Heroes of the Dream Plane - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Heroes of the Dream Plane

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
hyrsam
Dec 05, 2011 9:59:42 Just thought we could explore this idea. Eberron and Core have dream planes, but asside from Qouri were have no ideas about what dwells thier.

What kind of classes would be born from the plane of dreams, what kind of races, what origin would they.have?

I'm thing Synd, driven out of the,dream plane by,a far realms invasion.
#2
GloriousDemon
Dec 05, 2011 17:29:03 For that matter, what does a Qouri look like in its natural state? And what exactly caused them to flee to this world?
#3
hyrsam
Dec 05, 2011 18:03:56 Other Quori, the bad Qouri, drove them out because the good Qouri wanted to create an age of light that would have hit the reset button on all Qouri. The bad Qouri didn't like that, understandable I think. So the Good Qouri fled to the material world to inhabit monks, and thier descendants and the evil Qouri built an evil empire that as far as evil empires go really isn't all that evil, and breed a race of special humans they could possess while not actually entering the material world.

Thier are different types of Qouri that look different in thier native forms.

I think it would be cool for the Kalaster to have subraces based on different Qouri types, the way Elderin has Gold and Silver Elves.

I would also like a Divine Class that worships a specific dream of a God instead of the God's itself, allowing a total freedom from Alightment because that God's dream of itself could contain any type of behavior.
#4
hyrsam
Dec 05, 2011 18:04:56 Maybe call the class Pyschopomp.
#5
Aetharion
Dec 06, 2011 8:24:36 A Divine and Psionic leader? Sounds interesting, especially after the Skald.

Heroes of the Dream Plane sounds a bit strange, though, since it (like the other Phrenic Planes, the Far Realm and the possible Mechanus) is far less tangible than either of the Shadowfell, Feywild, Astral Sea or Elemental Chaos. No level 1 character in the Points of Light or Eberron settings can be (relatively) realistically imagined to have been born or raised in any of the Phrenic Planes. That's why we have Kalashtar as a player race after all.

The Dream Plane(s) as a focal point for a "Heroes influenced by..." book, however, would make more sense than a "Heroes of the..." book. The things that actually originate in the Dream Plane only do so as an effect of themselves being dreamt up by the living. So if they were to publish a "Heroes of the..." book, the "Heroes" in question would be dreams themselves.
#6
Marandahir
Dec 09, 2011 7:06:13 Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie.

That sort of flavor would be fantastic to translate into 4e. I don't think it would be a Heroes book, but maybe a mix of PC and DM material for running and playing in Dream World-focused campaigns.
#7
hyrsam
Dec 10, 2011 11:13:55 That would be cool, like Darksun.

It would make for an interesting setting.
#8
The_Jester
Dec 10, 2011 11:48:50 Ravenloft also has a dream plane tied to the Nightmare Lands domain. So there are many worlds and campaigns it could overlap in. It's a tad awkward since it's only barely mentioned in the Manual of the Planes and so doesn't fit into the current cosmology well, but it could still work.

D&D needs a good "spirit world" analogy, beyond the Shadowfell/dark reflection, which is much more physical. A mental realm that encompases the spirit world, dreamwalking, and such would be super fun.
You start out as a ghost looking at the real world but as you move farther away things get weirder and much more subject to mental control, as you pass into the true dream world that sleeping minds enter.

There'd be an opportunity for a few new builds, likely magic users (wizard, cleric, etc) but also the various psionic classes. A nightmare themed psion would be fun, and you can picture an ardent that buffs by chanelling the party's positive dreams. I could even see a soulknife psion or battlemind striker build that attacks the psyche of enemies with their worst nightmares.

But there's also be the possibility for fun environmental At-wills and unique terrain powers set in the dream plane. Like how you could alter the Elemental Chaos with your mind, the same thing only much more flexible. A power where you can just fly, or get bigger, grow claws, and the like. Really altering the terrain and world through mental exercises.
This could segue into a fun Fortune Cards expansion or parallel product, with cards related to dream powers. So the Fortune Cards could be more powerful and fun at the table without being a continual power increase as they only function in the spirit world. And the cards could be much more like Gamma World mutation cards.
#9
Aetharion
Dec 10, 2011 12:16:18 Psionic Power page 91 has a sidebar stating the possibility of a third Phrenic Plane, which would exist as a positive counterpart to the Far Realm. In the same way that the Far Realm affects the various planes of existence, there are some who believe in this plane (which could be Mechanus) as a source of universal logic, reason and thought. Making a sourcebook devoted to the three Phrenic Planes (Dream, Far, "Mechanus") would make sense in that there isn't a lot to be written about the lore of the Realm of Dreams (ever-changing Dreamscape and all). That is, if the theory of the three Phrenic Planes is true, which will be known when the Ecology of the Modrons article launches (the Phrenic Planes sidebar specifically mentions wizards summoning entities from "Mechanus" and binding them to physical bodies).

