Dreams

Overview

All Changelings have an innate capacity for lucid dreaming. Many never bother to hone this ability, but those who do find it a versatile and, in some cases, dangerous tool.

The descriptions below are for our Changeling players.

Much of this information is derived from CtL p.193 onward. We have here only the basic mechanics as a quick cheat sheet reference during RP. For thematic elements and true details, please read the book!

Dream Basics

The skill associated with oneiromancy is Empathy, representing the search to connect and understand the nuances of the human condition.

Dream Intensity

To determine a dream's intensity:

+roll (dreamer's) Wits + Resolve

This roll is modified by the following:

9-again	Recurring Dream
8-again	Recurring Memory

Dream Types

The various types of dreams each have their own mechanical effects and consequences.

Prophetic Dreams

Prophetic dreams are dreams which portray an event which has yet to occur.

Making any changes to a prophetic dream negates its prophetic function.

Identification

To determine whether or not your dream is truly prophetic:

+roll Wits + Occult + Wyrd - Intensity

On Success, you know whether or not the dream is prophetic.

On Exceptional Success, you additionally gain a hint regarding how to avoid or fulfill the prophecy in question.

WP Regain

Any dreamer who sees a prophetic dream come true gains a) +1 Willpower or, b) +1 Glamour (Changeling only).

Nightmares

A nightmare is a draining, horrible dream which plays on the fears of the dreamer.

If the nightmare's Intensity is higher than the total of the dreamer's Willpower score minus the quantity of the dreamer's Derangements, the dreamer does NOT regain any Willpower that night while sleeping.

Oneiromancy

Oneiromancy is the art and practice of entering and manipulating both your own dreams and the dreams of others.

The changeling player makes a normal Meditation roll with a success total equal to the table below. Each roll represents 30 minutes of effort.

+roll/extended=target # below/0 Wits + Composure + Equipment

Target Number	Destination Dream
8 Successes	Personal Dreams*
12 Successes	Fetch's Dreams
16 Successes	Dream-tasked Dreams

* If you WANT to meditate, and do happen to get 8 successes, this is an alternate method of reaching your own dreams. If you fail at getting 12 or 16 successes, but do get 8 successes, you'll be in your own dreams instead.

You must be in the Hedge to enter the dreams of anyone other than yourself.

Entering Dreams

A changeling may enter the dreams of three types of people: himself, his fetch, and anyone he shares a pledge with using the Dreaming task.

Your Dreams

You may enter your own dreams any time you are sleeping at no cost.

Fetch Dreams

You may also always enter the dreams of your Fetch, by spending 1 Willpower as you sleep.

+roll/extended=12/0 Composure + Wits + Wyrd and get 12 total successes on an extended roll.

Each time you attempt to enter your Fetch's dreams, your ST must roll your Presence + Wyrd as an extended roll. Each time you enter your Fetch's dreams, the number of times the ST rolls is increased by one. I.e. if you have entered your Fetch's dreams 5 times over the course of the past year, the ST would have rolled every time, and the rolls would have been capped at 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively. The target number is the Fetch's Willpower. Once the number is reached, the Fetch realizes the dream connection exists, and may spend 1 Willpower to enter your dreams as well.

Anyone Else's Dreams

You must use a Pledge with the Dreaming Task to enter the dreams of anyone other than you or your Fetch.

Exiting Dreams

Involuntary

If any loud or normally startling noises occur nearby, roll a reflexive Resolve + Composure to stay in your dream state. On failure, you wake, even if you were in the middle of editing someone's dream.

Voluntary

To exit a dream you are working on at any time, roll Resolve + Composure as an instant action.

If the subject of the dream itself is a Changeling or a lucid dreamer, THEY may also roll the same to exit the dream, though an Oneiromancer may oppose this roll with Wits + Empathy + Wyrd to keep the target asleep. Multiple Oneiromancers may use teamwork to assist one another in keeping the sleeper asleep.

If the subject of the dream is NOT a lucid dreamer or a Changeling, they have no control over ending the dream.

Dream Riding

Dream riding is the act of entering another person's dream and making changes to its events and/or environment.

You can change the appearance of the setting or how the actors in it behave, but the overall type of the dream and its point of view must remain static.

By default, your own view is from a disembodied vantage behind the dreamer's head.

Adding yourself to the dream counts as a change made to the dream.

Changing your appearance in the dream counts as a second change made to the dream.

Making Changes

To change a dream:

+roll Wits + Empathy + Wyrd - Intensity

If your successes outweigh the dream's Intensity, the dream unravels. You may voluntarily take penalties to reduce the likelihood of destroying the dream.

You may also spend 1 Willpower to prevent the dream from unraveling due to your excessive successes.

Analyze the Dream

This will allow you to be sure which type of dream you have hopped into. You make minor

+roll Wits + Empathy - Intensity

Memory dreams: immediately reinforce aspects of the dream that are remembered rather than imagined.

Nightmares: slightly twist introduced aspects into darker manifestations.

Recurring dreams: harder to introduce random events into because their pattern is already set.

Wish fulfillment/normal dreams: relatively simple to change.

Verify a Prophetic Dream

To determine whether or not a dream is prophetic while analyzing it:

+roll Wits + Occult + Wyrd + Intensity

Once you make any changes to a dream, however, nothing following your change will be prophetic. Your tampering snaps the thread.

