ways to block telepathy

[rediridesence]

long story short, i am making adventures for a group, and there is at least one usually who tries to get telepathy of some form so he can grab mindsight.

I know the typical counters to it are the spell telepathy block(since mindsight only works in the range of your telepathy), and being ethereal(since mindsight doesn't penetrate planar borders).


but i think it would be rather cheap to have clerics everywhere with that spell, and to be constantly ambushed by ethereal creatures, so i was curious as to any other methods one could use to hamper or outright prevent the effects of telepathy in an area?

important note: assume no psionics/magic transparency.

[Mr Adventurer]

Is there anything that says Telepathy/Mindsight don't need line of effect? If no, just stand around the corner. Hell, stand inside a glass diver's bell - line of effect is blocked so Mindsight won't pick you up, but you'll be able to see through the glass just fine.

[rediridesence]

"A creature that has this feat can detect and pinpoint beings that are not mindless (anything with an Intelligence score of 1 or higher) within range of its telepathy. This works much like blindsense--the creature knows what square each thinking being is in, but it does not see the being, and the being still has total concealment unless the creature can see it by some other means."

i inferred from that text that line of sight isnt an issue at least, im gray on line of effect though.

i do know that telepathic powers and ethereal/astral abilities are blocked by a 1 inch barrier of lead, but it would be unreasonable to have everything made of lead no? (important areas perhaps though)

[liquidformat]

So in most of the games I have played in the DMs have not let mindsight over come the innate Immunity to all mind-affecting effects certain creature types possess though I am not sure if that is RAW from reading mindsight it is reasonable. In which case besides dumb animals, vermin, oozes, and magical beasts this also means constructs, plants, and undead are immune to mindsight by default. There are also a number of specific monsters that also should get immunity from their entries though I can't remember any off the top of my head.

Finally, I have also seen DMs house rule the protective barrier created from a protection against line of spell is enough to hide said individual from being identified by mindsight.

[Telonius]

Make it as awkward and uncomfortable as possible for the person doing the telepathy. Works best if you have a twisted imagination or are willing to get a song stuck in your own head in retaliation.

The Hostile Mind feat offers some retaliation against telepathy, if you aren't yourself a psion.

[Anthrowhale]

An Allip damages telepaths by default.

[Particle_Man]

Flood the area with ignorant commoners so it is hard to pick out specific minds in the crowd?

[Segev]

Banning the feat is an option.

House ruling the Darkstalker feat - which lets you use Stealth against Blindsight - to also work on Mindsight and Lifesight wouldn't be too egregious.

But really, if he's taking the ability...why counter it? Do you use a lot of invisible foes for some reason?

[Crichton]

So, some clarification:


You seem to want to block Mindsight, not block Telepathy. Those aren't the same thing. While Mindsight only works within the range of your character's Telepathy, it doesn't in the text say that you're actually using Telepathy when Mindsight gives you the information it gives.

Blocking Telepathy, Staticking Telepathy, or being immune to Telepathy don't change that the user has Telepathy, or change the range of it. Mindsight functions within the user's Telepathy range, regardless of whether they can successfully use their Telepathy ability at that moment. (This is, of course, by RAW, not by RAI or by what might make sense)


By RAW, the only things (I know of) that definitively defeat Mindsight are:


Mindless creatures (Int less than 2) - This includes zombies, skeletons, oozes, and some constructs, such as golems
The psionic power Cloud Mind - The text "cannot pinpoint your location by any means" is a pretty catch-all negation.



There are lots of things that people seem to think defeat Mindsight, many of which would make excellent subjects for houserules to that effect, but don't, by RAW, actually defeat it:


