Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

Lore: The Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare is a mysterious artifact, fashioned by a legendary aboriginal mage named Tarnook. It channels the magical energy of Aboriginal Dreamtime, allowing the wielder to manipulate the fabric of dreams and reality in an aggressive manner. Made of Dreamwood, a rare material that exists only in the realm of dreams and Saṃsāra, this magical staff appears as an obsidian-colored rod with ethereal, glowing patterns etched into its surface. It is said that Tarnook fashioned this item in his dreams, then pulled it into the waking world as a token of his mastery over Dreamtime.

Stats:

• Weight: 2 lbs
• Length: 5 ft
• Durability: Moderate (Can withstand 30 uses before needing recharging via Dreamtime)

Roleplay: The Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare is not a subtle tool. Its presence emits an aura of dread and menace, palpable to those with a keen sense for magical energies. When wielded, the user’s eyes shimmer with a shadowy glow, and the very air around them appears to darken. It emphasizes an aggressive style of dream manipulation, encouraging its user to dominate and control others, rather than fostering mutual communication or understanding.

Costs:

• Gold: 50 gp
• Materials: Must be bathed in Dream Essence, a rare substance found only in the Dreamtime, once per month to retain its potency. Each bathing costs an additional 5 gp in materials.

Magics:

• Dream Invasion: As an action, the user can project their consciousness into the dreams of a sleeping target within 30 ft, attacking their psyche. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 15). On a failed save, they take 1d6 psychic damage and wake up terrified.
• Dream Shield: As a reaction, the user can manifest a shield of dream energy to block incoming attacks. This grants +2 AC against one attack. Usable once per short rest.
• Waking Nightmare: As a bonus action, the user can cause a target within 20 ft to experience vivid, terrifying hallucinations. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC 14) or become frightened until the end of their next turn. Usable twice per long rest.

Tags: Magical, Psychic, Offensive, Defensive, Aboriginal, Dreamtime, Artifact, Staff, Rare, Ethereal, Saṃsāra, Tarnook, Shadowgem, Dreamwood

Defense in Different Environments:

• In a forest or other secluded area, the Dreamweaver 47 can be used for Dream Invasion against unsuspecting enemies who are resting or camping. The dense foliage provides good cover for focusing on the spell.
• In an urban setting, the Dream Shield can be highly useful when cornered in narrow alleys or against ranged attacks from rooftops.

Offense in Different Environments:

• In open fields, Waking Nightmare can be employed to terrify enemies, causing them to flee or make mistakes, thus making them easier targets for your allies.
• In dungeon settings or close-quarters combat, the Dream Invasion ability can turn the tide of battle by weakening enemies from within their own minds, thus making physical combat against them easier.

The Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare serves as an aggressive tool for manipulating dreams and reality, making it a potent weapon in both defensive and offensive strategies across various environments.

Perception of the Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare Five Senses:

• Sight:
  • What is Perceived: The staff appears as a long rod made of dark, almost obsidian-like material. Ethereal, glowing patterns etch its surface, shimmering in a dance of shadow and light.
  • Positives: The intricate designs are mesmerizing, captivating anyone who gazes upon it.
  • Negatives: Its darkness can be unsettling, and the glowing patterns might draw unwanted attention.
• Sound:
  • What is Perceived: A soft, constant hum emanates from the staff, almost like whispered voices blending into a single tone.
  • Positives: The hum can be comforting to the wielder, reinforcing a sense of power.
  • Negatives: The whispers can be disconcerting, and if heard closely, might reveal unsettling messages.
• Touch:
  • What is Perceived: The staff feels cool to the touch but seems to pulse with energy, vibrating ever so slightly.
  • Positives: The vibration can serve as an indicator of the staff’s magical readiness.
  • Negatives: Prolonged contact may cause slight numbness in the hand.
• Smell:
  • What is Perceived: A faint aroma of ozone and burning sage.
  • Positives: The smell can be invigorating, heightening alertness.
  • Negatives: Some individuals may find the scent off-putting or overwhelming.
• Taste:
  • What is Perceived: N/A (Not advisable to taste).
  • Positives: None.
  • Negatives: Tasting an object of powerful magic is generally not recommended, as it could have unpredictable effects.

