Dream Riding
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Revision as of 18:42, 13 April 2016
Dream riding is perhaps the simplest and least intensive form of oneiromancy. A dream-riding changeling enters the dream of another and makes simple changes to events and the environment around him. He can introduce fairly dramatic changes, altering the appearance of the dream's setting, how its dream-inhabitants act an all manner of other changes. The integral dream itself remains relatively the same, however.
Working changes into the dream is accomplished through the use of a Wits + Empathy + Wyrd roll, with a penalty equal to the Intensity of the dream being altered. The changeling views the dream happening around the dreamer from a disembodied vantage just above the dreamer's head; it is a change to make himself appear within the context of the dream, and another change to make himself appear to be someone or something else within it.
The oneiropomp must be careful not to use too heavy of a hand, however, lest he disrupt the dream. Should the oneiromancer ever roll a number of successes on a dream riding roll that is greater than the Intensity of the dream, his changes were too much for the dream to remain whole, and it unravels. The oneiromancer may spend a point of Willpower to prevent this happening. The oneiromancer also has the option of voluntarily giving himself penalties to this roll, but once he has determined his dice pool, all the successes from that roll count. It can be something of a delicate juggling act to keep a weak dream intact.
Most of the time, changelings simply dream ride in order to observe what is going on, not doing much to change the content of the dreamscape. Naturally occurring dreams have value in and of themselves, and a wise oneiropomp understands this. From within the dream, a changeling may use dream riding to perform a number of simple actions.
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Analyze the Dream
By making minute, weak changes to see how the dreamscape reacts to them, the oneiromancer can determine if the dream in question is a full nightmare, recurring dream, memory dream or wish fulfillment. This requires an instant Wits + Empathy roll, at a penalty equal to the Intensity of the dream. The oneiromancer makes tiny changes and looks for the signs that indicates the kind of dream — memory dreams immediately reinforce aspects of the dream that are remembered rather than imagined, nightmares slightly twisted introduced aspects into darker manifestations, recurring dreams are harder to introduce random events into because their pattern is already set, while wish fulfillment or normal dreams are relatively simple to change.
In addition, with a Wits + Occult + Wyrd roll, with a bonus equal to the Intensity of the dream, the oneiropomp can determine if the dream is prophetic or not. If the oneiromancer performs any changes whatsoever to a prophetic dream, however, even the changes used to determine the type of dream, its prophetic ability is nullified — it ceases to be a true message from the Wyrd, and simply becomes another dream once the oneiropomp has tampered with it. Thus, the first thing that wise oneiropomps do is analyze a dream to see if it is prophetic before making any changes to it. Even a change as simple as appearing within the context of the dream can ruin is prescient quality.
Convince the Dreamer
With a Wits + Empathy + Wyrd roll that requires a whole night of work, the oneiromancer may alter dreams subtly, injecting subliminal suggestions into the dreamscape for later use. For each success on the dream riding roll, the changeling may "store" an extra die in the psyche of the dreamer. When interacting socially with the dreamer at a later date, the changeling may tap into these subliminal clues, pitching his voice to a certain tone, using a certain phrase or wearing a certain scent, using as many of these dice as he pleases on any Manipulation-based roll in dealing with the dreamer.
These clues remain embedded in the dreamer's psyche for one week, fading at the end of that period. Only a single "batch" of subliminal clues may rest in the psyche of any given dreamer at one time — establishing a new set of suggestions overwrites the previously stored one.
Learn About the Dreamer
By watching several nights' worth of dreams, an oneiropomp may learn quite a bit about a dreamer. This requires an extended Wits + Empathy + Wyrd roll, with one roll permitted per night. During these nights, the oneiropomp may not alter the content of the dreamscape whatsoever. Every five successes on this roll reveals one of the following details about the dreamer: her Virtue, her Vice, one of her derangements, her Willpower, one of her Merits (Mental or Social only) or one of her Flaws (Mental or Social only). It can also reveal the use of mind- or emotion-altering supernatural powers on the dreamer with the past month, as well.
Psychotherapy
An oneiropomp with the knowledge to do so may actually use the dreams of a subject as a means of treating psychological or mental problems. This is a standard Wits + Empathy + Wyrd roll, with a penalty equal to the Intensity of the dream in which the work is performed. Each night of work by the oneiropomp is the equivalent of a week of normal psychotherapy.
Scour the Intensity
Through this is rarely used, the oneiromancer may actually scour the Intensity of the dream, reducing the power of its hold over the dreamer's psyche. Most oneiromancers use this to lessen the power of nightmares, allowing the dreamer to experience the nightmare (and thus perhaps get the kind of catharsis that some people gain from their bad dreams) without finding themselves exhausted the next day. This requires a Wits + Empathy + Wyrd roll, at a penalty equal to the Intensity of the dream; each success reduces the Intensity of the dream by 1. If the Intensity of the dream is scoured below 1, the dream ends abruptly, and the dreamer awakens. This may only be performed once per dream.
This can also be used to scour away the Intensity of dream-poison, reducing the hold of the True Fae over mortals they control through the contagion-dreams. This is a Wits + Empathy + Wyrd roll, at no penalty. This roll is opposed by a roll of the dream-poison's Intensity. If the oneiromancer wins this contested roll, each of his successes over that of the dream-poison reduces the Intensity of the dream-poison by 1. If the contagion-dream wins, however, the oneiromancer takes one point of Willpower damage per net success.
Search for Dream-Poison
Searching for the subtle signs of dream-poison is a time-consuming and often difficult task. It is an extended Wits + Empathy + Wyrd roll, at a penalty equal to the Intensity of the dominant dream that evening. Each roll takes a single night of work, and requires a number of total successes equal to the Intensity of the contagion-dream. Most oneiropomps regularly search the dreams of those they watch for the taint of True Fae.
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