Where Dreams Take Form (GEP)

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Well-lanned folks've heard of dreamstorms on the Astral Plane. These psychic winds sweep through the plane, flooding sleepers with others' dreams. Bloods wonder how that could possibly be, since most cutters believe dreams occur in the colorful boundary between the Border Ethereal and the Deep. Here's the chant: Dreams, once dreamt, end up in the Astral in just the same way that thoughts, once thought, fly unrestrained through the Silver Void. Fact is, no one was ever supposed to go the Astral, and that holds true for dreams as well as for bodies. These "escaped" dreams had their origin on the Ethereal Plane.
Between the Border and the Deep, the shimmering Wall of Color forms a boundary. This curtain of vaporous color appears two dimensional, having width and length but no discernible depth, akin to the northern lights visible on many prime worlds. Exceptionally canny bashers who've tumbled to the dark of it know the shimmering expanse by another name: the Veil of Sleep.
The curtain isn't solid and doesn't present a physical impediment to movement; it is a colorful expanse of energy marking a planar boundary. On another level, the curtain resonates with the dreams of the inhabitants of the planes. In a way, the curtain is a reflection of reality, and when an entity dreams, a portion of her inner being resonates within this reflection. This dream persona simultaneously maintains a connection with the physical body and with the dream occurring beyond the Veil of Sleep, analogous to the way an Ethereal traveler exists both on the Border and an adjacent plane simultaneously. Only dreamers can pass beyond the Veil of Sleep and enter the dream plane that exists within the Wall; an Ethereal traveler never accidentally wanders into a dream when passing through the Wall of Color (under normal circumstances).
==The Landscape of Dreams==
Beyond the Veil, dreamers participate in separate and extremely personal dream scenes of their own (subconscious) creation. Ordinarily, dreams have little effect on either the dreamer or on the dream plane. Such dreams can affect the emotions of the dreamer, but little else. Sometimes dream images spill from one dream to another, but these are extremely rare occurrences. In any event, cutters gazing at the curtain from the Deep cannot see the multitude of dreams playing out within the shimmering wall, though particularly sensitive bloods might hear distant voices or catch some unexplainable movement out of the comer of their eyes.
However, psionicists using the dream travel psionic power are actually able to move a fair distance within the curtain, participating in various dreams along the way but eventually physically translating themselves to a new location on the adjacent plane. Use of this and similar powers and spells is a masterful exploitation of dream and planar geography; however, such far-ranging dreamers need to be careful lest they wander into a dreamscape of dangerous clarity and lucidity.
Sometimes a dream gains particular distinctiveness, forming a temporary convex bulge in the curtain of vaporous color. Such outgrowths usually appear no more than 5 to 10 feet in diameter, but within -them, dreamers move through full-fledged dreamscapes (as opposed to mere dreams), conscious of the ~act that they dream.
Dreamscape bulges in the Wall of Color form through techniques of lucid dreaming, extreme grief or happiness, magical effects (such as the dream spell), psionic ability, or the attention of a god who wishes to speak to a follower in a prophetic vision. Because the curtain of vaporous color is endless and dreamscape bulges are rare and short lived, most Ethereal travelers never encounter one. Dreamscapes usually "burst" and dissolve when the dreamer within awakens, although sometimes dreamscapes have extended or permanent durations if maintained by unusual circumstances or magic. (Consult the RAVENLOFT supplement The Nightmare Lands [TSR 1124] for a great, if horrific, example.)
On rare occasions, dreamscapes rupture. Ethereal travelers would do very well to steer clear of such anomalies. See, elements of a ruptured dreamscape (landscape elements and/or dreamborn entities) can accidentally wander out through the rupture, taking on substance! Often, such dream elements take on physical substance by drawing quintessential ether to themselves, thereby lasting only 1d100 hours. However, it is possible for dream elements to gain a permanent physical state by accumulating stable ether. These solid dream elements only have a 1d100-hour lifespan if they ever materialize on another plane.
Any dream abilities possessed by the dream-elementturned-ethereal, no matter how insane (after all, they were spawned in a dream), also manifest in the same way as illusions that become real. See "Anavaree: A Ruptured Dreamscape" on page 74 for a specific example of such an occurrence that still hasn't faded. Ethereal travelers who pass through the tattered edges of a ruptured dreamscape physically enter into the dream contained within, and they are therefore subject to the environment and conditions of that particular dream.
