Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares

Errata / Updates

Power Cards

• Core game - 1st and 2nd printing
  Errata for timing on Vengeance of the Dead -- The base (pre-threshold) effect text should read, "3 Fear. After each effect that destroys Town/City/Dahan in target land, 1 Damage per Town/City/Dahan destroyed."

  What the Power does is identical, but the timing is different ("after" instead of "when"). This mostly only matters for Bringer of Dreams & Nightmares.

  (Eg: A land has two Towns and a City with 1 Damage. Bringer of Dreams & Nightmares uses Vengeance of the Dead. Lightning's Swift Strike uses max level Thundering Destruction to destroy Town, Town, City. The rephrased version clearly does 3 "Damage" after the complete resolution of Thundering Destruction; the original version was ambiguous.)

  Fixed in 3rd printing.
  Tags: Damage, Timing, Vengeance of the Dead, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, 0 more...

Frequently Asked Questions

Elements and Elemental Thresholds

• If you gain a flexible Element (e.g., an "Any" Element, or multiple Elements separated by slashes) from something other than a Presence Track, when do you choose which Element to gain?
  When directly gaining flexible Elements from an Action mid-turn, like from "Absorb Essence" or Lure of the Deep Wilderness’ 3rd Growth option, you must choose a specific Element immediately.

  Passive Elements on Presence Tracks or in Bonus Spaces can be chosen at any time. [Core rulebook, p. 14, last item under Presence Tracks]
  Tags: "Any" element, Elements, Growth, Presence track, 9 more...
• Can you use the threshold effects of Innate Powers, even if you can't use the effects above them?
  Yes, each line is evaluated independently, depending on the Elements you activate the power with.

  (You are allowed to pretend you have fewer Elements than you actually have, but need to be consistent for the whole power.)
  (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Elements, Sparking Aspect (Lightning's Swift Strike), Haven Aspect (River Surges in Sunlight), Foreboding Aspect (Shadows Flicker Like Flame), 54 more...

General Play

• When an effect lets you play a card, does that count against your allowed number of card plays?
  No. The number of card plays on your Presence track only affects how many cards you can play as part of the "Play and Pay For Power Cards" action in the Spirit Phase. Cards played any other way (usually in the Fast Phase when instructed to do so by a Power) are in addition to those limits.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Playing Power Cards, Spur on with Words of Fire, Unlock the Gates of Deepest Power, Gift of the Primordial Deeps (Serpent Slumbering Beneath the Island), 14 more...
• Is there an ordering or priority for action modifications? It seems weird that you can get a benefit from something being destroyed even if you save it from destruction.
  Yes:

  • First change quantity (eg: "Pour Time Sideways");
  • Then do any canceling or replacement (eg: "Flowing and Silent Forms Dart By" / "A Year of Perfect Stillness");
  • Finally do any other sort of additional or altered effects (eg: threshold on "Instruments of Their Own Ruin").

  The practical upshot of this is mostly "you can't both prevent something from happening and do extra stuff because it's happening" – e.g., if Volcano Looming High's Presence would be destroyed, but it's saved somehow, you don't get to deal damage.

  If a modifier cancels just part of something, modifiers to that part don't apply. Eg: "Entrap the Forces of Corruption" doesn't stop Blight from being added, but it does stop it from cascading, so another modifier which changed how cascades worked wouldn't apply.

  As before, if you have multiple modifiers with no clear order, you get to pick which happens first. For instance: you play "Infestation of Venomous Spiders" with threshold on a land with Dahan about to Ravage. A Fear Card says "Invaders do not Ravage in lands with Dahan". When that Ravage would happen, there are two different "skip this Ravage" modifiers. You get to decide which one to do first, so can choose it to be the Venomous Spiders. This wouldn't be true if the entire Ravage Step got skipped, or if the Ravage Card were changed to match different lands – those happen before you ever reach the individual Ravage Action – but as of Jagged Earth, the only Fear cards that work this way are "Explorers Are Reluctant" and "Immigration Slows", levels 2 and 3.

  This is an addition to published rules – the intent is that it will be included in the rulebook of a future expansion.
  Tags: Action Modifiers, Skipping Actions, Pour Time Sideways (Fractured Days Split the Sky), Entrap the Forces of Corruption, 26 more...
• When an effect lets a Spirit play a Power Card outside of the Spirit Phase, does the Spirit immediately resolve that Power?
  No, except in the rare case where the effect explicitly says the Spirit also gets to resolve the Power in addition to playing it (e.g. the "Ethereal Conjunction" Event). The vast majority of the time, the new Power Card works like any other: resolvable in the Phase in its "Speed" box when not in the middle of anything else.
  Tags: Playing Power Cards, Resolving Powers, Timing, Spur on with Words of Fire, 12 more...

