Dream Seduction

Dream Seduction lets a stealthy commander take an enemy commander over to their own side, together with the troops that commander leads, and leave without a battle. The unit panel shows the ability by name and icon alone: the number it rolls against morale appears nowhere in the game.

It uses the same Seduce order as ordinary Seduction, given while the commander hides in an enemy province, and it spends the whole turn. Like assassination, it cannot be attempted while besieged or besieging a fort unless the seducer can fly or has scale walls.

The difference from ordinary seduction is an extra check in front: the target rolls Magic Resistance first, and only a target that loses that roll ever reaches the morale roll that decides the seduction. Losing the first roll costs the seducer nothing at all.

The 15 in MR roll is the same for every dream seducer. Trait value belongs to the morale roll alone, so Red Mistress with 20 gets past Magic Resistance no more easily than Lilot with 14.

• The target wins the Magic Resistance roll. Nothing happens. The seducer stays hidden and may try again next turn. The message reads "[Seducer] tried to project her wonderful dreams at [target], but the target resisted and no seduction attempt could be done".
• The target wins the morale roll by 5 or less. Nothing happens, and the target keeps the seducer's secret: "[Target] could not shy away from his duties. However [target] did not want [seducer] to get caught and did not give her away".
• The target wins the morale roll by 6 or more. The target attacks, and an assassination battle follows. A failed same-sex attempt always ends in a battle, whatever the margin.
• The seducer wins both rolls. The target and the troops under its command change sides, and the seducer leaves with the victim for the escape province. The victim's owner is told only that the commander "disappeared one night and was never seen again".

Two things are settled before any dice, and either can end the attempt on its own.

A target. The seducer takes one enemy commander in the province at random. Commanders that are sneaking themselves cannot be picked, and neither can a mount or anything else that belongs to another commander. With no eligible commander present, the order returns "[Seducer] did not find any enemy commander".

A way out. The seducer needs a province next to the target's that its own side holds, and both the seducer and the victim have to be able to enter it, so a sea province is no escape route for a land commander. A flying seducer that finds no such province escapes to its own capital instead, as long as the capital is still held. With neither, the attempt is called off before any roll: "With nowhere to run with the victim afterwards, [seducer] aborted the seduction attempt".

The capital route carries one restriction the ordinary route does not: the victim may not be larger than the seducer. Every dream seducer is size 4, so commanders of size 5 to 10 cannot be flown home, and the attempt fails into a battle instead.

Three rules bar a commander outright, regardless of rolled DRN:

• Pretender gods, prophets and creatures with the divine being trait. The attempt fails and a battle follows, however the rolls went. It is the same rule that keeps them safe from Charm.
• Commanders that are sneaking, which are never picked as a target.
• Any commander larger than the seducer.

Items that grant magic penetration add to the 15 of the first roll: Spell Focus, Ring of Wizardry, Ring of Sorcery, Shaman's Staff, Pearl of Light and The Flailing Hands give +1, and Rune Smasher, Eye of the Void, The Green Eye, Flail of Misfortune and The Trapped Dreams of Hruvur give +2. Only the penetration bonus itself counts here; the seducer's own magic levels add nothing.

Soul Scales adds +2 to the morale roll, and it is the only item that does. Beauty does not enter a dream seduction at all: Pendant of Beauty and Cat Charm raise the morale roll of ordinary Seduction only.

The engine knows two cases, Female and not female, and compares the two commanders. Against the other sex the morale roll runs as printed. Against the same sex the target adds +4 to its morale roll, and a failure ends in a battle rather than in silence. Ordinary seduction cannot cross the same-sex line at all, so this is where the two abilities differ most.

Cat Charm counts its wearer as female whatever it is, on either side of the attempt.

Bear Claw Talisman works the other way and cancels a Cat Charm, but it cannot take the Female trait off a creature born with it.

Ring of Warning and Clockwork Bird grant Warning 60, Eye Pendant and Eye of the Oracle grant Warning 80. The value is a percentage, rolled last of all, and it cancels the attempt outright: an attempt that had already won both rolls is cancelled too. Both sides are told, so the seducer's owner learns the target "got warned at the last moment". The same value protects against assassination.

The Undreaming ability does not apply. It raises Magic Resistance against a Sleep Aura and against nothing else.

Seven creatures carry the ability.

`#succubus <value>` grants the ability, and the value is the number used in the morale roll. It belongs with `#stealthy`, since a seducer that cannot sneak into an enemy province never gets to use it.

`#warning <bonus>` sets the percentage that cancels an incoming attempt, `#female` sets the sex the checks compare, and `#pen` on an item raises the first roll. The Soul Scales bonus to the morale roll has no modding command of its own.

• Seduction for the ordinary version, the Corruptor ability and the Siren's lure
• Magic Resistance for the first roll
• Morale for what the second roll is measured against
• Stealth for hiding in the province in the first place
• Unit Abilities for the full trait tables