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Nightmare Features

Source Horror Adventures pg. 163
Each nightmare has one or more nightmare features, which complicate the nightmare in some fashion. For naturally occurring nightmares, roll twice on the table below or simply select which nightmare features to use.

d%	Nightmare Feature
1-20	Being chased
21-30	False awakening
31-50	Incompetent
51-65	No gear
66-80	Unable to move
81-95	Unable to speak
96-100	Other disadvantage, or roll again twice

Being Chased: The dreamer is being stalked or chased by something. The thing should be difficult (or impossible) to defeat in combat, but possible to escape. Either employ the chase rules or adjudicate the stalking creature’s threat in some other way.

False Awakening: When the nightmare ends, the dreamer believes it is awake, but actually enters another nightmare dreamscape. Roll one nightmare feature fewer when determining the nature of this dreamscape.

Incompetent: The dreamer is suddenly unable to do something that it is normally good at. It might lose ranks in an important skill, have its base attack bonus reduced by half, or lose a key class feature or ability for the duration of the dream.

No Gear: The dreamer arrives in the dream naked, without any gear or equipment.

Unable to Move: The dreamer has difficulty traveling. The dreamer could literally be paralyzed, or it might find that no matter where it goes, it always winds up in the same spot. Either way, the inability to move shouldn’t render the nightmare’s goal impossible.

Unable to Speak: The dreamer either can’t speak or can’t understand anything said in the dream.

Archives of Nethys

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Nightmare Features