Extra-Sensory Perceptions:

• Aura:
  • What is Perceived: An unsettling, dark aura that feels like a predatory gaze.
  • Positives: Amplifies the user’s own magical aura, making spells more potent.
  • Negatives: Might attract malevolent entities sensitive to its energy.
• Psychic Resonance:
  • What is Perceived: A web of interconnected thoughts and dreams, weaving around the staff.
  • Positives: Facilitates better control over the staff’s magical abilities.
  • Negatives: Overuse may cause psychic fatigue, or worse, a disconnection from one’s own thoughts and feelings.

Recipe for Creating Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Ingredients:
  • 1 Dreamwood staff, 5 ft long
  • 3 oz of Dream Essence
  • 1 Shadowgem
  • 5 Sage leaves, burned to ash
  • 1 vial of Elemental Water
  • 1 vial of Elemental Fire
  • A parchment with the inscription of a Dreamtime incantation
• Steps:
  • Preparation of Dreamwood: Begin by laying out the Dreamwood staff on a ritual circle. Purify it by surrounding it with a circle of sage ash.
  • Activation of Shadowgem: Hold the Shadowgem over the staff and recite the incantation written on the parchment. This will bind the gem to the staff, acting as a catalyst for its magical properties.
  • Application of Dream Essence: Carefully drip the Dream Essence over the staff, ensuring that it seeps into the wood and becomes one with the Shadowgem.
  • Elemental Infusion: Mix vials of Elemental Water and Elemental Fire in a separate container. Slowly pour this mixture over the staff, invoking the energies of both elements to fuse into the Dream Essence.
  • Inscription: Using a quill dipped in the remaining Dream Essence, inscribe the ethereal patterns onto the staff’s surface. This acts as both decoration and a magical circuit for channeling Dreamtime energy.
  • Final Incantation: Hold the staff upright and recite the Dreamtime incantation one final time, imbuing it with the ability to access and manipulate dreams.
  • Cooling Period: Allow the staff to rest within the ritual circle for one full lunar cycle to solidify its connection to Dreamtime.
  • Purification and Sealing: Once the lunar cycle is complete, purify the staff one final time with sage ash, sealing its magical properties.
  • The staff is now complete and ready for use, embodying the aggressive energies of Dreamtime.

Tale of Tarnook and the Dreamweaver of the Waking Nightmare

In an age shrouded by veils of mist, when the waking world and the Dreamtime were bound by threads of whispers, there lived a mage of profound solitude named Tarnook. His homeland lay beneath the eternal stars, where rivers shimmered like flowing silver and trees bore leaves of jade. Tarnook was not a man of courtly manners or scholarly debate, for his heart burned with an insatiable yearning to unravel the secrets of Dreamtime—a realm where the unspoken truths of existence danced like shadows on water.

One fateful evening, as the sun bled crimson into the horizon, Tarnook lay beneath the ancient Dreamwood tree, its gnarled roots embracing the earth like fingers grasping forgotten truths. In his slumber, he found himself adrift in Dreamtime, surrounded by infinite voids and luminescent paths. Here, a figure cloaked in starlight approached him—a being whose presence carried the weight of countless ages.

“Who dares to tread the fabric of the unmade?” echoed the being’s voice, a choir of a thousand dreams and terrors.

“I am Tarnook, seeker of truths hidden beyond the waking eye,” he answered, his voice resolute.

The figure extended a hand, revealing a blackened branch of Dreamwood, shimmering with patterns etched by the passing of eons. “To master Dreamtime, one must weave its essence into reality. Take this fragment and forge your legacy.”

Tarnook awoke clutching the Dreamwood branch, its surface humming with the rhythm of distant dreams. He returned to his humble dwelling and began the sacred work. Guided by whispered knowledge from the starlit figure, he infused the wood with Dream Essence drawn from the ether, bound it with a Shadowgem plucked from the heart of a storm, and etched runes into its surface with ash from sage burned under the pale moon.

Upon completing the staff, he lifted it to the heavens and spoke an incantation in the forgotten tongue of Dreamtime. The world around him shifted as though reality itself had drawn its breath. The Dreamweaver was born.

With this artifact, Tarnook became both savior and tormentor, a figure of legend and fear. He used the Dreamweaver to protect his land from marauding nightmares that crossed into the waking world, yet he was known to punish those who opposed him by invading their dreams, bending their wills until they were hollow vessels of dread. Tales of his power spread far and wide, and many sought to steal the staff, only to be undone by its power or their own fractured minds.

In his twilight years, Tarnook was said to have wandered into Dreamtime one final time, carrying the Dreamweaver. Neither he nor the staff was ever seen again in the waking world, yet legends persist that he watches from the other side, ensuring that those who seek to misuse Dreamtime’s gifts face his eternal wrath.

