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Can a non-telepath telepathically respond to a telepath who is telepathically speaking to them?
I think so. I think that the telepathic character can send a message to start a conversation, and then read the response telepathically. I don't think the rules are clear either way on this, though.
Pretty sure the non-telepath is just thinking and the telepath can "hear" it.
Both Telepathy and Limited Telepathy state you "mentally communicate", not that you "talk to" or "talk at". It shouldn't be communication if they can't talk back.
Pretty sure the non-telepath is just thinking and the telepath can "hear" it.
A telepath cannot simply "hear" what somebody else is thinking without using a spell like Detect Thoughts, nor can a non-telepath initiate the conversation.
In order for a telepath to be able to get a telepathic reply from a non-telepath, the telepathic message from the telepath to the non-telepath would have to briefly open up a channel over which the non-telepath could give a short, immediate reply -- similar to the way that the Telepathic Message 0-level spell works.
The problem, of course, is that this is nowhere actually stated to happen -- we would have to deduce it from various vague statements on that subject.
I looked in the universal creature rules for limited telepathy
The creature can mentally communicate with any creatures within the listed range with which it shares a language.
Communicating requires two way. Otherwise you are just talking to someone.
My 2 cents, and I realize not everyone is going to see it that way.
I looked in the universal creature rules for limited telepathy
The creature can mentally communicate with any creatures within the listed range with which it shares a language.Communicating requires two way. Otherwise you are just talking to someone.
My 2 cents, and I realize not everyone is going to see it that way.
Yes, but there's an entire can of worms involved in working out how you want telepathy to work. I did a write-up of house rules for my GM if he wanted it to work like vocal communication does, but he's still thinking about it.
Some example questions that need answers:
- Can a non-telepath choose to respond?
- Can a non-telepath choose NOT to respond?
- If a non-telepath can choose to respond, do all telepaths in range hear their response, or only the "original" sender? What if several telepaths message them before they get a chance to respond?
- Can a non-telepath initiate a "conversation" with a telepath?
- Do limited telepathic communications actually use the shared language they have to have to work, or does having the shared language let the limited telepathy bypass your language centers - i.e. telepathy happens in no specific language at all?
- If limited telepathy does not use the shared language and only requires it to exist, and if "group" conversations exist, if Alice and Brenda share Elven, but Alice and Carlita share Draconic, with no other shared languages, what exactly happens when Alice enters a group conversation with Brenda and Carlita? Can Brenda and Carlita understand each other, using Alice as a bridge?
I see as a bunch of tcp connections.
You have a connection conversation with Alice, and you have a conversation with Bob, but Alice and Bob are not having a conversation.
You could act as a relay, telling Bob what Alice said and Alice what Bob said but it would be a man in the middle situation.
As you are communicating with someone I would say yes they can respond otherwise it's not communicating, it's simply you talking. Basically with any conversation you can talk at someone but they don't have to say anything back.
I see as a bunch of tcp connections.
You have a connection conversation with Alice, and you have a conversation with Bob, but Alice and Bob are not having a conversation.
You could act as a relay, telling Bob what Alice said and Alice what Bob said but it would be a man in the middle situation.
As you are communicating with someone I would say yes they can respond otherwise it's not communicating, it's simply you talking. Basically with any conversation you can talk at someone but they don't have to say anything back.
How don't they say anything back? If you want it to work like vocals do, the telepath is always listening to nearby thoughts, and non-telepaths have to try to avoid thinking about anything, lest nearby telepaths hear them. Do they have a way to whisper? Does telepathy have a concept that's similar to volume?
Your interpretation of AB and AC not implying BC is valid, but you need to add a method for establishing conversations - in TCP, this is called the handshake. Do you want your telepathy to require line of sight or line of effect? Does telepathy work on invisible creatures nearby you only hope are listening? Also, how much information does the handshake "leak"? That is, limited telepathy requires a shared language, but it's not clear if a limited telepath establishing a conversation discovers what language they share with the other entity. If the handshake includes a response, it might or might not reveal that. If it does include a response, it certainly gives limited telepaths a crude way to detect creatures - at least those that want to be found - since they can look at anything all and initiate a handshake.
It's challenging to just sit and imagine every question that needs answering, so hopefully either Paizo or someone else will come up with a concise set of rules governing all this. As I sat here typing all this, I realized another question that needs answering is whether telepaths sound like themselves, like how people have their own voices, or if they all sound the same, like computers on TCP connections (a TCP connection includes a computer claiming an address, but any computer can claim any address - the information packets aren't flavored in any sense by either party).
You all are clearly overthinking it !
Agreed. If a Telepath can "hear" surface thoughts then a non-telepath can think and the telepath will "hear" it.
If the telepath can then send thoughts via magic powers to the Non-Telepath the non-Telepath can "hear" it.
voila effectively two way communication.
In summary:
The Telepath can send and listen
The non-Telepath can only receive
The Telepath is the lynch pin, but via his/her magic powers he/she can effectively "talk" to a non-telepath.
As TCG said, but I would point out the ability says any creature in range. So invisible or not it can work provided shared language.
Now remember it's not blindsense or blindsight and we know the four states of awareness.
I could definitely see a creature with this ability mentally "shouting" at anyone in range but without knowing if anyone is actually listening until a response is had, much like anyone calling for help if pinned under rumble.
I did say TCP, but honestly that was a poor choice and grabbed before coffee. UDP is definitely the way to go for imagining it: you can send the packet out and if someone on the other end has the appropriate port open (thinking creature) and knows the protocol (language) they can respond back to you because you kind of "gave" them the address to answer back on.
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With my lashunta mystic, I've worked out in my mind that she must initiate any telepathic communication, and then she can 'hear' the thoughts that the recipient intends to be an answer to her. She teaches her new teammates a discrete signal to use (like scratching behind an ear) if they want her to initiate telepathic contact because they have something to tell her.
You all are clearly overthinking it !Agreed. If a Telepath can "hear" surface thoughts then a non-telepath can think and the telepath will "hear" it.
If the telepath can then send thoughts via magic powers to the Non-Telepath the non-Telepath can "hear" it.
voila effectively two way communication.
In summary:
The Telepath can send and listen
The non-Telepath can only receiveThe Telepath is the lynch pin, but via his/her magic powers he/she can effectively "talk" to a non-telepath.
That's an incredibly powerful interpretation, and I hope you enjoy playing it, but my GM is highly unlikely to go with it. :) Note that your interpretation forces you to come up with a way for your telepaths to stop listening, since they haven't all gone insane from never getting any sleep. I infer from your post that your telepaths can simply choose to turn it off, unlike, say, hearing.
I can sleep even with people shooting around me. I can sleep while other people are talking or playing music in the same room.
I don't see why what is essentially background noise is going to be more of a problem for the limited telepath than regular noise is for other people.
I mean sure I imagine some do have more difficulty than others. Mind you are ignoring it's incredibly limited range (30 foot typically) so it's not like you are hearing everyone on the station/world/village or something either.