Plane of Dreams

Plane of Dreams

“Most creatures dream, some more intensely than others, but few realize the true reach that their dreams can achieve. There is a unique echo of the Material Plane we call the Plane of Dreams, also known as the Dreamland, where sleepers touch upon in their deepest slumbers. It is a place that can be visited by those with the means and knowledge, however, and it’s so much more than just the imaginings of the sleeping. Nightmares, beauties, wonders, and more all wait in the Dreamland, in a place where prophecy and divination can take real and terrifying form.” Lillandri the Moon Mage
What happens when people dream? Most people assume their dreams are simply the product of their imaginings, and this is partially true. But they can also tap into a much broader realm, where sense is expanded and the world is similar but not quite the same. This is the Plane of Dreams, also known as the Dreamland, and it sits like a mirror over the Material Plane – and beyond.
Most dreams exist in tiny fragments of the Plane of Dreams known as dreamscapes. These are small bubbles that form around the dreamer specifically, and from the Dreamland they appear as hazy incomplete shadows and forms for those that know where to look. Interacting with a dreamscape is a dangerous prospect, but some gods and powerful entities do it to send messages and warnings to their followers. Nightmarish creatures can sometimes do it as well, producing sweat-soaking terrors capable of sending the most hardened warrior into shrieking fits.
But the Plane of Dreams can be visited, through portals and gates similar to the Plane of Shadows and the Plane of Faerie. The Dreamland shares fewer traits with the Material Plane than the other echo planes, perhaps owing to the malleable nature of dreams themselves, but sometimes dream crossings can appear when the landscapes line up close enough. Everything is heightened in the Plane of Dreams – shadows loom larger, light shines brighter, sounds echo further, and emotions are felt stronger. Incidents and events in the Dreamland can trigger powerful emotional responses in visitors.Powerful entities have crawled, slithered, or awoken within the Dreamland as well, so travelers should be wary of them as well as the natural elements of the plane. In places where the Plane of Dreams touch the Plane of Shadow, Nightmare Lands are created, and though no one being presides over them the sinister and enigmatic figure known as the Nightmare Man always seems to be present in them. Creatures that generate and feed on fear are known to dwell in Nightmare Lands as well.
One curious aspect of the Plane of Dreams is the moon that appears at night. It is large and singular, regardless of the number of moons on the corresponding Material Plane, and can actually be visited through magical or flying transportation. The Moonscape is a strange land where moon-beasts howl in service to their dark god, who is said to dwell in the center of the Dreamland moon.Incursions from the Far Realm are an altogether too common occurrence in the Plane of Dreams, where the crawling unfathomable entities of that outer place have found the terrain more suited to their forms. The Dweller in Darkness is the greatest and most feared among the things that have slithered out of the Far Realm to take residence in the Dreamland, and on the Plateau of Leng horrendous spiders and goat-like folk worship the foul godlike being with abhorrent savagery and sacrifice.
Not all of the Plane of Dreams is dismay and evil, however. The port city of Dylath-Leen sits as a beacon of trade for travelers of all kind across the multiverse, though its docks are dry as the adjoining Sea of Mists hold silvery fog for as far as the eye can see. The dream cats of the city of Ulthar are known to befriend lost wanderers from time to time, assuming one doesn’t offend or attack one of their own, and a host of other strange beings – some hostile, most not – populate the forests, mountains, and valleys of the Dreamland.

Geography

LAY OF THE LAND

As an echo plane, the Plane of Dreams shares some physical characteristics with the Material Plane, similar to the Plane of Shadows and Faerie. However, perhaps due to the evolving nature and power of the plane itself, it differs in many more ways than the other echo realms. Mountains on the Material Plane may be a desolate desert of white sand dunes in the Dreamland, and water especially doesn’t translate well across the thin planar barrier.Nonetheless, common geographic features can be found across the bulk of the Plane of Dreams. Most of them have some exaggerated feature – a unique color, a strange and unseasonable weather pattern, or unusual size. These regions do not correspond to natural laws, and owing to the malleable nature of the plane itself any region is subject to sudden change, usually minor but enough to make a difference. Maps are near useless in the Dreamland.
During the overlong night of the Plane of Dreams, one of the most startling features of the realm can be seen hovering in the starless sky. There, the moon of the Dreamland hangs huge, gray, and craggy, appearing so large because it is unusually close to the surface. Flying creatures and others with such capabilities can actually travel to the Moonscape, as it is known, and the moon￾beasts that live there are vile, evil-minded creatures that worship loathsome gods from the Far Realm. It wasn’t always that way, and there are still ruins of past civilizations above and below the Moonscape.
The Moonscape is a sphere in the sky of the Dreamland, marking it different from the base plane itself which is theoretically infinite. The thin air is breathable on the moon, where the surface rocks range in color from pale gray to pitch black. Looking up from the moon presents the viewer with an impenetrable black starless wall, obscuring the land and sun of the plane. Some natural brightness in the rocky terrain illuminates half of the Moonscape, but on the other side darkness and shadows prevail. Even moon￾beasts rarely travel to the Dark Side, where it is said the Dweller in Darkness lurks, a harbinger of the alien gods from the Far Realm.
Beneath the terrestrial Dreamland is an echo of the Material Plane’s Underdark known as the Underworld. The twisting caverns are filled with all sorts of terrible, horrendous, and hungry creatures, but none are so voracious or as plentiful as the ghour. These savage humanoids have pale hairless skin, a canine-like jaw, and a hunger for flesh. They have been compared to ghouls but the ghours are not undead. They once built large cities and communities in the Underworld but they have recessed to a savage state.
The Plane of Dreams is home to a number of small settlements of humans mainly, but they all pale in comparison to the port city of Dylath-Leen. It is a metropolis built on the ruins of at least three other metropolises, creating a maze of collapsed tunnels, ruined buildings, and abandoned streets, but the harbor district remains lively. No water laps at the docks of Dylath-Leen, as it sits on the Sea of Mists where thick fog takes the place of water. Specially enchanted ships sail the misty sea, and those that fall overboard plunge into an endless abyss of misty doom from which there is said to be no return.