==Adventuring within the Dream==
Much of the following has been briefly summarized from The Nightmare Lands supplement. Much more information regarding the nature of dreams and nightmares can be found within that product, including further details on dreamwalker characters and adventuring within dreamscapes.
Normally, no one but a dreamer can participate or influence a dream in any way. But any cutter knows that such rules are made to be broken, and fact is, there're several ways for a body to become involved in another's dream.
NORMAL DREAMING. Asnoted above, sometimes dream elements from one dreamer's personal experience "leak" into the dreams of another. Why this happens is unknown, though some speculate that it has to do with the nature of the dream plane itself.
GODLY INTERFERENCE. Powers can choose to interfere with the dreams of their followers at any time, sending them visions or even catapulting them into another's dream for their own designs. Certain dark powers of the Demiplane of Dread are well known for capturing dreamers and thrusting them into nightmarish dreamscapes on a whim.
MAGICAL MEDDLING. Powerful mages have the ability to send dream images to others via the dream spell.
DREAMWALKING. Only a few select individuals throughout the multiverse have learned the rare and sometimesdangerous talent of dreamwalking, which actually allows a body to project his "dream-self" (described below) into the dreams of others.
PSIONIC ACTIVITY. The dream travel discipline allows a psionicist to use the mental landscape of the dream plane to move his body physically from one point on a plane to another. Unfortunately, the psionicist can stumble into a powerful dreamscape, thus becoming trapped in another's dream.
PHYSICAL MOVEMENT. All of the above methods describe ways that a body may find herself mentally occupying another's dream. Odd as it sounds, it is possible to enter a dreamscape physically. Travelers on the Ethereal can literally "walk into" a ruptured dreamscape, as noted above. Also, unfortunate sods who find themselves within the Nightmare Lands of the Demiplane of Dread can move through the demiplane and physically enter the horrific dreamscapes found there. Canny planewalkers'll note those are only two methods; there's bound to be a third, as per the Rule of Threes. But if it's been found, no one's spreading the dark of it.
Sleeping characters manifest "dream-selves" that move through the mental landscape of the dream plane. These dream-selves are reflections of reality and are much like the characters' true selves, with a few exceptions. Physical travelers adhere to the rules of dream-selves, materializing when they physically enter a dreamscape. These dream-selves obey the following rules:
* Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma remain unchanged. As befits a mental construct, however, the mental attributes supplant the physical ones as described below.
* In dreams, Strength is equal to Wisdom. However, characters with exceptional Strength can add their damage adjustment to the total score. A character with a Strength of 17 ( + 1 damage) and a Wisdom of 12 has a dream-self with a Strength of 13 (12 +l = 13).
* Similarly, Dexterity is equal to Intelligence, and a high Dex score modifies the dream-selfs final Dexterity score. A character with a Dexterity of 18 (-4 defense bonus, counted as +4 for this purpose) and Intelligence 14 has a dream Dexterity of 18 (14 + 4 = 18).
* Illusionists and bards, due to their creativity and mental acuity, gain a + 1 to all die rolls in dream scenes.
* Otherwise, a dream-self is much the same as a character's true self. Alignment, movement rate, combat ability, equipment, and the like do not change. Armor Class adjustments reflect the character's dream Dexterity score but are otherwise unchanged. Likewise, characters whose high Strength scores modify their THAC0 need to recheck that score. Characters usually enter dream scenes with their full count of hit points regardless of their physical state, unless the specific nature of the dream calls for less (such as a person dreaming about a hideous wound he had suffered).
* Combat and magic work normally, for the most part. The nature of the dreamscape may alter these conditions as the DM determines.
* A character whose dream-self suffers physical damage within the dream may be affected in the waking world. If a dream-self is reduced to less than half his total hit points, the character (when he awakens) must make a saving throw vs. death magic. A failed save indicates that the character loses 1 2 points of Intelligence. These lost points are regained at a rate of 1 point per day with a successful system shock roll. A failed system shock roll indicates that a point of Intelligence is permanently lost More serious injuries to a dream-self can cause coma, madness, and even death in the most extreme cases.