Post/Author/DateTime	Post
tos_shai_hulud 04-22-08, 01:20 PM	A creature with telepathy, such as a couatl, has the ability to communicate telepathically with anyone within range. What exactly does this mean about thought detection? Is this sort of an automatic detect thoughts ability? Is there a way to block this communications medium? Does the couatl need to concentrate on a particular target, or can it communicate with multiple targets simultaneously?
Shaggy_Shaggs 04-22-08, 01:30 PM	Telepathy A creature with this ability can communicate telepathically with any other creature within a certain range (specified in the creature’s entry, usually 100 feet) that has a language. It is possible to address multiple creatures at once telepathically, although maintaining a telepathic conversation with more than one creature at a time is just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time. That's all it does unless specified otherwise. No thought detection or creature detection involved, just communication when it would otherwise be impossible. If you want to use it as a creature scanner though, you can get a limited form of that in the Mindsight feat from Lords of Madness.
tos_shai_hulud 04-22-08, 01:59 PM	That entry is exactly what is confusing me. How is the two-way conversation possible? Must the non-telepathic party try to respond? Or can the telepathic creature hear the thoughts regardless?
Shaggy_Shaggs 04-22-08, 02:06 PM	I don't think there's any logically consistent explanation that doesn't make telepathy either too powerful, or nigh useless. I think it's basically a you will speak when spoken to, and only then thing for non-telepathic creatures... iow if a telepath addresses a nontelepathic creature, the telepath can hear those thoughts the nontelepath willingly chooses to respond with, but only those thoughts, it has not gained Detect Thoughts and the other thing has not gained Telepathy.
HermitIX 04-22-08, 02:07 PM	Detect thoughts opens the targets mind and removes the barriers between what the target wants to project and he doesn’t. Telepathy creates a channel between the two creatures, and the only thoughts that pass between the two creatures are the thoughts they mentally push in to that channel.
Augurer 04-22-08, 03:06 PM	How does the Telepathic creature know when a response to a statement has been generated by a non-telepathic creature? Is it possible for a Telepathic creature to constantly "poll" non-Telepathic creatures such that the non-telepaths could start a conversation? If it's possible, is it a free action, or does it require concentration (standard action)? A PC in the group has a Pseudodragon for a familiar that is capable of telepathy. How should relaying information through telepathy work?
Loren Pechtel 04-22-08, 04:17 PM	My take on it: From the telepath's side: It's speech, just on a different band. It comes straight from the brain, it doesn't need lungs or air. It propagates the same as voice through air would--if you're speaking to a guy 50' away then everyone else 50' from you in any direction will hear you just as loudly, you can't aim it. Creatures not of a suitable type to hear it hear nothing, though--a telepathic conversation won't spook an animal like voice might. From the non-telepath's side: You hear the telepath the same as you would any other speaker. If you're not familiar with such conversations you won't even realize it's anything other than an odd-sounding voice (as there aren't the normal environmental echos.) For responding, if you're not used to it you simply speak, they pick it up telepathically rather than by voice. Someone used to dealing with telepaths will be able to tell the difference between normal sound and telepathy and will be able to reply by simply thinking about speaking without actually doing it. In no case does the telepath hear anything beyond what the other person intended to say.
Lord_of_Rivendell 04-28-08, 04:37 PM	I agree largely with Loren. I have always described telepathy to my players as being like having a silent cellphone that can contact anyone else's cellphone in the area (i.e. usually 100 ft.). The cellphone doesn't allow mind reading. And, only a telepath has the ability to call someone else and start the dialog telepathically (though anyone can shout/talk to the telepath). The telepath can call as many people as she wants at the same time within range and can selectively decide who hears what portions of the conversation. It's a powerful, but I think not unbalanced ability. LoR
Someone 04-29-08, 01:11 PM	I had always figured telepathy was like the special effects in movies or TV shows- words come out, but the telepath's lips don't move, and there's this odd reverb to what they are saying. Non-telepaths have to speak their responses, which could be a problem if the telepath is far away or behind a wall.
Loren Pechtel 05-01-08, 12:34 AM	I had always figured telepathy was like the special effects in movies or TV shows- words come out, but the telepath's lips don't move, and there's this odd reverb to what they are saying. Non-telepaths have to speak their responses, which could be a problem if the telepath is far away or behind a wall. But the books say "communicate with". To me that makes it bidirectional.