Ask the DREAMING DARK

A Source of Inspiration 

Disclaimer: Eberron is property of Wizards of the Coast. I am not an employee of Wizards of the Coast, and any answers given here are in no way sanctioned by Wizards of the Coast. This is NOT official material, and may be contradicted in future Eberron sourcebooks or articles. My answers are in this forum my opinions and reflect how I might run a situation in MY personal campaign – nothing more.  

August 30, 2006

Today we're going to look at questions about some of my previous work – specifically Occult Lore and The Ebon Mirror.  While The Ebon Mirror is out of print, both books are still available in PDF form.

QUESTION: How would you incorporate Oneiromancy into Eberron?

The Oneiromancy chapter of Occult Lore addresses the subject of adventuring in dreams. It explores various issues related to using dreams in RPGs, and presents an assortment of rules, including the Lucid Dreaming skill, the Oneiromancer PrC, spells and domains related to dreams, and the idea of transient objects – items that can slip between dreams and reality with the consciousness of a dreamer.

In Eberron, sentient creatures travel to the plane of Dal Quor when they dream. Dal Quor is, among other things, the home of the Dreaming Dark. Thus, if the Dreaming Dark has its rightful place of prominence in your campaign, there is a great deal of room for Oneiromancy and the use of dreams. Consider the following ideas:

·        The kalashtar believe that the quori are building a doomsday machine in Dal Quor. But kalashtar cannot dream. Can you investigate the rumors? And if they turn out to be true, can you destroy the nightmare crystal before it is completed?

·        A legend speaks of a powerful transient artifact that was captured by the Dreaming Dark ages ago. This artifact is the only key to stopping a terrible disaster in the waking world. Can you find the hidden vault in Dal Quor and bring the item back to the waking world?

·        A member of your group is receiving valuable information about enemy activities in her dreams. But is this information coming from a rebel quori – a spirit who is sympathetic to the cause of the kalashtar – or is your party being used as pawns in a larger game?

Q: Would you make it secrets of the previous age's Quor, the ones who invaded Xen'drik, or something else?

No… I'd just say that it's something most people know nothing about. But I think the kalashtar and quori would be quite familiar with it; it comes naturally to those who inhabit the world of dreams.

Q: Are there any other sorts of conversion or changes you'd make to the ruleset for Eberron, or do you think it'd work as-is?

I'd consider the following:

Host Dreamers vs. Dal Quor

Occult Lore assumes the existence of a "host dreamer" – that you inhabit the dreams of another individual when you sleep. In Eberron, all dreams take place in Dal Quor. Mortal dreams occur in the fringes of the realm, while the quori inhabit the stable inner region. For purposes of travel, assume that a dreamer normally inhabits the same region of Dal Quor when he dreams; effects that target a specific host will take you to the location of the dreamer or to the region in which he normally dreams.

Study Dream Host can either be set aside as meaningless, or it could be an ability that can be used on any dreamer. Modify Reality can be used normally in the outer fringes; in the domain of the quori, you can only make personal changes. No mortal mind is powerful enough to reshape the reality defined by the Dreaming Dark.

The Kalashtar

The kalashtar cannot dream, having permanently severed their connection to Dal Quor. However, it makes a great deal of sense for the kalashtar to create transient items or other magic items presented in this chapter, and to be the source of the new dream-related spells. The great libraries of Adar would be a likely place for a wizard to learn the circle of dreams spell, and a kalashtar patron could provide the party with tonic of wondrous dreams.

The Dream domain should be added to the domain list for the Path of Light. While the Kalashtar cannot dream naturally, they are still attuned to the dream world.

A kalashtar character drawn back into the world of dreams should receive an extra dream point for each character level he possesses.

The Quori

As natives of the plane of dreams, all quori receive dream points. A tsucora quori receives (2 + Wisdom modifier) points per hit die. More powerful quori receive (4 + Wisdom modifier) per hit die, while the kalaraq quori receive (6 + Wisdom modifier) points per hit die. For every hour spent in Dal Quor, a quori regains a number of dream points equal to its level.

Lucid Dreaming should be considered a class skill for all quori.

Typically, a quori cannot be permanently killed by a mortal dreamer. If the quori is reduced below zero hit points, its essence is dissipated, and it reforms after 24 hours. However, a DM may rule that the spell oneiric bolt can inflict permanent damage on quori – in which case oneiromancers may become the key to victory in a battle against the Dreaming Dark! 

Those who do not Dream

In the Eberron campaign setting, elves, kalashtar, and warforged do not dream naturally. The character can travel to Dal Quor using dreamwalking, circle of dreams, or a similar effect – so you can be a kalashtar oneiromancer, if you wish. While artificially dreaming, an elf or warforged will enter a state of deep trance, as described in Occult Lore.