Mind Blank - Spell - Mindsight isn't a device, spell, divination effect or mind-affecting spell or effect, so Mind Blank doesn't apply
Immunity to mind-affecting spells - Mindsight isn't a spell, let alone a mind-affecting one, so it doesn't apply
Cerebral Blind(Su) - 6th level Slayer ability - Mindsight isn't a 'device, spell, or power' so it doesn't apply
Third Eye: Conceal - Item - Mindsight isn't a device, power or spell, nor a mind-affecting effect, nor a clairsentience power or effect so it doesn't apply
Telepathy Block - Spell - This spell blocks telepathic communication in its area, but Mindsight doesn't require functioning telepathic communication to work, it only requires the user to have the Telepathy ability. This spell doesn't remove that ability, only blocks communication via it.
Telepathic Static(Su) - Hellbreaker 1st level ability - This one probably has the strongest RAW case for blocking Mindsight. Not that it blocks Mindsight itself, but it says it 'negates the telepathic ability' of those in range. You could conceivably rule that that removes (temporarily) the Mindsight feat prerequisite), but the case isn't exactly definitive.
Telepathic Immunity(Su) - 5th level Cerebrex ability - grants 'immunity to all forms of telepathy or mind reading' but Mindsight is neither telepathy nor mind reading, despite needing Telepathy as a feat prerequisite
Darkstalker - Feat - Darkstalker lists a specific set of abilities it counters. While Mindsight is said to 'work much like' Blindsense, it isn't equivalent to Blindsense, so it's not on the list.
Physical obstruction - Many things are blocked by walls, or other obstructions to line of effect. Telepathy isn't one of them, so these things don't reduce ones Telepathy range.
Superior Invisibility - Spell - Has the text 'concealing the subject from all senses except touch and taste' but Mindsight isn't specifically a 'sense' This one is debatable, and perhaps a good candidate for a houserule.





An Allip damages telepaths by default.

Mindsight doesn't qualify as 'targeting an allip with a thought detection, mind control, or telepathic ability'



Flood the area with ignorant commoners so it is hard to pick out specific minds in the crowd?
This type of tactic works well, so long as your enemies are of the same Type as the crowd in the area. Having an Outsider or Aberration or Monstrous Humanoid suddenly show up in street full of Humanoids is a pretty big red flag.

[Zecrin]

I believe that the hellbreaker from fiendish codex 2 has an ability called telepathic static which blocks mindsight if the user is within 20 ft. Maybe you could sneak an intelligent item hellbreaker into the party and only have it activate this ability at inopportune times?

[Crichton]

I believe that the hellbreaker from fiendish codex 2 has an ability called telepathic static which blocks mindsight if the user is within 20 ft. Maybe you could sneak an intelligent item hellbreaker into the party and only have it activate this ability at inopportune times?

See above. Just referenced it in the last post.

[Zecrin]

See above. Just referenced it in the last post.

Ah, you beat me to it! I think this one is RAW, because mindsight only allows you to perceive things within range of your telepathy. And if your telepathy ability is negated, then nothing is in its range. I suppose a RAW counter argument could be made, but even then this seems clearly in line with RAI. But then you essentially already note all this above.

[Trandir]

Well telepaty is a supernatural ability, right? So an anti magic field would completely shield a creature from mindsight, right?

[Crichton]

Well telepaty is a supernatural ability, right? So an anti magic field would completely shield a creature from mindsight, right?

Only if it somehow removed the Telepathy ability from the character, thus disqualifying them for the feat Mindsight. Mindsight itself is an Ex feat, so unless you can remove the prerequisite, it will still function. Telepathy being prevented from functioning doesn't remove it from the player, nor change its range.

Mindsight doesn't say anywhere in its text that using it is actually making use of the Telepathy ability. Yes, it's a prerequisite, so that would be logical, but RAW? Nope. It's a separate EX ability to detect beings, and that's all it says about that.

[Anthrowhale]

Mindsight doesn't qualify as 'targeting an allip with a thought detection, mind control, or telepathic ability'

Mindsight is however not very useful when you have a wisdom of 0.

[Zecrin]

Mindsight doesn't qualify as 'targeting an allip with a thought detection, mind control, or telepathic ability'

Isn't mindsight an innate telepathic ability that targets just as much as if not more than normal telepathy?

[Dimers]

Mindsight doesn't target anything, any more than hearing a twig snap targets the twig. Your ears passively receive info that happens to be flying around.

[Zecrin]

Mindsight doesn't target anything, any more than hearing a twig snap targets the twig. Your ears passively receive info that happens to be flying around.

Yes and telepathy doesn't target anything, any more than speaking to someone targets the person you're talking to. Their minds passively receive info that a telekinetic speaker projects.

That's why I said that it targets at least as much as telepathy. Potentially more because the target creatures not only have to be within range of your telepathy, but you are also gaining more information about them than you would have normally.

I can buy a RAW argument that neither telepathy nor mindsight target the way spells do. But I believe this is clearly the RAI of the allip's madness ability.

[Crichton]

Yes and telepathy doesn't target anything, any more than speaking to someone targets the person you're talking to. Their minds passively receive info that a telekinetic speaker projects.

