearance: You can adopt the outward appearance of any other creature or thing. If you want to turn into a palm tree that is completely within your power. Equally, you can take on the exact appearance of any other creature. Other dreamers can make opposed Lucid Dreaming checks to discover the illusion. Changes to your appearance do not affect your actual abilities. This ability costs one Dream Point, which may not be recovered while your appearance is altered using it.
Instill Doubt: While within the dream of another (the Dreamer), a Dreamwalker may make a verbal suggestion to the Dreamer, which can sow seeds of doubt that ripple throughout the Dreamscape in profound ways. The target may resist your suggestion with a Will save with the DC set by your Lucid Dreaming check. This counts as an opposed Lucid Dreaming check, and so will always result in the loss of Stability of the Dreamscape, regardless of the outcome. The Dreamer need not make a Lucid Dreaming check to produce this effect, as it works by manipulating their subconscious mind, which is the true source of all aspects of the Dreamscape (with the exception of any Dreamwalkers present in it). This ability costs an amount of Dream Points equal to the target's Will save modifier and has an instantaneous duration, regardless of the effect produced. Effects created with this usage of Lucid Dreaming do not pass from one Dreamscape to the next, regardless of their normal durations.
Implant Waking Suggestion: A Dreamwalker may implant a Suggestion (as the spell) which will activate upon the Dreamer's awakening, or under a condition set at the time it is implanted (upon the next full moon, for example). The Dreamer may resist this with a Will save equal to the Dreamwalker's Lucid Dreaming check (or with an opposed Lucid Dreaming check) made just after they awaken from their sleep for the night. Since they are no longer dreaming, they do not get the bonuses for being within their own dreamscape, etc. This usage of Lucid Dreaming costs 5 Dream Points which are not recovered until the
Suggestion has been triggered.
Sense Dreamwalker: A Dreamer is entitled to a Lucid Dreaming check anytime a Dreamwalker uses the Lucid Dreaming skill to modify the Dreamer's Dreamscape in any way, even if such changes happen to a part of the Dreamscape that their conscious mind is not currently within. If they succeed at this check, they sense that another mind has intruded their dreams (although they may dismiss this as part of the dream after they wake up if they are not familiar with the ability to Dreamwalk). The DC of this check depends on the magnitude of the effect the Dreamwalker has produced, and whether it is within the view of the Dreamer or not. Effects within view of the Dreamer only have a DC of 10. Effects outside of their view have a DC of 20 for Change Aspect, 30 for Change Appearance, and 25-spell level for Emulate Spell. This costs 0 Dream Points.
A Dreamwalker can sense whether they are about to be detected by a Dreamer and may make a special Lucid Dreaming check as an immediate action to avoid detection. The result of their check becomes the DC of the Dreamer's Lucid Dreaming check to detect them, making this an opposed check. As with all opposed checks, this will always result in the loss of Stability of the Dreamscape. Trying to avoid detection in this way costs 1 Dream Point which may not be recovered until you awake and fall back to sleep.
Once a Dreamer succeeds in detecting an invading Dreamwalker within their dreamscape, they are entitled to an immediate Lucid Dreaming check with a +5 bonus to realize that they are dreaming.
Locate Dreamer/Dreamwalker: A Dreamwalker may cast their mind across the Plane of Dreams to find the dream of a specific individual. If the individual that they are searching for is within the same Dreamscape as them, then the DC for this check is only 10 plus the number of dream levels separating them.
If they are in separate dreams, then the base DC is 15, but is modified by the familiarity the Dreamwalker (the person making the check) has for the Dreamer (the person they're trying to find), and by physical distance.
The cost in Dream Points is equal to the total modifier added to the DC.
|
Relationship | Modifier |
Intimate | None |
Friends | +2 |
Acquaintances | +5 |
Seen Once | +10 |
Heard Of | +15 |
|
Distance | Modifier |
100 feet | None |
1000 feet | +2 |
1 mile | +5 |
100 miles | +10 |
Same Plane | +15 |
Different Plane | +20 |
Depart one dreamscape for another: Once the Dreamwalker has determined which dreamscape they want to enter, they must make another Lucid Dreaming check to travel there. The DC for this is 25, and it costs 5 dream points. Alternatively, they can just enter a random dreamscape (DMs choice) with a DC 20 check and 5 dream points.
Wake Up: A Dreamer who has realized he is dreaming may make a special Lucid Dreaming check every round as a free action with a DC of 15 to wake up, if she wants. This ability costs 0 Dream Points.
Dream of Times Past, Dream of What May Come: A highly proficient dreamwalker may travel into the dreams of the past, or even the future. This usage costs 20 Dream Points. The DC is 40 to travel up to 10 years into the past or future, 45 to travel 10 to 100 years into the past or future, and 50 to travel 100 to 1000 years into the past or future. Due to the potentially disruptive effects of allowing characters to send messages into the past or future via this usage, DMs may decide that such visions seen with this ability are merely "persistent" or "possible" dreamscapes, and are no longer connected to the Dreamers of the actual past or future. So while information may be gleaned from this usage, sending messages is not possible.
Emulate Spell: A proficient dreamer or dreamwalker can reproduce spell effects (or other effects like psionic powers, etc) with a Lucid Dreaming check. If the dreamer actually has the ability to produce that effect while awake, the DC is only 10+ the spell level, and the cost in dream points is equal to the level of the spell. However, if they cannot normally produce that effect while awake, the DC is equal to 10+3x the level of the spell desired and costs a number of Dream Points equal to twice the level of the spell being reproduced. The results of this many only affect the Dreamscape (including creatures which are part of the Dream), the Dreamer, and/or any Dreamwalkers present. It may reproduce a Divination or other information-gathering effect, but the results must be either completely fabricated or something which either the Dreamer or one of the Dreamwalkers present already knows (either consciously or subconsciously). This ability always allows anyone affected by it to resist with a Will save (or opposed Lucid Dreaming check), in addition to any saves normally allowed by the effect. The caster level for such effects, if not otherwise specified, is equal to the caster's ranks in Lucid Dreaming.
Dreamers vs Dreamers: Dreamers can actively oppose the activities of other dreamers in both dreamscapes and in the Dreamheart. This is accomplished by opposed Lucid Dreaming checks. A dreamer may always make such a check instead of any other check or saving throw if it is more advantageous for them to do so. A Dreamer may always oppose any Lucid Dreaming check that they are aware of within their Dreamscape, even the effect does not affect them and/or does not normally allow a saving throw or skill check. This costs 0 Dream Points, and is a special usage of the Lucid Dreaming skill which is a free action which may be taken at any time, even if you are flat-footed or it is not your turn.
Note that any opposed Lucid Dreaming check will always lower the Stability score of the dream, as the Dreamer who loses counts as failing a Lucid Dreaming check.
Special: Dreamers gain an insight bonus equal to twice their Charisma modifier (minimum 1) on all Lucid Dreaming checks made within their own Dreamscapes. Dreamers who are aware that they are within a dream gain a circumstance bonus equal to their intelligence modifier (minimum 1) on Lucid Dreaming checks. A dreamer who is within his own dreamscape
and aware that he is dreaming receives a synergy bonus equal to the highest mental ability modifier (minimum 1) he has on Lucid Dreaming checks.
Retry: Yes, but you can only make one Lucid Dreaming check each round.