Psionic Dreamers

In Eberron, psionic powers are closely linked to the realm of dreams. If a DM wishes to strengthen this bond, he could choose to eliminate the Dream domain from the clerical list and remove any arcane spells relating to dreams, and instead add the Dream domain as a psionic discipline. A psion (dreamer) gains access to the nine spells listed in the Dream Domain as psionic powers of the same level. He receives (8 + Wisdom modifier) dream points at 1st level, and (4 + Wisdom modifier) points at each additional level. The class skills unique to the discipline are: Bluff (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Lucid Dreaming (Wis), and Sense Motive (Wis). Psions of other disciplines would gain 4 dream points at 1st level and 2 with each additional level.

Dream Warriors and the Forgotten

As long as you're here, don't forget to check out this bonus material in the Features section!

QUESTION: How would you adapt your earlier adventure, 'The Ebon Mirror', to fit in Eberron? It's a great concept, but a lot of the twists in it are status quo in Eberron!

That is a very interesting question… and for those of you who haven't played in the adventure, now would be a very good time to bug off.

In The Ebon Mirror, the adventurers are shunted into a parallel universe in which many of the major prejudices of standard D&D – orcs and undead are stupid and evil, halfings are adorable good guys, etc – are turned upside down. To a certain degree, it anticipates the party jumping to conclusions based on archetypes; when they see a goblin with a spear, they assume he's a bad guy.

But in Eberron, orcs aren't generally evil. Halflings can be barbarian warriors. In fact, one big surprise is when you have an orc as a powerful druid, which in Eberron is actually normal.

So. The Ebon Mirror takes a black and white universe and swaps white and black. What do you do when the world is painted in shades of gray?

Ultimately, my suggestion is to base the changes on events in your campaign. If your party has spent the whole campaign to this point fighting the Lords of Dust, make the Lords of Dust the good guys trying to save the world from the oppressive tyranny of the Silver Flame! But while I think you should base it on your campaign, let me give you two general scenarios you could use.

THE LAST WAR IS OVER!

The village of Shareth-en-La is in Karrnath. It is a village of Cyran refugees, formed in the wake of the Last War. The Crucible is a Cyran organization that seeks to destroy all malevolent magic in the belief that this may help prevent an event such as the Mourning from happening again. Charra Lyn is a Renegade Mastermaker who now fears she has taken the wrong path and cannot return; she is torn between her desire to be human and warforged. So, she's not a half-orc; when the PCs find her, they see a half-human, half-warforged figure. Cue the mirror world.

What's different? Cyre won the Last War. There was no Mourning, and Cyre controls Galifar… or, at least, the warforged do. In this world, the dragonmarked have always been slaves of the kings. Aaren d'Cannith created the warforged as a weapon for Cyre, which kept them from any other nation… creating a dependence that left them even more helpless when the warforged finally turned on them. So today the glorious Lord of Blades is King of Galifar, and much-hated House Cannith serve as their regents and slave overseers. The dark warriors of the Silver Flame have joined with the warforged, believing that the order imposed by the warforged will help the Flame hold the vile couatl at bay. Only one force has managed to hold out against Cyre: the brave soldiers of the Order of the Emerald Claw, who fight along the deathless to defend the principles of life.

So, the farmhouse encounter should be grizzled human carrying a rusty spear and wearing a tabard emblazoned with the Emerald Claw; he's mad as hell and he's not afraid of showing his allegiance! He'll direct his aggression towards warforged, clerics, or paladins. Meanwhile, the attackers should be blackguards of the Silver Flame; Cannith artificers; and warforged.

Moving on, the party will encounter the sacred undead, who can stay as they are, likely also wearing Emerald Claw symbols. Just to keep things odd, I'd make Jeseth a warforged (dressed as a champion of the Emerald Claw). But she's a vampire! That's right… in this world, warforged can become sacred vampires! I'd make the seer a warforged as well; he's also turned against his brethren. That way, it's still odd when he turns up as a warforged at the end!

ABERRATIONS AREN'T SO BAD!

In this option, the game is in the Eldeen Reaches, and the Crucible is a moderate variation on the Ashbound; they are only trying to destroy harmful magic, but believe magic can also be used for good. Charra Lyn is a daelkyr half-breed. In the mirror world, replace goblins with dolgrims; orcs and hobgoblins with dolgrims, and bugbears with medium-sized dolgrims. The seer could then be a beholder or mind flayer (and remain, as a good beholder or mind flayer, at the end). In this scenario, the daelkyr saw the sociopathic evil in the humanoid soul and sought to create races capable of compassion. And the bad guys? It depends on what the party has gotten used to. Wardens of the Wood and Gatekeepers are the obvious choice, but you could still bring in cruel blackguards of the Silver Flame! You could also choose to reverse the dragonmarks… as such, it would be the feral halflings of the Jorasco Tribe who carry the fearsome mark of death, while House Cannith bears the mark of UNmaking!

In either example magic would remain reversed, as would the general alignment of divine forces. The Sovereigns would be the cruel overlords the Blood of Vol has always said they are; the Silver Flame an oppressive force that seeks to impose order at the price of freedom; and so on. Have fun!

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