That's why I said that it targets at least as much as telepathy. Potentially more because the target creatures not only have to be within range of your telepathy, but you are also gaining more information about them than you would have normally.

I can buy a RAW argument that neither telepathy nor mindsight target the way spells do. But I believe this is clearly the RAI of the allip's madness ability.

You could probably sell me on the idea that if you actively tried to use Telepathy in its normal usage to communicate with the Allip, it would be considered 'targeting with a telepathic ability'

But no way do I think that just being in the vicinity of the Allip and just happening to have Telepathy or Mindsight is the RAI of the Allip's Madness(Su) ability, and it very certainly is not the RAW of it. Mindsight is a passive perception ability "much like blindsense," not a targetable ability.

[Doctor Awkward]

-stuff-

The Normal entry of the Mindsight feat states the following:

Normal: Telepathy offers no special ability to sense other
minds. The creature has to know that a being is there to communicate
with it telepathically.

This text makes it quite clear that the Mindsight feat does not provide a unique ability disconnected from the character's telepathy, but rather augments the telepathy to provide additional function. As the Player's Handbook states, the purpose of Normal entry (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#featDescriptions) is as clarifying rules text to tell you what exactly is being changed when you take a feat.

Therefore anything that defeats a character's ability to use their telepathy also defeats Mindsight, which is, again, explicitly an additional function of telepathy.

[Crichton]

The Normal entry of the Mindsight feat states the following:


This text makes it quite clear that the Mindsight feat does not provide a unique ability disconnected from the character's telepathy, but rather augments the telepathy to provide additional function. As the Player's Handbook states, the purpose of Normal entry (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#featDescriptions) is as clarifying rules text to tell you what exactly is being changed when you take a feat.

Therefore anything that defeats a character's ability to use their telepathy also defeats Mindsight, which is, again, explicitly an additional function of telepathy.


That's not quite true. The Normal line describe how an ability works if you don't have the feat being described. In this case, it describes the limitation of Telepathy if the character doesn't have Mindsight. But our character in question here does have Mindsight, so how Telepathy works when you don't have Mindsight is kind of irrelevant. Nothing about the text of that entails that Mindsight is an 'additional function of telepathy.' It might be implied, it might be RAI, but it's not RAW.

The only thing it does directly entail is that Mindsight functions within the range of the user's Telepathy ability. So the only test for whether their Mindsight applies to detecting any other creature is the question "is that creature within their Telepathy range?" Not "would their Telepathy function against that creature given the current circumstances?" That question isn't applicable.

To borrow from the response in another thread, it's like asking if a ghost is in range of an archer, even if the ghost is immune to the archer's arrows. The answer is yes, it's in range, so any other ability whose function is defined as working within their archery range would still function, regardless of whether or not the arrows themselves would have any effect.


Unless you can fully remove the Telepathy ability somehow, so the prerequisite for the feat is no longer valid, then neutralizing Telepathy's ability to communicate does not stop Mindsight from detecting creatures in range.

[Segev]

That's not quite true. The Normal line describe how an ability works if you don't have the feat being described. In this case, it describes the limitation of Telepathy if the character doesn't have Mindsight. But our character in question here does have Mindsight, so how Telepathy works when you don't have Mindsight is kind of irrelevant. Nothing about the text of that entails that Mindsight is an 'additional function of telepathy.' It might be implied, it might be RAI, but it's not RAW.

The only thing it does directly entail is that Mindsight functions within the range of the user's Telepathy ability. So the only test for whether their Mindsight applies to detecting any other creature is the question "is that creature within their Telepathy range?" Not "would their Telepathy function against that creature given the current circumstances?" That question isn't applicable.

To borrow from the response in another thread, it's like asking if a ghost is in range of an archer, even if the ghost is immune to the archer's arrows. The answer is yes, it's in range, so any other ability whose function is defined as working within their archery range would still function, regardless of whether or not the arrows themselves would have any effect.


Unless you can fully remove the Telepathy ability somehow, so the prerequisite for the feat is no longer valid, then neutralizing Telepathy's ability to communicate does not stop Mindsight from detecting creatures in range.
Given that we're talking to the DM of a game, we should probably assume that his understanding that blocking telepathy will block mindsight is, at the very least, how the rules at his table work.

