There have been a lot of versions of the realms of Dream, with only a few relatively-consistent principles beyond “they mean something more than random stuff thrown up by the brain while it’s partially shut down”. What are those rules?

1. Dreams are pretty malleable; with a strong will and an awareness that you’re dreaming they can be modified in a thousand ways.
2. Personal dreams are little “bubbles” within a more general dreamscape that can be difficult to find and access.
3. The consequences of anything that happens in a dream are greatly muted when you wake up. Despite old tales, dying in a dream generally just means abruptly waking up, if sometimes gasping and in shock.
4. Dreams can reflect the past or future even if erratically and in hard-to-decipher ways.
5. Dreams border on the realms of the dead and the divine so that entities from beyond sometimes visit them.
6. Sometimes dreams are hard to remember. In reality, this is because they’re fragmentary and confused to start with. In fantasy, it’s because they are a regular infusion of mystery and the powers beyond into every mortal’s life.
7. Perhaps most importantly… Dreams and Dream are erratic and unstable. They are generally handled differently in each setting, they aren’t consistent even within most settings, and the results of spells and powers based on or affecting dreams can vary from moment to moment. That’s one reason why dream-spells don’t need anything more than capsule descriptions. The details are going to change with each casting anyway.

There are a thousand other rules associated with specific realms of dream, but those seven – derived from a reality that everyone experiences every night – are pretty universal. Even the bit about personal and general dreamscapes pretty much follows automatically from “this is obviously MY dream” once you decide that dream in general is a “real place”.

Of course, in most games, the only times dreams mean anything – or even get mentioned – is if the GM chooses to send a meaningful dream to set up an adventure, or you get to attempt a mission in a dream (and probably die) before trying it for real, and so on. If someone takes “Lucid Dreaming”… well, there MIGHT be a dream-adventure, or the GM may insert some way to make this useful – but for the most part it’s just a characterization detail. Who cares if you can engage in Lucid Dreaming when dreams don’t actually change anything?

Similarly, dream magic is a popular idea – it’s about the only form of “magic” / unstable reality that most people regularly experience – but people have been making dream magic classes, spells, and special abilities since first edition, and there are reasons why it’s never really caught on. After all…

• If dream magic works in the real world how is it different from any other kind of magic? Illusions, transformations, summoning, teleportation, and more are staple effects. You may fluff things slightly differently, but mages are mages. Sure, I can (and will) make a list of spells involving sleep and dreams, but it’s mostly going to be special effects.
• If dream magic doesn’t work in the real world then it only matters if your adventure is set in the realms of dreams, perhaps along the lines of Lovecraft’s Dreamlands. That’s fine if you’re running a specialty dream campaign or a visit to such a realm, but now you’re back to either “everyone has some dream powers” or – if only a few characters do – one of a) the non-dream-users are ineffective and bored, b) dream powers are so cheap and/or limited that soon everyone will have them, or c) dreamer characters have wasted resources / levels / points / whatever on a rarely-useful art and have placed themselves at a significant disadvantage whenever they’re not in dream, in which case they’ll be unhappy then. No matter what, this approach rarely makes ANYONE particularly happy.
• How about if only a few more-or-less useful, but rather specialized dream effects work in the real world? Now you have some mages who dabble in special-purpose dream magic instead of a few other spells. So here are ultra-condensed versions of the Dream spells from the SRD’s, a bunch of other books, and things I threw in because I felt like it, sorted into a few basic categories. I can’t say that it’s a complete list – but it does cover a lot of things.

Induced Sleep: Boring. Efficient. Classic. And nothing to do with dreams really.

• Lullaby (L0): Make people a little sleepy.
• Sleep (L1) and Deep Slumber (L3): Put creatures to sleep. Notoriously useful at low levels, mostly useless later.
• Hibernate: (L3): Sleep a long time with little or no need for food or water and little need for air. So basically an extended Feign Death. (For the short term we already have Tree Shape (L2)). Handy for peasants who want to skip winter, but how many adventurers want to sleep for weeks or months at a time? While awaiting rescue perhaps? Take Ritual Magic and forget all this very minor and virtually never-used stuff.
• (Melf’s) Slumber Arrows (L4): CL/3 (Max 5) arrows cause creatures with 15 hit dice or less to make will saves if they’re hit or fall asleep for an hour. If they save they are still Fatigued for an hour. Only lasts one round per caster level, but that’s plenty of time to fire the arrows.
• Sleep Mote (L5): Creates a small whirlwind that can be moved around, putting those it engulfs to sleep. Saves apply. Of course, it has the standard problem of all such spells; you have to keep spending actions controlling it and the effect is fairly weak for it’s level since it can affect lots of targets if given enough time. But how many combats last long enough to make this preferable to a more immediate effect?
• Cloak of Dreams (L6): Creatures that start or end adjacent to you must save of fall asleep briefly. Doesn’t last long. Potentially interesting I suppose, but short duration and a spell like Call The Void (L3) is also a fairly good aura defense. Of course at this level you could cast Circle Of Death (L6) instead.
• Endless Slumber (L6): One target in close range must save or sleep until injured or a once/day save is made. Good for a kidnapping I suppose. Or you can just keep inflicting nonlethal damage every so often. Or drug them.
• Hiss Of Sleep (L7): Puts one target per level to sleep without regard for their hit dice for one round/level. That’s actually fairly effective, and doesn’t seem to note that things that don’t sleep are immune although the victims are fairly easy to wake up. Still mind-affecting though. Better than Mass Hold Monster (L9) in several ways, if even more boring.
• Symbol (3.0 Version, L8): Creates various Symbols. The “Trap” versions are powerful, but over-expensive and take ten minutes to cast. Sometimes useful in “hold the chokepoint” situations. But the spell can also be scribed in the air as a standard action with no special cost. Symbols of fear, hopelessness, pain, or persuasion can be used this way. Sleep can’t, but the trap version is still a sleep spell, so I’m throwing it in.
• The Caterpillars Dream (L8): The recipient must either consume rare alchemical elixirs costing 15,000 GP or spend 3000 XP and wrap themselves in a cocoon of dreams. After one week, they emerge, transformed – basically receiving a character rewrite. It is unwise to use this spell too often and the GM – representing the uncontrollable forces of dream – must be consulted.
• Microcosm (L9) or Eternal Slumber (Grand Hex): Victim dreams until it dies. Totally unexciting, and thus overpriced to make it available, but rarely used. Curses are a lot more interesting. Solipsism (L7) is effectively much the same. Or just go with good old Hold Monster and Coup De Grace or Wail of the Banshee.

