Somnivore

Description:

Somnivores - sometimes called dreamstealers or night terrors - are hazy spirits similar in appearance to ghosts, who tend to haunt a specific area or home. They feed by stealing the dreams of their sleeping victims, thereby preventing them from resting and gaining recovery. They are extremely weak and vulnerable, however, and present very little threat in direct combat.

Special:

Somnivores are eminently cautious, preferring never to be seen or detected. They will use their ability to vanish to move unseen between hiding under beds, inside closets, in attics, under stairwells, or anywhere people don’t normally look. They will stalk their victims, and make small totems and hexes to improve their ability to remain undetected in their hunting ground.

Somnivores feed by absorbing dreams from people who are sleeping, thereby preventing them from experiencing restful sleep. To feed, a somnivore must be within 3 hexes of a sleeping victim. When feeding, a somnivore attacks by rolling a 21C using their Mental attribute, the victim defends against this attack using their Stability. If the victim fails to defend, the somnivore steals their dreams, effectively draining 1d6+1 from a randomly chosen derivative (Health, Stamina, Concentration or Composure, but not Resolve) and preventing the victim from benefitting from recovery. The amount drained is restored to any of the the somnivore's damaged derivatives, and also provides 1/3 of its needed nourishment for the day. If a somnivore is able to feed off of three victims in a night, it will be satisfied, but if not, it will suffer 1d3 damage to a randomly chosen derivative for every victim fewer than three. Victims will be aware they have not rested or recovered, but will not be aware they are being fed upon, whether they defend or not, however in the case of a catastrophe for the somnivore, the victim will awaken wth a start due to a nightmare; perhaps this is a somnivore vomiting from gorging itself.

Somnivores have little interest in killing their victims and thereby losing their food source. They will prefer to find a place where they can consistently feed on a large number of victims - distributing their feeding over many victims over many nights so no one notices more than an occasional bad night's sleep. However, if food if scarce, multiple nights of having one's dreams stolen may lead victims to investigating. Discovered totems and hex dolls will be alarming to any who find them. If a somnivore is threatened with discovery, it might choose to kill its victims to cover its tracks before moving on.