Scenarios

• In Destiny Unfolds, if you only have Major Powers in your Destiny, can you gain Minor Powers normally from the deck? (Or vice versa)
  Generally no. Rather than choosing a deck to gain from, you choose a single Power in your Destiny to gain. If your Destiny only has Major Powers, you must gain a Major Power.

  However, if the source of the Power Card forces you to gain a Minor Power (e.g., "Gift of Power") and you have none in your Destiny, gain one normally from the Minor Power Deck (and similarly for an effect that specifically gains Major Powers).
  Tags: Gaining Power Cards, Call on Midnight's Dreams (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Boon of Ancient Memories (Shifting Memory of Ages), Unlock the Gates of Deepest Power, 12 more...
• In the Dahan Insurrection scenario, if Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares moves Dahan do they do real damage or shadow damage?
  They deal real damage.

  It is the scenario that is causing the damage, not Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, so its special rule does not apply.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, Dahan Insurrection, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Transforming Aspect (Heart of the Wildfire), 0 more...

Setup

• Can every Spirit be played in a solo game?
  Yes, it is possible to play and win with each Spirit in a solo game.

  It is possible to win even with Spirits with special restrictions like Ocean's Hungry Grasp or Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares. Some Spirits will be harder to win with than others (particularly against certain Adversaries), but the difficult Spirits may not be the ones you expect.
  Tags: Solo games, Ocean's Hungry Grasp, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares

Spirit Phase

• Do I have to do everything shown in a Growth option I pick?
  Yes. You must do everything shown if possible, though you can do it in any order.

  Usually, there's no downside: Reclaiming, gaining Energy/Power Cards, and adding Presence are almost strictly good. (You can always reposition a Presence already on the island when adding Presence [p. 14], so "running out" isn't a concern.) Spirits with "Move a Presence up to Range N" Growth effects can Move it 0. However, a few Spirits do include things you'll have to work around, including:

  • Ocean's Hungry Grasp often requires you to Push or Gather Presence;
  • Heart of the Wildfire often adds Blight along with Presence, so being required to add Presence can be dangerous;
  • Downpour Drenches the World and Ember-Eyed Behemoth both discard Power Cards as part of one of their Growth options;
  • Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine must let pieces escape the Endless Dark.
  • Several Spirits have Growth options that add Presence to particular land types, which could force Presence outside of that land type to be repositioned accordingly in the unlikely case where the Spirit has no Presence left on Presence tracks and no Presence on the island is already in that land type (else it could be repositioned into the land it's already in). Note that "a land with your Presence" can't cause this problem, since that allows any Presence to be repositioned into a land its already in.

  If you can't do something in a Growth option, do as much as you can and skip the rest – you're free to pick Growth options where you can't successfully complete all of the instructions. (E.g., if you Push Presence from each Ocean, and there's a board where none of your Presence is in the Ocean, you simply don't Push Presence on that board.)

  Nevertheless, you can't skip paying an explicit "cost" for a Growth option, which must be paid in full order to pick that option and perform the associated actions.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Growth, Repositioning Presence, Ocean's Hungry Grasp, Heart of the Wildfire, 15 more...
• When your Presence track gives you "Any" element, when do you have to choose what element that is? Can you change what it is during the turn?
  You can wait until the middle of your turn to choose what it is, but once you've set it for a turn, it can't change that turn [base rulebook p. 14, last item under Presence Tracks]

  This holds true even if you're restricted on which Elements you can choose (e.g., Wounded Waters Bleeding having a "Water / Animal" space instead of a full "Any"). [Nature Incarnate rulebook p. 9]

  This contrasts with the timing of choosing flexible Elements gained from different sources.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Elements, "Any" element, Timing, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, 10 more...

Spirits and Innate Powers

• Can Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares combine Damage from multiple Powers - eg, use a "2 Damage" Power and a "1 Damage" Power to earn 5 Fear for an unhurt City?
  No. First the "2 Damage" Power resolves and does nothing (because that Power would not have destroyed an unhurt City). Then the "1 Damage" Power resolves and does nothing (because it would not have destroyed an unhurt City). Neither has any lingering effect of any kind.

