Dream Guardian

Overview

Combat

The Dream Guardian, known as the Dream Visitor in Early Access, is a mysterious armoured figure that appears to the party as a being of any playable race (except dragonborn) and any gender that is chosen by the player. By default, they appear as a female Lolth-sworn drow. A tiefling character will often see a githyanki form instead.

Involvement

Act One

I saved you... and I'm here to save you again

The Dream Guardian first appears to the party shortly after their adventure begins while they sleep. They attempt to ease the player character into a sense of comfort, claiming to be the one protecting them from the influence of the Absolute, in addition to preventing their transformation into mind flayers. Throughout Act One, they will encourage the player character to fully utilise the Illithid Powers, as well as encouraging them to use the Tadpoles of other infected hosts to further bolster their powers.

Act Two

If a Long Rest is performed after arriving in the Shadow-Cursed Lands, the Dream Guardian will appear to the player character once again in a dream, wearing a ceremonial robe rather than their usual armour. The Dream Guardian shares that being in such close proximity to the Absolute is taking a toll on them, and the player character is given a number of different responses for how to react to that. More choices are unlocked with the right dialogue options, and by succeeding automatic dice checks that the player character cannot modify.

After defeating Ketheric Thorm, and the Apostle of Myrkul, the Dream Guardian will appear to manifest outside of the player character's dreams, congratulating them, but urging them to travel to Baldur's Gate to finally destroy the Elder Brain that is behind the Cult of the Absolute, as well as the rest of the Chosen of the Dead Three, Orin the Red and Enver Gortash.

Act Three

At the beginning of Act Three, the camp will be disturbed by the demands of the Elder Brain, with the Dream Guardian pleading for the party to help them. Upon the party's arrival into the Astral Prism, they will meet not their hand-crafted Dream Guardian, but rather a mind flayer named the Emperor, who admits to having deceived the party in the form of the Dream Guardian.

The Dream Guardian may appear one more time after this, should the party choose to free Orpheus and fight the Emperor. Four versions of the Dream Guardian will appear as enemies.

Early Access

The Dream Visitor appears to serve an extremely different role in the Full Release of the game than they had during the Early Access. In the Full Release, the Dream Visitor is named the Dream Guardian, and is much more supportive of the player character, regardless of their decisions. They encourage the destruction of the Absolute, while also utilising the strength of the tadpole. Otherwwise in the Early Access, the Dream Visitor was more hostile, and granted the player character visions of domination and power. It's likely the Dream Visitor was originally a manifestation of the tadpole within the player character's mind attempting to break down their will, and successfully transforming or enslaving them to further the Grand Design under the Absolute; seducing the main character to stay in the meadow by the river with them forever (the song "Down by the River" was a reference to this interaction).

In Early Access, the Dream Visitor wore an ornate dress (similar to the Elegant Robe camp clothing) rather than a set of armour. The Dream Visitor still uses the ornate dress in one of the dreams, likely as a call back.

Gallery

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  The Dream Guardian as a Female Tiefling, and wearing an ornate robe rather than the usual armor.

Notes

• They will appear to each member of the party in different appearances, as implied by each character controlled by an individual player creating their own Guardian, as well as the events within Act Three. Karlach describes them as a "golden paladin", while Gale refers to them as female.
• The Dream Visitor is named "Daisy" in the game files.