Monster that causes nightmares

[Methix]

Hey All,

I have a concept for a monster, but it wouldn't surprise me if it already exists. I've looked around a bit and can't find anything, so I'm hoping maybe you all know of something like this.

The idea is a monster that paralyzes it's victims by causing their worst fears to take over their mind (will save would negate), then attacks them while they're lost in their personal nightmare.

This seems like something that someone's probably already made. Rather than try to reinvent it, I'd prefer to use something that's already been created and vetted out a bit.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

[ryu]

Fear based spells almost entirely within enchantment school and an entire pile of psionic powers. Some enemies even make a theme of it.

[Segev]

I suggest simply refluffing the Illithid (Mind Flayer) and its psi blast as "nightmares come to life." The stunning effect is the same.

[Steward]

In Heroes of Horror, there is a monster called a Phantasmal Slayer (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/hoh_gallery/91998.jpg) that fits that concept very well. In the backstory, it is said to have been the inspiration of the Phantasmal Killer spell, described here:


You create a phantasmal image of the most fearsome creature imaginable to the subject simply by forming the fears of the subject’s subconscious mind into something that its conscious mind can visualize: this most horrible beast. Only the spell’s subject can see the phantasmal killer. You see only a vague shape. The target first gets a Will save to recognize the image as unreal. If that save fails, the phantasm touches the subject, and the subject must succeed on a Fortitude save or die from fear. Even if the Fortitude save is successful, the subject takes 3d6 points of damage.

You can simulate the stunning/nightmare effect using its spell-like abilities (fear and feeblemind (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/feeblemind.htm))

[unseenmage]

Doesn't the core Night Hag (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/nightHag.htm) send nightmares already? I'm vaguely remembering using one waaaay back when 3.0 forst came out and I was introduced to DMing D&D for the first time.

[Thanatosia]

The nighthag is limited to haunting Chaotic or Evil people's nightmares tho.

[unseenmage]

The nighthag is limited to haunting Chaotic or Evil people's nightmares tho.

Huh, whaddaya know. Guess it shouldn't be that hard to alignment swap the Heartstone or the Hag herself though. Especially with BoED style sanctification as a guideline.

[TuggyNE]

Huh, whaddaya know. Guess it shouldn't be that hard to alignment swap the Heartstone or the Hag herself though. Especially with BoED style sanctification as a guideline.

Um... if you alignment-swap a night hag, how does this now-Good monster justify haunting the nightmares of Good creatures?

[unseenmage]

Um... if you alignment-swap a night hag, how does this now-Good monster justify haunting the nightmares of Good creatures?

The same way a paladin justifies punishing good creatures. By only attacking the ones who do wrong I would suppose.

[Doomboy911]

See I want a monster that spawns your worst fears. The fighter's afraid of grasshoppers well here comes a swarm. The rogue is afraid of a doll she had as a little girl, welp here comes a six foot tall construct looking just like the doll. Would make for a great monster to besiege a town especially if the monsters only bother the person who fears it.

[The Viscount]

Obyriths all have weird auras that are based on visualizing fears like insects crawling under the skin. It's different for every one, and there's probably one that paralyzes. Night Twists from MMIII also give nightmares to people in a very wide area (miles IIRC) as the spell, if you want that route.

[unseenmage]

See I want a monster that spawns your worst fears. The fighter's afraid of grasshoppers well here comes a swarm. The rogue is afraid of a doll she had as a little girl, welp here comes a six foot tall construct looking just like the doll. Would make for a great monster to besiege a town especially if the monsters only bother the person who fears it.

My bad, sorry I was so far off mark.

Another idea:
You should look into the Region of Dreams from the old 3.0 Manual of the Planes book. There's a Dream Travel spell that allows characters to travel through their dreams and the collective dreams of others.

Why haunt them with dreams when you can attack them with their nightmares directly?

[Ezberron]

What sort of effects do you want these nightmares to do? If you want them to cause fear effects (shaken, scared, etc) then you can just have the visuals be fluff for actual fear spells.

If you want the monsters to be something "scary", you could just reskin the various monsters and give it's attacks a +1d6 (or more) non-lethal attack thats causing "fear" (as in lost of will to fight manifested as hit points). After the heros face their fears they feel whole again (the fear attack damage fades as non-lethal..)

If you want these things to be true and well personal nightmares, then they are essentially fear,confusion (panic) or phantasmal killer spells.

[Big Fau]

Another idea:
You should look into the Region of Dreams from the old 3.0 Manual of the Planes book. There's a Dream Travel spell that allows characters to travel through their dreams and the collective dreams of others.

On that note: The Quori, from Eberron.

[gorfnab]

Can Phantasmal Killer be made into a Living Spell?

[hamishspence]

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned the Dream Larva from Epic Handbook yet:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm#dreamLarva

[atomicwaffle]

you can go with cursed intelligent items that act like monsters (like an ancient and evil sword). Kind of on the level of soul edge. Slowly taking over the character to make a suitable vessel to wield it by breaking its mind.

[unseenmage]

I'm surprised no-one's mentioned the Dream Larva from Epic Handbook yet:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/monsters/abomination.htm#dreamLarva

I'd vaguely remembered it last night but couldn't remember what it was called.

That and I always seem to confuse it with a homebrew called the Paradise Worm which locks you into a prison of your ideal mental paradise with an aura and eats your brain.

[Segev]

How do you want these monsters to operate? Do they use this power on somebody only during combat or when they sneak up on them and can use it from stealth, or is this a blanket "creeping horror" effect that their presence in the vicinity causes, and those who succumb to the long-range Will-negates-for-a-day fear effect are now vulnerable to the attacks of the monster if it comes for them (and, if they failed, it's drawn to them)?

[The Viscount]

Can Phantasmal Killer be made into a Living Spell?

Interestingly, no. However, you could make something like a circle of death and fear into a living spell.

[PraxisVetli]

You could take a Phasm from MMI and tweak its CR for its newly developed Phantasmal Killer and whatever that other dupe-yourself spell (simulcrum? away from books) SpellLike Abilities. Or maybe Shadow Conjuration?
Shadow Template from LoM to fluff perhaps.

Or a Doppleganger, but then I think you're limited to humanoid.

[Methix]

Wow, tons of awesome ideas, thanks so much!

I'm thinking I'll probably tweak the Night Hag. It's already about the right challenge rating and is pretty much dead on with what I had in mind (I'll just ignore the evil alignment part of dream haunting). I want to have a player "wake up" during the night to their worst fear invading the camp, without them realizing it's a dream. Then have them wake up again to the Night Hag being there. Or something along those lines.

Thanks again, you all are awesome!

[Arkan]

lord banshee

[Arkan]

i remember when i combat with one on evil temple elemental

[Uhtred]

Pathfinder Bestiary 3 has stats for the Bogeyman, who is creepy as heck and has a similar flavor.