I know telepathy has been around for a while in Pathfinder, but I never had to deal with it personally. Now that two major PC races have it as an ability it seems like it will be much more important. The ability on the races reads like this:
Lashuntas/Shirrens can mentally communicate with any creatures within 30 feet with whom they share a language. Conversing telepathically with multiple creatures simultaneously is just as difficult as listening to multiple people speaking.
I'm wondering what to do with that last sentence. Exactly how difficult are we talking? Would it mean that most of the time people have silent one-on-one conversations that nobody could eavesdrop on or join in with? Is it possible to 'broadcast' something to everybody within 30 feet (say, to your entire party) without opening yourself to everybody's mental responses? Does it make any difference if the people you're talking to can use telepathy themselves?
The lashuntas at least could just speak aloud if they want to, but the shirren description says they speak audibly only for formal occasions. How would that work for a teacher leading a classroom, or a group of teenagers standing around gossiping in a group? Do they just get used to that kind of mental toll?
I'm just throwing out questions here, as I try to figure out for myself how to handle it practically.
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My guess is it's to prevent abuse around Gather Information. If it wasn't specific about that, people would argue that they walk into a bar and ask everyone within 30 feet if they've seen the Bounty, and hold 10 conversations gathering clues simultaneously (and arguably completing the check 10 times faster than someone without telepathy)
Versus, RAW with this, 10 responses that jumble together and are no clearer than if everyone yelled back their response.
So when they say 'difficult' I'm interpreting it as it's probably not physically taxing to talk to multiple people as much as it is jumbled and unintelligible if all those people respond back.
How I HOPE we are going to handle it is to try to enforce that you get to talk TO the telepath and he gets to talk to you. No using the telepath to broadcast your observations to the rest of the group.
It might slow the game down a little bit, but I'd emphasize the players communicating telepathically do it directly, and ask everyone else to be quiet, kind of like minimizing table talk while one player interacts with an NPC.
I think it's going to come up fairly frequently, since you not only have telepathic races, but you also have people who can communicate with their drones, and people with secure (and insecure) comm links. So it's something worth thinking about before your group gets into habits that are hard to change.
Was there anything in the CRB clarifying whether someone without telepathy could respond to a telepathic transmission?
yeah, i am also unsure about this. if a shirren is having a conversation with a ysoki, does it sound to people walking by like the ysoki is talking to himself like a maniac?
Just for the Situation I would go with the "talking to himself" option :D
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There is nothing to suggest telepathic communication is two-way unless both individuals possess telepathy.
yeah, i am also unsure about this. if a shirren is having a conversation with a ysoki, does it sound to people walking by like the ysoki is talking to himself like a maniac?
So... Groot has limited telepathy, that has him talk to someone to get the telepathic meaning across? Whoa!
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There is nothing to suggest telepathic communication is two-way unless both individuals possess telepathy.
This. Some people assume that non-telepaths can reply if someone else initiates it, others don't think they should have that ability and should reply out loud. It'd be nice to get an official ruling on what's intended. Personally, I think it would be better if only another telepath can respond with telepathy.
If it does end up that they can reply, or in the case of a group of telepaths...
It might slow the game down a little bit, but I'd emphasize the players communicating telepathically do it directly, and ask everyone else to be quiet, kind of like minimizing table talk while one player interacts with an NPC.
This makes sense to me. If you're telepath-ing to multiple people and they all start to reply, you can ask people to quiet down and speak one at a time. Cutting down table talk is a good relatable analogy for players.
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There is another thread on this topic, in case those interested in this question want to redirect the conversation to a single thread:
So far, there is nothing in the Starfinder FAQ about telepathy and for what it's worth there is still nothing about telepathy on the Pathfinder FAQ, which uses the exact same definition of telepathy and these same questions have been around since at least 2010.