Moral of the Story: To wield power born of dreams is to bear the weight of both creation and destruction. True mastery lies not in domination but in harmony, lest the dreamer become the nightmare they seek to control.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Artifact: Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Description: A 5-foot-long staff of obsidian-like material with glowing ethereal patterns, emanating an unsettling hum.
• Skills Required: Occult (25%) or Cthulhu Mythos (10%) to wield effectively.
• Weight: 2 lbs
• Durability: 30 uses before requiring immersion in Dream Essence.
• Abilities:
  • Dream Invasion: Costs 5 Magic Points. Targets a sleeping individual within 10 yards. They must succeed on a POW roll vs. the wielder’s POW or suffer 1d6 SAN loss and wake terrified.
  • Dream Shield: Costs 3 Magic Points. As a reaction, grants +10% to Dodge or increases Armor Points by 2 for one attack. Usable once per hour.
  • Waking Nightmare: Costs 7 Magic Points. Forces a target within 5 yards to make a POW roll vs. the wielder’s POW. On a failure, they experience hallucinations and gain a temporary phobia (Keeper’s choice).

Blades in the Dark

Item: Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Category: Arcane Item
• Load: 2
• Durability: 30 charges. Recharges through downtime requiring Dream Essence.
• Description: A shadowy staff glowing with dreamlike patterns. Its presence inspires dread and whispers of the beyond.
• Abilities:
  • Dream Invasion: As a downtime activity or special action, the wielder can project their consciousness into another’s dreams, gaining 1 stress and potentially causing trauma. Spend 1 charge.
  • Dream Shield: When resisting physical harm, spend 1 charge to gain +1d to the resistance roll.
  • Waking Nightmare: When striking fear into someone during a score, spend 1 charge to push yourself and terrify the target, causing them to hesitate or flee.

Dungeons & Dragons (5e)

Wondrous Item: Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Type: Rare (Requires Attunement)
• Weight: 2 lbs
• Durability: 30 charges. Recharges at dawn if bathed in Dream Essence.
• Properties:
  • Dream Invasion: (1 charge) As an action, target a creature within 30 ft. that is asleep. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or take 1d6 psychic damage and wake frightened.
  • Dream Shield: (1 charge) As a reaction, grant +2 AC against one attack. Usable once per short rest.
  • Waking Nightmare: (2 charges) As a bonus action, force a creature within 20 ft. to succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or become frightened until the end of its next turn.

Knave

Item: Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Type: Magic Staff (2 slots)
• Weight: 2 lbs
• Durability: 30 uses, recharged during downtime with rare Dream Essence.
• Abilities:
  • Dream Invasion: When targeting a sleeping foe, the wielder spends 1 use to force the target to make a WIS save or take 1d6 psychic damage and wake in fear.
  • Dream Shield: Spend 1 use to negate 1 attack against the wielder. This ability recharges after a long rest.
  • Waking Nightmare: Spend 2 uses to force a target within 20 ft. to succeed on a WIS save or suffer from a frightened condition for 1d4 rounds.

Fate Core

Artifact: Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Aspect: Wielded by Tarnook, Seeker of Dreamtime
• Weight: Light (2 lbs)
• Durability: 30 charges, recharged during downtime through Dream Essence.
• Abilities:
  • Dream Invasion: Spend 1 Fate Point. Create an advantage to attack an opponent’s psyche. Make an Overcome roll using Will against the target’s Will. Success grants a Terrified or similar aspect with a free invoke.
  • Dream Shield: Spend 1 Fate Point. Defend against a physical attack with +2 to Athletics or Physique for one roll.
  • Waking Nightmare: Spend 2 charges. Use Create an Advantage to induce Frightened or Hallucinating conditions, resisted by the target’s Will.

Numenera / Cypher System

Artifact: Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Level: 6
• Form: A sleek black staff with glowing dreamlike patterns.
• Effect: Functions for 30 uses. Requires immersion in Dream Essence to recharge.
• Abilities:
  • Dream Invasion: Target a sleeping creature within Short range. The creature must make a Level 6 Intellect defense roll or take 6 Intellect damage and awaken terrified. Cost: 1 use.
  • Dream Shield: As a reaction, spend 1 use to gain +2 to Speed defense against one attack.
  • Waking Nightmare: As an action, target a creature within Immediate range. The target must make a Level 5 Intellect defense roll or gain the Frightened condition for one minute. Cost: 2 uses.

