Order of the Dream Hunter

Blood Hunters of the Order of the Dream Hunter are wardens of the sleeping mind, stalking the shifting landscapes of the Plane of Dreams to guard against horrors born of nightmare. Legends tell of a mortal hunter who gave up his body to dwell eternally in the dreamscape, standing watch over the boundary between slumber and waking. Those who follow his path bind a fragment of their own soul to that realm, gaining the ability to track quarry through dream and thought alike.

Members of this order are both hunters and sentinels — they protect allies from mental intrusion, strike down creatures that prey upon the sleeping, and pursue nightmare-born abominations across worlds. In the waking realm, they are watchful and precise; in the dreamscape, they are relentless and strange, wielding the logic of dreams as deftly as any weapon. Their vigil is endless, for the mind’s shadow is never truly safe.

Lore of the Dream Hunter:

No living hunter remembers the Dream Hunter’s true name. Some say he was once the greatest of our kind — a slayer of horrors both waking and unseen. When the sky grew heavy with the shadow of nightmare, he walked the dream-border for thirteen nights, neither waking nor sleeping, hunting the invaders that fed upon mortal minds.

On the dawn of the fourteenth day, he returned to his companions, his voice like a far-off echo. “I can guard you here,” he told them, “or I can guard you always.” They say he smiled once, as if at a private joke, and then stepped backward into the mists of sleep — never to wake again.

Since that day, he has walked the endless veil, hunting the nightmares that slip through cracks between worlds. Those who join his order swear an oath of shared vigil, knowing that a piece of their soul will always linger in that strange and perilous realm.

Level 3: Dreamtether

Your soul is partially anchored to the Plane of Dreams, granting you influence over the border between waking and sleeping.

• You learn the sleep spell and the dissonant whispers spell, which count as Blood Hunter spells for you and do not count against your number of spells known. You can cast each once without expending a spell slot, regaining the ability to do so after a short or long rest.

• You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened.

• While a creature sleeps naturally or magically within 30 feet of you, you are aware of its presence, even if you cannot see it.

Level 3: Brand of Lucid Mind

When you apply your Crimson Rite to a weapon, you can also brand the mind of your target. Whenever you deal damage to a creature with your rite-enhanced weapon, you can force it to make a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier). On a failed save, the creature cannot benefit from being hidden from you, even through invisibility, until the end of your next turn.
If the creature is asleep or unconscious, you automatically score a critical hit against it with weapon attacks.

Level 7: Nightmare Stalker

Your connection to the Dream Realm lets you pursue prey beyond the waking world.

• You can cast see invisibility at will, but only to perceive creatures on the Ethereal Plane or denizens of the Dream Realm.

• When you hit a creature with your rite-enhanced weapon, you can choose to deal psychic damage instead of the rite’s usual damage type.

• When you deal psychic damage to a creature, it cannot gain advantage on attack rolls until the start of your next turn.

Level 11: Dream Warden

Your soul’s vigilance extends to both waking and dreaming, allowing you to protect allies from mental intrusion while striking at your foes through the dreamscape.

• Dream Step. As a bonus action, you can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. When you do, spectral motes of dreamlight linger in both your starting and ending locations until the start of your next turn; these spaces are difficult terrain for hostile creatures.
  You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all uses after a short or long rest.

• Warden’s Aegis. You are immune to being put to sleep magically, and you can’t be targeted by the dream spell or similar magic unless you allow it.
  You and friendly creatures within 30 feet have advantage on saving throws against divination magic and against spells or effects that read thoughts or reveal location.

Level 15: Nightmare Ascendance

You embrace the nightmare essence within your dream-tether, becoming a terrifying predator of the dreamscape, and can walk the border between worlds.

• Nightmare Incursion. As a bonus action, you transform for 1 minute:

  • Form of Dread: At the start of each creature’s turn within 10 feet of you (creatures of your choice), they must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier) or be frightened until the start of their next turn.

  • Empowered Strikes: Your rite-enhanced weapon attacks deal an extra 1d8 psychic damage.

  • Phantom Step: You can move through creatures and objects as if they were difficult terrain. If you end your turn inside a creature or object, you take 1d10 force damage.

  • Nightmare’s Clarity: You have advantage on attack rolls against frightened creatures and advantage on Wisdom and Intelligence saving throws.

Aftermath — Dreamlash. When the Incursion ends, you gain one level of exhaustion and take psychic damage equal to twice your Blood Hunter level. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

• Oneiric Passage. Once per short or long rest, you can cast etherealness on yourself (no components). The effect manifests as a dreamlike blur rather than a ghostly form. While in this state, if you pass within 30 feet of a sleeping creature, you can glimpse fragments of its dreams.

Level 18: Dreamlord’s Mandate

Once per long rest, when you hit a creature with your rite-enhanced weapon, you can force it to make a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier). On a failed save, the creature’s consciousness is banished into the Plane of Dreams for up to 1 minute.

• While banished in this way, the creature is incapacitated and unaware of its surroundings, trapped in an illusory dreamscape you control.

• It repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

• If it takes damage while in the dreamscape, the effect ends.