I suppose you could put Symbol of Sleep (L5) on this list, but nobody ever wants that spell. Sure, it’s a fairly strong trap, but it takes ten minutes and 1000 GP to cast and doesn’t offer the kind of options you get with the general 3.0 Symbol spell.

Incapacitating opponents has it’s points, and Cloak of Dreams might have some tactical uses in keeping the fighters off the mages – but it also makes it hard to protect the mages. You might want to work up an Aura of Deep Slumber with Presence, or perhaps some stances, instead; those can limit themselves to enemies. Probably not worth it; mages tend to have better options for sixth level slots than rather unreliable defenses. Hiss of Sleep is actually fairly good, with a decent chance to incapacitate a number of opponents for multiple rounds. Slumber Arrows might be very effective if you throw it on an master archer’s ammunition. Still not really “Dream Magic” though.

Battlefield Control:

• Nightmare Zone (L1): As per Entangle (L1), but instead of vegetation it requires shadows and dim illumination. If you also have disturbing environmental features or sounds the save DC increases by +1.
• Labyrinth Of Dreams (L2): Lets the disorientation of dream bleed through into reality for three minutes. Anyone who moves within a 40′ radius must save or move 5′ in a random direction at both the start (or where they enter the labyrinth) and end (or where they leave the labyrinth) of their movement. Anyone within the area has Concealment.
• Dreamland Overlay (L3): The area takes on an aspect of dream as a general setting – a swamp or flooded area, a ruinous city or wasteland, a confusing labyrinth full of fog, a downpour, or whatever. A will save will allow a character to ignore some aspect of the twisted environment for 2d4 rounds, but it will reassert itself thereafter. The effects will vanish with the rising or setting sun (whichever comes first) and have no lasting effects. Or there’s Nightmare Terrain or Dreadscape (Both L3) which are less dramatic and more reliable.
• Dreamvenom (L4) A version of Psychic Poison from the Book of Vile Darkness that isn’t inherently evil and has a few extra poisons available – sleep, hallucinogen, etc. The effects go away after a nights rest however.
• Castle Of Dreams (L5): A version of Secure Shelter that is surrounded by a Hide Campsite (L2) effect, has a bowl with 3d4 Goodberries (L1) on the table, and includes various cosmetic effects – furnishings, nice beds, signs, decorations, etc. If you want a house (apparently) made of gingerbread, or looking like a miniature castle, or built in a tree… here you go. Unlike a normal Secure Shelter, however, the entire thing will crumble into ruins in three days and will disappear entirely within a week.
• Realms Of Dream (L6): Unprotected sleepers within a massive area (up to a multi-mile radius) will dream as you will through the night, whether that dream is of an utopian world, of some great omen in the skies, of war and destruction, of victorious defense, or what-have-you. For the day after they awaken, any actions they take which adhere to the dream’s themes gain a +1 morale bonus. Actions taken against that theme suffer a -1 penalty, although a will save negates this penalty on an individual basis. Thus granting a dream of a successful heroic defense to an area containing a city under siege will benefit the defenders and hinder the attackers.
• Threads Of Narrative (L7): Curse an area (a seven mile radius) with seven perilous narratives from literature, fairy tales, and myths. Here you will find kings needing their daughters rescued from dragons, intelligent, man-eating, wolves chasing young women through the forest, mad alchemists hatching basilisks, people stumbling through faerie circles, and fair persons of the opposite sex with frozen hearts to be thawed. Until each of those situations is dealt with Narrative Causality (and relevant Occult Skills) will work in the area even if they do not normally work in the setting.
• Brigadoon (L8): Overlays dream onto reality, adding a notable map feature, complete with inhabitants, for the next twenty-four hours. The details are not up to the user, but if you need a town, a castle, a comfortable inn, a military outpost, a lake or river, a dungeon, or a monster lair, this will provide it. Sadly, only minor things can be taken from such areas; catch a few fish from the river? OK. Dig out an immense treasure from a wrecked pirate ship that didn’t exist yesterday? You may be able to keep a few coins and random bits and pieces as if you had done some beach-combing, but that’s about it.
• Alter Reality (L9): Drawing on the energies of dream you may employ a Limited Wish without other costs.
• Dream Of Eternity (Epic): A sizable area – whether a particular mountain, section of forest, or town – merges with the realm of dreams. Spirits may wander through. Places of legend may manifest. Reality twists towards tracklessness, strange occurrences, and wildly variable time. Within a year and a day the folk living there will pull one way or the other, and the realm will follow – either vanishing into the timeless eternity of dream or once again becoming fully a part of the real world, albeit possibly with a few bits of weirdness holding over. If the realm does vanish into dream, it will be replaced by wilderness – although there will always be a point of access hidden somewhere therein.

Combat Effects:

