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The Dreamt Join the Ranks of the Lord of Dead Dreams

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Animal Handling 101 -- 5E D&D Skills and Skill Checks

Jarease, the Lord of Dead Dreams is a powerful ogre magi who has a divine past. I am not here to talk about the villain from our Lord of Dead Dreams book so much, but the ogre magi is important to this monster I’ve created because after all, Jarease created them. This is enhanced content for those who have gone over to our store and purchased the Lord of Dead Dreams, which has just had a new cover art to spruce up a really great product. This 5E D&D villain thrives on dark dreams and nightmares, and I thought it would be fun to add another new creature to the ranks of his minions. Lots of people have enjoyed the content in the book and I set out to expand on the lore and scope of the ogre magi’s plans.

5E D&D dreams goblin

The ogre magi Jarease revels in ripping the dream essence from mortals as the villain from Lord of Dead Dreams.[Art by Ludovico Tellatin]

Dreams within dreams for 5E D&D

From the lore of beholders, new ones are brought into existence from the dreams of other beholders. Jarease has studied quite a bit of arcana and a lot on dreams it would not be a large leap for him to have learned this fact about beholders. He’s not called the Lord of Dead Dreams for nothing.

With Jarease being semi-divine in origin as well as possessing magical abilities he set out to create more servants to do his bidding. Goblins are a servile species in Jarease’s mind so he began there. Few understand dreams as much as Jarease does. He has learned to keep his body hale and strong while spending extra hours each day or even in a dreamlike state for days on end.

In this extended dream-state where Jarease found where the beholders unintentionally go. Jarease on the other hand came here with a purpose. He wanted to make creatures that not only assist him like the onibara, but to be able to cultivate the dreams that they were capable of taking. If you are going to sell dreams for pleasure and profit then you must be able to acquire the dreams people want so the supply meets the demand, no matter the consequences.

Onibara

“Halfling-sized female humanoids with charcoal-black skin and long, green tails, onibara are enthusiastic agents of their oni “father.” When their blue, moth-like wings are spread, the pattern on them resembles Jarease’s face – white, circular eyes, a fanged mouth, and white hair. These demented fey butterfly humanoids can spew Sleep Motes from their mouths, putting their enemies to sleep. They drag these sleeping targets to their master, who proceeds to either eat the sleeping victims or drain their dream essence.” — from Lord of Dead Dreams

The Dreamt

The dreamt are a small goblin-like race with skin the same purplish-blue of Jarease’s natural skin tone. Their wicked yellow eyes and cruel smiles tell you everything you need to know about them. They serve their master unerringly as they literally must follow his every word. Created by Jarease they are magically bound to his orders, which usually is not too much a problem as their primary job is to magically torture mortals while they sleep. Whether they offer false hopes of riches, treasure or pleasure; or they are mentally scarred with horrible images and mental experiences while they sleep, the dreamt capture it for others to experience, leaving the traces and impact of what was experienced by the dream on the mortal.

Short, agile, and intelligent creatures, the dreamt possess magical abilities to hide and watch dreams, guiding them like a storyteller. As most people do not believe dreams can harm them the work done by the dreamt goes by practically unnoticed. Obvious signs that dreamt have moved in on a town are increased tiredness and aggression by a large percentage of the town. But by the time this has happened it is likely the dreamt have what they came for and either moved on or are preparing to do so.

Because of their almost natural state of invisibility many consider them nothing more than a figment of their imagination and the dreamt play into it.

The Dreamt

Small fey, neutral evil

Armor Class 14 (Leather Armor)

Hit Points 7 (2d6)

Speed 30 ft.

STR 8 (-1) DEX 14 (+2) CON 10 (+0) INT 14 (+2) WIS 8 (-1) CHA 8 (-1)

Skills Stealth +6

Senses Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 9

Languages Common, Giant, Goblin

Challenge 2 (450 XP)

Nimble Escape. The dreamt can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of its turns.

Actions

Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) bludgeoning damage. The dreamt use their clubs to cause nonlethal damage and targets dropped to 0 hit points by this attack automatically stabilize.

Lull to Sleep (Recharge 4-6). The dreamt chooses one target it can see within 60 feet and mentally projects a haunting lullaby audible only to the target. Roll 3d8; if the total is less than the target’s current hit points they fall into a magical slumber. If the target takes damage or another creature uses its action to shake or slap the sleeper awake.

Cultivate Dreams. Any sleeping creature has its mood affected either towards fear and terror or designs of grandiose power. A sleeping target must make a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or become affected by their dreams. When they awake they must react to their altered dream state. Creatures resume their normal behavior within 1d3 days unless their altered state is encouraged in their waking hours by others of the same state or by the dreamt again when they slumber. Those who succeed are unaffected during that slumber.

Extract Dream Essence. This process takes 1 minute after the target has been asleep for at least 1 hour. Shimmering liquid is magically withdrawn from the target into a glass vial. Extracted dream essence is usually brought straight to Jarease, their Lord of Dead Dreams.

Bonus Action

The dreamt become invisible for 1 hour. Attacking or using their Lull to Sleep ability causes them to become visible.

Ready to take on the Lord of Dead Dreams?

So what do you think of these cunning little creatures? Do you see all the ways they can be used in games? I designed them to be particularly useful to Jarease but the dreamt can make terrific minions for a night hag, the quori or Inspired from Eberron, or as adventure villains all on their own. If you want to check out our Lord of Dead Dreams book you can do so here. From now until Feb. 2, 2020 you can use the promo code MOUNTUP to get 20% off your entire cart. This includes all our digital products, 3D terrain and minis, pins, patches, plushies and RPG accessories.

Thanks for reading and until next time, stay nerdy!

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Ted Adams

The nerd is strong in this one. I received my bachelors degree in communication with a specialization in Radio/TV/Film. I have been a table top role player for over 30 years. I have played several iterations of D&D, Mutants and Masterminds 2nd and 3rd editions, Star wars RPG, Shadowrun and World of Darkness as well as mnay others since starting Nerdarchy. I am an avid fan of books and follow a few authors reading all they write. Favorite author is Jim Butcher I have been an on/off larper for around 15 years even doing a stretch of running my own for a while. I have played a number of Miniature games including Warhammer 40K, Warhammer Fantasy, Heroscape, Mage Knight, Dreamblade and D&D Miniatures. I have practiced with the art of the German long sword with an ARMA group for over 7 years studying the German long sword, sword and buckler, dagger, axe and polearm. By no strecth of the imagination am I an expert but good enough to last longer than the average person if the Zombie apocalypse ever happens. I am an avid fan of board games and dice games with my current favorite board game is Betrayal at House on the Hill.

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