Mind Blank: Does it Prevent Spells & Effects Affecting the Target's Mind ?

[Merudo]

The description of the Mind Blank spell (https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/mind-blank) is ambiguous:


Until the spell ends, one willing creature you touch is immune to psychic damage, any effect that would sense its emotions or read its thoughts, Divination Spells, and the Charmed condition. The spell even foils wish Spells and Spells or Effects of similar power used to affect the target's mind or to gain information about the target.

The part in bold is what confuses me. From my reading of the spell, Mind Blank blocks nearly all effects affecting the target's mind.

For example, the Frightened condition is an effect that "affect the target's mind", and thus a character with Mind Blank cannot be Frightened.

Similarly, spells such as Command, Dissonant Whispers, Dream, & Confusion all "affect the target's mind" and are thus useless against Mind Blank.

Is my reading correct?

[DeTess]

The description of the Mind Blank spell (https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/mind-blank) is ambiguous:



The part in bold is what confuses me. From my reading of the spell, Mind Blank blocks nearly all effects affecting the target's mind.

For example, the Frightened condition is an effect that "affect the target's mind", and thus a character with Mind Blank cannot be Frightened.

Similarly, spells such as Command, Dissonant Whispers, Dream, & Confusion all "affect the target's mind" and are thus useless against Mind Blank.

Is my reading correct?

It only blocks the frightened condition if its caused by a spell or something similarly magical, so mind-blank won't stop a dragging from scaring the crap out of you. But apart from that you seem to be correct. Mind blank is the spell intended to stop people from affecting you with enchantments and the like, after all.

[Merudo]

It only blocks the frightened condition if its caused by a spell or something similarly magical, so mind-blank won't stop a dragging from scaring the crap out of you. But apart from that you seem to be correct. Mind blank is the spell intended to stop people from affecting you with enchantments and the like, after all.

Wouldn't Mind Blank protects against the Frightened condition caused by, say, the nonmagical "Frightful Presence" ability of a Dragon?

[DeTess]

Wouldn't Mind Blank protects against the Frightened condition caused by, say, the nonmagical "Frightful Presence" ability of a Dragon?

Nope, as the spell doesn't call out the frightened condition as one it protects against, but it does more or less call out all spells that affects someone's mind. Let's break this one down:


Until the spell ends, one willing creature you touch is immune to psychic damage,
The spell renders one target immune to psychic damage.

any effect that would sense its emotions or read its thoughts,
The spell renders one target immune to effects like detect thoughts.

divination spells,
The spell renders its target immune to divination spells.

and the charmed condition.
The spell renders the target immune to the Charmed condition.

The spell even foils wish spells and spells or effects of similar power used to affect the target's mind or to gain information about the target.
This is a bit tricky, as there's a couple of ways to read this one. the most permissive reading lets this give blanket protection to spells and spell-like abilities that affects someone's mind. The least permissive reading means that it only stops 9th level spells and similar abilities from doing so.

Either way, non-magical ways of imposing the frightened condition are not called out by the spell.

[Merudo]

The spell even foils wish spells and spells or effects of similar power used to affect the target's mind or to gain information about the target.


This is a bit tricky, as there's a couple of ways to read this one. the most permissive reading lets this give blanket protection to spells and spell-like abilities that affects someone's mind.

It doesn't say "spell-like abilities", it just says "effects".

The later presumably includes nonmagical effects.

[DeTess]

It doesn't say "spell-like abilities", it just says "effects".

The later presumably includes nonmagical effects.

No, it says "effects of similar power" to "even" a wish spell. I think that this part is worded vaguely, so you might need to take this to your DM, but personally I'd rule it only stops spells, not mundane effects.

[Chronos]

It's silly to say that it's just effects of the same power as a Wish spell, as in blocking 9th-level spells but not lower-level ones. The only sensical way of reading that is as up to the power of a Wish spell, which pretty much means anything short of divine action. And while not everything is a spell, everything is an effect. So put it together, and it's anything of any mortal power level that does anything affecting the mind.

And unfortunately, "affecting the mind" isn't a defined thing in 5e. Does a Sleep spell affect the mind? Hold Person? Eyebite used to put someone to sleep? I dunno.

[darknite]

I've got a bard that casts it on themselves everyday to enhance his ability to Deceive and other protections. Works nicely against Mindflayers with immunity to psychic damage and charming. Other effects are DM dependent, in my experience.

[OracularPoet]

I’ve also wondered whether this protects from the dreaded Feeblemind. My interpretation is “yes” but not adamantly so.