See also Common Magickal Effects.

Notes on Magick and the Dreaming

Any mage can see chimerical reality or the Near Dreaming with use of Mind 1/Spirit 1.

Only Dreamspeakers and other shamanistic-type magi can step sideways into the Dreaming with Spirit 3. However, Dreamspeakers can bring other people with them, and of course any fae can enchant a magi as per the usual rules. Mages who interact regularly with changelings, or who have a guide, may attempt to enter the Dreaming.

Any mage can enter a Dream Realm with Mind 3. However, this is simply a fancy way of saying that magi can control their own and other people's dreams with Mind 3. This is not the same as entering the Dreaming.

In the Dreaming, chimerical damage will kill you like real damage. The Dreaming should be considered self-aware and able to defend itself. For example, in Dreams and Nightmares, the Dreaming simply destroyed a Nephandus who tried to summon its demon master to the Dreaming to corrupt the dreams of all mortals.

How Magic Works in the Dreaming

Mages often find the dreaming defies their magick. The laws of physics no longer apply in the same way, and all their beliefs in the Spheres fall short in the reality of the Dreaming. What should occur seldom does, as the Dreaming makes the rules in its domain. An attempt to cast lightning from the sky is more likely to conjure a chimerical nightmare than it is to generate electricity.

In most cases, the results of these attempts are harmless, and after a fashion mages can indeed work magick while they visit Dream Realms, but the end results are likely to work properly only if the mage can comprehend the Arts and Realms of the changelings, including the use of bunks. Mages simply cannot leave the Dreaming with more knowledge than they had when they entered. Despite their awesome abilities within the waking world, even the Awakened are susceptible to dreams.

The Near Dreaming

Within the Near Dreaming, which includes some kithain freeholds, mortal magic is still able to be used though the results as noted above may not be what were intended by the caster. The following rules will apply:

Correspondence – Requires 3 successes minimum for any effect to even work. A botch will shunt the caster to a random location within the Near Dreaming, or perhaps out of the Dreaming entirely, stripping them of their enchantment.
Entropy – Any use of this Sphere beyond sensory magic only will cause the Firchlis to raise up and sweep through the area, as long as the area is not a stable location such as a freehold.
Forces – This Sphere is normally unaffected, but all magick is cast at a +2 difficulty, and any botch will cause a wild and unpredictable effect.
Life - This Sphere is normally unaffected but all magick is cast at a +2 difficulty, and any botch will cause a wild and unpredictable effect. Life magick must be combined with Mind magick to heal or harm changelings.
Matter - This Sphere is normally at a +2 difficulty, and any botch will cause a wild and unpredictable effect. It should be noted that Matter will not affect denizens of the Dreaming, as these are made of Glamour and not matter/
Mind – This Sphere may be cast at a –2 difficulty, but any botch will cause a wild and unpredictable effect.
Prime – Any use of Prime may call forth nightmares or chimerae to plague the caster, drawn by the smell of their strange ‘Glamour’. A botch will cause the Dreaming itself to retaliate against the mage, likely ending in their removal from the Dreaming and stripping them of their enchantment. Further punishment may occur.
Spirit – This Sphere may be cast at a –2 difficulty, but any botch will cause a wild and unpredictable effect.
Time – Any use of this sphere will result in immediate removal from the Dreaming upon casting and stripping of their enchantment.

NOTE: Any magic cast cannot have a difficulty lower than 3.