• Haze of Dreams (L1): Halves the targets normal movement rate for one round/level. Not really anything to do with dreams, but a potentially useful debuff.
• Dream Lock (L2): Target shaken for a round, then Shaken and opponents gain Concealment for one minute/caster level. There’s a Mass version at (L4). Saves, of course, apply. Another potentially useful debuff, although not really preferable to Single-Target (L1) and Group (L3) Confusion and not actually having any effect related to dreams. That’s pure fluff. Nightmare Lullaby (L2) seems to be another variation on Personal Confusion.
• Phantasmal Assailants (L2): Technically nothing to do with dreams, but a debuffing relative of Phantasmal Killer. Pretty good for L2; if you get past initial disbelief it causes 8 Wis and 8 Dex damage (Half on a fortitude save). Likely to just fail entirely as will saves go up though.
• Waking Nightmare (L2): Target wastes actions fighting an imaginary horror for one round/level, getting a new save each round. A (L4) version does a point of Str damage with each failed save and requires another to avoid being Fatigued for a few minutes at the end. A decent distraction, although the creature can still defend itself and likely only loses a round or two of attacks. Comparable to Cloud of Bewilderment (L2)
• Distracting Visions (L3): A target who fails to save is effectively Sickened. A reskin of various other debuff spells. Confusion (L3) is generally better. Phantasmal Strangler or Vertigo Field (Both L3) are more thematic. If you want to use this, you’ll probably want it to affect additional targets, otherwise Stinking Cloud (L3) is just better. My recommendation? Treat it like Stinking Cloud with selective targeting but which only makes those affected Sickened instead of Nauseated.
• Dream Bolts (L3): These work like Scorching Ray, but do nonlethal force damage. This is more of a comic-book dream master thing – wherein every mystical entity can attack at range with some kind of magical blast, regardless of whether or not that makes any sense – but I have to admit that dream-magic is really not the best when it comes to blasting. (There is Oneiric Bolt from Atlas Games Occult Lore, but it only works on manifestations of dream and does damage based on the user’s Lucid Dreaming skill – which can be easily boosted to ludicrous heights. It’s interesting, but poorly designed).
• Reality Blind (L3): Target is blinded and stunned but gets a save each round and you have to concentrate to maintain the spell. Afterwards the target has a minor cure and cannot heal naturally until they save, trying each night.
• Dream Dalliance (L4): Gives the target such pleasant dreams that it must make a will save to wake up. Basically Bestow Curse with Medium range and less flexibility.
• Phantasmal Killer (L4): Reasonably useful, but a standard spell and not really a dream effect. There’s a Manifest Nightmare (L4) version that is weaker but allows the caster to see what the targets greatest fear is. Given that direct combat in d20 is rarely focused on “learn about the target’s psychology” why not just go for Phantasmal Killer directly?
• Dream Battle (L5): Fight your target in a dream. A will save avoids the fight, otherwise the loser gets Shaken and Cursed for the next twenty-four hours. Thematic, but unless you’re up to winning a solo battle anyway it’s not a great idea. And if you are up to winning a solo battle why the long-range tactic? Deniable political sabotage maybe? Annoying the dark lord you cannot otherwise affect?
• Nightmare (L5): Lets you interrupt a targets sleep and do a little damage if they don’t save. Good for long-range harassment for a few days, but then countermeasures – like Pleasant Dreams (L1) – will almost certainly be taken by any important target. The Demon Dream (L6) version can add 1d6 wisdom damage to the effects of the basic Nightmare.
• Fever Dream (L5): This causes a high fever, causing confusion and difficulty concentrating. Once again, plain old Confusion is generally better. It also has nothing to do with Dream Magic beyond the name.
• Dark Visions (L6): Target falls asleep for a few minutes and has nightmares that leave it shaken until it gets a good nights sleep. Presuming that the party doesn’t eliminate their now-helpless victim. See “Hold Monster”. Or a ranged version of “Bestow Curse” (L4+ to make it ranged). The Symphonic Nightmare version (Also L6) leaves the target unable to sleep properly for one day per level but has touch range. So… a weaker relative of Greater Curse (L6)?
• Dream Reality (L6): Keeps the target from clearly remembering things that happened during the spells one minute per level duration. Or you could get them drunk or curse them or use Modify Memory or hit them over the head with something. Memory Lapse is only (L1). Forget (L2) used to be handy, but didn’t make the jump to third edition. Or you could use the Befuddle (L0) Cantrip. How about Make Lost (L1-2)? You strip one target per level within medium range of their senses of direction and recent memories of travel. They forget the route they took in the last hour (but not events along the way) and become lost. Surely “forget the last few minutes” is no more than (L2). And Steal the Painful Memory (L7) affects creatures in a radius of ONE MILE PER CASTER LEVEL and can hide major events.
• Waking Dream (L6): The caster may wildly distort a targets perceptions. While this can be described in many ways, it effectively renders them blinded, deafened, and sickened at medium range for (Concentration + 7) rounds. Given that this effectively covers all senses Blindsense and similar will not bypass the penalties.
• Phantasmal Revenge (L7): Casting this on the body of a creature slain up to (Caster Level) days ago causes the killer to be attacked by a Phantasmal Killer. This only works once per body. Now honestly, this can really mess up a lot of plots, and won’t come in useful all that often – but it’s dramatic and thematic, so I’m including it. It’s also a stretch to call it a “combat effect” but it fits in here better than in most of the other categories.
• Plague of Nightmares (L7): Evil spell from the Book of Vile Darkness which curses the target touched with an inability to sleep properly, 1d4 Charisma damage per day, and having their soul devoured by a demon if they hit 0 Charisma. On the other hand, a daily save ends the effect and the caster must chant for 12 hours a week and pay the ongoing corruption cost to keep it going. Or you could just Plane Shift (L5) them into the Abyss, for much the same effect without the risk of standing in front of someone who is presumably powerful and almost certainly upset at having this spell cast on them.
• Rain of Roses (L7): 1d4 wisdom damage per round over a wide area, but only to evil creatures (who go unconscious at Wis 0). Also makes them Sickened, but they can save versus that effect.
• Maze (L8): Bog-standard, nothing to do with dreams as such, but the thematics certainly fit.
• Weird (L9): The area-effect version of Phantasmal Killer. Generally regarded as ineffective for a ninth level spell. If you want this… apply the “Mass” modifier directly to Phantasmal Killer for (L7).

Phantasmal Killer and Confusion are staple spells for some types of casters, and Waking Nightmare can be fairly good in the vein of Mirror Image or various illusions; even a single round of distraction against some creatures is good – but, once again, Individual Confusion (L1) is at least as good and may be better.

Communication Effects:

• Suggest Dream (L0): Suggests a dream to a sleeping target within medium range (short without line of sight). This can be fun, upsetting, delightful, exciting, etc, but is basically just a dream with a general theme of your suggestion. The (L1) version can can throw in enough details to make someone think that “Hey! Maybe this dream meant something!” – so if they dream of an expedition turning into a disaster they might reconsider. Still, a will save applies unless someone just wants to dream of being an action hero or something. Get a Dream Recorder and make some movies?

“Contact Entity” (L1) lets “you send out a magical message to any eldritch entities of a particular kind within a 100-mile radius, which can be delivered to up to 20 such creatures, starting with the nearest creatures until the limit has been met”. Now this doesn’t send a specific message other than an invitation and where you are, and is limited to eldritch entities of 6 Hit Dice or less for game balance reasons, but still. Sends a message. To up to twenty targets that you do not even need to know or identify. With a range of a hundred miles. With a first level spell. Why is this reasonable when it’s “contact eldritch horrors with incomprehensible minds and languages” and unreasonable when it’s “Come to the garden club and let me show you my begonias!” in Common? Even if you need a slightly higher level spell to make it a more detailed and variable message… this is much more what Communications magic ought to be.

