The Mentalist

Mentalists are masters of observation, deception, and psychological manipulation. They study posture, speech patterns, breathing, habits, relationships, and the tiny involuntary movements most people never notice.

To the untrained eye, a Mentalist can seem psychic.

Usually, they're simply paying attention.

Some Mentalists supplement their observations with genuine supernatural intuition: flashes of insight, uncanny pattern recognition, or a sixth sense for magical manipulation. Whether those talents come from rigorous training or something stranger is often deliberately left unclear.

A Mentalist doesn't need to overpower someone.

They only need to understand them.

Level 3: Cold Read

You have trained yourself to extract information from the smallest details of a person's behavior.

You gain proficiency in Insight and Investigation. If you already have proficiency in either skill, you instead gain expertise in that skill.

As a bonus action, you can study one creature you can see within 60 feet of you. The creature must have an Intelligence score of 4 or higher and be capable of perceiving its surroundings.

Make an Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Insight) check against the creature's passive Deception.

On a success, you Read the creature for 10 minutes. The effect ends early if you Read another creature.

If you spend at least 1 minute observing the creature before attempting the check, you have advantage on the check.

While a creature is Read:

• You have advantage on Insight, Investigation, and Deception checks involving that creature.
• You know whether the creature is knowingly lying to you when it answers a direct question.
• You can recognize whether its current behavior indicates fear, anger, confidence, hesitation, deception, or another obvious emotional state.

• Once after successfully Reading it, choose two of the following pieces of information to learn:

  Immediate Intent. What it is currently trying to accomplish.

  Priority. Which creature, object, or goal currently matters most to it.

  Mental Strength. Which of Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is highest or lowest for it.

  Behavioral Weakness. A habit, preference, insecurity, attachment, or behavioral pattern that could reasonably be exploited.

  Suspicion. Whether it currently suspects you or another creature of deception.

  Influence. Whether its behavior appears to be affected by fear, charm, coercion, possession, or some other outside influence.

The DM should provide information that can reasonably be inferred from the creature's behavior, circumstances, and the evidence available to your character.

Cold Read never reveals secret plot information merely because you asked for it.

Instead, it gives you the conclusions a sufficiently observant character could reasonably draw from what has actually happened.

Reading a Scene

Outside combat, you can use Cold Read to study a group of creatures or a location rather than a single creature.

After at least 1 minute of observation, make an Investigation check.

On a successful check, the DM gives you one meaningful clue that can be inferred from the evidence available in the scene.

The clue might reveal an inconsistency, suspicious behavior, overlooked physical evidence, an unusual relationship, or another observable detail.

It cannot simply reveal:

“The murderer is the butler.”

Instead, it might reveal:

“The butler's account of when he entered the room doesn't match the blood pattern on his shoes.”

What you do with that information is up to you.

Level 3: Psychological Openings

Knowing someone's weakness is useful only if you know how to exploit it.

Whenever you deal Sneak Attack damage to a creature you have Read, you can exploit one of the openings you have identified in it.

Choose one of the following effects:

Break Their Rhythm

The creature cannot take reactions until the start of its next turn.

Put Them on the Back Foot

The creature's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.

Get Inside Their Head

The creature has disadvantage on the next Wisdom or Charisma saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.

Draw Their Attention

The creature has disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes against a creature other than you before the start of your next turn.

You can use only one Psychological Opening when you deal Sneak Attack damage.

These effects represent different forms of manipulation rather than magic.

The Mentalist sees the hesitation before the strike, the anger behind the eyes, the insecurity in the voice, or the instinct to protect someone nearby, and exploits it.

Level 9: Lead the Witness

You have learned that people rarely need to be forced to reveal information.

They simply need to believe that revealing it was their own idea.

When dealing with a creature you have Read, you can deliberately steer a conversation toward the conclusion you want.

When you make a Deception, Insight, or Persuasion check against a Read creature, you can treat a d20 roll of 9 or lower as a 10.

Additionally, when a Read creature answers one of your direct questions, you can immediately ask one follow-up question without giving it time to reconsider its response.

The DM determines the creature's answer based on what it actually knows and believes.