The Far Dreaming

Correspondence – This Sphere requires 5 successes minimum for any effect to even work. A botch will shunt the character completely out of the Dreaming, cause 2 levels of unsoakable bashing damage and strip the character of their enchantment.
Entropy – Any use at all of this sphere will cause the Firchlis to violently sweep through the area, likely bringing nightmares or chimerae in its wake.
Forces - This Sphere is normally unaffected but all magic is cast at a +4 difficulty. Any botch will cause a wild and unpredictable effect.
Life - This Sphere is normally unaffected but all magic is cast at a +4 difficulty. Any botch will cause a wild and unpredictable effect.
Matter - This Sphere is normally unaffected but all magic is cast at a +4 difficulty. Any botch will cause a wild and unpredictable effect.
Mind – This Sphere may be cast at a –1 difficulty. Any botch will cause a wild and unpredictable effect.
Prime – Any use of Prime will call forth nightmares or chimerae to plague the caster, usually in great numbers, drawn by the smell of their strange ‘Glamour’. A botch will cause the Dreaming itself to retaliate against the mage, definitely ending in their removal from the Dreaming and stripping them of their enchantment. Possible severe injury or death may occur from this.
Spirit – This Sphere may be cast at a –1 difficulty. Any botch will cause a wild and unpredictable effect.
Time – Any use of this Sphere will result in immediate removal from the Dreaming upon casting and stripping of their Enchantment. Upon a botch the caster will emerge from the Dreaming having aged several years and with no memories of what has happened to them in the intervening time.

The Deep Dreaming

- No mortal can enter the Deep Dreaming without first being enchanted. The only exceptions are human mages, and even the Awakened Prodigals find the way difficult. Even if they succeed in breaking the Mistweir, they lose all recollections of the waking world unless they've been Enchanted by changelings.

- Those dreamers foolish enough to consume the foods they find in the Deep Dreaming are enchanted for an extra ten days per morsel consumed. Additionally, all suffer the results of being 'fairy stroked': they lose all sense of self and often wander for months or years with no idea who they are.

- Mortal magick (as per Mage or Sorcerer) has no effects in the Deep Dreaming. Whatever they attempt is certain to fail. The Dreaming tolerates no conscious mortal influences ... unless they follow certain rules set forth within the heart of Arcadia.

A Final Note on Magic versus Chimerical Reality

If any Mage wants to cast Awakened Magick on chimerae or chimerical reality, they must first be able to perceive it. If you can't see or hear what you want to affect, trying to do so can be attempted but it will be at difficulty of 9 with five additional successes needed to achieve the same result. This is because you are essentially trying to hit something completely blind.

If you can perceive chimerical reality by some means yet aren't enchanted, the spell is done at a +1 difficulty due to the lack of a sympathetic connection.

If you are enchanted, and thus can perceive and interact with chimerical reality, the spell is cast at standard difficulty.

Any magic that is attempting to affect chimerical reality - whether in the Dreaming or in the Autumn World - requires the mage use Mind 3 and Spirit 3 in the spell, as well as whatever other Spheres are needed in order for the spell to work. Chimerical reality is the real world to changelings. To mages, chimerical reality doesn't exist unless they are enchanted, so a mage's subconscious won't believe enough, even if they are enchanted, for them to cast their magic on it without the Mind/Spirit to help force that belief into concrete form.

The one exception is for mages who have sworn an oath to the Dreaming (such as the Oath of the Compact of Cottonopolis). Such mages do not need Mind 3 and Spirit 3 in addition to their normal Spheres, because they have voluntarily tied themselves to the Dreaming, and the connection works both ways.

The Mists

Mages are affected by the mists - Delerium (for Werewolf) and the Fog (for Wraith) are internal to the mage's mind, and thus mages are immune to them due to their enlightened state. The Mists are a defense mechanism of the Dreaming, against which the mage has no defense. This means they will tend to forget what they see in the Near dreaming, and will not leave the Far dreaming with any more knowledge than they entered.

Affecting Banality - either increasing it, decreasing it, moving it around, or trying to import it into the Dreaming - will be vulgar with witnesses, since you're manipulating a force that is anathema to the environment you're in. Trying to do anything that involves cold iron (except maybe attempting to destroy or expel a piece that's already there) will probably not only count as vulgar with witnesses, but also either have a higher difficulty than usual and/or require a few threshold successes to work.