• Shared Dreams (L2): The target can visit their (presumably distant) family in their dreams, exploiting their link with them. It won’t work with “family” who don’t know or care about them or who don’t want a visit. Given how scrambled dreams tend to be the effective communication is generally trivial or purely emotional.
• Lesser Dream (L3): Send a five word message to a sleeping creature pretty much anywhere. Or spend 1400 GP on a set of Sending Stones, or use Whispering Flame (L2), or Whispering Wind (L2). Of course it’s a standard fantasy trope that communications are terrible and that – if you want to summon aid – you should light the beacons or send a heroic messenger, not cast a spell. In Eclipse… you can use witchcraft, or various other methods. Buy 1d6 Mana with Reality Editing (Specialized and Corrupted for 2 CP / only to cause a designated target to find a harmless copy of the letter you just wrote on his or her person – and “insert a couple of sheets of paper” is about as minor as reality edits get. Offer long distance fast delivery postal service and make some beer money.
• Interplanar Message (L3): Lets you send a 25-word message to the target you touched while casting it. They can save if unwilling, but there’s no duration limit. If they’re asleep they dream about you and remember the message after waking. Given the lack of any time limit (or of any rule about casting it on the same person more than once). This may well be the most effective and versatile long-range communications spell in most standard games. It doesn’t really have anything to do with Dreams though.
• Dream Recorder (L4): Lets you record a dream in a bit of crystal. Anyone who holds it can watch if they want. If they spend 2 Power or 1 Generic Spell Level on it, they can either show it to a group or have a full-sensory experience. For 4 Power or 2 Generic Spell Levels a willing group can get the full-sensory experience. Crystals can be broken or “recorded over”, but are otherwise permanent.
• Dream (L5): Send information to someone who’s asleep. A bit better than Sending of Psionic Correspond (both at L4), but still way overpriced when you can Teleport at the same spell level and hold a detailed discussion if you want. Only really useful compared to spells like Animal Messenger (L1) if the target is a very long ways off. If they’re not that far you might as well use a slower method since Dream will have to wait for them to go to sleep, sleep, and wake up. Or you could just buy a Dream Candle (2300 GP) which can be used TEN TIMES to send a one-minute message to anyone (it doesn’t say, but probably on the same plane) that will be received the next time they dream.
• Dream Council (L6): Send (or get back) a number of 25 word messages equal to your caster level. At only +1 level this pretty much says that the original Dream spell isn’t worth bothering with.
• Dream Council II (L7): You can talk to someone in a dream for a lengthy period, audiovisual aids optional. Of you could just Greater Teleport (L7) there. Which will it be, Dream Council or perhaps Limited Wish? Greater Shadow Conjuration?

Honestly, most “high level” d20 communication magic is fairly awful. Why is it that any peasant can send messages to the outer planes by simply PRAYING while telling your kid you’re going to be late today calls for fairly powerful magic? If you REALLY must send messages a lot (and you aren’t in a setting where you can more readily send messages or call on the phone)… get a Spirit Fetch or an Improved Familiar that can teleport. Or dabble in Witchcraft. Or use Reality Editing to cause someone to suddenly remember the relevant information. Or just go with a few Dream Candles.

Equipment Effects:

• Ectoplasmic Creation / Psionic Minor Creation (L1): Creates some mundane organic stuff – cloth, wood, etc – for a few hours. Complex stuff requires relevant skills – but does this extend to alchemical stuff? Why or why not? It should cover natural poisons. How about Ironwood as a metal substitute? Depending on what the GM lets you get away with this can be weak or far too good to allow. There’s a fifth level version that does mineral and metal, but given the aforementioned Ironwood who needs it?
• Call Item (L1-L3); Calls a normal mundane item. Up to 10 GP at L1, 100 GP at L2, and 1000 GP at L3. A WOTC web psionic power, but it would be easy enough to call it dream magic. Certainly more reasonable than the shenanigans one can get up to with Ectoplasmic Creation.
• Dream Transition (L1): Dream versions of all the equipment you habitually use shows up in your dreams with you – although only as appropriate to the dream. You can dream of eating breakfast with your family without your plate armor and great axe. Of course, in most cases – except the High School where you’re naked – the GM is likely to assume this anyway unless it’s a dream of escape from prison or something. Anyone up for escaping the Dungeons Of The Slave Lords? I haven’t seen anyone playing that one in AGES.
• Dream Feast (L1): Target wakes up and is not hungry or thirsty. Or chew on some Everlasting Rations (350 GP) or wear a Ring of Sustenance. In d20 this is pretty much a solution in search of a problem.
• Phantasmagoria (L4): Create a mundane item that lasts for a week. One at a time, nothing bigger than you can carry. Maybe useful, but there’s are several ways to do this, including spells and psionics, shapesand, chaos flasks, Marvelous Pigments, Fabricate, Creation Spells, a Supply Pouch, and – you know – shopping.
• Forge Of Dreams (L7): Creates a weapon or suit of armor, as tough and strong as if it was made of adamantine regardless of its type or “actual” material, with a total bonus of +5 – although up to four of those “plusses” may be devoted to special abilities instead of enhancement bonuses. It lasts for ten minutes per caster level. Lesser versions offer lesser bonuses (-1 spell level per -1 on the total bonus to a minimum of (L4) and +2). Higher level versions usually focus on extending the duration or add more “plusses”.

Equipment effects are most useful at low levels, although Forge of Dreams can be handy if you suddenly need a suit of armor or weapon with specific abilities.

Enhanced or Protected Sleep:

