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The Dream Shifter

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The Dream Shifter

All proceeds generated by this class are going to the Take This charity. Take This is a mental health nonprofit decreasing stigma and increasing support for mental health in games.


The 3 subclasses of the Dream Shifter class: Mystery Affect, Nightmare Affect, Harmony Affect

The Dream Shifter is a class with a unique mechanical core and theme. It's a challenge for veteran players who are looking for something new and like chaos, micromanagement and customisation.

The class draws chaotic, psionic power from their emotions and allows a character to transform into a surreal reflection of themselves With the Dream Shifter you receive a partially randomized set of class features every day. Turn one feature into another on the fly and adapt to whatever is happening in your game.

The Dream Shifter allows you to be almost anything. A flaming werewolf? Sure. A gingerbread knight? Yes. A giant fur-covered teacup with eels for limbs wearing a melting clock? Okay, don't overdo it but technically yes.

Thematically the Dream Shifter is built upon surrealist philosophy, the notion that for us, the world isn't a battlefield between good and evil, but a mystical place shaped by subjectivity and our own, contradictory human nature.

I hope you will have fun creating your characters, playing this class, and exploring your own little corner of surrealism.

This document includes

  • The Dream Shifter base class
  • Three subclasses
  • Extended character creation
  • A quick guide
  • The Psionic Convergence corruption
  • Dream Shifter encounters
  • New spells
  • New items
  • A dream generator for DM's
  • A Manifestation sheet for each subclass

Cover Art by Jonathan Munro

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Reviews (4)
Discussions (5)
Customer avatar
Michael G February 19, 2024 6:11 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Hey, this is more of a rules question, because my friends and I are a little confused by the wording for gifts unfolding. Are you capable of casting each spell once a long rest, or do you have one "charge" that you can spend on any one spellcasting?
Customer avatar
Justin J July 29, 2022 4:49 am UTC
PURCHASER
The update is wonderful!
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Customer avatar
Marc W October 23, 2022 8:11 pm UTC
CREATOR
Thank you. I hope the new update (5.1 at this point) also hits the spot for you. If you have any stories or suggestions, you can reach me through the e-mail address on the document.
Customer avatar
Thony D September 30, 2020 1:24 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I imagine this still needs a little work and cleaning up. You've got 'Tipps' instead of 'Tips', for example. And Backdoor's 'once per long rest' should probably be changed to say at the end of the feature that you can use the feature once and regain the use of it on a long rest, if I understand the intention correctly/to match 5e's intended wording (after errata).

I'm not a master homebrewer, however, and I can't comment on the balance at a glance by a long shot. A couple things do stick out to me, however. I feel that giving the class proficiency in improvised weapons is a mistake, as any class is technically proficient in them. The rules for the game, by default, say the DM can allow a suitably shaped object to act as an equivalent weapon. This rule is left vague on purpose to give the game flexibility. Simple having that there with no explanation of the intention makes it a little confusing, like could they make a garbage great sword and the DM just has to run with it?

I think the...See more
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Customer avatar
Marc W September 30, 2020 4:48 pm UTC
CREATOR
Hey, thank you for taking the time to read through the class and write this feedback.

The "Tipps" mistake probably comes from the fact that German is my native language and there it's correct. The "once per day" wording probably came from the time this was still a homebrewery document and I tried to shorten the text and not split paragraphs between pages. Thanks, I've been looking for mistakes like these. I've also been looking at the can/may thing but I'm gonna check the official books again and compare. If there are any more "examples" I'd be grateful to know.

Not all characters aren't proficienct with improvised weapons. The rule you are citing is about an option the GM can use where an improvised weapon is similar enough to a regular weapon so the player can use their proficiency in that weapon instead and get the damage die of that other weapon for their attacks instead of the d4 for improvised weapons. If the "proficiency with improvised weapons"...See more
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Customer avatar
Marc W September 30, 2020 8:57 pm UTC
CREATOR
*Not all characters are proficient with improvised weapons.

Also, they are absolutely free to save all of their Flexibility Points to the dungeon boss. It's the equivalent of a caster not using a single spell slot. There are consequences for the rest of the group of course.

Thanks again for the feedback.
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Customer avatar
Thony D October 01, 2020 4:52 am UTC
PURCHASER
Thanks for replying. Ultimately this is your class, you do what you want with it. I think the barbarian rage is different because of how it can be split up. I'm also going to make the argument that while spell casters can save up their slots, they can also use some slots to help the party in a pinch and still save the rest for the boss at the end. It's more an issue of versatility; every class with resources is a nuke class, too, but they have have the option to choose when they use their resources, splitting it up if the risk seems great enough.

