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 Perhaps you need to add to your stable of psionic creatures so that you can keep your players on their toes? If so, take a look at the entries for new creatures below, or print them out and take them to your gaming table. You never know when an intriguing adventure idea will pop into your head simply by looking at a new monster!
Dreamfane
Hanging against the stars like some giant bird or fabulous insect, this creature's diaphanous body looks like it was woven from gauze and spiderwebs. Twelve luminous eyes twist kaleidoscopically within its body, and as you catch their gaze the world around you seems to shift and change.
Dreamfane CR 9
Usually N Large fey (incorporeal, psionic)
Init +3; Senses low-light vision, see in darkness; Listen +17, Spot +17
Languages --
AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 13
(-1 size, +3 Dex, +4 deflection); dream phase
Miss Chance 50% (incorporeal)
hp 79 (11 HD); fast healing, regeneration; DR 5/cold iron
Immune mind-affecting
PR 21
Fort +6, Ref +10, Will +10
Speed fly 50 ft. (perfect) (6 squares)
Melee incorporeal touch +4 (sleep touch)
Space 10 ft; Reach 5 ft.
Base Atk +5; Grp --
Special Actions dream gaze
Psi-Like Abilities (ML 9th):
At will -- brain lock (any nonmindless, DC 16*), concealing amorpha, crisis of breath (any nonmindless, DC 20*)
3/day -- dispel psionics (dispel check 20 +17*), dream travel (ML 13, self only)
1/day -- death urge (DC 18)
* Includes augmentation for the dreamfane's manifester level
Abilities Str --, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 6, Wis 17, Cha 19
SQ incorporeal traits
Feats Ability Focus (dream gaze), Combat Manifestation, Flyby Attack, Great Fortitude
Skills Concentration +15, Knowledge (local) +12, Listen +17, Spot +17
Advancement 12-22 HD (Large); 23-33 HD (Huge)
Dream Phase (Ex) A dreamfane is visible only to creatures that can sleep and dream. To other creatures it is invisible and inaudible. They cannot even detect its presence by means of blindsense, blindsight, scent, or tremorsense. They cannot pinpoint its location by any means. Powers such as touchsight do not help to detect a dreamfane, but psionic true seeing can reveal its presence.
Sleep Touch (Su) The touch of a dreamfane sends creatures into an enchanted slumber if they fail a DC 19 Will save. This effect is identical to the sleep spell, except that it has no Hit Die limit, and it lasts until the target is forcibly woken by another creature. It has no effect on creatures that do not sleep. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Dream Gaze (Su) Gaze attack; -4 circumstance penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks for 1d6 rounds; 60 feet, Willpower DC 21 negates. The save DC is Charisma-based.
See in Darkness (Su) A dreamfane can see perfectly in darkness of any kind, even that created by a deeper darkness spell.
Dreamfanes are mysterious beings attuned to the psychic current of dreams. Unseen by the dreamless, they sometimes emerge from the realms of phantasm to send other creatures into eternal sleep. The mere sight of a dreamfane causes drowsiness and makes the surroundings seem unreal and distorted.
Strategies and Tactics
Dreamfanes send creatures to sleep so that they might revel in the dreams of their victims. They have no interest in killing, except to defend themselves when badly wounded. They do not target elves or other common creatures that do not dream.
A dreamfane begins its assault from ambush, flying into the midst of its foes to expose them to its dream gaze. It uses psionic powers to disrupt and disable its targets, making them easy prey for its sleep touch.
Sample Encounters
Dreamfanes are usually encountered alone, but several might gather in an area where many sleeping creatures congregate. While they are not particularly cunning in their choice of locations, the presence of their slumbering victims can make it difficult to attack them without leaving casualties.
Individual (EL 9): An individual dreamfane is usually found in the wilderness, particularly along roads between settlements, where vulnerable creatures might sleep alone or in small groups.
Cluster (EL 12): A trio of dreamfanes has subdued a small village, sending all its inhabitants into endless sleep. They attempt to add newcomers to their habitat or drive off those that resist.
Ecology
Dreamfanes appear as creatures in the imagination of others, populating dreams while sustaining themselves on a delectable diet of thoughts. When they are deprived of all their regular dreamers, they fall into the waking world and begin looking for a fresh source of dreams.
As creatures of mere figment, dreamfanes cannot truly be killed. The destruction of a dreamfane's body in the real world drives it back into the dreamscape, where it must scrounge stray thoughts and whimsical ideas until it recovers.
Dreamfanes are effectively immortal, and they die only when in their own form while dwelling in the dreamscape.
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Dreamfane Lore
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (nature) or Knowledge (psionics) can learn more about dreamfanes. When the character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.
Knowledge (nature)/(psionics)
DC Result
21 This is a dreamfane, an incorporeal creature associated with dreams. This result reveals all incorporeal traits. (Knowledge (nature) also reveals the fey type and traits.)
26 The sight or touch of a dreamfane causes drowsiness, hallucinations, and sleep. Victims lie asleep even as they starve.
31 Cold iron weapons deal better damage to a dreamfane, but if they aren't magical, they pass right through the incorporeal creatures. Their thoughts are incomprehensible to waking minds.
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Environment: When they stray from their unreal home, dreamfanes linger in places where sleeping creatures are readily available, particularly humanoid creatures with especially invigorating dreams to feed on. Because of the chaos they cause by sending people to sleep, no organized settlement can tolerate their presence. Towns and cities find ways to repel or destroy dreamfanes, while smaller villages must flee or fall prey to their soporific intentions. Many dreamfanes haunt a favored campsite or tiny hamlet, which becomes littered with the bodies of those who starved to death under a shroud of sleep.
Typical Physical Characteristics: A dreamfane has a filmy body composed entirely of fins or veils that ripple and flow as it moves. Twelve glowing eyes orbit within its shape, weaving around each other in hypnotic patterns. Its winglike form is reminiscent of a moth, but it lacks a separate head or central body.
Dreamfanes have no gender. They appear in a variety of pale colors that grow brighter if they have recently fed. A typical specimen is 10 to 12 feet across, but it is utterly weightless.
Alignment: Within the imagination, a dreamfane is benign and neutral, lending weight and substance to the dreams of others as it feeds. When they are stranded in the real world, they remain ignorant of the consequences of their feeding, since creatures in a dream never permanently die.
Typical Treasure
Being incorporeal, dreamfanes have no material treasure.
Advanced Dreamfanes
Powerful dreamfanes are encountered in the real world only when they have gathered a large number of sleepers to feed upon. Bloated on new ideas and viewpoints, the dreamfane grows larger and its psychic ability to influence minds grows stronger. Every two Hit Dice it gains increases its manifester level for psionic powers by 1.
Society
Dreamfanes have no society of their own, but a few might come to share the dreams of a particularly frequent dreamer. They have a fair understanding of humanoid races through their contact with dreams, but their understanding of particular concepts (such as death) is distorted. To them, the real world is simply another kind of dream.
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