• Restful Sleep (L1): A group of targets heals twice as much as usual overnight. Not bad at lower levels when healing can be hard to come by – but not all that good either since low level characters don’t heal much overnight and doubling “very little” is not a big benefit. At even modest levels it has to compete with Wands and Healing Belts at the levels where it might actually do something. Healthful Slumber (L3) does exactly the same thing but for everyone within close range; don’t take it unless you’re leading a small army or something.
• Pleasant Dreams or Restful Slumber (L1): Keeps things from messing up the target’s dreams. Another once a day item? Or once a day innate enchantment (400 GP value)?
• Unbroken Night (or Comforter) (Genius Guide to Dream Magic, L0): Target sleeps well in any reasonable environment even if sleep is interrupted or they are wearing armor. This is useful. In fact, it is far TOO useful. No self-respecting spellcaster would not get this once per day in an item for (200 GP) and say goodbye to not getting enough uninterrupted sleep to regain all their spells.
• Drowse (Genius Guide To Dream Magic, L1): A target that normally doesn’t sleep or dream can if it wants to. OK… but while there are things that do not need to sleep, they can already either sleep or lull themselves into an equivalent trance if they want to. Not NEEDING to sleep doesn’t necessarily mean that you CAN’T. Does this spell even do anything?
• Dream Shield (L2): Protects a sleeping mind from interference better than Pleasant Dreams – or at least with a much more specific list of effects that are blocked. OK, but that’s still not exactly common and you need to cast it in advance.
• Meditation (L2): Remain aware of your surroundings while sleeping. That’s potentially useful. but Keep Watch works on groups, is only (L1), and allows you to fight without interrupting your rest provided you get it recast or go to sleep afterwards. Or use Tireless Vigil (L1) for boosts to an individual unsleeping guardian. Or Vigilant Slumber (L1). After all, “attacked while you’re sleeping” is a huge cliche and there are lots of ways to handle it.
• Lucid Dream (L3): +10 Competence Bonus to Lucid Dreaming for the night. A standard skill-booster spell. L2 would be +5 and L1 would be +3. Still, an active dream mage is probably good at Lucid Dreaming anyway. There’s also a (L1) version that basically gives you a personal lucid dream, which is mostly recreational. Rather like the “Potions of Godhood” that basically let you hallucinate a wonderful vacation as an all-powerful god. After an hour of being very silly and babbling nonsense you woke up feeling relaxed and like you’d had a nice break. They were usually the result of a failure to make a more useful healing potion.
• Nap Stack (L3): Lets you get a full nights rest in only two hours and keep sleeping if you want. Fairly good, but 100 GP per casting and only usable once per week. And out of combat healing is generally easy. A decent preparatory spell, but you can always just sleep in a Rope Trick. Potentially powerful if there’s a fight, both sides fall back to rest, and you come back fully rested first.
• Dream Therapist (L5): For the next lunar month the target will experience cathartic dreams – working through traumas, releasing and dealing with repressed emotions, and otherwise receiving expert psychotherapy. This allows them to make will checks to overcome such issues. There is a version which attempts brainwashing or post-hypnotic suggestion instead, but since it works against the target instead of with them a save to negate the entire effect applies each night. Even if the victim needs a “natural 20″… that’s a bit less than a 24% chance of success.
• Timeless Daydream (L5): Basically as per Psychic Asylum.
• Dream Self (L6): The caster in Dream may manifest a L4 Psychic Construct as a temporary host for his or her consciousness in the real world. If this construct is destroyed the user will suffer 3d6 damage and bear a wound reflecting the final strike on the construct. The exact range is a bit variable, but generally (Cha Mod + 1, 1 Minimum) miles from the user’s real body covers it.
• Rise From Dreams (L7): Once cast, the user is anchored to Dream and will be automatically transferred to the realm of dreams upon his or her physical death – although it is theoretically possible to find the anchor in the realms of dream and destroy it (although the user may cast it again if he or she finds out).
• Dream of Heroism (L8): Up to (Caster Level) targets with 30′ sleep well and dream of heroism, awakening with one positive level with the 6 CP assigned as they wish. The positive level will fade away the next morning and the spell does not stack with itself.

This is a rather limited branch, but what do you expect? There are only so many options for “you slept very well”.

Illusion Magic:

Yes, you can squeeze a lot of Illusion Magic in as “Dream Magic” – the Images sequence (Various), Color Spray (L1), Shadow Trap (L1), Haunting Mist (L2), Searching Shadows (L2), Invisibility (L2), Shadow Enchantment (L3), Shadow Conjuration (L4), Shadow Evocation (L5), Greater Shadow Enchantment (L6), Greater Shadow Conjuration (L7), Greater Shadow Evocation (L8), and Greater Shadow Transmutation (L9) – but at this point you’re basically shoving almost everything into “Dream Magic” since Illusions and Shadow Magic cover a fairly absurd range all by themselves. Speaking as a GM… I would leave this stuff off the list.

Information Gathering:

• Dream Prophecy (L1): Grants insight into the meaning of a dream, whether yours or another’s. Sadly, most dreams really do not mean a lot, but important and meaningful dreams are usually recognizable by their clarity, vivid imagery, and tendency to repeat until understood. Unfortunately, this spell really doesn’t do anything you can’t do with Moment Of Insight (The Practical Enchanter, L1) applied to an appropriate knowledge skill check.
• Oneiromancy (L2) (The Genius Guide to Dream Magic): Spy on a creatures dreams and make a successful Sense Motive check to get a (Caster Level/2) bonus to Wis and Cha based checks against that creature for the next day. A will save applies. Interesting, and a good bonus, but extremely situational. Ask the GM if spying on somethings dreams gives you a circumstance bonus when confronting it for a bit. After all, “I know your secrets!” is very classic even beyond Wis and Cha checks. I can’t see this specific spell getting a lot of use outside diplomatic situations or trying to outguess a general or something though.
• Dream Interpretation (L3): Cast in the morning at five minutes/target (up to (Wis Mod +1) targets) each gets 1d4 “Portent Tokens” of random types, such as “Reroll A Save”, “Reroll an Attack”, “Reroll a Skill Check”, “+4 to Initiative”, and so on to use with any unused portents next time they sleep. Probably only L1 for a single target version.
• Traveling Dream (L4): A bad version of Arcane Eye (Also L4) that requires that you sleep while you use it. Or you could just use Clairvoyance at (L3). Dream of Insight is a L6 version that also puts you at risk.
• Manifest Desire (L4): Shows you what the targets greatest desire is and may distract them for a bit.
• Dream Scan (L5): Basically telepathic spying on a sleeping mind. Something you could already do through the realms of dream and Dream Walk (L4) – which also lets you escape into and travel through dreams. There’s always Commune (L3). Who says you can’t commune with the powers of dream?
• The Akhasic Gates (L8): All things echo imperishable in the depths of dream. With this enhancement of Dream Walk you may enter a dream of the distant past, of some alien world, or even of a tale that never was. Such places tend to be almost as “solid” as the “real world”, and potentially dangerous, and nothing material can be recovered from them without GM connivance – but knowledge and experience is not so limited.

OK, Oneiromancy is interesting, and VERY thematic – but so situational that even the freeform casters over decades of campaigns have never bothered trying such an effect. I threw in Dream Interpretation since it seemed appropriate. It would be a fun way to have a dream specialist in a party.

Summoning:

• Summon Psychic Construct (Variable): The arcane version of psychic constructs (The Practical Enchanter). Calling these dream-beasts works well enough; they are fairly useful and only quasi-real at best. Plus, of course, this is a perfectly standard effect. Alternatively you can use Monster Summoning (or the Possession variant, see The Practical Enchanter) if you have a bestiary with dream-monsters in it to make a list from.
• Dream Warriors (L2): Guardian creatures accompany you in your dreams. Admittedly, all I needed for that when I was a small child was a stuffed Tiger or Winnie-The-Pooh, but this gets you something from Summon Nature’s Ally (1/2 caster level rounded up) or Summon Monster (1/3 caster level rounded off). Possibly extra effective against Freddy Kruger. Maybe good for a dream-mission, but if you regularly need this… won’t everyone need it every night? Get some items. Or just take Witchcraft and buy a Tulpa using Birth Of Flames, Specialized and Corrupted / only exists in Dream (2 CP).
• Dream Spirit (L3): A minor immaterial entity attacks your foes.
• Hound of Doom (L3): Summons a Dire Wolf with a BAB and HP equal to yours. This is actually fairly good. But it’s also a standard spell shadow spell and has nothing to do with dreams. It just sort of fits in.
• Dreamgate (L8): As per Gate, but limited to the realms of dream and the local material plane. Note that no one will thank you for offering Godzilla a route into reality even if dream-monsters aren’t nearly as effective in reality as they are in stories.

