Topic: The spell Dream

[TerryTee]

I play mostly space master, so it’s been a while since my previous role master character.
I'm wondering about the spell Dream. It exists in a bunch of spell lists (like Arcane Visions, Dream Lore, Holy Vision, Future Visions and more), but I cannot find what the benefit of this Dream is. It is an information spell, so I guess the character gains some information, but what type? Does he learn some secrets about the topic, learn something about future events related to the topic, or what? Is there an official ruling on this? Failing that, any suggestions? Or is it simply up to each GM?

Thanks,
-Terry

[yammahoper]

Dream spells provide information on one topic/question (or two if Dreams II, three is Dreams III, etc).  How clear that information is will be determined by the GM.  Mentalism Companion has a solid write-up on Dreams and how to role play the use of the spell.  Essentially, use imagery and be imaginative.

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

It's really, really, really completely up to the GM, including how true the information actually is. As it is, IMO, it's also completely useless with the help of the Divination skill.
For my part, it opens a door to the Dream Lands, where the caster can then travel as a High-Dreaming*. Where he can travel and how long he can stay depends on the level of the spell (from a random place related to a topic decided upon just before retiring, the mystical city of L’Aï-d’Jpur or any location of the Dream Lands where he wishes, though he must know about the location). From there, he can interact with the Dream Lands and their inhabitants, and try to gain whatever information he wants.


* People of the Dream Countries classify their inhabitants in five categories. First, you have the 'Dreams', the original inhabitants of the Dream Countries, aware they're there. Second, you have the 'Dreamings', who are the spirits of sleeping (and dreaming) inhabitants of the Plane of Reality, not aware they're dreaming. Third, you have the 'High Dreamings', Dreamings aware they're dreaming and who usually entered the Dream Countries with the purpose to find there something; the fortune-tellers, for instance, in quest for visions about the past or the future. Fourth, you have the 'Dreamers', inhabitants from the Plane of Reality who, one way or another, physically entered the Dream Countries. At last, you have the 'High Dreamers', entities shaping the planes of Reality and Dream according to their will; in other words, gods.

[Old Man]

As a GM, you may want to decide whether dream results are repeatable in any fashion (with Divination or not). Higher level dreaming PCs (at least those I've run) may see Dreaming/divination as a method to gather lots of info with little risk - unless you build in lots randomness -or- start down the path of ROCO III scrying guards/dream wards and various Nondetect/unpresence type defenses to hide from Divination.

[munchy]

We usually play dream spells in between sessions. You cast the spell before you go to sleep at the end of one session and the GM comes up with a scene or a absolutely weird vision that is supposed to give you some clue about what you are looking for as information for the beginning of the next OR you get in via Email in between sessions. However, it usually is quite difficult to figure out what it actually means.
Spontaneous Dream spells usually require a very quick thinking GM to come up with a riddled vision sponatenously. I don't like too simple visions, even as a player. It is fun to figure out or to find out what the dream really meant. We had some really "nice" dreams that scared characters away from doing something although they could have as the dream had meant something completely different and was usually just interpreted too literally. (Ah, fond memories, even as a player who more than once fell into that pit.)
Repeated tries on the same topic would at some point probably result in getting a rather nasty nightmare ... to emphasize the point that dreamt information isn't supposed to be blunt and clear and won't become it by dreaming again and again.

I quite like the Dream spell but haven't seen it being used that often.

[rdanhenry]

Dreaming on the same topic without something changing first (whether in the actual situation or just in the dreamer's knowledge of it) could simply result in a recurring dream, identical to the first. That's how I'd rule it.