Seek Thoughts: looking for enemies.

[Kurukami]

In my campaign, one of the clerics has the Thought domain and therefore has been regularly been preparing seek thoughts. The PC is using this on a ship at sea with the claimed question of "do you mean harm to me or any of my companions?" -- thus, basically, the player is trying to word it as a method of detecting nearby enemies.

I think that interpretation is ridiculous. The APG phrases the spell as "you may scan for either the answer to a simple question (such as "Where is the hidden lair of the wererats?" or for information on a general topic (such as the beliefs of an evil cult)", and goes on to say that you can engage people in normal conversation with the spell up to try to bring up leading questions about topics of interest.

To me, this very specifically means you don't get free looks into questions of "are you an enemy?" You have to actually talk to said target to try to bring their thoughts around to the topic you'd like to discern their true thoughts on.

Thoughts? Opinions?

[Kurukami]

What, no one?

[Kalyth]

Perfectly valid use of the spell in my opinion. Seems to fit the description to a T as far as I can tell.

You can scan for the answer to a specific Question. "Do you mean me or my allies harm?" That's a pretty specific questions. I see nothing wrong with that use of the spell.

[Tiny Coffee Golem]

It's valid, but it only reveals surface thoughts. meaning it won't be an enemy detector unless they are thinking about harming you at that moment. If they have long term plans to kill you that won't be revealed unless their plans are coming to fruition.

So it's valid, but not as useful as the player thinks it is.

[Mistwalker]

Kurukami wrote:

I think that interpretation is ridiculous. The APG phrases the spell as "you may scan for either the answer to a simple question (such as "Where is the hidden lair of the wererats?" or for information on a general topic (such as the beliefs of an evil cult)", and goes on to say that you can engage people in normal conversation with the spell up to try to bring up leading questions about topics of interest,

To me, this very specifically means you don't get free looks into questions of "are you an enemy?" You have to actually talk to said target to try to bring their thoughts around to the topic you'd like to discern their true thoughts on.

I agree with your reading of the rule. The spell detects surface thoughts, so the player will need to engage them, in conversation, parade in front of them, etc. (or someone will) to bring the appropriate thoughts to the surface. Either that or get lucky in that when they cast the spell, the "enemies" were thinking bad thoughts about them.