  If it were a single Power doing 2 Damage then 1 Damage, it would earn the Fear, because then that Power would have destroyed an unhurt City. For each Power Bringer uses, briefly imagine a universe where you resolve the entire Power normally. Whenever it would destroy an Invader in that universe, in the real game you earn 0/2/5 Fear and Push it if it's an Explorer or Town.
  Tags: Damage, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares)
• Against Tsardom of Russia Level 2+, if Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares uses a Power that would destroy Explorers, can it get the bonus Fear from Russia?
  Yes. Both Russia's Level 2 and To Dream a Thousand Deaths modify what happens when you destroy the Explorers; you get to choose which one to use.

  If not using the Violence Aspect, you could choose to use To Dream a Thousand Deaths if for some reason you didn't want the Fear.

  This interaction is a change from the normal modifier rules specifically for Russia + Bringer. In general, pieces can't be saved from destruction (as Russia Level 2 does) when Bringer would directly destroy or Damage them, since Bringer never directly destroys or Damages anything other than its own Presence.
  Tags: Action Modifiers, Saved From Destruction, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Tsardom of Russia, 1 more...
• When Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares adds Blight, does that destroy Presence?
  Yes.

  Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares can add real Blight, and it's the Blight that destroys the Presence.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Blight, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares)
• Can Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares use "To Dream a Thousand Deaths" to generate Fear/Push Invaders that are protected by the Heart-Tree Incarna?
  Yes. Since "To Dream a Thousand Deaths" ensures that Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares doesn't even attempt to deal Damage or destroy any Invaders/Dahan/Beasts with its Powers, there's no destruction for the Heart-Tree Incarna to prevent.

  (This could have been ruled either way – "To Dream a Thousand Deaths" is structured in a way that makes clean ruling difficult. The ruling is partly for thematic/story reasons and partly so that players who already played it this way won't feel like they cheated.)
  Tags: Damage, Destroy, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, 2 more...
• If Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares uses "Mists of Oblivion," do they get the Power Card's bonus fear for destroying Towns/Cities? (Relatedly, can they trigger "Vengeance of the Dead"?)
  No. No Towns/Cities are actually destroyed, so "Mists of Oblivion" grants no bonus Fear. And similarly, "Vengeance of the Dead" doesn't deal any Damage.

  "To Dream a Thousand Deaths" only changes what happens when Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares would destroy/damage Invaders. It doesn't change what happens if an effect checks whether or not Invaders actually got destroyed.
  (Discussion elsewhere) (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Fear, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, Mists of Oblivion, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), 5 more...
• When Oceans are in play, can Invader or Dahan pieces remain in the Ocean if they avoid Drowning?
  No, Invaders and Dahan are not allowed to exist in the Ocean long-term. If one manages to get there without being Drowned, move them to the closest legal land after finishing resolution of whatever got them there.

  In the base game, the edge-case where this can happen is if Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares uses Vengeance of the Dead (with threshold) on the Ocean itself. A Town/City/Dahan is moved to the Ocean, triggering Ocean In Play which Drowns it. Drowning (destroying) it triggers Vengeance of the Dead. If Bringer deals VotD's "damage" in an adjacent land to "destroy" a Town or Explorer and Push it into the Ocean, Ocean In Play can't trigger again, because actions can't trigger themselves, even indirectly. So the Town/Explorer isn't Drowned.

  In theory it can also happen if you use Infinite Vitality (with threshold) on the Ocean then Push Dahan into the Ocean, though that's usually a pointless play.
  Tags: Triggered Actions, Pieces, Drowning (Ocean's Hungry Grasp), Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, 2 more...
• If Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares Repeats a Power, can the Repeat "destroy" Invaders that were "destroyed" by the original Power use?
  Yes. The Repeat is considered a separate action from the original.

  This also means Bringer's Repeat cannot usefully combine Damage with its original – for instance a Repeated "2 Damage" Power couldn't do anything to an undamaged City. The original action would resolve, and 2 Damage isn't enough to destroy the City, so nothing happens. Then the second use of the Power resolves, and 2 Damage isn't enough to destroy the City, so nothing happens.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Repeat, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares
• If Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares does shadow damage to a damaged Town, causing Fear and Pushing it, does the damage get healed?
  No, Towns and Cities remain at whatever Damage they had taken before Bringer of Dreams and Nightmare used its power.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Damage, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Terror Stalks the Land (Breath of Darkness Down Your Spine), 1 more...
• What happens if Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares uses its special rule to push a Town into the Ocean on a board where Ocean's Hungry Grasp has presence?
  The Invader is Drowned, by Ocean's Hungry Grasp's special rule. It is Ocean's Hungry Grasp doing the destroying, so that works as normal.

