Nightmare (5e Race)

This page was proposed for deletion on 05:15, 13 November 2024 (MST) because: Issue(s) unaddressed for over a year. (discuss). If the above issues are not in the process of being addressed within 14 days, this page will be deleted. See also the deletion policy. If it is obvious that this page should not be deleted or if this page has been fixed since this template was added, please remove this template. However please do not remove this template from pages you have created yourself. Instead, please discuss whether changes made to this page are sufficient to warrant removal of this template. Need a page deleted immediately? Use {{needsadmin}} instead! Why is my article up for deletion? Administrators remember to check if anything links here and the page history (last edit) before deleting Edit this Page | Articles which may get deleted

This page was marked as abandoned on 00:13, 2 November 2023 (MDT) because: Issue(s) unaddressed for over a year. (discuss) If you think you can improve this page please bring the page up to the level of other pages of its type, then remove this template. If this page is completely unusable as is and can't be improved upon based on the information given so far then replace this template with a {{delete}} template. If this page is not brought to playability within one year it will be proposed for deletion. Edit this Page | All abandoned pages

This page is incomplete and/or lacking flavor. Reason: A race page is almost never complete when first created. For guidance, see the 5e Race Design Guide. You can help D&D Wiki by finishing and/or adding flavor to this page. When the flavor has been changed so that this template is no longer applicable please remove this template. If you do not understand the idea behind this page please leave comments on this page's talk page before making any edits. Edit this Page | All stubs

Nightmare (WIP)

Physical Description

Being very tall and skinny these fiends don't give a comfortable vibe. Their skin is smooth with a texture of a rock. Nightmares tend to be skinny but also very defined and muscular/vascular at the same time. No eyes and yet they give the most unsettling gazes. The head of a nightmare tends to be very flat because of the space saved from not having eyes, the only facial feature they commonly share is a wide mouth filled with razor sharp teeth capable of a very unpleasing fiendish smile. Another typical feature is their big hands with long fingers with claws. Their feet tend to have longer fingers too, also with claws. Or they have feet with hooves similar to that of a deer from their ankles down. But most of the appearance is defined by their subrace which strongly vary in apperance. Since they are born from dark energy they are genderles and do not have male or female reproducing organs. However most subraces tend to have masculine bodies, voices and overall apperance. They live by literally hunting the creature in their sleep, so they don't need to eat but will eat in emergency when they can't inflict nightmares. They don't appreciate tastes so they commonly eat corpses they kill. As stated previously there are many kinds of Nightmares which have different apperance and also differ in behaviour.

Deceit

Deceits are lying and deceptive. They usually manipulate and play with their pray before hunting them down. They have skin colour of a blue steel and long slightly curved horns reaching from the side of their head. The horns are also covered with skin.

Despair

Despairs are calm and collected as they live in the shadows waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Their apperance is a bit different as they don't have the wide smiley mouth that are very common for nightmares. Their head is therefore even smaller with a very long horns with one "S" shaped curve. Despairs also carry a jagged sword that is roughly four meters in size. Other creatures have a hard time even wielding this sword, fighting with it is impossible. Despairs however can easily manipulate with this sword even with one hand as if it weighted nothing.

Evade

With a cloak made of shadows that partly fuses with their body Evades are cruel. Carrying a sword with a wide nightmarish mouth they block the path of their pray giving them choice to face them or evade them. When the prey chooses to fight they quickly end them showing how naiive they were. If the pray evades them, Evade will quickly show the creature that it was the last mistake it ever made. After evasion, creatures were noted to dissapear in the next day or two leaving behind nothing or just a pile of bones.

History

Have you ever had that one terrible nightmare... You woke up on the ground next to your bed covered in sweat feeling completly hopeless but relieved that it was just a dream. Well, that might be a doing of a Nightmare and if not. One surely was born that day.

Society

Nightmares don't trust anyone, and no one trusts them. They live a lonely live feeding on fear of their victims. They don't go along well with almost everyone except another Nightmares but still prefer to be alone.

Nightmare Names

Since they are born from a blend of darkness and fear, no one was there to name them. People tend to call them just "Nightmares" or sometimes by their subtype (Deceit, Despair...)

