Animate Dream

Animate dreams are excellent adversaries on the Ethereal Plane, the Demiplane of Dreams, or wherever else the mind is more important than the body.

Adventurers traveling to the Ethereal to assault a xill encampment find it in chaos.  The animate dreams the xills had allied were ideal for sapping the wills of the xills’ potential hosts, but they have eroded the camp discipline to such a degree with their feeding and spell-like abilities that the camp is at war with itself.  Can the adventurers capitalize on this, or will their presence call the camp back into line?

A fighter killed while asleep survives as an animate dream, her consciousness having been far from her body when the fatal attack occurred.  Her friends want to rescue her, but she is a deer-limbed apparition currently bottled on a night hag’s shelf, to be boiled in a dream cauldron if the party cannot reach her in time. Even if they do succeed, in her new form she may try to feed on them.

Crystal balls and magic mirrors are rare for a reason—animate dreams live inside.  Those who scry too often and without strong wills often find themselves attacked by animate dream fiends wearing their faces.

—Pathfinder Bestiary 2 29