Ecosystem

Highlights & Impressions

The below listings include notes on highlighting the nature of the Plane of Dreams as characters explore and travel through it. These are suggestions of elements that can be used in descriptions of the landscape and denizens with the goal of actualizing the “outside” nature of the multiverse beyond the Material Plane. Use them to incorporate into encounters and adventures on the Plane of Dreams.
Warping Mirror. Everything in the Plane of Dreams is a warped mirror of the Material Plane. Some of it is whimsical, such as endlessly curling flowers and twisting buildings built at impossible angles, but just as much is disturbing. And everything moves in subtle ways, reacting in innumerable small ways to the countless creatures sleeping in the Material Plane, so the landscape itself undulates and writhes in an unsettling fashion.
Cloaked in Mists. Water is a scarce resource on the Plane of Dreams for some unknown reason. In its place, the realm has misty vapors that act like water, flowing through creek beds, down mountainsides, and even filling lakes and seas. In the morning and evening, the mists rise up to envelop the landscape before dissipating back down, and many monsters of the Dreamland use these times to stalk and hunt unsuspecting prey.
Emotional Responses. More than any other echo plane, the Plane of Dreams reacts to the emotions of travelers. Within a specific dreamscape the effect is pronounced and obvious, but even just passing through the landscape, the Dreamland senses the emotional state of outsiders and reacts accordingly. Frightened creatures manifest shadowy forms behind every tree and bush, while joyful visitors blossom flowers and create rainbows. The ebb and flow of changes to the landscape in response to the emotional state of creatures makes navigating the Dreamland difficult and disturbing at times.

Ecosystem Cycles

CYCLE OF TIME

Day and night passes in the Plane of Dream in a rough 24-hour cycle, but the days last only about a quarter of that time. Night in the Dreamland is rarely pure black, as the luminescent and ever-present moon provides ample illumination, and during the day the relatively small sun is distant and provides little warmth.

