Mindbender, Telepathy and Language (3.5)

[Grushvak]

I reread the rules for a Mindbender's Telepathy, and I can't help but feel they left out a paragraph or two from the ability description, as if they assumed Telepathy was a clear enough keyword that needed no clarification. I googled the questions, found some conflicting answers, and some flat out unanswered questions, so I figured I'd ask here.

Telepathy (Su): A mindbender unlocks one of the most basic elements of his mental craft at 1st level, gaining the ability to communicate telepathically with any creature within 100 feet that has a language.


Do you need to have a common language with the target? Telepathic Bond says no, but that's a different ability.
Do your telepathic communications have a "voice"? Can someone recognize your voice after having only talked with you through telepathy?
Is the communication two-way? If it is, would a target immediately realize he can respond, or would he need to be prompted to / told how to?
Does it take an action to initiate a communication? General verdict seems to be that it does. What about maintaining a conversation?

[jedipotter]

I don't think there are ''official'' answers, but what I think....


1. Telepathy is mind to mind and needs no language.
2. Yes, your thoughts are distinct.
3. Yes
4. Yes, it should, just like normal speech/conversation.

[TuggyNE]

Do you need to have a common language with the target? Telepathic Bond says no, but that's a different ability.

You definitely* don't. All you need is for the subject to have a language.


Do your telepathic communications have a "voice"? Can someone recognize your voice after having only talked with you through telepathy?

Uncertain, but probably yes to the first, and maybe to the second.


Is the communication two-way? If it is, would a target immediately realize he can respond, or would he need to be prompted to / told how to?

It's definitely* two-way, and while I suspect responding is fairly intuitive, some might need a bit of prodding to figure it out.


Does it take an action to initiate a communication? General verdict seems to be that it does. What about maintaining a conversation?

Action should be the same as talking, i.e. not an action and can be taken off your turn. (Within reason, of course; you can't mentally transmit War and Peace in six seconds any more than you can say all that.)

*As in, there should be rules support for this, although I'm feeling too lazy to actually look up detailed quotes right now.

[Dusk Eclipse]

Here is the entry from the D&D glossary page:


A creature with this ability (supernatural) 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.

Source: MM, MM3

[Psyren]

1) It just needs to have A language, not YOUR language. The point of this line is so you can't talk to dogs or golems or skeletons or any other creature that either doesn't think in words or doesn't think at all.

2) This one actually isn't clear and may depend on the DM.

3) Yes, it's two-way.

4) Even if your DM requires the ability to be activated, it has no duration. So just turn it on once when you get it and simply leave it active indefinitely.

[Grushvak]

So, after consulting with the DM, point 1 is still being debated. He agrees that I can initiate telepathic communication with someone I don't share a language with, but says we won't understand each other as if we were trying to communicate verbally with no common language. The rule states that you can "communicate" with anything that has a language which implies some manner of understanding but my DM does make a point in saying it's not clarified that telepathy ignores the basic rules of verbal communication and language.

[Psyren]

He's the DM, so it's ultimately his decision. What do you expect us to do?

[Grushvak]

Oh I'm not looking for you to argue with him, I was wondering if you could clarify what you meant in your initial replies? He came to this conclusion after reading this thread after all, which means we both interpreted your answers differently.

When you say "You definitely can", are you saying "You definitely can and they will understand you", or "You definitely can but they won't understand if they don't speak your language"? Is there a specific rule for this?

I accept that the DM's word is law. However, he came to this conclusion only after I wound up unable to find a specific ruling. Hence this thread and my initial complaint that telepathy really could do with a more precise ruling. Obviously I'd prefer not having to invest in pearls of speech so my reading of the replies might have been biased.

[Psyren]

I'll turn your question around - where does it say that the telepathy is done using the language or languages that the person knows? If it were clearly meant to be that way they could have said "creature who shares your language."

Having said that, no, it's not clearly stated anywhere (that I know of) in which case the DM is required to make a judgment - and it seems as though yours has done so.

[Grushvak]

Alright, thanks. If there's no ruling, then language-based it is.

That said, any alternatives to pearls of speech for easy universal translation?

EDIT: Sigh. Looking for items that do that and I find Helm of Telepathy as a recommendation. Seriously.