As for reflections, this is how I think the various planes are supposed to align:

Astral Sea -> Material Plane <- Elemental Chaos
Feywild -> Material Plane <- Shadowfell
"Mechanus" -> Everything else <- Far Realm

In this view, the Realm of Dreams exists symbiotically with the Material Plane, judging by the Quori from the Eberron setting. (Material Plane <-> Realm of Dreams)

It all actually fits within the already-established cosmology, so I don't see the need for a new setting altogether. Especially because the Eberron setting would benefit greatly from a supplement that explains more about Dal Quor, the Quori and the Kalashtar. Although I'm not sure what the Eberron name for "Mechanus" would be, seeing as they all need to sound a bit more exotic than the regular mythologically influenced, extremely descriptive names that are usually used. (Far Realm = Xoriat; Feywild = Thelanis; Shadowfell = Dolurrh; etc.)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 hyrsam Dec 05, 2011 9:59:42	Just thought we could explore this idea. Eberron and Core have dream planes, but asside from Qouri were have no ideas about what dwells thier. What kind of classes would be born from the plane of dreams, what kind of races, what origin would they.have? I'm thing Synd, driven out of the,dream plane by,a far realms invasion.
#2 GloriousDemon Dec 05, 2011 17:29:03	For that matter, what does a Qouri look like in its natural state? And what exactly caused them to flee to this world?
#3 hyrsam Dec 05, 2011 18:03:56	Other Quori, the bad Qouri, drove them out because the good Qouri wanted to create an age of light that would have hit the reset button on all Qouri. The bad Qouri didn't like that, understandable I think. So the Good Qouri fled to the material world to inhabit monks, and thier descendants and the evil Qouri built an evil empire that as far as evil empires go really isn't all that evil, and breed a race of special humans they could possess while not actually entering the material world. Thier are different types of Qouri that look different in thier native forms. I think it would be cool for the Kalaster to have subraces based on different Qouri types, the way Elderin has Gold and Silver Elves. I would also like a Divine Class that worships a specific dream of a God instead of the God's itself, allowing a total freedom from Alightment because that God's dream of itself could contain any type of behavior.
#4 hyrsam Dec 05, 2011 18:04:56	Maybe call the class Pyschopomp.
#5 Aetharion Dec 06, 2011 8:24:36	A Divine and Psionic leader? Sounds interesting, especially after the Skald. Heroes of the Dream Plane sounds a bit strange, though, since it (like the other Phrenic Planes, the Far Realm and the possible Mechanus) is far less tangible than either of the Shadowfell, Feywild, Astral Sea or Elemental Chaos. No level 1 character in the Points of Light or Eberron settings can be (relatively) realistically imagined to have been born or raised in any of the Phrenic Planes. That's why we have Kalashtar as a player race after all. The Dream Plane(s) as a focal point for a "Heroes influenced by..." book, however, would make more sense than a "Heroes of the..." book. The things that actually originate in the Dream Plane only do so as an effect of themselves being dreamt up by the living. So if they were to publish a "Heroes of the..." book, the "Heroes" in question would be dreams themselves.
#6 Marandahir Dec 09, 2011 7:06:13	Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie. That sort of flavor would be fantastic to translate into 4e. I don't think it would be a Heroes book, but maybe a mix of PC and DM material for running and playing in Dream World-focused campaigns.
#7 hyrsam Dec 10, 2011 11:13:55	That would be cool, like Darksun. It would make for an interesting setting.
#8 The_Jester Dec 10, 2011 11:48:50	Ravenloft also has a dream plane tied to the Nightmare Lands domain. So there are many worlds and campaigns it could overlap in. It's a tad awkward since it's only barely mentioned in the Manual of the Planes and so doesn't fit into the current cosmology well, but it could still work. D&D needs a good "spirit world" analogy, beyond the Shadowfell/dark reflection, which is much more physical. A mental realm that encompases the spirit world, dreamwalking, and such would be super fun. You start out as a ghost looking at the real world but as you move farther away things get weirder and much more subject to mental control, as you pass into the true dream world that sleeping minds enter. There'd be an opportunity for a few new builds, likely magic users (wizard, cleric, etc) but also the various psionic classes. A nightmare themed psion would be fun, and you can picture an ardent that buffs by chanelling the party's positive dreams. I could even see a soulknife psion or battlemind striker build that attacks the psyche of enemies with their worst nightmares. But there's also be the possibility for fun environmental At-wills and unique terrain powers set in the dream plane. Like how you could alter the Elemental Chaos with your mind, the same thing only much more flexible. A power where you can just fly, or get bigger, grow claws, and the like. Really altering the terrain and world through mental exercises. This could segue into a fun Fortune Cards expansion or parallel product, with cards related to dream powers. So the Fortune Cards could be more powerful and fun at the table without being a continual power increase as they only function in the spirit world. And the cards could be much more like Gamma World mutation cards.
#9 Aetharion Dec 10, 2011 12:16:18	Psionic Power page 91 has a sidebar stating the possibility of a third Phrenic Plane, which would exist as a positive counterpart to the Far Realm. In the same way that the Far Realm affects the various planes of existence, there are some who believe in this plane (which could be Mechanus) as a source of universal logic, reason and thought. Making a sourcebook devoted to the three Phrenic Planes (Dream, Far, "Mechanus") would make sense in that there isn't a lot to be written about the lore of the Realm of Dreams (ever-changing Dreamscape and all). That is, if the theory of the three Phrenic Planes is true, which will be known when the Ecology of the Modrons article launches (the Phrenic Planes sidebar specifically mentions wizards summoning entities from "Mechanus" and binding them to physical bodies). As for reflections, this is how I think the various planes are supposed to align: Astral Sea -> Material Plane <- Elemental Chaos Feywild -> Material Plane <- Shadowfell "Mechanus" -> Everything else <- Far Realm In this view, the Realm of Dreams exists symbiotically with the Material Plane, judging by the Quori from the Eberron setting. (Material Plane <-> Realm of Dreams) It all actually fits within the already-established cosmology, so I don't see the need for a new setting altogether. Especially because the Eberron setting would benefit greatly from a supplement that explains more about Dal Quor, the Quori and the Kalashtar. Although I'm not sure what the Eberron name for "Mechanus" would be, seeing as they all need to sound a bit more exotic than the regular mythologically influenced, extremely descriptive names that are usually used. (Far Realm = Xoriat; Feywild = Thelanis; Shadowfell = Dolurrh; etc.)