PDA

View Full Version : Mindbender and Telepathy Question (D&D 3.5)



Coidzor
2010-08-02, 11:46 PM
With telepathy, how easy is it for a creature to determine who is doing the talking?

Is there a RAW bluff check to get the creature to believe that the telepathic thoughts are its own, or is the type of communication explicitly put out that the recipient of telepathic communications knows the thoughts are foreign from the get-go?

What can one do with the Mindbender's Telepathy other than coordinate the team as a way of justifying OoC tactical discussion? I recall there's a feat that turns it into mindsight out to the range of the telepathy? Or maybe only out to 30 feet?

Frosty
2010-08-03, 12:05 AM
The feat is actually called Mindsight. Look it up in Lords of Madness.

As for fun uses for Telepathy...

Prankster sees a devout, cloistered cleric kneeling in prayer or deep in meditations.

Prankster: Hark, devout one! This is Pelor. you have been chosen to undertake a perilous quest...

Imagine where that conversation can go.

Kaww
2010-08-03, 07:31 AM
With telepathy, how easy is it for a creature to determine who is doing the talking?

Is there a RAW bluff check to get the creature to believe that the telepathic thoughts are its own, or is the type of communication explicitly put out that the recipient of telepathic communications knows the thoughts are foreign from the get-go?

What can one do with the Mindbender's Telepathy other than coordinate the team as a way of justifying OoC tactical discussion?

We play it this way: thoughts have no voice. Ergo the only way for a creature to discover that it's thoughts are not it's own is how unusual the thoughts are in which case it's a bluff check. If the thoughts aren't too unusual it's a diplomacy check. You have to be aware of the creature to use telepathy. You can't issue orders and you can't give incomprehensible orders: to a lion "Don't kill him, just tackle him" that makes no sense since lion wants food with his int 2.

hamishspence
2010-08-03, 07:34 AM
"treat it like one of your cubs trying to leave the lair" might, though. A lion might pin, but not hurt, a cub crawling away, before carrying it back.

Keld Denar
2010-08-03, 11:49 AM
telepathy + bluff check + dumb trolls = win! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6657920&postcount=554)

Lysander
2010-08-03, 01:39 PM
I don't think you could bluff someone into thinking that the telepathy is their own thoughts. You may be able to convince someone that they have a split personality, schizophrenia, or that you are the voice of god.

BUT, remember that in medieval times people were afraid of demons as well. Look at Hamlet as an example. Hamlet receives a message from the ghost of his father, but initially is suspicious that it may be some evil creature taking his father's form.

So if you claim "I am your deity Zongle, obey all I say" the person might suspect that it's a demon trying to trick them. And in a world where magic is common (or even in a world without magic, just look at how people were/are suspected as witches IRL) someone might also reasonably suspect that a wizard or a witch is trying to bewitch them.

I think the trick is actually least likely to work on D&D clerics who place a collect call to heaven each morning to get their spells.

KillianHawkeye
2010-08-04, 07:33 AM
This is exactly why the deities in my games always send a celestial emissary when making contact with mortals. Plus, it's more impressive that way.

WeeFreeMen
2010-08-04, 12:36 PM
Id leave it at
Your Bluff/Diplomacy vs. Sense Motive or Wis Check.

Obviously account for circumstance bonuses and penalties.
I had a Bard with his Epic bluff, planting suggestions in peoples heads via telepathy. I believe I had 2 PCs and a large portion of a town thinking I was their sub-conscious.