The Touched

Bound Spirits

The touched are pure-blooded human, but humans who have been touched by strange entities from the realm of dreams for reasons of their own. Every touched one has a connection to one of the Mara, entities that live in the dream realm. The Mara choose children early in life, speaking to them through dreams and nightmares. As pure-blooded humans, the touched share all their physical traits.
While the touched appear human, the mystical connection to the Mara affects them in a variety of ways. The touched can’t directly communicate with their dream-spirits. Rather, they might experience this relationship as a sense of instinct and inspiration, drawing on the memories of the Mara when they dream. This connection grants the touched minor psionic abilities, as well as protection from psychic attacks. Not all of the Mara are virtuous; work together with the DM to determine the nature of your linked spirit. The touched may know the name and nature of their spirit, or may know nothing of their spirit or the source of their psychic gifts.
For the most part, the touched lead normal lives. They are seen as eccentric and unusual, prone to strange insights and behaviors. They often stare to an uncomfortable degree, or make peculiar comments or observations. Some people may avoid them, finding them disconcerting or just plain weird. Because of their odd perspective on the world, the touched often end up as artists, poets, or committed to an asylum. The more nefarious of the touched may use their mental abilities to harass others, driving them insane for enjoyment or study.

The Touched Traits

Your touched character has the following traits.

Ability Score Increase

One ability score of your choice increases by 2, and one other ability score of your choice increases by 1.

Dual Mind

You have advantage on all Wisdom saving throws.

Mental Discipline

You have resistance to psychic damage.

Mind Link

You can speak telepathically to any creature you can see, provided the creature is within a number of feet of you equal to 10 times your level. You don’t need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language.
When you’re using this trait to speak telepathically to a creature, you can use your action to give that creature the ability to speak telepathically with you for 1 hour or until you end this effect as an action. To use this ability, the creature must be able to see you and must be within this trait’s range. You can give this ability to only one creature at a time; giving it to a creature takes it away from another creature who has it.

Severed from Dreams

The touched sleep, but they don’t connect to the realm of dreams as other creatures do. Instead, their minds draw from the memories of their otherworldly spirit while they sleep. As such, you are immune to spells and other magical effects that require you to dream, like dream, but not to spells and other magical effects that put you to sleep, like sleep.

Not hard to find is that roseal fever of the gods, that fanfare of supernal trumpets and clash of immortal cymbals, that mystery whose place and meaning have haunted you through the halls of waking and the gulfs of dreaming, and tormented you with hints of vanished memory and the pain of lost things awesome and momentous.

—Nyarlathotep, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath

Age

The touched mature and age at the same rate as humans.

Alignment

The dream-spirit tied to a touched one drives it toward its spirit's perception of the world. Most touched ones assume the same attitudes as their dream-spirit, but some touched ones resist the overbearing influence of their spirit.

Size

Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common, and one exotic language of your choice that you know through your dream-spirit.