The creature does not become magically compelled to tell the truth.

It may lie.

It may refuse.

It may genuinely misunderstand.

What you gain is the ability to notice contradictions and pressure weak points in its story.

Level 13: I Knew You'd Do That

Your observations have progressed beyond ordinary expertise.

You can anticipate behavior with unsettling accuracy.

When a creature you have Read makes an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can use your reaction after seeing the d20 roll but before the outcome is determined.

You subtract your proficiency bonus from the roll.

You can then move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.

You must be able to see the creature when you use this reaction.

You can use I Knew You'd Do That only once per round.

The movement can occur before or after the roll's result is applied.

Example

An ogre raises its club.

You've watched it fight for several rounds.

You already know how it attacks when irritated.

It rolls a 17.

You smile.

“You're going to do the big swing.”

You use your reaction.

The roll becomes a 12.

The attack misses.

You casually step out of the way.

Level 13: Unmask the Trick

Your instincts have become sufficiently supernatural that deception itself leaves traces for you.

As an action, you can focus on a creature or object you can see within 60 feet for 1 minute.

For the duration, you can tell whether you are observing:

• a magical disguise;
• an illusion;
• a creature under a charm or magical compulsion;
• possession;
• a magically altered emotional state;
• or another magical effect directly influencing the target's behavior.

You do not automatically learn the specific spell, caster, or source.

You simply recognize:

“Something is wrong.”

You can also tell whether an apparently mundane statement is being affected by magical compulsion or memory alteration.

Once you have recognized such an effect, you have advantage on subsequent Investigation and Insight checks made to understand or expose it.

This feature does not grant you the ability to dispel magic.

You're an observer.

Not a wizard.

Level 17: The Whole Story

At the pinnacle of your discipline, very little about a person escapes your notice.

You can now maintain up to three Read creatures simultaneously.

When you Read a creature, you can learn three pieces of information from the Cold Read list instead of two.

Additionally, you gain the following abilities.

Predictive Insight

At the beginning of a Read creature's turn, you can determine its immediate intention, provided it has already decided what it intends to do.

You know whether it currently intends to:

• attack;
• flee;
• defend;
• cast a spell;
• use an ability;
• move toward or away from something;
• negotiate;
• protect someone;
• or perform another obvious immediate action.

You do not automatically learn hidden information behind the action.

You know what it is about to do, not every reason why.

If the creature has not yet decided, you know that it has not decided.

Bait the Hook

You can also manipulate a Read creature during combat.

When you deal Sneak Attack damage to a Read creature, you can forgo one of your Sneak Attack dice to bait it into focusing on you.

The creature must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against a DC equal to:

8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom or Charisma modifier

On a failed save, until the end of its next turn:

• it has disadvantage on attacks against creatures other than you;
• if it can see and reach you, you have advantage on checks made to maintain control of the encounter;
• and if it attacks another creature instead of you, you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on that attack.

The effect isn't magical compulsion.

You simply made yourself the most psychologically irritating target on the battlefield.

Level 17: You Never Had Control

Once per round, when a creature you have Read makes a d20 roll, you can use your reaction to invoke your predictive understanding.

You may either:

Force the creature to reroll the die, using the new result,

or

subtract your proficiency bonus from the original roll.

You decide which option to use after seeing the roll but before the result is determined.

If the resulting roll causes the creature to fail an attack, ability check, or saving throw, you may immediately move up to half your speed without provoking opportunity attacks.

Level 17: The Perfect Deduction

Your investigative abilities have reached their supernatural limit.

When you have at least 1 minute to study a scene, you can ask the DM up to three specific questions concerning observable facts, behavioral evidence, inconsistencies, or relationships within that scene.

The DM answers with the most useful information your character could realistically infer from the evidence available.

The DM does not need to reveal hidden plot information, the identity of an unseen culprit, or facts your character could not possibly deduce.

Instead, the answers should function like the deductions of an impossibly perceptive investigator.

For example:

“Which object here has been deliberately moved?”

“Who in this room is most afraid of being questioned?”

“What detail doesn't fit the story we've been given?”

The answers can point you in the right direction without simply solving the adventure for you.