Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 supreme_slayer Oct 09, 2014 22:38:12	First lvel of the Great Old One Pact for Warlock, you get Awakened Mind. It "You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You do not need to share a language for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but it must be able to understand at least one language"   Thing is, it says "for IT to understand YOUR" but says nothing about whether or not they can speak back to you telepathically, and if so if you can understand them. If it does, then you can speak telepathically with even things that can't speak as long as they can understand. Something like someone else's Familiar even, I would assume?
#2 Hailrobonia Oct 10, 2014 9:38:35	I'd take a cue from the Monster Manual and have telepathy work both ways, but only consciously-communicated thoughts that the contactee wishes to transmit.    My houserule would also be that the contactee recieves a somewhat abstract mental image of the warlock's face so they have a rough idea of who is communicating with them. If you want them to think it's their dead grandmother speaking to them you need to use deception.
#3 Danny_Montanny Oct 10, 2014 11:34:48	You can communicate back and forth. The bold wording is a bit weird, but it feat it like it says in the MM. So long as the wanna radio you back, you get the same idea of what the mean if you can't speak their language. Deception is a great way to go. I use it with the Actor feat (advantage on the check) on one of my characters to try to make the person think it's their subconscious talking to them. Of course that would assume I've heard them speak for at least a minute so I could mimic their voice inside their head.
#4 N4M8- Oct 10, 2014 11:44:29	I believe Mearls tweeted at one point it was one direction transmission. Probably best to house rule it to what fits your campaign.
#5 durntaur Oct 10, 2014 15:12:33	It does what it says, it understands you. It doesn't state that it is two-way communication or add that you can understand it back.
#6 Demosthenes2054 Oct 10, 2014 17:11:48	It says communicate with.  My radio receives signals.  I wouldn't say the radio station is communicating with my radio, I'd say it's transmitting a signal my radio receives.   If the intent was for it to be one way I imagine the rules would have made it clear.  Find familiar uses similar language.   That's my reading of it anyway.  I don't have the MM though and have no idea how telepathy is written there.
#7 ZHDarkstar Oct 10, 2014 17:37:46	This is from the section on telepathy on p. 9 of the MM:   "The contacted creature doesn't need to share a language with the monster to communicate in this way with it, but it must be able to understand at least one language. A creature without telepathy can receive and respond to telepathic messages but can't initiate or terminate a telepathic conversation."   That would mean that Awakened Mind should be two-way communication, but only one-way initiation.
#8 durntaur Oct 14, 2014 15:11:38	Telepathy in MM is not Awakened Mind in PHB.   As to the semantics of "communication", it is commonly used to mean a one-way transfer of information such as an individual chosen to deliver a keynote speech because they are an effective communicator, which is more analogous to the question than a radio.
#9 Theros Oct 15, 2014 7:01:51	The Merriam Webster dictionary says Communication is: -To give information about (something) to someone by speaking, writing, moving your hands, etc -To get someone to understand your thoughts or feelings   The dictionary doesn’t say anything about telepathy having to be two way either.   The writing of the ability seems to indicate that it’s intended to be a one way communication however it’s just vague enough to allow a DM to rule that its two way.   Narrative wise, the character should at least be getting emotions or basic feedback from the creature contacted. I can only imagine that using telepathy would be more intimate then using a bullhorn.   Great question Slayer
#10 durntaur Oct 15, 2014 8:27:50	In the end, if it were true telepathy, it would be quite overpowered for a L1 character; not only would you be able to have a conversation with any being in the multi-verse, you'd be able to do so privately.   Theros wrote:
#11 SterlingRat Oct 15, 2014 8:45:25	Has anyone posted this question in the "Rules" forum yet? I attempted to search, but unfortunately, I seem to have failed my computer science check.
#12 ZHDarkstar Oct 16, 2014 10:13:08	But Message already allows private two-way communication at 1st level with better range and less restrictions. Warlocks are the only arcane casters who don't have Message on their spell lists. If they did, it would make Awakened Mind useless. With that in mind, a highly limited (must see within 30') telepathy that only 1/3 of the class can use is not that overpowered. Remember that telepathic communication is not the same as mind-reading, which is the domain of Detect Thoughts. This is primarily a social ability, which makes sense for a Charisma-based class to have.   The main reason I believe that it's two-way is because of the second line that I quoted: "A creature without telepathy can receive and respond to telepathic messages but can't initiate or terminate a telepathic conversation." Awakened Mind can send telepathic messages, therefore the recipient should be allowed to give a telepathic response. It's still the recipient's choice of how to respond. Not every NPC is going to be responding kindly to someone talking in their head. Likewise, an NPC may grow suspicious of party members not talking at all.   The only combat advantage is being a telepathic pony express, and it doesn't have much use outside of covert ops. If a Warlock wants to play Phone Tree, remind him that he has to initiate every call if the party wants to stay quiet. Factor in the responsibility of maintaining LoS at such a short range, the strategy loses efficiency in larger groups.   Ultimately, Awakened Mind is just a bonus spoken language. It still doesn't overcome written language barriers, which can already be done by any full arcane caster class (Warlock included) at 1st level via Comprehend Languages. Warlocks are still a capable social class by design. They're just simply more geared towards playing the bad cop or undercover cop. Playing the good cop is the Pally's job; whereas Bards are just plain ol' supercops. Everybody just has a different set of tools to get the job done.
#13 cowleymen Oct 16, 2014 8:54:56	Once a connection is made, its two ways, you could always just say your only giving the message then leaving, giving no time for a reply, but if your goal is to communicate with sneaking allies i dont see why not. I would say the line gets drawn when you want to connect the entire party via awakened mind. you can use telepathy with one creature at a time
#14 durntaur Oct 16, 2014 11:36:12	ZHDarkstar wrote:
#15 jasonthebeast Oct 19, 2014 1:21:34	Do actual employees answer questions about rules on this forum, or is it just us players answering our own questions to each other??  i would love to know offically if this is a one way or two way communication.  Seems odd to give a first level character the ability to know all languages by eliminating the need for them, and all the time to boot.
#16 ZHDarkstar Oct 20, 2014 13:09:05	jasonthebeast wrote:
(Reply to #16) Yunru	ZHDarkstar wrote:
#18 ZHDarkstar Oct 20, 2014 20:21:12	Yunru wrote:
#19 7he_professor Oct 21, 2014 6:35:09	I would say the Monster Manual sets a precedent that the communication is two-way.  I do agree that Awakened Mind is a separate ability, and that there is room for either side to argue their point, but it's too close to split hairs in my campaign.   Besides, anything that doesn't break the game, and makes the Warlock more attractive to my players is a win in my book.   Either way...just my 2 cp.
#20 mellored Oct 21, 2014 6:38:09	ZHDarkstar wrote:
#21 Timborama Oct 21, 2014 7:05:09	Creatures not of this world don't follow our rules...