Localized Phenomena

HAZARDS & PHENOMENA

The Plane of Dreams holds dangers and wonders beyond the creatures that dwell in the Underworld, the Moonscape, and all the places in between. Travelers should be prepared to face powerful emotional pulls and waves of change that can alter the physical landscape around them while they move through the Dreamland, among other phenomena unique to this echo plane. Dreamscape Rarely encountered by the casual traveler to the Plane of Dreams, dreamscapes are the small bubbles created by a creature sleeping and dreaming on the Material Plane. They are usually invisible and intangible, covering small spheres roughly 40 feet in diameter, within which sits the psychic projection of the dreamer. Especially lucid dreamers, or oneiromancers and some others, can actively control their dreamscape, but these are typically rare. And, on the Plane of Dreams, most creatures and denizens cannot even detect the presence of a dreamscape, let alone interact with one. The Dweller in Darkness is said to be able to pierce the veil separating a dreamscape and the Dreamland, opening a hole large enough for nightgaunts and other creatures to slip through and wreak havoc in the dreamer’s unconscious state. Dream cats are said to have this ability as well, perhaps psychically sensing the presence of a dreamscape, but normally they don’t bother to do anything about it. Emotional Spike The Plane of Dreams plays on and triggers emotional responses as a direct result of the domain itself. With so many dreamers creating fantasies and nightmares from their own memories and desires, occasionally they converge and create a spike of emotional power strong enough to affect creatures in the Dreamland. This is known as an emotional spike, and when it occurs it affects every Dreamland creature in a 120-foot radius centered on a random point close to the party. Creatures in the area must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. Creatures immune to being charmed are unaffected by the emotional spike. On a failure, they succumb to the emotional spike and each character that failed rolls 1d6 and consults the Emotional Spike Effect table to determine the ability score affected. For 10 minutes, the character gains advantage on any saving throw or ability check related to that ability score, but disadvantage on every saving throw or ability check related to any of the other ability scores. 1d6 Ability Score 1 Strength 2 Dexterity 3 Constitution 4 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 6 Charisma Moonscape Air The Moonscape has a thin bubble of air around it, thinner than is found elsewhere the Plane of Dreams, and creatures that need to breathe may find breathing difficult after a period of time. After every long rest spent on the Moonscape, creatures that must breathe air to survive must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or gain a level of exhaustion. Moon-beasts are immune to the effects of the thin air. Terror Ripple Some powerful dreamers can have nightmares so powerful they reverberate in a rippling wave that crashes out across the Plane of Dreams. The exact range of a terror ripple is determined by the mental willpower of the dreamer that created it, but when encountered by a group of adventurers it washes over the entire landscape. Creatures caught in a terror ripple must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of the Plane of Dreams for 1 minute. Sometimes, the forces of the Dweller in Darkness trigger terror ripples deliberately in order to terrorize a population on the Dreamland, allowing nightgaunts to feed and nefarious schemes to be pulled off without any interfering. Wave of Change It is a little-known fact that everything in the Plane of Dreams is mutable, but its geography and landscape is stabilized by the collected memories and power of every dreaming creature on the Material Plane. Visitors to the Plane of Dreams do not share in such a connection and thus cannot actively influence any changes to the plane, but occasionally a shift in the sea of dreamers creates a profound wave of change. A wave of change affects the terrain around the characters. Roll on the below table to determine the effect of the wave of change. 1d20 Landscape Alteration 1 Total terrain change. Forest becomes mountains, mountains becomes swamps, plains become desert, and so forth. The change is sudden and dramatic. 2-5 The terrain becomes thinner and less abundant. Mountains reduce in size and scale, forests become patchy, swamps develop large dry patches. 6-10 The color of the terrain changes significantly, becoming brighter. Orange, pink, yellow, bright blue, vibrant green, and white are common coloration changes that affect the natural land. 11-15 The color of the terrain changes significantly, becoming darker. Crimson, dark blue, gray, dull green, brown, and black are common coloration changes that affect the natural land.
1d20 Landscape Alteration 16-19 The terrain becomes lusher and denser. Forests sprout more trees that crowd one another, mountain peaks soar in height, deserts develop numerous oases. 20 Total terrain change. Forest becomes mountains, mountains becomes swamps, plains become desert, and so forth. The change is sudden and dramatic.

Tourism

GETTING THERE

Visitors to the Plane of Dreams come in two forms. The first is the most frequent and easiest to do – simply fall asleep, and if the plane is aligned well enough with the Material Plane, a small dreamscape forms in the adjoining Dreamland and the sleeper’s mind wanders there. Dreamscapes are small isolated bubbles that house a dreaming sentient creature from the neighboring plane, and they are mostly invisible. In a dreamscape, few things can harm the dreamer physically, but psychic or mental attacks are possible.
The other way is to visit the Plane of Dreams bodily through a portal, gate, or similar opening. Spontaneous portals known as dream crossings occur, usually at night, when the Dreamland and the Material Plane are closely aligned. These are usually found in shadowed alcoves, darkened stairwells, and beneath beds of older homes that have an echo in the Plane of Dreams. Unlike the Plane of Shadow and Faerie, most crossings into the Dreamland occur in buildings or around constructed monuments. The physical landscape in the Plane of Dream usually differs too much for a dream crossing to occur naturally.
The Underworld of the Plane of Dreams also contains numerous stable gates to the Material Plane, and through these the ghour travel freely. Some gates are only usable by the cannibalistic savages of the Underworld, allowing them to pass between the two worlds freely, but others are open for any to cross. These usually end up in the upper regions of the Underdark on the Material Plane, close to towns, hamlets, or cities.

SURVIVING

Beyond emotional pulls that can drive travelers to action, the atmosphere and landscape of the Plane of Dreams is not hostile to denizens of the Material Plane. Same goes for the Underworld, though the air is usually stale and motionless, and even in the Moonscape the air is thin but breathable.

TRAVELING AROUND

Movement on the Plane of Dreams is unhindered except by unusual geographic feature, so the plane offers no abnormal obstruction to travel. The residents of the Dreamland usually do not travel outside their cities or towns, so coaches and other conveyances are uncommon. The largest body of “water” is the Sea of Mists, which contains no water at all, but ships constructed and enchanted by the harbor mages of Dylath-Leen float on the mists as well as any liquid.
The Moonscape that hangs perpetually overhead in the night sky can also be visited, a journey of roughly 50 miles from any point on the surface. An unknown number of wind “roads” connect the Moonscape to the surface as well, allowing much quicker travel, and some Dylath-Leen ships are enchanted to float on these invisible currents. Few captains of such vessels are willing to risk the journey, however, owing to the dangerous and untamed nature of the Moonscape’s inhabitants. Flying creatures, such as the terrifying moon-beasts, travel regularly between the two regions, detecting and catching the same currents by some unknown sense.

Type

Dimensional plane

Location under

Transitive Planes

Related Reports (Primary)

• Session 027: Lutheria Report