Category:Pale Morph

I threw open the door and saw a bizarre and eerie scene; the "room" was a vast gray plain, on which stood a number of pale and flimsy creatures like starving children. They squeaked and fluttered, leaping here and there and quickly merging (to my startled eyes) into walls, books, a table, a chair, forming at last (it took perhaps two heartbeats) my father's library. It was as if I had turned the light on a stage between acts and caught the stage-hands rearranging the scenery--if there existed any place in the waking world in which the stage-hands were the scenery.

From a purported journal of Dr. Gregorian Illhousen written in the Nightmare Lands, purchased by the Great Library of Port-a-Lucine, 21 February 759

Pale Morph^[1]

Pale morphs are the lowliest of the dreamspawn. In dreamscape, they play the roles of distant figures and minor objects. They are poor at mimicking fine details, however. If a pale morph assumes the shape of an ancient tome, it might look fine at first glance, but a reader who flipped through its pages would discover them filled with unintelligible gibberish, not words. Pale morphs are the weakest of the dreamspawn that warp the dreamscape and alter their own forms to evoke the most terror possible terror in dreamers.

A pale morph is usually about the size of a cat. In its true form, its colorless body flows like liquid, seemingly struggling to maintain even a vague humanoid shape.

A pale morph is about 2 feet tall and weighs 10–15 pounds.

This creature was created by John Mangrum.

Mangrum's Pale Morph Lore

Characters with ranks in Knowledge (the planes) can learn more about pale morphs. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DCs.

DC Result

11 This flitting entitiy is a spirit of elemental dream called a pale morph. This result reveals all elemental traits and the dream subtype.

16 Pale morphs are the weakest of all dream spawn. Pale morphs speak Oneiros, but they also understand all languages known to the dreamer. A pale morph can take the form of many lesser creature, and literally feeds on fear.

21 Hearing Oneiros lulls mortals to sleep. Dream spawn can absorb memories with a touch, gaining access to much of a dreamer’s knowledge and weakening the victim’s intellect. A pale morph’s quicksilver body is somewhat resistant to harm, but magic weapons can pierce its supernatural defenses.

26 Natural sunlight instantly destroys a pale morph.

31 Some spellcasters who specialize in dream magic acquire pale morphs for use as familiars. These creatures help their masters dream with great clarity and detail.

Statistics^[2]

Pale Morph (Lesser Dream Spawn)

Tiny Elemental (Dream, Shapechanger)

Hit Dice: 1d8+1 (5 hp)

Initiative: +0

Speed: 20 ft. (4 squares)

Armor Class: 13 (+2 size, +1 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 13

Base Attack/Grapple: +0/–10

Attack: Claw +0 melee (1d2–2)

Full Attack: 2 claws +0 melee (1d2–2)

Space/Reach: 2-1/2 ft./0 ft.

Special Attacks: Absorb memories, detect thoughts, lullaby

Special Qualities: Damage reduction 5/magic, darkvision 60 ft., elemental traits, fear eater, shapechange, sunlight vulnerability

Saves: Fort +1, Ref +0, Will +2

Abilities: Str 7, Dex 11, Con 12, Int 4, Wis 10, Cha 11

Skills: Bluff +5, Disguise +11*, Hide +8, Move Silently +5, Sense Motive +1*

Outcast Rating: 6 (–1 size, +3 appearance, +2 reputation, +1 beyond the pale, +1 unnatural powers)

Feats: Weapon Finesse

Environment: Dreamscapes

Organization: Solitary, pair, gang (3–6), or pack (9–20)

Challenge Rating: 1

Treasure: None

Alignment: Usually neutral

Advancement: 2–3 HD (Tiny); 4–6 HD (Small)

Level Adjustment: +0 (improved familiar)

Combat: Pale morphs follow the orders of more powerful dream spawn, attacking in whatever forms they have been assigned. In their true forms, they lash out with their claws, but usually just try to melt into the woodwork (sometimes literally).

Will saves against a pale morph’s absorb memories, detect thoughts, and lullaby abilities have a DC of 10.

Shapechange (Sp): A pale morph can assume the form of any creature with up to 1 Hit Die.

Sunlight Vulnerability (Ex): A pale morph exposed to natural sunlight (not just a daylight spell) is instantly slain. Its body vanishes in a puff of vapor, leaving no trace.

Pale Morph Familiars: Spellcasters with the Improved Familiar feat can take a pale morph as a familiar. A pale morph has no innate ability to cross the Veil of Sleep, so it usually remains in the Region of Dreams, joining its master whenever she sleeps. The master can retrieve its familiar using dream travel spells or by journeying to the Nightmare Lands to physically recover it. Abber nomad shamans are the most common masters of pale morph familiars. A pale familiar grants its master a +3 bonus on Lucid Dreaming checks.

Combat^[3]

Dream spawn can assume nearly any form and usually adopt the attacks of those borrowed shapes. If a dream spawn cannot use a desired ability of its assumed form, it typically uses dream powers to mimic the ability’s effects.