Nightmare Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence and Wisdom score increases by 1.
Age. When born, these fiends will immediately follow their instinct. Since they are very intelligent, they reach "adulthood" just in about a month. They do not age.
Alignment. Mostly evil and chaotic... as expected. But neutral Nightmares also exist, although they are very rare. Noone ever heard about a good nightmare.
Size. Nightmares tend to be tall ranging from 7 to 8 feet. Your size is medium.
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Nightmare Sense. Not having any eyes, nightmares rely on their Blindsight of 60 feet.
Mind Skulk. You can communicate telepathically with all creatures within 60 ft. of you, provided you and the creature share a language.
Sweet Dreams. As an action Nightmares can enter and manipulate dreams of sleeping creatures within the reach of your Nightmare Sense. This trait also functions as a radar for sleeping creatures within the range as you don't need to see the creature to enter it's dream, the exact whereabouts of this creature remain unknown to you. While "in their head" you gain knowledge of their deepest fears and desires, you can use these to create a perfect nightmare for them. You will need to concentrate but time is altered in dreams so while the creature dreams for one hour, roughly two minutes pass in reality. You can also force the creature to wake up in a shock or you can even hurt the creature, when you do the target takes 1d4 psychic damage and wakes up in shock. You can also communicate with the creature. However when you start interrogating the creature it makes a Intelligence Saving Throw of DC 10 + your proficiency bonus, on a successful throw, the creature realises that it is just dreaming and can exit the dream at any given point causing it to wake up. The affected creature loses all of the sleep time or half as much if your actions didn't cause it to wake up in shock. If you successfully wake up the creature by inflicting terror you can either heal for 1d4 hit points or you gain benefits as if you just ate a full meal.
Horror Expression. You are a literal nightmare, you can't be frightened. You are proficient in the Intimidation skill and have advantage on Intimidation rolls against creatures that can see you.
Mind Shatter. You can force creatures within 60 feet of you of your choice to make a Wisdom Saving Throw of DC 5 + your proficiency bonus + your Intelligence modifier + your Charisma modifier, if you chose only one creature it has a disadvantage on that roll. On a failed save the creature becomes frightened for 1 minute. The creatures can repeat the saving throw at the beginning of their round. You can use this trait once per short rest.
Meditation. Logically, Nightmares don't sleep, instead they meditate in semiconsious state. After 1 hour of uninterrupted meditation you can use your Sweet Dreams ability with range increased to 1 mile, after you end it you "wake up". The hour you spend meditating was wasted on activating Sweet Dreams so you will need to start again to gain some rest. 1 hour of meditation gains the same benefit that a human would get from 4 hours of sleep.
Sunlight Sickness. Nightmares despise sunlight and are severly weakened by it. If any part of your skin is exposed to direct sunlight you can't use your Sweet Dreams or Mind Shatter and your Nightmare Sense and Mind Skulk is reduced to 30 feet. You feel very uncomfortable as if the sunlight is trying to pierce your body, it's not ubearable but you can't concentrate.
Fiend. You count as a fiend instead of humanoid and have a resistance to necrotic damage but you are vulnerable to radiant damage.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Abyssal.

Deceit

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.
Deceitful. You know your way around people, you are sick and manipulative. You are proficient in the Deception skill.

Despair

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1.
Dark Blade. As an action you materialize a jagged greatsword out of shadows in your hand. The sword is roughly 4 meters tall and has range of 10 feet, damage equal to 3d4, heavy and versatile propereties. For other creatures the sword is even heavier than it seems. It has two-handed property for other creatures and they have disadvantage on attack rolls unless they have Strength of 20 or higher. The sword stays materialized for 12 hours then it starts to weaken to the point where it can break like a dry stick of wood and eventually falls apart on its own. It has a slightly better durability than normal blades but can be broken. When the sword break or falls appart the pieces turn into shadow and disapear. You can dismiss the sword as an action when you do you can rematerialize it again after completing a short rest. If the sword is broken or you dismissed it while not in direct contact with it you can rematerialize it again after completing a long rest.
Blank face. You don't have a mouth but can hum in a deep voice making you able to cast spells that requier verbal component. You will have to relly a lot on your Mind Skulk. You can still be silenced but not physically.

Evade

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 1.
Flesh Eater. As an action you materialize a long, straight and thick greatsword with a smile of a nightmare and bunch of claws at the end of the handle. It has a stats of a regular greatsword but it's damage counts as necrotic in addition to it's other damage types. The swords can talk and think on it's own however it completly obeys and respects you. You have a soul bond with this sword meaning you can use it's mouth to speak as if it was your own mouth. While wielding this sword you gain +1 to Intimidation. Additionaly, you can use the sword as a point of casting the Sweet Dreams ability the range stays the same. Whenever you hit a creature you can gain temporary hit points equal to 1/4 of the damage you dealt rounded down or repair the sword as if it was just summoned. When the sword is destroyed you are delt 1d6 necrotic damage, this damage can't be reduced in any way. You can summon the sword again after completing a short rest. If you summon the sword while it exists elsewhere (even on another plane of existence) it gets teleported instead of being summoned as new.

Random Height and Weight

Base Height	Height Modifier*	Base Weight	Weight Modifier**
7′ 0''	+4	190 lb.	× (2) lb.
*Height = base height + height modifier **Weight = base weight + (height modifier × weight modifier)

Writer's notice

This race is heavily based on the work of Yin Zhe. I recommend to check it out for better understanging. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/rAKRPe

5.00

(one vote)

---

Back to Main Page → 5e Homebrew → Races