General Rules: Monsters - Dreamwrack

Dreamwrack (adapted from the Creature Collection II: Dark Menagerie)
Medium Outsider

Hit Dice: 4d8+4 (22 hit points)
Initiative: +7
Speed: 40 feet
Armor Class: 17 (+3 Dexterity, +4 natural); touch 13, flat-footed 14
BAB/Grapple: +4/+4

Attack: Touch +7 melee (see below)

Full Attack: Touch +7 melee (see below)

Space/Reach: 5 feet by 5 feet/5 feet
Special Attacks: Emotion

Special Qualities: Intimate knowledge, empathic link, damage reduction 10/+1, ethereal, outsider traits

Saves: Fortitude +5, Reflex +7, Will +5
Abilities: Str 10, Int 6, Wis 12, Dex 16, Con 13, Cha 20

Skills: Bluff +7, Hide +12, Knowledge: Dreams +5, Listen +8, Move Silently +10, Spot +8

Feats: Improved Initiative, Weapon Finesse
Environment: Any

Organization: Solitary

Challenge Rating: 3
Treasure: Standard
Alignment: Always chaotic neutral
Advancement: 5 - 15 Hit Dice (Medium)

Stories of Füllar or Lyßa seeking to punish mortals who would seek to upset the stuff of dreams often include the creation of a dreamwrack. These are spirits created with the dreamlands are disturbed by arcane magic. The half-formed fabric of the disturbed dream does not dissolve as it should. Instead, it coalesces into an amalgam of dream imagery that is linked to the dreamer from whose dream the wrack was formed. Certainly, the oneiromancers of the U'pesuristean Vault can attest to being frequently haunted by dreamwracks as their delve deep into the dreamlands in their arcane research.

Once formed, a dreamwrack seeks out its connected dreamer in the physical world, drawn to him empathically by its need and the dreamers subconscious need to resolve the dream from which the dreamwrack sprang. This misguided hunger for completion drives the dreamwrack to actions that haunt and disturb its dreamer.

Dreamwracks come in three varieties - nightmare, erotic, and anxiety - depending on the nature of the dream from which they were formed. Regardless of type, when they appear on the Three Worlds, their forms are a shadowy collection of shifting images taken from the dream from which the dreamwrack was born. The dreamwrack will even call out in voices imitating the friends, foes, and loved ones of the dreamer as the wrack's image forms in these visages. The dreamwrack might also play out scenes of fright, lust, or failure, as the deepest subconscious of the dreamer might have crafted them. Those who witness the dreamwrack's manifestations will be given glimpses of the subconscious of the dreamer, often in details the dreamer would rather have left to the privacy of his subconscious self.

A dreamwrack's only goal is to make manifest the feelings and mind state in their dreamer which he had during the dreamwrack's creation dream, and thereby complete themselves. Sometimes, doing so involves "haunting" the dreamer for weeks on end, sometimes it is solved in a single visitation.

Combat
Dreamwracks do not really engage in combat per se, although they can certainly be destroyed by it. If injured, they will turn ethereal and flee.

A dreamwrack's only goal is to find comfort through manifesting emotions in their dreamer, so they typically track and follow their dreamer from the ethereal plane and then appear wherever the dreamer is in a situation similar to the emotion that the dreamwrack desires to call forth. Once it manifests and touches its dreamer once, it will typically fade back to the ethereal and end that particular haunting. Unless it is destroyed sooner, a dreamwrack will normally fade away once its dreamer fails to save against its emotion effect 1d4 times.

Intimate Knowledge (Ex): Formed from the subconscious of a dreamer, the dreamwrack possesses intimate knowledge of its dreamer. The dreamer suffers a -4 circumstance penalty against any Will saves to resist the dreamwrack's powers or any Intelligence-, Widsom-, or Charisma-based check involving the dreamwrack.

Empathic Link (Su): The dreamwrack always knows the general direction of its dreamer, and it can track him faultlessly.

Ethereal (Su): A dreamwrack can shift between the dreamlands and the Three Worlds at will.

Emotion (Su): A dreamwrack can make touch attacks to invoke emotions in its victims - any victims, not just its connected dreamer. A Will save (DC 17) is required to resist these mind-affecting powers.

• Nightmare: Dreamwracks formed of nightmare fragments invoke fear in those they touch. Victims who make their save are shaken; those who fail their save are frightened. Either effect lasts for 2d6 minutes.


• Erotic: Dreamwracks born of romantic or erotic dreams invoke such passions with their touch. Victims who fail their save against this effect will be enamored with the first suitable mate they see. This effect remains very powerful (similar to a charm spell) for 1d4 hours and then begins to wane over 2d6 days. This effect is characterized more by the primal lusts of the subconscious mind than the romantic ideals of courtship.


• Anxiety: Dreamwracks born of anxiety dreams are akin to nightmares. Instead of confronting a victim head on with frightful imagery and sound, the anxiety amplifies the dreamer's worries and self-doubt. Those who fail their save to resist the anxiety dreamwrack's touch suffer a -2 morale penalty to attack, damage, and saving throws as well as a -5 morale penalty to skill checks for 1d4 hours. Victims with the Leadership feat are treated as if they do not have that feat for the same duration. The anxiety dreamwrack's touch is based more on despair, so it is not afear effect for the purposes of such immunities.

Outsider Traits: Dreamwracks have darkvision with a range of 60 feet. They cannot be raised or resurrected.

Notes: The dreamwrack statistics presented here are similar to those found in Creature Collection II, but have been modified to bring it into alignment with the 3.5 edition guidelines for outsiders. I added both skills and feats, as the original version of this creature had neither.

Home     Three Worlds     Monsters