Somnias

Singular; Somnia. Plural: Somnias.

I have never slept so well before Gre'bel joined our group. While he stands out like a sore thumb with his salmon-pink skin and his overly-dramatic outfit, and at times feels almost too kind to us, I can push all that aside if it means him being with us means I can sleep soundly. Sure, he feeds off my dreams, but better than then whatever is inside my brain like those aberrations down below. I just hope he doesn't misunderstand if I ever dream of fried calamari. - Korrey, halfling fighter.

While they may share their appearance with the dreaded flayers, somnias are a living antithesis to what they are. Feeding entirely on the dreams and nightmares of other creatures, the very existence of others is what keeps them alive. No matter the hatred their appearance may bring, many house themselves within the hidden corners of societies, using their psionic heritage to protect their friends and enemies against the throes of death and insanity.

Art by Maxkayart!

Tentacled Telepaths

Somnia's resemble octopi-like humanoids, their tentacled faces, hair, and eyes providing a visually-tied connecting to now extinct celaphopod-folks. Yet, they share no ancestry, their traits instead the result of reality-warping insanity from aberrations. Instead, they possess innate mental abilities, be it telepathy, minor magic, and the lack of need for sleep.

Still, their smooth-skinned complexion varies in bright colors of pinks, blues, reds, and greens. However, no somnia has been recorded with the purple complexion of their Illithid cousins.

A somnia generally has eight tentacles masking their mouths, their size and length varying greatly between individuals. The amount adorning their skulls as hair does not share this amount, allowing somnias to vary between bald to dozens of tentacle hairs. These tentacles are often colored lighter or darker than their skin, often etched with unique markings to further stand out.

Somnia's are agendered at birth, lacking sexual organs due to their reproduction and birth being done through psionic dreams. Despite this, these folks have adopted gendered styles based on the surrounding races around them. This is most often seen through them altering their tentacle arrangement based on which gender they best associate with, or simply by personal preference. Oftentimes, male somnias have flowy mouth tentacles while their hair is strewn tight, visually akin to tied hair. Female somnias are often associated with the reverse, their mouth tentacles held together while their hair flows free.

Somnians will often wear veils overtop their mouths in public places. Their styles of clothings however vary greatly, often the results of the dreams they consume and the outfits inside them. Often-times, they prefer colorful and dramatic pieces of clothing.

Dreams Manifested

Somnia's have existed for less than 700 years, their traits and abilities a direct copy of the dreadful Illithid. Records state of a great conflict between aberrants citadels deep below Galdera, the psionic energy growing to such a level that in their sleep, the energy brought forth their nightmares into a physical form; a peaceful, sane, mockery of themselves. Somnias quickly escaped this underground chaos, finding solace atop the surface with the more peaceful and sane-minded humanoid races.

Due to their origins, Somnia's require dreams to reproduce. They can reproduce with any other humanoid, the two sharing one dream and imagining a newborn together before waking up with the baby in their arms.

Caretakers of Sleep

While their ancestors may feast off the brains of the living, somnias instead feast off resting psionic energy, most often sourced through dreams and nightmares. This consumption somehow provides them physical nourishment, with dreams akin to proteins and grains while nightmares are akin to healthy fats and greens. Those who have their dreams consumed often enjoy a great nights sleep, their mind warded from possible mind-probing.

While their appearance may bring fear and caution to many humanoid folks, somnias nevertheless find solace in large cities, isolated regions, or amongst other surnatural races. Their psionic abilities and general outlook towards pacifism and life often lands them in the works of mental guardians, advisors, therapists, and concierges.

Somnia Traits

Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Intelligence score increases by 1.

Art by Necromoss!

Age. Somnias can live up for up to 150 years before old age takes them.
Creature Type. You are Humanoid, but count as an Aberration for the purposes of being detected.
Rarity. Scarce. Towns of Dream-Eaters are incredibly rare, and most find themselves as adventurers due to the common mistake of them being identified as their deadly ancestors. However, there do exists a few cities where these folks can call home.
Size. Somnias measure around four to seven feet tall, their mouth tentacles usually around three inches to a foot long. You are Medium or Small (your choice when selecting this race).
Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.
Darkvision. Your vision is adept to dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of blue.
Dream-Hunter. You don’t need to sleep nor eat. You can finish a long rest in 6 hours if you spend it in a inactive state, meditating and eating the dreams of any creatures within range of your telepathy.
- A sleeping creature within the range of your telepathy is immune to any other effects that require them to dream, like the *Dream* spell, until they are no longer in the range of your telepathy. These creatures also finish their long rest one hour faster if they spend the entire duration within this telepathic range.
Innate Spellcasting. You know the Encode Thoughts cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the Sleep spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the Levitate spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells (choose upon making your character).
Telepathy. You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see, provided the creature is within a number of feet of you equal to 15 times your proficiency bonus. You don't need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic communication, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.
'''Tentacled Mouth.*** Your tentacled face is a natural weapon, which counts as a simple melee weapon with which you are proficient. Your tentacles deals 1d6 psychic damage on a hit.
- If you were to bring a creature to 0 hit points through your tentacle attack, they fall unconscious and are automatically stabilized.

d6	Somnia Characteristics
1	I like to use my mouth-tentacles to make all sorts of funny gestures, as if they were a second pair of hands.
2	I make random noises when I speak telepathically to make strangers think i'm speaking some unknown language.
3	At times, I think about how my friend's brain would taste like. I hope these thoughts are nothing more than intrusive ones.
4	I can't eat if my companions don't rest, so i'm often described as an overbearing parent making sure their kid goes to bed.
5	I study wildlife and the extraordinary not for society, but to find out what their dreams taste like!
6	When needed, I telepathy to act as the good conscience in people's heads.