Summoning is always a nice effect, and if it’s good enough for the Krell of Forbidden Plant it should be good enough for d20. On the other hand it would be entirely reasonable to bump the spell levels up one when you’re calling things into reality. Dream-creatures tend to be a bit insubstantial. 

Transport Effects:

• Dream Delivery (L2): You may toss a small, harmless, and non-living parcel into the realms of dream, attuning it to seek out a particular dreamer. They will eventually receive it, finding it beside them some morning. It may take some weeks however and packages can only be sent to creatures that normally dream.
• Dream Step (L3): You may step into and through dream and re-emerge into reality anywhere within Short range. Side effects as per Dimension Door.
• Dream Walk (L4): A limited version of Plane Shift that goes to and from the realm of dreams. Fair enough, since it’s taking bodies and equipment along.
• Dream Travel (L6): You can get into someone’s dreams and possibly get near them physically. This might be more useful if it didn’t take an hour and wasn’t dangerous and higher level than Teleport. Just use the Easy Metamagic or Arcanum Minimus to bring your Greater Teleport down to level six.
• Morpheus Chariot (L6): Teleport a group to a distant location after eight hours of sleep. Or just teleport (L5) right away. Or use an easier version of Greater Teleport (L7) by extending the casting time to bring down the level.
• Follow Your Dreams (L7): Provides a “map” of Dream showing you the route from wherever you are now to wherever it is you wish to go – passing through a gate or enchanted realm or into or out of dream as necessary. This does not mean that the path shown will be safe, quick, or particularly practical – but if you can follow it, you can reach the realm of your desires.
• Walker Of Worlds (L8): You may walk into the realm of dreams with up to seven companions (plus mounts and familiars if anyone has them) and exit on another world entirely. You don’t have to have a good knowledge of the destination, but the less you know, the more likely it is that things will go extremely wrong. After all, there are dreaming creatures in lots of places that you probably won’t survive.
• Dream Voyage (L9): Sail a ship through the realm of dreams like Dream Travel, above. You can take a fair number of people along, but it’s nothing like Teleport Circle (L9).

Sure, it’s an approach that might not be covered – but it’s pretty inconvenient for what you get. There are plenty of good transportation spells, starting with things like Mount and Phantom Steed and going on up with Teleport, Plane Shift, and so on. You can always just refluff one of them. Dream Delivery, Dream Step, Follow Your Dreams, and Walker Of Worlds could be handy, but I put them in there.

Utility Effects:

• Whispering Daydream (L1): Target briefly considers a suggested course of action – and it’s suggested outcome. They may think twice, or reject the idea as unlikely, if given time, so this works best to suggest impulsive actions. Thus targets may save to resist initially and again if they have time think about possible consequences.
• Feed on Dreams (L4): While you cannot sleep in Dream, there are ways to substitute for it – ranging from simply stealing someone else’s sleep (leaving them awakening unrested on the material plane) by entering their dreams on through this spell – which can be cast while visiting the dreamscape associated with a settlement while it’s people are asleep, harvesting bits of stray energy over the next eight hours to effectively give the caster “a night’s rest”.
• Sleepwalk (L4): Sleeping victim walks around slowly at your direction. Sleepwalking Suggestion (L5) lets you throw in a Suggestion effect to get the target to do something more complicated. Maybe useful if you want to make a locked room mystery, but Dimension Door kind of covers that. If you really must tow someone along… Tensors Floating Disk is only (L1) and moves faster. Or get a Phantom Mill (The Practical Enchanter, 2000 GP, lots of Unseen Servants) and have a bunch of unseen servants carry them. Are they more likely to wake up? Chloroform / Drow Sleep Poison / Sleeping Spell / Sap to the head.
• Wormtoungue Dreamshatter (L4): A victim within long range comes to believe that a specified goal or project is impossible to achieve, and will find themselves unable to pursue that dream until someone removes the curse. Sadly, believing that the curse can be removed is one of the things that believing that success is impossible blocks. If this blocks a major personal goal it often results in extreme depression.
• Dreaming Puppet (L5): Lets you seize control of a sleeper of up to (Caster Level + 4) hit dice at unlimited range as per Dominate Person (Also L5). They will be aware of you though. If their save is made by 10+ or is a natural 20 you become lost in dream. Not that that is much of a problem for a dream specialist. In general, unlimited range attacks that offer no chance to strike back are verboten in d20 games. Remember the arguments about Love’s Pain (L3)?
• Scry Trap (L5): Dream magic offers an additional option; the user may either have it do the usual damage or have the diviner attacked by a Phantasmal Killer effect or by Summoning something with an effect of up to (L4).
• Dream Image (L8): A version of Project Image (L6) that doesn’t need line of sight and has enough physical reality to interact with things (and to be dispelled by damage) but starts naked. You’ll probably want spare pants and an extra spell component pouch.

Now there is probably enough there to make a dream-specialist playable – even leaving out the Illusion effects – but if you stick to the stuff that actually is related to dreams it’s pretty limited. Throwing in the stuff that’s been reskinned to fit the theme makes it fairly practical.

So how to gain access to some dream magic?

1) Take the Rune Magic (Dream Casting) and Rune Magic (Dream Mastery) skills, three dice of Mana (Specialized and Corrupted, only to fuel Dream-Based Rune Magic, 6 CP), and Rite of Chi with +8 Bonus Uses, Specialized and Corrupted / only to refill the dream magic mana pool, user must spend a few minutes daydreaming to use it (8 CP). There; for 12 CP and some skill points you can dabble in freeform Dream Magic. You’ll need very high skills to actually get good at it though.

2) Go the high-end route. Take Sorcerer Spellcasting, Specialized in Dream Magic Only (8 CP/Level). That leaves plenty of room to throw in some special abilities and will take you all the way up to ninth level spellcasting. You’ll likely spend a lot of your time hiding behind a Psychic Construct while playing support but you can be pretty effective that way. This starts slow, but will be pretty high-powered in the end. Go ahead and combine it with Adept spellcasting or something if you want some range outside of dream magic or do a dream-warrior build. Substitute it for Bard casting – it has the same cost – and do a bard-style build. Or go for the Classic Illusionist package. It’s not like there is a shortage of things you can try in Eclipse.

