Dream encounter

[alex1g]

I'm looking for a way to have an encounter is the dreamworld. I was looking at Lucid Dream and Dream but that requires a touch or grapple attack to get them into the dream state. I was looking for a spell, power, or ability that I can I have an dream encounter with. So the players are asleep and they know they are asleep for the encounter. Something like Nightmare on Elm is what I'm going for.

[eyebreaker7]

I remember playing Ravenloft when it first came out and you never knew if you were awake or dreaming. I never hated a module more! To this day I refuse to play anything Ravenloft. "Oh hey guys, I just got this really cool item!", "Wait, what? What do you mean I was only dreaming?!!". Yea lots of fun. lol

[Particle_Man]

How far from Wotc 3.5 books are you willing to go?

[unseenmage]

Use the Dream Travel spell but in a trap.

A rune set by a Runecaster or an enchanted mirror that takes one to the plane of dreams.

[Vaern]

Do you need a published mechanic to make it happen? I mean, as the DM designing the encounter, you can just say "magic happens." You're not really obligated to tell your players what spell you used from what book to pull it off, right? I mean, unless at the same time you want to give the PCs a way to fabricate a similar encounter to trap an NPC player on or something. You could even write the encounter off as a custom monster that has the ability to invade dreams as a (Su) feature.

[ShurikVch]

Book of Broken Dreams - 3rd-party for Call of Cthulhu d20 - have the Dream Weaver PrC
The class is kinda strong: with a successful Lucid Dreaming check, Dream Weaver is able (while in a dream) to imitate spellcasting - about any possible spell with a simple check (no components needed)
Exception: attempting to do Plane Shift (or any other plane-hopping magic) wouldn't allow you out of the dream, but instead - reshape the dream to pretend the magic actually worked
Especially notable for us is the 6th-level class feature:

Dream Shift: The dream weaver and all creatures within 60 feet of him are instantly transported to the Dream World. They remain there for 1 round per level of the dream weaver or until the dream weaver ends the effect. Unwilling creatures can attempt a Will saving throw to avid this shift (DC = 10 + spell level + the dream weaver’s Charisma modifier). Dream weavers may begin using this ability once per day at 6th level.

Besides that, there are also:
Night Hag (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/nightHag.htm) with Dream Haunting
Malfera (Dragon #343) with 1/day Nightmare (except no special connection needed)
Hashalaq Quori (https://eberron.fandom.com/wiki/Hashalaq_quori) with Invade Dreams

[Crake]

The lucid dreaming skill allows you to become cognizant of being in a dream, and also alter the dreamscape around you. Additionally, if you end up in the dreamheart, and die there, you actually prioerly die. You could extend that to also allowing wounds to transfer, and have a villain that sneaks into players' dreams and pulls them into the dreamheart where he can hurt them physically.

[Particle_Man]

Perhaps the Nightmare spell (a la the Hag) could work, only for a group instead of a person (or have a lot of hags, I guess, and make the nightmare a "your friends turn on you" beatdown for each of them). In any case, I think the consequences are "you don't sleep well, so fatigued, no healing, no spells back" deal (nasty, but not fatal, unless done every night).

Maybe one idea is to say "if you die in the dream, you suffer the effects of not having a restful sleep (as above) - if you win in the dream, you throw it off and get a good night's sleep"?

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Dream travel is the name of an 8th level spell that does what you want; it's also the name of a 7th level psionic power that appears to be identical.

Mirror walking is only 5th level, and could take you to the plane of dreams via the plane of mirrors, but is single target. And if the target isn't forced to leave by a mirror other than the one they came through; there's nothing to stop the party from just immediately turning around and going back to the Material Plane. Unless you break the mirror.... The advantage is that they could think they're travelling somewhere else, and potentially not even realize that they've come out in a dreamscape based on their destination, so you could get them to do it willingly.

It would, however, be easier to just use plane shift. If you want a cool way of doing that, Stormwrack has some magical sails that take the entire ship to a different plane. If they're misfunctioning or just not understood well enough to be properly controlled, the ship could well end up stranded in the Plane of Dreams.