[3.5] Read Thoughts/Detect Thoughts

[AntiTrust]

One of my fellow players is a psion and liberally uses Read Thoughts on people and it got me thinking about how it might be perceived.

Lets say for example she uses read thoughts on a man sitting by a window near the docks. No interrogation, the psion never lets the man know of her presence, and the man has no idea its happening. This man by the window is recalling a memory, a time in his past when he and his father used to sit at the table he's sitting at now and watching the fishermen bring in their daily haul.

Does the psion get to watch this memory as the man does? Seeing the image like one might watch a home movie of another persons life? Does she see that the father was wearing a red flannel shirt that day and the leaves on the cobblestone meant that it was autumn on the day in question? Or is it something less than that, like maybe a thought balloon from comic books that float above the man that says "he's thinking about the time his he and his father watched fishermen come ashore"

Does the text support a certain interpretation of the information? Even if it doesn't, how would you respond to a player asking you as a DM judgement call?

[NinjaTBB]

Read Thoughts

You know the surface thoughts of the mind of any creature in the area that fails a Will save. A target that succeeds on its save is not affected by this manifestation of the power, even if it leaves the area and then reenters the area before the duration expires.

Creatures of animal intelligence have simple, instinctual thoughts that you can pick up. If you read the thoughts of a creature with an Intelligence of 26 or higher (and at least 10 points higher than your own Intelligence score), you are stunned for 1 round and the power ends. This power does not let you pinpoint the location of an affected mind if you don’t have line of sight to the subject.

Each round, you can turn to use this power in a new area. The power can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.


Detect Thoughts

You detect surface thoughts. The amount of information revealed depends on how long you study a particular area or subject.

1st Round

Presence or absence of thoughts (from conscious creatures with Intelligence scores of 1 or higher).

2nd Round

Number of thinking minds and the Intelligence score of each. If the highest Intelligence is 26 or higher (and at least 10 points higher than your own Intelligence score), you are stunned for 1 round and the spell ends. This spell does not let you determine the location of the thinking minds if you can’t see the creatures whose thoughts you are detecting.

3rd Round

Surface thoughts of any mind in the area. A target’s Will save prevents you from reading its thoughts, and you must cast detect thoughts again to have another chance. Creatures of animal intelligence (Int 1 or 2) have simple, instinctual thoughts that you can pick up.

Each round, you can turn to detect thoughts in a new area. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt blocks it.

Surface thoughts would certainly imply whatever he happened to be actively thinking about at the moment. The Read Thoughts text where it says "know the surface thoughts" seems to imply that it's not an exact vision of the memory the person is having, but rather all the information necessary for the player to reconstruct the general idea in his own mind. The player would only be able to tell things the person was actively thinking about. If he knew subconsciously that his father wore a red flannel shirt on the autumn day in question, but was only thinking of the fact that his father was watching the fishermen come ashore, that's all the player would know. The only way the player could know about the shirt or the autumn day is if the person stopped to specifically recall such details. That's the way I would handle such a situation.

[karkus]

I mean sure it can go either way, but D&D is a GAME. For the scene mentioned above by you, make it an actual memory. Have some fun with the thought process!

Also, if there simply isn't much to say or if you want to hurry the story along, do the simple "thought explanation" ("He is thinking of how he should get milk from the store").