You can also do this with psionics, but that’s only a minor variation really.

3) Take the low-end, warrior-magic, cheese route. That’s shaping (Specialized and Corrupted for first level effects / dream magic only, requires gestures and invocations, 6 CP), plus 3d6 Mana with Spell Enhancement (specialized and corrupted, only to enhance shaping-based dream magic, 6 CP) and Rite of Chi with +8 Bonus Uses (Specialized and Corrupted / only to recharge the dream magic enhancement pool above, only works given at least ten minutes downtime, 6 CP). That’s 18 CP, and would likely be spread out over a couple of levels, but makes a reasonably effective dream-adept at a fairly low cost. Sadly, this route caps out at fourth level effects, but it gets there fairly early – and that’s appropriate enough for dream-magic. After all, everyone dreams… If a campaign is simply going to wander into the dream-realms occasionally this is probably the way to go.

If the GM simply wants to divert into dreams for a bit, or have them come up occasionally, it may be best to set this package up as a relic; that way it can be traded out for something else when it’s not useful and will allow characters who didn’t want to invest in dream powers to fully participate.

4) Go with Witchcraft. That’s not spell-based, although it can offer limited access to spells – but it does cover a good deal of dream-manipulation early on. 18 CP in Witchcraft grants some power and access to seven basic Witchcraft Abilities – The Adamant Will will let you defend against dream-based attacks (among other things), Dreamfaring lets you Dreamwalk, Glamour – projective telepathy – will let you shape dreams (boosting it or adding Mana will let you do things like project Phantasmal Killer effects), Healing lets you induce healing sleep, Hyloka covers hibernation and other tricks, The Inner Eye lets you audit dreams, and Shadoweave can create minor illusions.

For advanced powers… Dreamgathering lets you invite people to dream-conferences, Seize the Wandering Soul can entrap dreamers, Spirit Binding can bind spirits to objects, Apparition lets the witch manifest a dream-body into reality, Ridden By The Loa lets you channel the power of dream-spirits, and Birth Of Flames lets the user manifest a permanent psychic construct. Admittedly that would be another 36 CP (although Pacts and limitations can reduce that cost) – but Witchcraft has many applications and can augment all kinds of abilities.

Witchcraft will never achieve the power of a full spellcaster, but it is fully functional in the real world as well as in dream, is extremely versatile, and can definitely exceed the power level of Rune Magic (at least at any reasonable level) as well as the cheap warrior-magic of option three – but it costs a lot less than the 160 CP the full spellcasting option will require.

5) Take a midrange spell progression for Dream Magic. Wilder if you want full power but a narrow range, or Adept. Those are only 6 CP per level, leaving plenty of room to throw supporting items and other abilities into the build.

6) You can do an Occult Skill version. That could go a lot of ways, but here’s the one we’re using at the moment.

Dreamweaving (Restricted, Cha)

This occult version of Lucid Dreaming provides (Skill Total) Dream Points daily. Some of the possible effects (listed by cost) are given below, but for the general rules;

• The caster Level for any effect generated is (Skill Total / 2). This must be at least (Spell Level x 2 -1) to create a given spell effect. Attempts to exceed this limit go wrong at the game master’s option.
• Saves against Dreamweaving effects are always Will at a DC of (10 + Cha Mod + Points Expended).
• No more than (Cha Mod) or (Skill Total/3) dream points (whichever is lower, but one Minimum and seven maximum) may be expended on any single effect.
• Dreamweaving is generally complimentary with Lucid Dreaming, any boost to one boosts the other.

Zero Point Effects:

• Audit a dream from a dreamer within sixty feet. line of sight is not required, but concentration is. If many folk are dreaming in range, the targets native tongue is unknown to you, or they are from a foreign culture, the GM may call for various rolls to locate and interpret the dream. Dream-symbolism can be quite messy and very personal.
• Fall Asleep when you want to, realize that you are dreaming, or wake up without a period of disorientation.
• Make cosmetic changes to a dreamscape. If you want pretty flowers, pink skies, and crystal trees, so be it.
• Cast a Spell in Dream. This costs 1/Spell Level (With Cantrips free) but is restricted as shown above. There’s no need to be capable of spellcasting in reality or to actually know the spell though.
• Use Dreamweaving in a Dream as if it was Craft (Any), Disguise, or Stealth.
• Identify the Nature of a Dream, Dream Artifact, or Dream Creature using Dreamweaving as a Knowledge skill.

One Point Effects:

• Awaken fully refreshed after only 1D4 hours sleep. You will have and remember normal dreams.
• Ensure that you have your normal mundane gear with you in a dream.
• Use a Dream Point as an Action Point or for a personally-targeted Stunt while in Dream.
• Guide the dreams of up to (Charisma) unresisting targets within 6′, granting dreams of pleasure, adventure, calm, etc.
• Roll twice and keep the best result when resisting influences on your dreams or attempts to force you to sleep or wake. This activates when needed without requiring an action and is good for (Wis Mod + 1, 1 Minimum) uses once activated. For +1 point the effect may be extended to up to three others, for +2 points up to a dozen. They get their own uses.
• Substitute Dream Points for the “charges” of an item in your possession (1 DP = 1 Charge) while in Dream.
• Use Dreamweaving in a dream as if it was Climb, Ride, Jump, Swim, or Tumble.

Two Point Effects:

• Create effects equivalent to “Pleasant Dreams”, “Restful Sleep”, or “Sleep” while in the real world.
• Dimension Door within a Dream. Since distance is ill-defined in Dream, this can either move you within a scene or take you to a new scene.
• Ensure that you have your personal gear, both mundane and magical, with you in a dream.
• Fall asleep for a self-specified period even under duress, such as if you are being tortured. If you really wish, you can specify “forever” – in which case your body dies while you continue in the realms of dream.
• Make substantial changes to a dreamscape. You can add rivers, walls, forests, weather, and so on. This may be inconvenient or act as obstacles, but is fairly harmless (directly harmful effects must be intentionally generated as spell effects).
• Protect yourself with Dream Warriors within Dream.