Also, you'd be hard pressed to convince anybody that a feat which allowed you to poison somebody within range of your bow, described the ability as hitting them with an arrow dipped in poison, and yet never quite mentioned that you had to actually make an attack roll, was somehow able to poison ghosts that are unable to be hit by arrows.

I'm not going to say you're 100% wrong about the RAW; I acknowledge that the RAW are sometimes not QUITE what the writers obviously intended them to be. But I will say that the RAI are pretty darned clear in the case of Mindsight, so arguing strenuously about the RAW feels needlessly and unhelpfully pedantic, in light of the question raised in this thread. (I could try to argue over hte RAW with you, but I just don't care to. I am not convinced you're right, but I don't think it matters even if you are, so I'm willing to concede for purposes of discussion and move on to the OP's question, both explicit and implicit.)

[Doctor Awkward]

That's not quite true. The Normal line describe how an ability works if you don't have the feat being described. In this case, it describes the limitation of Telepathy if the character doesn't have Mindsight.

You are directly stating here that yes, Mindsight is explicitly a function of telepathy, so I'm not sure why you are then below trying to claim otherwise.

This is the Rules As Written. The Normal entry is rules text and it is every bit a part of the feat description as anything else. Your interpretation requires you to ignore part of the text in order to be correct, and that's not how the rules work.

[Malphegor]

This is probably feat-worthy (and there probably is a feat that does this- the Changeling feat that gives false readings to divinations comes to mind), but a common counter I've seen in fiction is to always have a thought running in your mind. For example, in the Kotor games, Atton is always playing Pazaak in his mind to counter telepaths reading his thoughts.

[dancrilis]

Not sure about it, but Blindsense only bypasses the need for Listen and Spot checks 'Usually'.


The creature usually does not need to make Spot or Listen checks to pinpoint the location of a creature within range of its blindsense ability

The exceptions are not stated (as near as I can see) so it is possible that merely using Move Silently or Hide might bypass Mindsight (you could rationalise this as having a quite or hidden mindset, or however else you want as).
Two examples of how this might work for blindsense.
1. Dark road someone approaching - spot to notice them? Usually it would be required but it is not as you have blindsense.
2. Dark road someone is approaching trying to stay hidden - spot to notice them? Always required, so still required to beat the contested skill check.

Further Mindsight specifically mentions that the information gained 'is as obvious to mindsight as the being's race and clothing would be to eyesight' - and those can be bypassed with a disguise check, so it is possible that one could disguise themselves to fool detection.

These then obviously do not require anything fancy from the enemies (mere skill checks), and you can get on with your game more or less as normal (the feat is still good if it doesn't completely bypass some skills).

Seperately depending on how the player is getting telepathy might change things - but assuming that they are getting 100ft range, there are standard weapons that exceed that so you can just have your ambush be from outside the range (no need for the bandits to get to close before starting an attack after all).

[Zaq]

It’s not even slightly close to RAW, but it might be an interesting houserule to allow a skill check other than Hide/MS to fool Mindsight. Just brainstorming, thematically appropriate choices would be Bluff (working backwards from the epic usage that lets you disguise your surface thoughts) or Concentration (if MS is intentionally regulating your physical motions to make them hard to detect, I’m okay with Concentration regulating your mind’s presence to make it hard to detect), opposed by the Mindsight user’s Sense Motive (or maaaybe Spellcraft/Psicraft). To me, Concentration makes a bit more thematic sense, but “traditionally” stealthy folks like rogues and similar are more likely to have Bluff in-class than Concentration, and I’d rather lean towards not accidentally buffing casters (who mostly max out Concentration anyway).

Or, you know, the concealing skill could be Autohypnosis, but only in a game where more than a teeny-tiny number of classes get Autohypnosis.

Like I said, we’re diving headfirst into homebrew territory, but it might be a way to keep Mindsight in the game and keep it useful without making it an auto-win against stealth.

[Crichton]

This is the Rules As Written. The Normal entry is rules text and it is every bit a part of the feat description as anything else. Your interpretation requires you to ignore part of the text in order to be correct, and that's not how the rules work.

