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Mr. Andrew Ellingsworth, Gentleman of the Vidava Slums and Renowned Scholar of the Art of Skullduggery, was standing in a deep pool of shadow just beyond the light of a gas lamp. The streets were mostly empty, as most had already retired to their abodes. Only a few were wandering the dim streets at this hour, and none of them took notice of Mr. Ellingsworth. If they had been able to penetrate the shadows where he stood, they would have shied away from him, for his ragged top-hat, patched vest and dirty shirt bespoke someone who, despite his posture and bearing, was altogether ungentlemanly. He could have reassured them however. He was no common cutpurse. Tonight he was after a very specific target. His mind roamed up and down the street, searching for his mark.
And then he found her. In his mind she glowed with a silver sheen of confidence and her thoughts raced like a battalion of pistons. She was down the street and around the corner, approaching from behind an abandoned rail-station. In response to her arrival, Andrew sent his psyche racing ahead to touch the mind of his companion.
She’s here. Grab her and take her into the alley across from the old Millinery. I’ll be along shortly.
Mr. Ellingsworth plucked the response from the surface of his companion’s mind
Yes, Mr. Ellingsworth. The usual, right? Purse, jewelery and so forth?
No, you brute. This is for a client. The client wants a nice, long, career of extortion and blackmail from this lady. Intimidate, but do not touch.
Right you are, Mr. Ellingsworth.
His hired muscle scuttled out of the alley that he had been lurking in just as the lady turned the corner. The thug “gently” invited the lady to come have a chat with him in the indicated alley. Mr. Ellingsworth smiled as he strolled out of his puddle of shadow. Very few people can say 'no' to an eight foot Half-Orc, no matter how nicely dressed.
The lady turned as Mr. Ellingsworth entered the Alley. There was no sign of the hired muscle, and as Mr. Ellingsworth approached the lady spoke to him. Her voice was distinguished and controlled. Definitely a member of the gentry.
“Ah, Mr. Ellingsworth. I’ve been informed by a rather imposing gentleman that you are here to blackmail me on behalf of a cowardly cur. Do you perhaps know the secret that said cur threatens to expose?”
“My dear Madam, you wound me. I am simply a business man, here to fulfill a contract for a distinguished member of society.” Where had the idiot gone? He was d*mn good at hiding for a Half-Orc, but now wasn’t the time for subtlety.
“I would be all to happy to inform you. You see, Mr. Ellingsworth...”
Strong hands grabbed his throat, squeezed the light out of his eyes. His mind desperately sought to reach the brain of the his Companion, but he only felt the cold silver confidence of the lady where the pulsating soul of the half-orc should have been. Her parting words echoed, reverberated in his mind as his sight faded.
I, too, am a telepath.
* * *
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Telepathic Potential:
Feat prereq still needs to be an odd number :)
Might want to clarify that Telepathic Potential, when taken after Telekinetic Potential, increases the uses per day by one in addition to the other effects.
Qualify the "free action" bit with "as if speaking". Or better yet, "into the mind of the target creature as a free action, able to be taken out of turn."
"Should the creature move beyond the range of the spell," ORLY? :)
Thoughts: I like that it's not quite Telepathy, as defined in the universal monster rules. That doesn't require the creatures to understand each other. They just kinda *know* what the other is saying, as long as they both know any language. I still don't like the fact that it's not magical.
Extended Telepathy:
O_O
It jumps from rounds to hours??
High-Frequency Telepathy:
Does this mean you can choose one creature within a mile to telepathically communicate with? Do you need LoS or LoE to choose him? Do you just need to know they exist? Can I just specify them?
Or does it mean that you can just establish communication within 120', but the link still exists if the target moves 121'+ away from you?
Balanced Telepathy:
Erm, it's lesser versions of the above two?
Lesser Telepathic Manipulation:
I strongly dislike this one, even more so due to the fact that it isn't magical and isn't a charm effect. I'm a bit afraid of the non-lesser version, because as it is, this feat gives a souped up (no components! not [charm]! no one else knows you've done it!) heightened charm person. That's far, far better than a feat should give.
Empathy: Eww. Always on immunity to flat-footedness? Nothing stopping you from focusing on as many creatures as you want? Sense Motive needs to be capitalized. +10 bonus to Sense Motive? You activate this as a standard action, and it lasts 24 hours. It does not end after focusing on creatures, so it's always on. There is no action listed for focusing on creatures, so it takes no actions. This is a fine level 20 ability. It needs to either be completely rewritten or tossed.
Psychic Endurance:
It works.
<skipping a few>
Telepathic Penetration:
=/ Be careful with this and all the implications of it.
Telepathic Field:
See above.
Empathic Field:
No.
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It is my opinion that other than Psychic Endurance and Telepathic, these need to be completely redone.
Which brings me to my next suggestion: Drastically reduce the number of feats. This is something I noticed in the runeworking rules, as well as the telekinetic rules. There are just far too many feats. Where's the room for other feats?
This promotes feat paralysis, and I'm not going to lie, when I saw the length of this document the first thing I thought was "Oh god."
Figure out what Dreamscarred Press does for telepathy, and exercise the OGL.
Avoid like the plague abilities that require the GM to roll Will saves for every single creature who ever gets within 120' of the character over the course of 24 hours.
Granting heightened silent still non-magical spells should be rare. Possibly even exceedingly so. The heightened bit alone is huge. There being no components is incredible. Them not being magical is just icing on the extremely tall cake.
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Thanks once again for your criticisms! I have updated the Telepathic Playtest. Version 0.2 changes are marked in yellow. For your convenience, the changes are as follows:
1) Telepathic Potential's prerequisite stats now require a 15 in those stats.
2) Telepathic Potential no longer refers to itself as a spell.
3) High-Frequency Telepathy now specifies that you must still have line of sight in order to establish the telepathic link.
4) Balance Telepathy has been completely replaced by Confident Telepathy, which allows characters to establish telepathic links without line of sight.
5) Lesser Telepathic Manipulation, Telepathic Manipulation, Greater Telepathic Manipulation and Empathic Dampening are considered to be mind-affecting effects. Lesser Telepathic Manipulation is considered to be a charm effect. Telepathic Manipulation, Greater Telepathic Manipulation and Empathic Dampening are considered to be compulsion effects. Telepathic Manipulation is now considered language dependant.
6) Removed the boosted DCs from Lesser Telepathic Manipulation, Telepathic Manipulation, Greater Telepathic Manipulation and Empathic Dampening.
7) The Sense Motive bonus from empathy is now equal to half your character level.
8) Empathy no longer grants immunity to being caught flat-footed.
8) Changed one of the possible prerequisites for Vast Mind from Balanced Telepathy to Confident Telepathy.