Three Point Effects:

• Create effects equivalent to Deep Slumber, Modify Memory, or Phantasmal Assailants while in the real world
• Enter or Leave a personal dream-bubble.
• Ignore any one attack on your person while dreaming or apply the effects of Panacea to yourself in your dream. This is not an action and may be done even if you would normally be unable to take actions.
• Summon an Archetypical Spirit. In general these are basic minions (as found in this article) but adhere to particular roles – a Weather-beaten Sailor might help you patch your boat, or steer through a hurricane, but they won’t read your fortune in the cards or help deliver a baby. In return for this restriction a Archetypical Spirit can work up to three minor acts of magic suited to their role while they’re present. The old sailor might patch a hole in the hull with unnatural speed, be able to pull an armored knight gone overboard to the surface, and locate the black market hidden in a decrepit warehouse. An Archetypical Spirit remains for up to (Skill Total) minutes in reality or for the duration of the scene in Dream. Such entities will provide minor assistance to their summoner, but are not bound to obedience, tend to offer unsolicited advice, and act according to their natures

Four Point Effects:

• Blanket a modest area in the real world with an aspect of dream. You can make the area dark and full of frightening shadows, or ominous sounds, or be a beautiful garden, or be on fire, or add some other environmental feature. While this can create hazards, their effects are never very serious in the end; a guard attacked by a dream or rioters might wind up waking up with some bruises and a limp, but will never be seriously harmed. Fires will leave scorch marks, soot, and the smell of smoke and a few minor burns, but will do no lasting damage. A savage monster attacking still makes a good diversion though.
• Create effects equivalent to Dream, Nightmare, or Phantasmal Killer either in dream or in the real world.
• The Dreaming Heart: Pull forth a manifestation of the target’s greatest Fear, Desire, or Regret. This lasts for three minutes in reality (and has little substance) or for up to three hours in the realms of dream, where is has the substance of a fourth level psychic construct and acts appropriately to it’s nature.
• Locate a particular Dreamer, whether in dream or in reality.

Five Point Effects:

• Create effects equivalent to Minor Dream Conference (calls up to (Cha Mod + 1) folk to a conference in their dreams), Dream Seal (prevents intrusion on, spying on, or interaction with the targets dreams for twenty-four hours), or Shadowform, either in Dream or – with a point of Mana – in reality.
• Dream Of Strength: Grant yourself, and up to (Cha Mod) allies, +1 positive level for three minutes in Reality or until you return to Reality in Dream. In Dream, however, this usually comes with role, which other creatures of dream will recognize. Thus, if in a dream of a besieged city, you may find yourself as a guard-captain or be seen as one of the attackers who has slipped inside.
• Dream Walk: You, and up to (Cha Mod + 1) companions, may step into the realm of dreams or return to the physical world. If within 60′ of a dreamer you may enter their specific dream. Returning to reality is trickier; the user will most often return to their place of departure, but if visiting a particular creatures dreams they sometimes seem to act as an anchor.
• Pull an item briefly out of dreams. In general this may be a normal, permanent, magical item worth up to (Skill Total x 1000) GP – but at that point the duration is only for a single minute. Multiply that duration by (Total GP Allowance / Total Cost of the Item Summoned) – so an item worth only 1/10’th of the user’s allowance can last up to ten minutes. Note that pulling out items with strong associations can affect your own narrative for a time; pulling out an Undead Bane sword too often will tend to lead to you having to deal with more and more undead.

Six Point Effects:

• Create effects equivalent to Bestow Curse (at Close Range, often keeping a sleeper asleep or leaving them lost in dream realms – whether pleasant or unpleasant), Mass Modify Memory, or Mass Suggestion in dream or – with two Mana – in Reality.
• Dream Overlay is a version of Mystic Artist / Undertow – infusing an area with a genre, such as western, horror, treasure hunt, inescapable pursuit, pirate adventures, or whatever – causing events to twist to fit the theme until the dream resolves or a full day passes.
• Dream Seeking: Link your personal dreamscape directly to dreams of times long past, yet to come, or of fictional or alien realms. This is equivalent to Mystic Artist/Worldgate. Sadly, prophetic dreams are rare, and not entirely reliable while alien realms – while often offering eldritch secrets – tend to be extremely dangerous.
• Voices Out Of Time: You may dream of the long dead, or some mighty entity, or some forgotten power. While greater entities are unlikely to communicate directly, even a glimpse of their thoughts and purposes may reveal much – if perhaps to the user’s regret. Some entities may have dangerous effects on the user’s mind, although contact with others may be a blessing.

Seven Point Effects:

• Create effects equivalent to Follow Your Dreams, Hiss of Sleep, or Maze, either in Dream or – with the expenditure of 3 Mana – in reality.
• Dreamgate: You may briefly open a portal into or out of dream, whether to pass through, to try and banish something, or to try and let something loose. For good or ill, however, Dreams are not reality; even if you let loose a Dream of Godzilla… there will be no great destruction. There will be terrible dreams, destructive poltergeist activity, and perhaps even a Dreamspawn latching onto someone in the area – but buildings and landscapes do not dream, and thus will not be affected.
• Forge of Dreams: You may summon forth a personalized Relic of up to the four point level – but the points in it come from your (Cha Mod), reducing it similarly until the relic is once more returned to dream or the user dies, in which case the relic will become permanent.
• Haze of Dreams: You may cast stress, unwanted memories, madness, or possessing entities into the fathomless abyss beyond the realms of dream – either on your own behalf or for another.

This is a VERY high-powered Occult Skill. The direct dream-effects are quite powerful and the spell-like effects are also fairly impressive, even if using the more potent effects does require investing in a Mana pool and Rite Of Chi and some Bonus Uses to refill it. There is, however, an inherent trade-off; dream-magic and dream-manipulation is unstable by its very nature. Have you temporarily entrapped someone within a “Maze” effect in the realm of dreams? They will probably reappear pretty near where they were – but they might reappear elsewhere, or wander off into the dreamlands to haunt other dreamers, or show up riding some dream-monster that they wrestled into submission while they were lost, or wielding a giant magical axe that they took away from the Minotaur in the maze and will get to use to whale on you for a while before it fades back into dream. User’s may be drawn into power struggles in the realms of dream, act as lightning rods for weird disturbances, find that they’ve accidentally admitted a few Dreamspawn to bond with the local kids, or set everyone for miles around sitting up in their sleep and chanting the words of some terrible prophecy. You just never really know – and the more powerful the dream-weaver, the greater the disturbances their activities will cause in the realms of dream and the greater the distortions that will follow them even in the real world. Dreamweavers simply never have full control – which is why it’s almost never taught. Only those who have been dragged into a significant adventure in the realms of dream are ever likely to learn it.

If the GM wishes, he or she is fully entitled to assign minor difficulties in accordance with the dreamweavers skill total. After all, if the user is constantly followed by small, curious, dream spirits who steal small items, and his or her swearing tends to crack glass and pottery, or various other bits of nonsense… what else can you expect when the energies of Dream are leaking into the physical world through him or her?

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