No one's ignoring any part of the text. Let's break it down:

What a creature with the Telepathy special quality can do: Communicate telepathically -as a standard action, since most forms of Telepathy are (Su)- with any other creature within the stated range (that has a language, but that limitation isn't relevant to this part of the discussion)

What a creature with only the Telepathy special quality cannot do(the Normal line): sense other minds or their locations

What a creature with the Mindsight feat(and thus also Telepathy) can do: pinpoint the location of any (non-mindless)creature within the range of their Telepathy, passively and without the need to 'take any additional or special actions to gain this information' (presumably an Ex ability, as generally feats are Ex unless stated otherwise)



So while the Telepathy special quality is a prerequisite for taking the feat Mindsight, nothing in the feat text itself would indicate that successful telepathic communication (the only stated function of the Telepathy special quality) is required for Mindsight to function. In fact, it explicitly states the opposite, that no action is required for Mindsight to work.

Blocking telepathic communication in itself doesn't prevent, by the text, Mindsight from pinpointing any mind in range, since blocking communication doesn't alter the one thing the feat text says is the requirement: that pinpointed creatures be in range.

You might be able to argue that AMF's text that Su abilities are 'temporarily nullified' is enough to count as temporarily removing the prerequisite for Mindsight, but only if the AMF encompasses the user completely. A user outside an AMF could probably still use Mindsight on creatures inside the AMF, just not use Telepathy to communicate with them. This reading is dependent on the interpretation of the word 'nullified' in the AMF text, and is neither supported nor refuted by any other rules text that I'm aware of, so it's entirely up to a DM to decide if it removes the prerequisite or just stops communication using Telepathy.



Because it's not a spell effect or divination or such, blocking Telepathy is already fairly hard to do. Blocking Mindsight, if taking the text at face value, is harder still.

There are strategies for dealing with it, as others have posted, and a small number of ways to definitively defeat it, as I posted in my (probably incomplete) list above, as well as a good number of things that come close, which thematically and mechanically would make for great houserule adjustments, if a DM so desired (also many of which are listed in my earlier post).

[ben-zayb]

It’s not even slightly close to RAW, but it might be an interesting houserule to allow a skill check other than Hide/MS to fool Mindsight. Just brainstorming, thematically appropriate choices would be Bluff (working backwards from the epic usage that lets you disguise your surface thoughts) or Concentration (if MS is intentionally regulating your physical motions to make them hard to detect, I’m okay with Concentration regulating your mind’s presence to make it hard to detect), opposed by the Mindsight user’s Sense Motive (or maaaybe Spellcraft/Psicraft). To me, Concentration makes a bit more thematic sense, but “traditionally” stealthy folks like rogues and similar are more likely to have Bluff in-class than Concentration, and I’d rather lean towards not accidentally buffing casters (who mostly max out Concentration anyway).

Or, you know, the concealing skill could be Autohypnosis, but only in a game where more than a teeny-tiny number of classes get Autohypnosis.

Like I said, we’re diving headfirst into homebrew territory, but it might be a way to keep Mindsight in the game and keep it useful without making it an auto-win against stealth.Fiend of Possession already sets precedence for using Hide checks to conceal presence against stuff with a save DC at least:

A successful check allows a fiend of possession to avoid virtually anything that would betray its presence in the possessed creature or object: it can pass through a magic circle against evil, enter a temple warded by forbiddance, or escape detection via detect evil.

[Doctor Awkward]

So while the Telepathy special quality is a prerequisite for taking the feat Mindsight, nothing in the feat text itself would indicate that successful telepathic communication (the only stated function of the Telepathy special quality) is required for Mindsight to function. In fact, it explicitly states the opposite, that no action is required for Mindsight to work.


Yes, there is. The rules text in the "Normal" section of the feat description that makes abundantly clear that Mindsight provides additional functionality to telepathy. Your argument again ignores this text in favor of focusing only on the "Benefit" section of the feat. That's not how the rules work. Every part of the rules is important when reading them as written. What you are doing is starting from the conclusion that Mindsight is a completely separate ability from the Telepathy special quality that is required to take the feat, and then working backwards from that conclusion to find evidence that supports it.

And furthermore...

-as a standard action, since most forms of Telepathy are (Su)-

Again incorrect. Supernatural abilities, as stated in the rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#supernaturalAbilities), are a standard action unless otherwise noted. The description of Telepathy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#telepathy) notes, "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."

As this ability is directly and specifically compared to "having a conversation" all the action rules for having a conversation apply to this new conversational mode. Since an alternative action cost is specified in the power, Telepathy does not require a standard action to activate or use, unless the specific entry of a specific creature's telepathy ability indicates otherwise (specific trumps general). By extension, neither does Mindsight require an action to use since per its description it provides additional function to Telepathy, specifically a "visual" sensory component to the normally "audio-only" ability.

