Play out mind-reading scenes that do more than push open the door to a mind, and make them feel more like a thief cracking a vault while the guards are closing in.
Trying to respond to spells like Detect Thoughts can be tough. The challenge for a DM is either improvising a rich inner world for every NPC or revealing your secrets too soon due to a single spell. That's why we wanted to tackle this one. It threw us some serious curveballs when we were new to running the game. In this episode, we get into what surface thoughts are, how to simplify them in your own mind, and an option for making the spell part of a tense scene where information is teased out slowly, rather than as a single move.
In the Strategy Stateroom we break potential thoughts into three categories of observational, factual, and secret. We do this because there are a million directions you could take a mind read, but if you reign it in, and think in terms of these three categories, then you're able to give out useful information to the party without going too far off the rails. Then we suggest a slight change in the mechanics of the spell that makes it a part of a tense conversation, letting the caster roll to get deeper into the target's mind without getting caught.
Then we take a quick dip into Lamashtu's Breeding Pit where we propose an idea for a mind-reading villain that'll mess with your player's plans real quick.
As always, huge thanks to the support of our patrons for making this episode a reality.
Zach G., Greg Greg, Michelle T., Hentenius, Alan E., Matthew T., Felix R., Chris F., The Senate, Lucas D., Lyla G., The GM Tim, Thomas W., Tyler G., Ty N., Heavyarms, Erik R, Aldrost, Leprecan, and Will H-P.