Frequently Answered Questions
Game Mechanics Qs & As
General FAQ · Game Mechanics FAQ · Magic FAQ
At face value, the comment might seem true. However, the intention in Rêve is for the High Dreamer to reserve his spells for use on the fly, and only cast spells directly in extremis. Naturally, rituals cannot be reserved.
Spell dream point costs are intentionally (relatively) high. Even an exceptionally gifted High Dreamer might have at most 15 dream points to begin with. She can temporarily raise those (moon drug, defeating Violet Lotuses in the Dreamlands, etc.) but at most can only have 3x her Dream in "spell points" (and it is nearly unheard-of for a High Dreamer ever to get close to that 45). Even a very experienced High Dreamer will at most have maybe a 17 Dream. It's theoretically possible to go higher, but the most I've ever dared assign even an NPC is 18.
Now, consider Air to Fire: a fixed ball of intensely hot (=forge) fire up to 3 meters in diameter, which can last from one hour (120 minutes) to 12 hours. It costs 6 dream points to cast, plus whatever your High Dreamer paid in dream points to trance and enter the Dreamlands. At her "normal" level of dream points (15) she could theoretically cast two of them before resting. My NPC super-High Dreamer with 17 Dream can cast 3 (less, really, because he too had to spend points elsewhere). Even hopped up on moon drug (say +10 dream points) the outrageous NPC can only cast 4, and then he's pretty much tapped out.
On the other hand, if said NPC has, say, a +9 Oneiros (!!), he can RESERVE up to 9 Oneiros spells. Sure it will take him days in preparation, but he can theoretically get off NINE of them at minimal dream point cost--leaving him fresh to perform a ritual of, say, Counterspell on the fly if need be.
So the bottom line is that I encourage player incarnating High Dreamers in my games to prep their spells in advance, when I can run their Dreamland encounters separately. That keeps True Dreamers' sideline time to a minimum, but still allows for enough time in the Dreamlands to keep High Dreamers happy and infuse the game with it's particular flavor.
You betcha red rider; just not a drow (see General FAQ). While it is true that Journeyers implies human characters, and that the game is anthropocentric, there are 14 additional humanoid races presented in Worlds.
By the time you've read through Journeyers you'll probably already have figured out that this is not a game of outlandish pyrotechnics and improbable, uncanny abilities. Rêve characters are skill-based more than "powers"-based (with the obvious exception of High Dreamers). In other words, the emphasis is on role-playing, not power stunts. If you seek to play non-human characters for their extra special abilities, you'll be disappointed. But if you're looking for new roleplaying opportunities and the chance to play from a different species' point of view, you might enjoy the unique cyan, hounders, mockturtles, and saurians the game offers.
Technically, that's possible. In reality, though, it's so rare I've only ever seen it happen once. If you want to play a High Dreamer, you should start play as one.
Naturally any Dream Keeper may add skills as she or he sees fit. Rêve skills are by no means exhaustive (RoleMaster, anyone?) but rather seek to be general and playable. The unique pairing of skills and characteristics in the elegant action resolution system allows the same skill to be used in a multitude of ways depending on which characteristic is paired with it.
Want to fight? Use Mêlée and One-handed sword. Intimidate a crowd? Appearance and One-handed sword. Evaluate a potential opponent's ability? Sight and One-handed sword. Determine the quality of a sword? Possibly use Empathy or Sight and One-handed sword. There's no need for separate fighting, intimidation, or evaluation skills here. So you can focus on roleplaying, not ruleplaying.
Come to think of it, there aren't ANY character classes in Rêve. In Rêve, you create the character you want by assigning, not rolling your stats and then buying the skills you feel are appropriate to the concept.
As for priests, there are no gods in Rêve. A lengthier discussion of this is presented in Book Three, Worlds, so we won't go into it here. But note: an absence of gods doesn't necessarily mean an absence of religions. You could play your priestess as a High Dreamer who believes that her gifts are granted by some divine entity(ies), or doesn't believe that they are but cynically uses her powers to make others believe so.
But you won't find a pantheon of super-Pokémon to worship here... Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Are there magic items? Are you kidding? One of the four Draconic Ways ("schools of magic", if you will), Narcos, is entirely devoted to their fabrication. A complete system for making magic items by player characters is included in Book Two: In the Dreamtime. That said, don't go looking for the inventory of a "magic shop" in Worlds. What Rêve gives you are the tools for devising your own magic items, but not a ready-made array of cookie-cutter magic items. In other words, the magic items you get on the one hand are the ones you (as player or Dream Keeper) invent, while on the other hand a complete system is in place to guide that creation.
Well, in that respect Rêve is like the real world: our moral and ethical choices are rarely summed up in two-word descriptions or pat philosophies. Wanna play a necromancer? Go ahead. Just don't come crying to us when angry villagers come around and send you on to your next incarnation with torches and pitchforks..
That's right, there aren't; if you die, you die. Except for that reincarnation thing, which is automatic, but not without its price. See Chapter 7 of Journeyers: it's all there. Rêve very deliberately has no spells for healing wounds, and it is strongly recommended that the Dream Keeper not add any, nor allow players (or non-player characters) to devise any. The damage system is intentionally designed to make receiving wounds not only a mechanism for sustaining injury, but also degrades a character's performance significantly. As you take damage or grow fatigued or get drunk, you fight, cast spells, pick pockets, etc. much more poorly.
Combat is meant to be serious business, and not undertaken lightly. However it is possible for even beginning Narcomancers and Alchemists to enchant potions made from healing herbs which will heal a character of spectacular damage rather quickly, but such healing draughts produce a deep sleep and are not appropriate to the heat of battle. This, too, is deliberate. The game makes it impossible for one character to be magically healing others in the midst of combat, on demand. Just in time hit points? Not in Rêve...
Nice try. First, keep in mind that being ambidextrous in Rêve only allows you to use either hand for primary weapons (so you can fight effectively with, say, a sword and shield in either hand, assuming you have those skills). It does not allow you to attack with two weapons or gain extra attacks in a round.
The Rêve game system does allow extra attacks under certain circumstances (as in the case of speed particulars, see Journeyers, Chapter 6), but tends to limit combat maneuvers to within plausible limits. With respect to the specific question, any eligible attack may either be parried or dodged. If you elect one defense, and it fails, you cannot then attempt a second defense; just suck it up and take the damage.
Which raises an important tactical point. If a defender uses all of his or her actions defensively (i.e., a first parry with one weapon, then another parry with a main gauche or shield, and a dodge), four assailants will defeat a lone defender, as the fourth attacker will essentially get a free shot. A very skilled combatant may fairly frequently roll enough particular successes to get extra defenses by claiming speed particulars (again, see Chapter 6 in Journeyers) but statistically these will not generally be enough to save him. In short, an unruly gang of common thugs can bring your glorious character down. Four on one odds are not good, no matter how great a swordsman you are.