There's also just the issue of roleplay flavor versatility. A barbarian can rage only so many times and their abilities center on it, but along with being able to split it up (especially since most fights don't last longer than a minute, but traveling and investigating stuff takes way longer) they can always be the 'big burly intimidating guy' and any variation thereof. They are, indeed, mostly locked into 'big guy that hits things', but there's a lot of...See more
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Customer avatar
Marc W October 01, 2020 7:25 am UTC
CREATOR
Oh wow, you're going full sherlock on my class here. So let's see...

The Dream Shape uses can also be split up just like the barbarian rages. The Dream Shape just lasts longer and there are more uses of it. Helping the party when needed is also exactly how the Dream Shape should be used. Of course, the Dream Shifter can choose when to their resources. They don't always have to enter dream shape. Sometimes they can just rely on their base abilities, cantrips, and ability to recover during short rests. What makes you think they don't have that choice?

About the role play potential I have to agree with you. The barbarian occupies a cultural archetype that is well understood. The Dream Shifter does not have that. It's something new. I based it on surrealism. It's harder than with other classes, but it's definitely possible. I gave one proposition on how to role play it in the Tips section. One could play it as a wise shaman, a daydreamer, or an explorer. The Nightmare Eidolon Subclass can...See more
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Customer avatar
Thony D October 01, 2020 7:57 am UTC
PURCHASER
I definitely meant 18th level, whoops. I said 15th because 18th is way too late for Druids to get that and I homebrew it so they get it sooner.

Are anomalies intended to work even if Dream Shape isn't active?
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Customer avatar
Marc W October 01, 2020 9:27 am UTC
CREATOR
Absolutely. Casting spells in wild shape just seems like such an amazingly unique and flavorful thing for druids that it's unfortunate they only get it at level 18. Maybe only let them cast spells like a half caster in wild shape. (1st-level spells at 3rd level, 2nd-level spells at 5th level, 3rd-level spells at 9th level etc.) I don't know but I think it's a good idea to do some kind of homebrew.

No, anomalies are just like normal manifestations in that way. But they give the player an additional choice which niche they want to fill in the mid- to late-game. They also give a lot of versatility to the Nightmare Eidolon because they can just use transformation to get one or multiple specific anomalies.
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Customer avatar
Thony D October 01, 2020 10:15 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I personally just let druids get access to it around 5th or so level. I do this because, well, most games don't actually reach late game. WoTC don't print modules above 10th level because they simply don't reach that high. The fact that versatility isn't something this class has until way late level is what worries me. Still, here's hoping.
Customer avatar
Payton H September 23, 2020 10:18 pm UTC
PURCHASER
I definitely like the theme of this class. I just have one question atm. How many flexibility points do you get? I see permanence points on the table, but I haven't found how many flexibility points you get.
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Customer avatar
Marc W September 24, 2020 5:04 am UTC
CREATOR
In the description of "Flexibility points": "When you receive this feature and at the end of every Long Rest thereafter, you can remove all of your Flexibility Points and roll a number of times on the Manifestations table equal to half your dream shifter level (rounded down) plus your Wisdom modifier. (minimum of one)" It's also in the Quick Guide on page 9. I didn't add it to the table because you always add your wisdom modifier to the number and I didn't want to write "+ Wisdom modifier" 20 times. Maybe I should just add a little space around this calculation as with "Spell Save DC" for example.
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Customer avatar
Marc W September 24, 2020 10:05 am UTC
CREATOR
There has been an update with better wording around Flexibility Points among other things.
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Customer avatar
Payton H September 24, 2020 9:37 pm UTC
PURCHASER
Thank you for the clarification! I read the update and I understand it better now. I can now fully enjoy the class without confusion. Amazing work!
Customer avatar
Thomas J September 23, 2020 1:30 am UTC
PURCHASER
It's very interesting, though some of the Flexibility and Manifestation points are a bit confusing.
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Customer avatar
Marc W September 23, 2020 6:17 am UTC
CREATOR
Thank you, Thomas. It is admittedly complex at first. Do you mean the Flexibility/Permanence Points system as a whole or certain Manifestations?
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Customer avatar
Thomas J September 26, 2020 5:29 pm UTC
PURCHASER
The system as a whole. Calculating the points is slightly confusing, though reading back that there are plans for some revision to wording does bring hope that this class could a true stand alone that acts wacky on its own.

Also I noticed that you put requirements for those already in the class to be able to multiclass- other classes don't have that, just a multiclass- minimum for setting a level into the class itself. This is not a major thing, just an observation.
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Customer avatar
Marc W September 26, 2020 6:21 pm UTC
CREATOR
Version 1.1 is up and ready. If you have the 1.0 version, definitely get the update.
I checked quickly and I'm pretty sure other classes have the same multiclass restrictions.
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File Last Updated:
March 27, 2024
This title was added to our catalog on September 22, 2020.