[Crichton]

Yes, there is. The rules text in the "Normal" section of the feat description that makes abundantly clear that Mindsight provides additional functionality to telepathy. Your argument again ignores this text in favor of focusing only on the "Benefit" section of the feat. That's not how the rules work. Every part of the rules is important when reading them as written. What you are doing is starting from the conclusion that Mindsight is a completely separate ability from the Telepathy special quality that is required to take the feat, and then working backwards from that conclusion to find evidence that supports it.


No, I'm stating that it's not really relevant whether it's a separate ability or not, since the Benefit line specifically says the only thing required for successful Mindsight is to be in Telepathy range, NOT that successful telepathic communication needs to activated, or even be possible. So long as the user still has the Telepathy special quality, and the targets are in range, then Mindsight will function, even if, now knowing where the other creatures are, the user's telepathic communication with them would be blocked by some other effect. Again, being an immune target does not prevent one from being a target that's in range.







Again incorrect. Supernatural abilities, as stated in the rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#supernaturalAbilities), are a standard action unless otherwise noted. The description of Telepathy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#telepathy) notes, "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."

As this ability is directly and specifically compared to "having a conversation" all the action rules for having a conversation apply to this new conversational mode. Since an alternative action cost is specified in the power, Telepathy does not require a standard action to activate or use, unless the specific entry of a specific creature's telepathy ability indicates otherwise (specific trumps general). By extension, neither does Mindsight require an action to use since per its description it provides additional function to Telepathy, specifically a "visual" sensory component to the normally "audio-only" ability.


It's a bit of a stretch to equate the words ..."just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening..." with the ability being specifically bound to the rules and action types of speech. "Just as difficult as" isn't the same as "counts for all rules purposes as" and while normal speech is a free action, "simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time" isn't something that's addressed by any rules that I know of, so just how difficult "just as difficult" is, is an undefined value.

That said, whether Telepathy requires an action or not, Mindsight, the Ex ability, doesn't, not to mention that this also is not a relevant point to whether Mindsight functions when telepathic communication is blocked.

[Doctor Awkward]

No, I'm stating that it's not really relevant whether it's a separate ability or not, since the Benefit line specifically says the only thing required for successful Mindsight is to be in Telepathy range, NOT that successful telepathic communication needs to activated, or even be possible. So long as the user still has the Telepathy special quality, and the targets are in range, then Mindsight will function, even if, now knowing where the other creatures are, the user's telepathic communication with them would be blocked by some other effect. Again, being an immune target does not prevent one from being a target that's in range.

It's entirely relevant because Mindsight makes it clear that it is wholly dependent on having functioning telepathy in order to work by virtue of being an extension of the telepathy ability. Thus if a character cannot use their telepathy for any reason then they cannot benefit from Mindsight either. This is the rules as written. Attempting to parse out a "well, technically" because the rules don't expressly prohibit you from doing something is not reading them as written. It's the Rules As I Interpret Them And You Can't Prove Me Wrong.





It's a bit of a stretch to equate the words ..."just as difficult as simultaneously speaking and listening..." with the ability being specifically bound to the rules and action types of speech. "Just as difficult as" isn't the same as "counts for all rules purposes as" and while normal speech is a free action, "simultaneously speaking and listening to multiple people at the same time" isn't something that's addressed by any rules that I know of, so just how difficult "just as difficult" is, is an undefined value.

That said, whether Telepathy requires an action or not, Mindsight, the Ex ability, doesn't, not to mention that this also is not a relevant point to whether Mindsight functions when telepathic communication is blocked.

It's not a stretch in slightest. The rules make it clear that they are intended to be read and interpreted with with real-world knowledge and a judicious application of common sense. Not every single necessary aspect thing is directly stated with specific unique "rules language" and it doesn't need to be. Some things just are.

If the rules directly and specifically spelled out every single instance of an exception with unique and specific language as such then they would be longer than a full volume set of the Encyclopedia Britannica and cost more than a new Ferrari.

The rules are telling you that telepathy functions just like having a conversation. The rules on conversing are somewhat short but they do exist (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsInCombat.htm#speak): "Talking is a free action that can be done when it is not your turn", and "you may take as many free actions in a single combat round as the DM feels is appropriate." That's it.