Dreamnaught (3.5e Monster)





''It was a monument to horror, a creature superficially resembling some colossal centaur, but that's where any semblance of sanity ends. A thousand bloodshot eyes cover it inside and out, all simultaneously staring at you with hunger, two lashing tentacles covered with barbs of bone, and a vaguely draconic visage which hissed threateningly.''

The dreamnaught is nightmare made flesh. Its purpose is to harvest and feed on pain, fear, and suffering, and will often find ways to maximize the emotional trauma before simply moving onto inflicting physical pain. No one knows where it spawns from, or why after its defeat it has returned from parts unknown so many times, but rumor has it that it is nothing short of a nightmare of a long sleeping overdiety, which manifests and rampages across the world. None dare wake this nameless sleeper, for it is also said the consequences of waking this god are more dire than letting it slumber deep within the center of some mad cosmic plane.

Fortunately for the world, it spends most of the time in travel itself through the far realm or plane of dreams. Only when it grows hungry does it appear, and it rarely bothers to keep grudges. In truth, no matter how cruel and vicious it may treat a person, they are just another meal to it. Perhaps its heartlessness is the worst trait of all.

The Dreamnaught understands Abyssal, Celestial, Common, and Infernal. It supposedly can speak, but has not uttered a word in a thousand years. It is said that whenever it does speak, it is a brief message of such importance and weight as to cause a change in the balance of the cosmos itself. It may give commands to dominated creatures without needing to speak, it is a purely mental action.

Combat
An absolute terror on the battlefield, it may not be as smart as a human but is smart enough to plan tactics and employ cruelity. It will attempt to inflict status effects on the opposition until the enemy is suitably crippled and a mild or non-threat, grabbing and tossing away any which persist unharmed by fear or madness. Then it will torment its opponents, preventing escape until all have suffered the most they can. If outmatched, it will use its absolute terror field to pull back until it can hide, slinking into a shadow and making an exit.

Absolute Terror Field (Su): A dreamnaught is surrounded by a cloyingly thick aura of nightmares manifest, fueled by its intense spiritual energy. A dreamnaught gains its Charisma modifier as a deflection bonus to AC. As a standard action, the dreamnaught may concentrate on its defenses, raising its damage reduction 10/- to damage reduction 30/-, and gains fire, cold, electrical, acid, and sonic resistance 30 for 1 round.

Catapult Toss (Ex): The dreamnaught can try to throw a grabbed opponent of Huge or smaller size by making a successful grapple check. On a successful check the dreamnaught can throw the opponent 5 feet, plus an additional 5 feet for every 5 points the dreamnaught exceeds on the grapple amount. The subject takes damage as if they had fallen the distance thrown, to a maximum of 20d6 for 200 or more feet, and they fall prone. The dreamnaught may also choose to aim the opponent at another opponent in which case he makes a ranged attack roll, with a -2 penalty for every 10 feet traveled and no maximum range. On a successful hit the thrown victim stops in the thrown square and falls prone, taking the fall damage they would have taken if they traveled the whole distance, and the victim struck takes damage as well. A typical medium creature deals 2d6+23 damage, scale the damage as if you were scaling a weapon's size (3d6 for Large, 4d6 for Huge, etc.). The target must then make a Fortitude save against the damage done, or fall prone as well.

Curse Bite (Su): Those bitten by the dreamnaught must make a DC 29 Will save or come under the effects of bestow curse. Only one such curse can be in play on a single target at one time, but each time they are bitten and fail the saving throw the dreamnaught may feel free to alter the curse as needed.

Dreamborn Traits (Ex): Introduced in the book Hyperconciousness, Dreamborn creatures are spawned from, and made of "dreamstuff". They appear slightly hazy and out of focus, and so all melee and ranged attacks against them suffer a 20% miss chance, as they are not entirely real. This miss chance is not the same as concealment and does not prevent the use of sneak attacks or other precision strikes. The subtype also determines if it is vulnerable to certain spells and effects which deal with dream-based creatures.

Eyes Everywhere (Ex): A dreamnaught is covered in all-seeing eyes which grant the dreamnaught  true seeing. It sees in all directions and may not be flanked (though it may still be rendered flatfooted). This grants a +8 racial bonus to spot checks, but a -4 penalty against gaze effects.

Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the dreamnaught must hit a Huge or smaller opponent with its tentacle attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can try to catapult the foe the following round.

Frightful Presence (Su): The dreamnaught can inspire terror by charging or attacking. Affected creatures must succeed on a DC 53 Will save or become shaken, remaining in that condition as long as they remain with 60 feet of the dreamnaught. A creature which successfully saves remains immune to this frightful presence for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Maddening Presence (Su): The dreamnaught's presence reduces the sanity of others simply by existing. Affected creatures must succeed on a DC 53 Will save or become become afflicted with a maddening essence, remaining in that condition as long as they remain with 30 feet of the dreamnaught. If a creature leaves the area and returns they must make another saving throw. The save DC is Charisma-based. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Regardless if you make your saving throw, the end result is mentally taxing. You take 2 points of nonlethal damage each round you spend in 30 feet, no save. If you are using sanity rules, you may choose to instead deal 1 point of sanity damage a round.

Mindsight (Su): The dreamnaught can see the light which all intelligent creatures possess mentally. Any creature with an intelligence score which is not immune to mind-affecting effects can be seen as if they shed light as a torch. This effectively grants it 100 feet of blindsense with any creature with a mind. A mundane barrier which would stop physical light (such as a wooden door, but not the effects of darkness) is capable of concealing the opponent's mental light or as long as they remain hidden.

Regeneration (Ex): No form of attack deals lethal damage to the dreamnaught. The dreamnaught regenerates even if it fails a saving throw against a disintegrate spell or a death effect. If the dreamnaught fails its save against a spell or effect that would kill it instantly (such as those mentioned above), the spell or effect instead deals nonlethal damage equal to the creature’s full normal hit points +10 (or 1315 hp). The dreamnaught is immune to effects that produce incurable or bleeding wounds, such as mummy rot, a sword with the wounding special ability, or a clay golem’s cursed wound ability.

The dreamnaught can be slain only by raising its nonlethal damage total to its full normal hit points +10 (or 1315 hit points) and using a wish or miracle spell to keep it dead, or through the use of rare artifacts like the sword of ego death.

If the dreamnaught loses a limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 1d6 minutes (the detached piece dies and decays normally). The creature can reattach the severed member instantly by holding it to the stump.

Spell-like Abilities (Sp): At will—blindness/deafness (DC 27), contagion (DC 29), cure critical wounds, cloudkill, deeper darkness, dimensional anchor, dream, eyebite (DC 31), fear (DC 29), freedom of movement, gaseous form, greater dispel magic, greater teleport (self only), inflict critical wounds (DC 29), insanity (DC 32), geas/quest, major image (DC 28), mirage arcana (DC 30), nightmare (DC 30), phantasmal killer (DC 29), plane shift (self only), wall of force; 3/day—baleful polymorph (DC 30), energy drain, feeblemind (DC 30), horrid wilting (DC 33), mind fog (DC 30), resilient sphere (DC 29), shades (DC 34), shadow evocation (DC 33), solid fog, waves of exhaustion; 1/day—control weather, dominate monster (DC 34), maze, trap the soul (DC 32), weird (DC 34), wish. Caster level 28th. The save DCs are Charisma-based.