Manual of the Planes

Appendix: VariantPlanes & CosmologiesNone of the following planes have a place on theGreat Wheel, but you can use them in a cosmology youbuild yourself. This chapter also includes some alternatecosmologies that you can use or adapt for yourown games.REGION OF DREAMSThe Region of Dreams, usually simply called Dream, iswhere dreams cavort, heedless of the waking world.Dreams once dreamt fade into obscurity, but their echoesresonate forever throughout Dream. Carcasses of particularlyvile dreams, charged with dark emotion, sometimesrampage from dreamscape to dreamscape, giving rise toterrible nightmares.Into the Region of Dreams come dreamers, whether theywill it or not, every time they fall asleep. Their minds takeflight to the Region of Dreams. The edges of Dream expandand contract with temporary dreamscapes as dreamers onevery plane sleep and wake. Dream would exist even ifthere were no dreamers, though.The many dreamscapes created by dreamers last but ashort time, and they rarely impinge on each other accidentally.However, there are those who knowingly walkbetween dreamscapes, doing as they will. Sometimessuch lucid dreamers pierce the very heart of Dream,where average dreams dare not roam.DREAM TRAITSThe Region of Dreams has the following traits.• Subjective Directional Gravity: Within most dreamscapes,the strength of gravity is the same as on theMaterial Plane, but each dreamscape can pull in a differentdirection. The subjective gravity of most dreamscapesappears to conform to normal gravity, but otherdreamscapes may have wildly different gravity traits.Visitors who master the skill of Lucid Dreaming canchoose how the gravity of a particular dreamscapeaffects them.• Flowing Time: For every 10 minutes in Dream, only 1minute passes on the Material Plane. But the nature ofthe plane makes time spent on the plane less real. Nomatter what visitors experience, only memoriesremain when they leave Dream. Spells cannot truly becast or learned, nor items won or lost, nor experiencepoints earned when dreaming.• Infinite Size: Dream is infinite, though individualdreamscapes are finite. Even a single dreamscape canseem quite large, however, depending on the nature ofthe individual dream.• Highly Morphic Trait: Dreamscapes are born fromwild dream-stuff the moment a dreamer’s mindplunges into Dream. Left alone on Dream, wilddream-stuff is as ephemeral as thought. But once adreamscape solidifies, it has the alterable morphictrait similar to the Material Plane. Visitors skilled inLucid Dreaming may be able to morph a dreamscapemore to their own liking.• No Elemental or Energy Traits.• Mildly Neutral-Aligned.• Normal Magic: Spells can be cast normally, but travelerswho leave Dream discover that any spells they usedon the plane weren’t really cast (they still have them asprepared spells or available spell slots). Similarly, anyspells still in effect when a traveler leaves Dream aregone as if they were never cast.DREAM LINKSThe Region of Dreams is coterminous to the MaterialPlane and whatever Transitive, Inner, or Outer Planesyou desire. The easiest method of reaching Dream isthrough the Portal of Sleep, which living creatures themultiverse over access without conscious thought whilethey slumber.When sleep claims a living mind, the consciousness ofthe sleeper comes to the Region of Dreams, and thedreamer enters into his or her own dreamscape. The bodyremains on the Material Plane, but the mind wanders as adiscrete entity within a dreamscape. When the sleeperwakes, the mind returns to the body, and the dreamscapeusually fades into undifferentiated dream-stuff. Sometimesdreamscapes linger and pass into the Dreamheart,taking on a more permanent reality.Dreamwalkers—frequent visitors to the Region ofDream—can enter Dream through the Portal of Sleeplike any dreamer, or they can pass bodily into dreams byfinding rare physical portals into Dream or casting thedream travel spell.DREAM INHABITANTSAll manner of creatures are found in Dream, rangingfrom small animals to abominable nightmares. Dreamersrun the gamut as well, though dreamscapes of similarcreatures are generally clustered together like archipelagoesin a sea of wild dreamstuff.MOVEMENT AND COMBATMovement within a dreamscape is often like that on theMaterial Plane. But the rules can vary from dreamscape todreamscape. In one dreamscape, every creature might flyfrom place to place, and in the next, swimming might bethe only mode of transport.Moving between dreamscapes is intentionally doneonly by dreamwalkers who have entered Dream viadream travel or who are using the Lucid Dreamingskill. A traveler can hop from dreamscape to dreamscapeor aim for the Dreamheart itself. Althoughdreamscapes don’t usually overlap, dreamwalkers canfind places where the borders are thin enough that asingle step transfers the traveler from one dreamscapeto the next.APPENDIX:VARIANT PLANES& COSMOLOGIES201