Pathfinder 2e

Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Item Level: 9
• Type: Rare Magic Staff (Requires Attunement)
• Bulk: L
• Charges: 30, recharged during downtime through Dream Essence.
• Properties:
  • Dream Invasion: (1 charge) Focused Evocation; Two Actions. Range: 30 ft. Targets a sleeping creature. DC 22 Will save or the creature takes 3d6 mental damage and awakens frightened 1.
  • Dream Shield: (1 charge) Abjuration; Reaction. Gain a +2 bonus to AC against a single attack. Usable once per hour.
  • Waking Nightmare: (2 charges) Illusion; One Action. Range: 20 ft. Target must succeed on a DC 21 Will save or become frightened 2.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Type: Magic Staff (Relic)
• Weight: 2 lbs
• Durability: 30 charges, recharged through rare Dream Essence during downtime.
• Abilities:
  • Dream Invasion: Spend 2 Power Points. As an action, target a sleeping character within 10″. Roll Arcane Skill vs. the target’s Spirit. On success, the target suffers a level of Fatigue and wakes terrified.
  • Dream Shield: Spend 1 Power Point. Reaction to an attack. Gain +2 to Parry or negate 1 Wound.
  • Waking Nightmare: Spend 3 Power Points. Target a creature within 5″. The target must make a Spirit roll vs. the wielder’s Arcane Skill or suffer the Shaken condition and gain a -2 penalty to Spirit rolls for 1 round.

Shadowrun (6th Edition)

Item: Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Category: Focus (Magic 5)
• Weight: 2 lbs
• Durability: 30 uses, recharged by immersion in rare Dream Essence (a magical reagent).
• Abilities:
  • Dream Invasion: Target a sleeping individual within 10 meters. Roll Magic + Willpower vs. the target’s Willpower + Logic. On success, the target suffers 2 Stun damage and wakes with the Terrified status (Penalty: -2 to all actions for 3 rounds).
  • Dream Shield: As a reaction, spend 1 charge to gain +2 dice on a Dodge or Body test against one incoming attack.
  • Waking Nightmare: Spend 2 charges to inflict Frightened (target flees or takes -2 to actions) on a character within 5 meters. Roll Magic + Charisma vs. the target’s Willpower.

Starfinder

Item: Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Type: Rare Magic Staff
• Level: 9
• Price: 12,500 credits
• Bulk: L
• Charges: 30, recharged by immersion in Dream Essence.
• Abilities:
  • Dream Invasion: (1 charge) Standard Action. Range: 30 ft. Target a sleeping creature to deal 3d6 psychic damage (Will DC 20 negates) and awaken them with the Shaken condition for 1d4 rounds.
  • Dream Shield: (1 charge) Reaction. Grants +2 AC against a single attack. Usable once per short rest.
  • Waking Nightmare: (2 charges) Standard Action. Range: 20 ft. Target a creature, forcing a Will save (DC 19). On failure, the creature is Frightened for 1 round.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Item: Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Tech Level: 14
• Mass: 1 kg
• Durability: 30 uses, recharged during downtime using rare Dream Essence.
• Abilities:
  • Dream Invasion: Spend 1 charge. When targeting a sleeping person within 6 meters, roll 2d6 + Intelligence vs. the target’s Intelligence + 8. On success, the target takes 1d6 mental stress and wakes Shaken (-2 DM to actions for 1d6 minutes).
  • Dream Shield: Spend 1 charge to gain +2 DM to an opposed check to evade or resist one attack.
  • Waking Nightmare: Spend 2 charges. As an action, target a creature within 3 meters. Roll 2d6 + Charisma vs. the target’s Willpower + 8. On failure, the target is Terrified (unable to act effectively, GM’s discretion) for 1d3 rounds.

Warhammer (Age of Sigmar: Soulbound)

Item: Dreamweaver 47 of the Waking Nightmare

• Type: Magical Artefact (Rare)
• Weight: 2 lbs
• Charges: 30, restored through Dream Essence rituals during downtime.
• Abilities:
  • Dream Invasion: (1 Mettle) Action. Range: 10 yards. Target a sleeping creature, forcing a DN 4:1 Mind Test. On failure, the target suffers 1d6 Stress and gains the Frightened condition for 1 round.
  • Dream Shield: (1 Mettle) Reaction. Add +2 to Defence against a single attack.
  • Waking Nightmare: (2 Mettle) Action. Range: 5 yards. Force a DN 4:2 Mind Test. On failure, the target becomes Frightened for 1d3 rounds.