When encountered in its true form, a dream spawn usually attacks with its spidery claws. A dream spawn’s natural weapons, as well as any weapons it wields, are considered magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Dream spawn work in teams to turn a dream seed’s pleasant slumber into mind-shattering nightmares. The most powerful individual dream spawn in a given dreamscape (typically an ennui or shadow morph) acts as the overseer of all other dream spawn present. The effectiveness of some dream spawn attacks are determined by the power of the dreamscape’s overseer rather than the actual dream spawn making the attack. For example, a dreamer who “dies” in a dreamscape must make a Madness save upon waking (DC 10 + 1/2 overseer’s HD + overseer’s Cha modifier).

If dream spawn defeat a dreamer once and inflict a madness effect, they usually return to plague that dreamer every night until they are driven off, destroyed, or drag their victim into a nightmare-filled coma.

Dream spawn are native to the Region of Dreams, and are considered on their home plane whenever encountered in dreamscapes. A dream spawn gains the extraplanar subtype when it enters the waking world.

If a dream spawn is truly killed in a dreamscape (these creatures often feign death in the course of acting out nightmares), a swarm of dreamweavers emerges from seemingly nowhere 1d4 rounds later and unravels its remains, leaving nothing behind.

Absorb Memories (Su): Dream spawn can access the memories of other creatures, assuming forms pulled from the deepest recesses of their minds.

In the Waking World: To use this ability, a dream spawn must make a successful touch attack (using same attack bonus as a claw attack), dealing 1d4 points of Intelligence damage. Until the victim recovers all lost Intelligence, the dream spawn can freely access the victim’s memories; it can communicate in any language the victim knows and can use its shapechange ability to mimic creatures from the victim’s subconscious.

In Dreamscapes: A dream spawn can access the memories of all dreamers within the dreamscape simultaneously as free action on its turn, regardless of distance. When a dream spawn uses this ability, each dreamer in the dreamscape is entitled to a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 spawn’s HD + spawn’s Cha modifier) to resist the intrusion. However, a dream spawn can repeat the attempt once each round and is likely to eventually prevail. This form of memory absorption does not inflict Intelligence damage.

A dream spawn can deal Intelligence damage in a dreamscape, but this requires a touch attack, just as if it were making the attack in the waking world. This Intelligence damage carries over into the waking world when the dreamer wakes.

Detect Thoughts (Su): A dream spawn can continuously use detect thoughts as the spell (caster level 18th). A spawn can suppress or resume this ability as a free action.

In the Waking World: This ability has a range of 30 feet. Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 spawn’s HD + spawn’s Cha modifier) negates.

In Dreamscapes: This ability has no maximum range and dreamers receive no saving throw.

Lullaby (Ex): Oneiros is the language of dreams. Although few non-dream creatures can understand it, the tone and cadence of its words inherently instill sensations of peace and security in listeners’ minds, often reminding them of the lullabies that lulled them to sleep as children. A dream spawn can murmur softly in Oneiros as a free action.

Creatures with the dream subtype are immune to Oneiros’s effects. Bards can attempt to counter the lullaby with their countersong class feature. This is a sonic, mind-affecting sleep effect.

In the Waking World: All creatures that can hear the murmurs (Listen check DC 10 + modifiers for distance and barriers) must succeed on a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 spawn’s HD + spawn’s Cha modifier) or be fatigued. A listener that is already fatigued becomes exhausted; an exhausted listener falls asleep. These effects last for as long as the listener can hear the murmuring and for 1d4 rounds thereafter. Whether or not the save is successful, that creature cannot be affected again by that spawn’s lullaby for 24 hours.

In Dreamscapes: Although they are already asleep, creatures in dreamscapes can also be affected by the lullaby. If a dreamer fails its Will save against the lullaby, its dream-self becomes fatigued (or exhausted if already fatigued) within the dreamscape. Exhausted dreamers who fail their Will save do not fall asleep within the dreamscape, but in the waking world, they cannot be woken until the lullaby’s effect ends.

Shapechange (Sp): At will, a dream spawn can use shapechange (caster level equals Hit Dice) to assume virtually any form. A dream spawn can assume the form of a creature of any type, including mimicking specific individuals, but all forms must be drawn from the thoughts of mortal victims (by absorbing their memories; see above).

Dream spawn can also take the form of objects; treat this as taking the form of an animated object of the appropriate size.

A dream spawn can remain in its new form until it chooses to assume a new one. A spawn can return to its true form as a free action. If killed, a dream spawn reverts to its true form before fading away.

Fear Eater (Ex): Dream spawn are immune to all fear, horror, and madness effects. If targeted by a spell or ability that would normally cause a specific fear, horror, or madness effect, a dream spawn heals points of damage equal to the effect’s spell level. If a dream spawn is targeted by an ability that imposes nonspecific fear, horror, or madness effects, or if another creature fails a Fear, Horror, or Madness save within 30 feet of the dream spawn (or at any distance within a dreamscape), then the spawn heals 2 points of damage for a minor effect, 5 points for a moderate effect, and 10 points for a major effect. If this amount of healing would cause a dream spawn to exceed its full normal hit point total, it gains any excess as temporary hit points. These temporary hit points last for up to 1 hour.

Skills: Dream spawn gain a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks and a +4 racial bonus on Bluff checks and Move Silently checks. Dream spawn gain an additional +10 circumstance bonus on Disguise checks when using their shapechange ability. Within dreamscapes or when interacting with creatures whose memories they have absorbed, dream spawn gain a +8 insight bonus on Sense Motive checks.

References