Convincing the Dreamer/Subliminals

This takes an entire night's worth of work in the target's dreams. For every success you roll, you may store 1 "die" of subliminal suggestion in the dreamer's psyche. These may subsequently be used as bonus dice on Manipulation rolls against the dreamer within the next week.

+roll Wits + Empathy + Wyrd

Only one "set" of these "dice" may be stored in a dreamer's psyche at once. If you want to change the pattern of behaviours/tones/actions you need to perform to trigger their reaction to your subliminal message, the previous "set" of subliminals is erased (even if you rolled more successes on the previous roll than you did on the new one).

Learn about the Dreamer

You may study a dreamer for several nights' worth of unaltered dreams to learn ONE of the following for every 5 cumulative successes you roll. If you alter the dream in any way, that night is ruined and will not count toward your total accumulated successes.

+roll Wits + Empathy + Wyrd

Virtue

Vice

Derangement (one at a time, or that no derangements exist)

Willpower

1 Social or Mental Merit

1 Social or Mental Flaw

Whether any mind- or emotion-altering supernatural powers were used on the dreamer within 1 month of your examination.

Psychotherapy

Oneiromancers may be healers of a less physical sort, affecting their targets through the power of dreams. To use this power, you must have some form of training (typically a Specialty or Professional Training) in Psychology.

To perform basic psychotherapy through dreams:

+roll Wits + Empathy + Wyrd - Intensity

One successful night of such aid from an oneiromancer equates to an entire week of mundane psychotherapy.

Scouring Intensity

Rarely used, an Oneiromancer may deliberately scour the intensity of a dream to lessen its effects on the dreamer's psyche. This is typically performed to ease a nightmare's strength enough that its victim will NOT be exhausted the next day.

To decrease the intensity of a dream:

+roll Wits + Empathy + Wyrd - Intensity

Each success lowers the dream's Intensity by 1.

If the Intensity drops below 1, the dream ends, and the dreamer awakens.

You may only attempt this once per dream.

Scouring the Intensity of Dream Poison

A Changeling may fight back against a True Fae's attack on mortals using Dream Poison, scouring the contagion away.

+roll Wits + Empathy + Wyrd vs. (ST rolls) +roll Dream Poison Intensity

If the Oneiromancer wins the roll, the poison's intensity is reduced by one point for every success over that of the poison roll. I.e. if the Oneiromancer's Wits+Empathy+Wyrd nets him 5 successes and +roll DreamPoisonIntensity nets 1 success, 5-1=4, so the intensity is decreased by 4.

If, however, the contagion-dream wins the contested roll, the Oneiromancer takes 1 Willpower damage per net success. I.e. if the Oneiromancer rolled 1 success and the poison rolled 2, the Oneiromancer would take 3 Willpower damage.

Search for Dream Poison

Searching for the subtle signs of dream poisoning is a time consuming task, and often difficult.

It is an extended roll at a penalty equal to the Intensity of the dominant dream that evening.

+roll Wits + Empathy + Wyrd - Intensity

Each roll take a single night of work, and the roll requires a total of successes equal to the Intensity of the contagion-dream.

Dreamscaping

Dreamscaping literally creates a dream in its entirety, unlike Dreamriding, which performs minor changes to an existing dream.

• You cannot do this to yourself.
• The dreamer-target may not be in an existing dream (enter their dreams before they hit REM sleep).

Dreamscaping a Fallow Psyche

To dreamscape a psyche while it is fallow (i.e. has no existing dream):

+roll Wits + Empathy + Wyrd vs. Sleeper's Wits + Resolve

This contest immediately triggers REM sleep.

If your roll wins, you may shape the dreamscape into a scenario of your choosing with an Intensity equal to the number of your successes.

If the sleeper wins, their own mind creates a dream with an Intensity equal to their Res+Comp's successes.

Creating a dream this way costs 1 Glamour.

Dreamscaping via Scouring Existing Dreams

An alternate method is to scour a dream's Intensity down to zero (per the mechanics higher on this page), resulting in a swift/strange transition from the dreamer's natural dream into the dream prepared by the oneiromancer.

Creating a dream this way costs 2 Glamour.

Dreamscaped Dream Types

Dreamscaped dreams may affect the dreamer in particular ways, via the types below.

Healing Sleep

Speed the dreamer's healing.

With a "healing sleep" of any Intensity, the time the dreamer spends asleep counts as a full night's rest.

For purposes of healing, this stacks with REAL nights of restful sleeping, which can effectively double how quickly a person's wounds heal.

If the Intensity roll is an exceptional success, the healing sleep counts as two days' worth of rest alone. Added to a real night of sleep, the injured dreamer could effectively gain three nights' worth of rest in a single night of sleep.

Stress Relief

If you know the dreamer's Vice and Virtue, you can shape dreams which allow him to recover Willpower as though they had fulfilled their Vice.

If the Intensity roll is exceptional, you can allow him to recover Willpower as if he had fulfilled a Virtue.

Sleep Teaching

A single "sleep teaching" dream acts as a full day of learning on a given topic.

If the Intensity roll is an exceptional success, the sleep teaching dream grants the dreamer 1xp which can only be spent to increase the given Skill, Merit or Contract being taught in the dream.

The dreamer may not gain more dream xp toward that particular trait until the existing xp has been spent on increasing it, though she may gain xp toward different traits in subsequent dreams.

Nightmares

Sometimes, you just need to give someone a terrible night's sleep.

Dreamscaped nightmares are treated like normal nightmares as regards the effects of their Intensity on a dreamer.

Dreamweaving

TBW

Oneiromachy

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