Hypnos (The Nightmare Court)

Hypnos is sleep personified, the one member of the Nightmare Court who never leaves his bed of glass. This villain favors dreams of inadequacy and frustration, seeking to destroy a dreamer’s self-esteem through endless nocturnal episodes. He also has the ability to affect the waking world through a combination of suggestion and mesmerism.

Hypnos appears as a gentleman of high station, a tall man dressed in impeccably tailored suits. His black hair and thick mustache are always perfectly trimmed and neat. A monocle connected to his vest pocket by a gold chain covers his right eye. He is always seen in eternal slumber, resting within a glass coffin, his arms folded peacefully across his chest. Only his right eye, the one behind the monocle, is ever open. Indeed, it never closes, but is instead filled with a maniacal light. Although he appears to be dead, Hypnos is not an undead creature.

Though Hypnos’s mouth never moves, his voice continuously whispers throughout his lonely tower like a chill autumn breeze. It speaks to wanderers and dreamers alike, taunting and ridiculing them while also urging them to commit terrible arts of violence.

Combat: Hypnos has no physical means of attack, but he has other weapons available. The Spire of Sleep, Hypnos’s lair in the City of Nod, has formidable defenses of its own, as described in the rules book (TSR The Nightmare Lands). If a wanderer should breach these defenses, then Hypnos is forced to make use of his own powers.

Both Hypnos and his glass coffin can only be damaged by weapons of +3 enchantment of better. The coffin has 40 hit points.

Hypnos can gate an ennui or other servant to his side at will when he needs minions to protect him.

Hypnos can induce sleep by whispering a drowsy lullaby. He can use this power three times per day, directing the sleep-inducing tones either within a particular dreamscape or inside the Spire of Sleep. Everyone within the affected area must save vs. spell or fall into a deep sleep for 1d6+1 turns. A dispel magic cast on a victim will awaken him early. A wanderer affected by this magical sleep has his dream-self thrust into a dreamscape. A dreamer who fails the save is paralyzed and his physical body drops into a deep coma for the duration of the effect.

This Court member is a master of mesmerism. He can bend another’s will, planting subconscious suggestions in dreamers or literally controlling the mind of a wanderer. If Hypnos directs his will at a target, that target makes a Wisdom check at -6 to fight off his influence. Hypnos can bend the wills of as many as six victims at a time. Dreamers who fail the save receive a single subconscious command that manifests in the waking world. The command can take any form, but commands that force characters to behave against their alignments get an additional Wisdom check (this time at -2) to overcome the suggestion. Wanderers behave as if charmed until Hypnos releases them or they succeed at the Wisdom -6 check (attempts can be made once per turn).

Habitat/Society: Hypnos resides in the Spire of Sleep in the City of Nod, a place that seems to be a living extension of its master. See the rules book for details.

Ecology: Dreams of failure and humiliation feed Hypnos, and he cultivates dreamers to provide a fertile crop of frustration and inadequacy.