  This generates 3 total Fear: two for the "destruction" by Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, plus another 1 Fear for the actual destruction by Ocean's Hungry Grasp.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Ocean's Hungry Grasp, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, Ocean In Play (Ocean's Hungry Grasp), To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), 0 more...
• Can Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares do real damage (destroying cities, etc) with Power X?
  The answer, in general, is 'no'. If the Power says "damage" or "destroy", it doesn't matter if it also says that Dahan, Beasts, Invaders, or anything else are doing that damage, the source is still ultimately Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares and is only nightmare damage.

  This applies even if the power has some other spirit doing something (eg, Blazing Renewal). If Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares played the power, it cannot do real damage.

  But: note that Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares can "remove" or "replace" Invaders without restriction, can trigger Invader Actions (ie, cause a Ravage, which will involve real damage), can modify how Invader actions work, and can usefully add Defense (without changing how the Dahan deal their retaliation damage in the Ravage).
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Veil the Night's Hunt, Manifestation of Power and Glory (Thunderspeaker), Instruments of their Own Ruin, Insatiable Hunger of the Swarm, 6 more...
• Can Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares' Powers benefit from Badlands?
  Yes.

  This isn't necessarily obvious: To Dream a Thousand Deaths affects the instructions of Bringer's powers (see FAQ), and unlike most damage modifiers, Badlands applies when the results of an action deal Damage (otherwise "Badlands don't apply if Damage is reduced to 0" makes no sense). So on first blush, Badlands shouldn't apply.

  However, the effects of To Dream a Thousand Deaths key off "what Invaders would this Damage/Destroy instruction have destroyed if this Power were doing Damage/Destruction to those Invaders normally?" – and the answer to that depends on Badlands.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Badlands, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Flame's Fury (Heart of the Wildfire), 1 more...
• If a Fear or Event effect causes damage, can Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares still use it?
  Fear and Event cards are not Powers, so the special rule To Dream a Thousand Deaths does not apply. Thus the player who is playing Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares can, for instance, do real damage with the Dahan Raid fear card.

  Thematically, the Dahan are actually doing a raid in the real world, it is not just a nightmare caused by Bringer. It also doesn't matter if it's a choice Event you pay Energy for: the damage is still real.

  Similarly, if Bringer uses a Defense power, the Dahan deal real damage during the Ravage phase as normal; it's the Dahan dealing damage, not Bringer.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Fear, Events, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, 0 more...
• What happens when Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares uses Instruments of their Own Ruin?
  The normal effect (Invaders with Strife deal damage), works like all damage-dealing powers used by Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares: it causes Fear and/or Pushing but does no actual Damage.

  However, the threshold effect (Invaders do Ravage damage to Invaders in adjacent lands) is not actually causing damage - it's modifying an upcoming Ravage Action - and therefore works normally.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, Instruments of their Own Ruin
• Can Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares combine Damage-dealing Powers usefully with Damage from other Spirits?
  It depends on ordering. Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares can take advantage of partially Damaged Invaders: e.g.: if another Spirit does 2 Damage to a City, then Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares could afterwards use a 1-Damage Power to earn 5 Fear (because 1 Damage would have destroyed the City). It could even use several Damaging Powers in a row to earn 5 Fear for each! But if Bringer uses a 1-Damage Power on an unhurt City, it will do nothing, and have no lingering effects that would interact with anything done later.

  For each Power Bringer uses, briefly imagine a universe where you resolve the entire Power normally. Whenever it would destroy an Invader in that universe, in the real game you earn 0/2/5 Fear and Push it if it's an Explorer or Town. But whatever Bringer does, it doesn't change the actual amount of damage on the piece.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Damage, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares)
• For the "Relentless Optimism" Event (Destroying Towns/Cities generates no fear), can Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares still gain Fear and Push?
  Yes, because Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares doesn't generate Fear for destroying Towns/Cities, it generates Fear via "To Dream a Thousand Deaths" instead of destroying Towns/Cities.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Relentless Optimism, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares), Transforming Aspect (Heart of the Wildfire), 0 more...
• What happens if Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares uses the threshold effect of Cast Down into the Briny Deep?
  Per its special rule, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares will not destroy the targeted board, nor anything on the targeted board other than its own Presence. Since all the Invaders there would be destroyed, they instead are pushed and/or generate Fear, per Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares' usual rules.
  (Discussion elsewhere)  Tags: Cast Down into the Briny Deep, Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares, To Dream a Thousand Deaths (Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares)