Dreamer FAQ

[beautifuldreamermods]

DREAMER FAQ

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So, what IS a Dreamer exactly?

Dreamer is the name given to magical warriors in the Beautiful Dreamer universe. Rather than manifesting in reality, a Dreamer is a person able to cross over into the Dream Sphere and assume a more powerful form, making their magic manifest and using that power and imagination to protect both the real world and the Dream Sphere from Nightmares and Torments.

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Who can become a Dreamer?

Anybody!

There are no in-universe limitations on who can or can't become a Dreamer and characters of any age and gender may awaken their powers. The only real roadblock is that there is no way to force this process or to encourage it to happen - ultimately, the process (ICly) comes down to luck... though whether it's bad luck or good luck depends on who you ask.

OOCly, we have some suitability standards for apped characters but these are purely to maximize playability and enjoyment for players rather than any sort of in-universe mechanic.

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How does a character become a Dreamer?

The process of becoming a Dreamer is ICly referred to as an Awakening and comes about as the result of a character's own imagination and willpower making tangible changes within the Dream Sphere.

The most common and 'default' way this can occur is during a Nightmare attack while a character sleeps. Characters can be targeted by a Nightmare for any number of reasons - maybe they're sleeping on some troubles that attracted the Nightmare or maybe their Figment was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. What matters most about this encounter is that the targeted character is able to summon the strength to fight back against the Nightmare, triggering their first transformation into a Dreamer. Once the character wakes from this dream, they'll find they've been granted their Sandglass, the magical item that allows them to transform and shift between worlds, as well as an instinctive understanding of how to use it. The Sandglass itself is small, around two inches in diameter, and can be hung as a pendant, a keychain, or anything you can clip it onto. You also can't misplace it, no matter how hard you try... it somehow, mysteriously, finds its way right back to your pillow...


Visual reference of a Sandglass and an example of how it changes in appearance to match the Dreamer. Art by merlyn_art

Staving off a Nightmare attack is the most common cause of an Awakening but it isn't the only one. Since the root of an Awakening is a character's strong will influencing the Dream Sphere, this can happen in other ways as well - for instance, a particularly vivid lucid dream may be the cause and result of a character's Awakening. Typically, though, these alternate causes are atypical enough to be considered rare – but feel free to come up with a cool Awakening for your character if nothing above really sings to you!

As mentioned elsewhere, there is no known method of forcing an Awakening but a character who strongly wants to become a Dreamer may be able to more easily gather the willpower to fight during a Nightmare attack. Other than this, the process is generally understood to not be something one can control.

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What happens after an Awakening?

That's up to you! ICly, characters have the option to join the Dreamer Union and become active in patrolling the Dream Sphere, though this is not considered mandatory; it's perfectly acceptable for a Dreamer to decide they don't want to fight. Please note that while no characters are forced into fighting ICly, from an OOC character choice perspective, characters who are completely unwilling to engage with this aspect of the setting at all may be a poor fit for the game – they don't need to jump in head first, but some level of engagement with the magical and mystical aspects of the setting are expected.

Regardless, once a character joins the Dreamer Union, they'll be given a rundown on the basics of their magic – younger or particularly inexperienced characters may also be assigned a Mentor, a more experienced Dreamer who will help them through the early stages of their power development. In addition, characters of school attending age (six to eighteen years) will be given the option to attend the private Promised Morning Academy which is specifically structured to accommodate students who are also working as Dreamers.

From there, the world is your oyster! Play around in the setting as you see fit.

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How do Dreamers travel to the Dream Sphere?

A Dreamer hops over to the Dream Sphere by making use of their Sandglass! It functions similarly to a spinner pendant and by turning the little hourglass in the center and allowing the sand to spill into the other half, a Dreamer is transformed and taken to the Dream Sphere – so the act of transforming and of going to the Dream Sphere are one and the same.

From the perspective of the Waking World, a Dreamer quite literally vanishes into thin air then they hop over to the Dream Sphere, though because of the disparity in time passage they usually aren't gone for too long. Rather than popping back where they vanished from, once a Dreamer leaves the Dream Sphere, they'll reappear back in their bed as if waking up from a long sleep... though whether 'their bed' is actually the bed they think of as being their own or just the last bed they slept in is up to players to mess around with based on what would make for the funniest bit.

A Dreamer cannot take anything into the Dream Sphere with them, save their Sandglass, but will find any belongings they had on them safe and sound beside their bed once they emerge from the Dream Sphere.

On occasion, a Dreamer may accidentally slip into the Dream Sphere while just sleeping and not using their Sandglass - and may find themselves wandering strange and distant parts of the Dream Sphere usually beyond their reach...

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What should a character's Dreamer form be like?

Creating a Dreamer form for your character isn’t particularly complicated! There are some general guidelines to ensure all characters fit into the universe, but you have plenty of freedom within those boundaries.

Thematically, Dreamers are extremely individualistic, born as they are from the strong feelings of their original selves. Many things influence a Dreamer’s transformed state and their powers, such as their personalities and their beliefs, their worries and anxieties or even something as simple as their hobbies and passions. All this together is what creates the magic that gives a Dreamer form.

A Dreamer's transformed self will often drastically change from their appearance in the waking world – their hair and eyes will often change colour and of course, they have a stylin' new outfit. For a Dreamer, while they cannot consciously choose any aspect of their transformed self, their appearance in the Dream Sphere will always be something they will be happy and comfortable with.

Dreamers do not have a cohesive uniform style, but they do have a cohesive aesthetic; crystals and glass, glitter and sand, sheer, floaty fabrics. Colour wise, Dreamers tend to have pastel or desaturated colour schemes. If you would like visual references, yume kawaii (ゆめかわいい) and fairy kei (フェアリー系) fashions and aesthetics are a good place to start. Additionally, Beautiful Dreamer’s visual style as a whole was massively inspired by the Japan Animators Expo music video GIRL (NSFW for some nudity and sexual themes), so it can provide additional inspo material where needed.

Lastly, Dreamers have very simple naming conventions. In their transformed state, a Dreamer will be called “Dreamer [UNIQUE NAME]”, with their individual title tying back thematically to the ideas that make up a Dreamer’s identity. For ‘canon’ examples, Usagi Tsukino could be "Dreamer Moon" or "Dreamer Serenity", Ichigo Momomiya could be “Dreamer Strawberry” or “Dreamer Kitty” and Hana Nono could be “Dreamer Cheer” or “Dreamer Kiratto”.

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Can my character's Dreamer form be nonhuman? How different can they be to their real life self?

A Dreamer's appearance can change pretty radically from their waking world self, so don't feel like you have to stick too close to their real appearance! Similarly, while some Dreamers change to the point of being unrecognizable, some may not look all that different to how they appear in reality apart from their mahou makeover.

Generally though, characters should remain recognizably human, if only for the practicality of being able to distinguish them from Torments. You can incorporate elements of animals/bugs/etc into their Dreamer designs (catboys real) but the overall design should still read as a human.

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What are my Dreamer's powers like? How do I get new ones?

Since powers are a bit more complicated, they've got their own page! Check that out for the full rundown on how powers work in BD.

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How do my character's powers work in the Waking World?

In short – they, uh, don't. Since a Dreamer's magic is so tied to the Dream Sphere, characters currently cannot use their powers outside of their dreams. Of course, that's just currently...

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If my character gets hurt in the Dream Sphere, do they get hurt in reality?

Thankfully, no! Dreamers can take a lot of punishment but even in the event of them taking a lot of damage in the Dream Sphere, none of those injuries will be reflected on their Waking World self. They may experience some phantom pain or residual aches and pains but they'll fade fast and there won't be any lasting effects.

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I've got another question not covered by this page!

No worries! Drop it below and we'll get you a response as quick as we can!

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Comments

[trickyjedi]

Just to make sure I'm not WILDLY misinterpreting this.

When you say "a Dreamer is a person able to cross over into the Dream Sphere" does that mean that they go to sleep and astral project a body into the dream sphere while their physical body rests, or do they actually like...open up a magic portal to the dream sphere and disappear into it

[meteorman]

Soooo... say I wanted to play a Dreamer who awakened 50 or so years ago with the first batch. What would have been different about the next steps? I imagine there wasn't infrastructure set up at the time like there is now.

[darcangel]

Would it be possible for a Dreamer to live in the Dream Sphere more or less "full-time"? I'm thinking like...in canon, Jeannette's "angel" (Blorbo From Mari's Shows) cast a spell to make herself immortal and lives apart from humanity pursuing her Ideals and Justice from the shadows. Could I say that "Milady Angel" is a Dreamer who has chosen to live in the Dream Sphere to mimic the "apart from others, no more normal life" thing, and who Jeannette has only met there?

[darcangel]

Next question! Jeannette is only just signing up with the DU but she has been fighting Nightmares alongside the gay crush mentioned above since she was 12. Would it be OK to app her as an Experienced Dreamer even though she's still in high school? (And if so, is she eligible to be a mentor despite her age? She's 17 now.)

[courageunforgotten]

Quick question. Can Dreamers have sidekicks or companions in the Dream Sphere? Saaaayyy a magic wolf companion or something.

(Don't judge me, scanning a maxed out Wolf Link Amiibo is always one of those first things I do when I start a BOTW playthrough.)

[untilidie]

Question! Do Dreamers get paid at all for fighting nightmares and shit?

[hanamane]

I have a few questions re: Dreamer abilities and also Dream Sphere lore!

1) (Which may be obvious but I'm gonna ask it anyway) If the Dreamer's weapon is an actual weapon (for instance, a laser gun or a sword), would they be able to use it in battle without it counting as a special ability? idk if I'm wording it right, but I just want to make sure whether I should put "Knife" in one of his power slots or not 🥲

2) How long, ICly, does a character need to be an active Dreamer to be considered an Experienced Dreamer over a Novice? Amane's been a Dreamer for about a year in-universe, but I don't know if that would be either too short of a time to bump him up to Experienced, or too long of a time to consider him a Novice 🤔 (Or is it less about time and more of how many Tornents/Nightmares they've defeated?)

3) In canon, Amane's brother Tsukasa is possessed by an ancient supernatural (or at least riding shotgun in his body, it's kind of unclear how much is Tsukasa and how much is the evil spirit), and it made me wonder, for AU purposes-- is it possible for Torments/Nightmares to possess a Figment or Dreamer in the Dream Sphere and be brought back to the waking world? Not so much that they influence it, but more of like... a bad vibes parasite to whoever they wind up latching onto, idk (If that's game or lore breaking, though, or touches upon a future plot point, then no worries!!)

Sorry for all the questions, and thank you for your time!

[flatcola]

Two main questions: my character in canon has a degree in cognitive science and is involved in researching a parallel world (that is much spookier than the dream sphere). Could a player character be involved in the research branch of DU and how? Would there be options for her to be separate from that and collaborate independently?

Secondly I saw in another answer that Dreamers vanishing into the ds is rare but not unheard of, and I'm wondering if a friend vanishing like that is kosher to use as part of Kozakura's backstory, and if it's possible to do something plot-related with that down the line when I have a more concrete idea of how?

[terrortarot]

Hi, mods! Back again with a curious question!

On the list of restricted/banned powers, there's "Dream walking/dream manipulation/etc." I do not want to be OP or break the game in any way, but I was trying to decide on a fourth potential power for a character I'm apping in. In canon, they're a Nightmaren, a being of nightmare themself, and in the AU I'm basically saying that they helped their father create more Torments and Nightmares in the Dream Sphere by screwing with people. Because they had this weird "farming Torments" thing going on, I was considering having one of their potential powers be... not being able to control Torments or anything like that, but being able to personally register as neutral to them or calm them to some degree. I wasn't sure if that would fall under "dream manipulation" or otherwise be too much, though!

(If not, it's no problem, I can go with an ability to cause fear in others instead. I was considering it, though, so I thought I'd check the possibility!)

[hanamane]

HELLO, back at it with another question, but! Out of curiosity, when Torments/Nightmares are injured (or defeated/killed), is it like... a monster goo situation, or do they cleanly poof out of existence? I figure it's nothing gory given the nature and genre of the game, but I realized Hanako is probably going to be... stabbing..... these things sometimes, so I just wondered how messy these fights can get!

[moonlight_fuser]

So, not entirely sure if I want to go with this for Serena's powerset or not, but I have a question on how it would work. In Yu-gi-oh, the whole thing revolves around summoning monsters from cards (via holograms except when it's not). If I wanted to use that as the basis for Serena's power set, would I just be making a generic "Monster Summoning" type power for her that has stronger ones be available as she gains power, or would each type of monster need it's own "Summon x" power? Her higher level monsters in canon also require her to fuse other monsters together, so if I also wanted that, would 1 "Fuse monsters" power suffice or would I need to create separate ones for the specific monster she's summoning with it listed as what monsters it requires?

[determinationtofist]

So just asking to make sure... could it be possible for Hibiki to have a power that enhances (based on ability rank) her capabilities whenever she's singing? I'm not sure what to call it, but Symphogear being Symphogear, I have good reason to ask this.

Follow-up question... under the assumption that Hibiki's weapons are already say, gauntlets so that she can punch... would being able to smack enemies with her scarf also be a power?

[i_peace]

I just realized~ I probably should have double checked this before going on my merry way. ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ

When it comes to signature weapons, would they be allowed to have a form/mode change feature? Think like Bloodborne's trick weapons. The powers page touches upon it, but I just wanted to confirm whether something like this would require a separate power or is something that the weapon could do.

My thoughts just went "uhuhu this is normal for this weapon" but every thing has their own rules for how weapons works. IT DIDN'T CROSS MY MIND UNTIL I STARTED MY THREADS I'M SORRY

sorry i've got a lot of questions and i can only hope i'm not forgetting some

[timelessmage]

- Frieren's a mage, so obviously her Dreamer weapon being a mage's staff makes sense. Would it be all right for the weapon to have a generic magical attack, i.e. shooting out orbs or rays of light, without it counting as a discrete power? If yes, does the answer change if Frieren's signature power were an extra strong ray of light that deals a ton of damage?

- Does a Dreamer need their weapon to be able to use their powers? If they lose their weapon, can they just magically summon it back to them?

- Where does the Sandglass go when the Dreamer's in the Dream Sphere? I keep assuming it ends up somewhere on their weapon but I don't actually know…

- Is it possible for a Dreamer to inherit, or be taught how to use, another Dreamer's power(s), through analysis and/or diligent study?

- Is there a cap on how many powers a Dreamer can have?

- Relatedly: Frieren's whole thing in canon is collecting/learning tons of spells, especially ones that are extremely mundane and specific (see the "Other Spells" category on this page for examples). Would it be okay to roll all of this up into a sort of "minor spells" power, and if yes, what would be an acceptable method for Frieren to add to her spell repertoire?
One idea I have is that she would need to do the thing in waking life in order to be able to replicate it with her magic in the Dream Sphere. For example, for the flower field spell, she would need to plant and grow the appropriate flower; for the lost accessory spell, she would need to actually help someone find a lost item, and so on. The spells could be applied in creative ways in the Dream Sphere by pulling from the whole "dreams are weird and symbolic sometimes" thing. Upgrades to this power would allow Frieren to collect more spells.

[i_peace]

DW died yesterday as I was getting ready to send this smadge...

1) Weapon! Just double checking that it's okay if the weapon itself wasn't used offensively but just as a support item? Like, he's not using the sandglass itself to fight Torments, he's fighting but using his weapon as a sort of 'support' thing to help him go faster get buffs? Or can Torments/Nightmares only be cleansed via the Sandglass and we all get the really dumb image of Sonic bonking a Badnik on the head with a ring?

And yes, I am planning on making him drop his weapon every time he gets hit in battle because it is, in fact, going to be a ring. You're welcomed, Beautiful Dreamers. (☞¬‿¬)☞

"Doesn't his weapon float?" Yeah, but we don't let logistics get in the way of a good joke.

2) Bouncing off of that, I know Keiwa's weapon transformation thing is pretty involved but I'm guess just changing the size of your sandglass weapon shouldn't be a separate power? Like, having the ring go from being the side of a large hula hoop to the size of a bangle is just a visual change so it's not considered a power, stuff like that.

3) Signature Ability; can I just make him go Super for like 3 turns then get booted out? It doesn't have to be like... an Attack attack right? I can just make it his Final Smash including the bit where his inertia just sends him flying out of the bounding box?

[dogdaughter]

I'm not sure if this is outright stated somewhere and I just can't read, but: when Experienced Dreamers are apped in, does their Signature Ability start at E-rank or at D-rank??

[pleonexy]

hihi, just wondering under what IC circumstances would a Dreamer lose their powers and become unable to re-enter the Dream Sphere? For ~backstory reasons~

[surprisenumber3]

Hello hello~

I'm bouncing some ideas, and would of course like to give Sousuke is signature scarf as a weapon.

Sousuke's a coward, though. Good luck getting him to willingly fight anything. (Which probably means lots of deflection abilities in his future)

Would it be okay, though, if his scarf had a sort of sentience in the sense that, if his Dreamer Form is in quite a pinch and in danger, could it lash out and attack for him? Like one would with a sword or something, but it does it on its own to protect him in extreme circumstances, if that makes sense.

Of course, I'm totally fine with limiting what that "sentience" would entail to a reasonable level. But I wanted to know your feedback on it first.

[i_peace]

putting this question here in case people want to know in the future (so they don't have to dig through the Discord):

If a pair of Dreamers were to start fighting, would it be possible for them to knock each other out? Or at least exhaust the other party enough to to make them wake up?

for the record, wondering if this sort of thing would be feasible. :O