Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Hey guys,
Been playing D&D for a while, but my current session is my first jaunt into Warlock, outside of bg3.
I'm hoping to pick folks brains towards the Awakened Mind feature.
My question is: do you think that the creature with whom one makes the telepathic bond would immediately know that my character is in their head?
Context: say my party is trying to find a plot character, but we have no idea what said character looks like. Guy in front of us knows. What's your opinion on making a telepathic bond with said person & just chatting absently about the person we're looking for, in the hopes of the bonded person visualizing them & my character might get a view of the image?
Another usage of this would be to make the bond with an unknowing individual & trying to influence their thoughts (say, while bonded to a sentry guard, focusing my entire thought process on how desperately I need to pee until said guard leaves his post because of how desperately he believes that he needs to pee?)
I know well that the deciding vote on this would be what my DM would rule, but what do you guys think? The wording of Awakened Mind is copied below.
"You can form a telepathic connection between your mind and the mind of another. As a Bonus Action, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of yourself. You and the chosen creature can communicate telepathically with each other while the two of you are within a number of miles of each other equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1 mile). To understand each other, you each must mentally use a language the other knows.
The telepathic connection lasts for a number of minutes equal to your Warlock level. It ends early if you use this feature to connect with a different creature."
So, I think you have a few different questions here.
First: does the creature you make a telepathic connection with via Awakened Mind automatically know you're doing it? I would say no, they don't, not if you don't actually communicate telepathically with them (which you don't have to, there are other uses for this telepathic connection at higher levels) because the feature doesn't say that they do.
But you're also asking this:
Regardless of whether the target knows you're telepathically connected to them, this isn't a thing that this feature can do. All this feature does is allow telepathic communication — i.e., deliberately speaking words to someone — as well as some other stuff at higher levels. It does not give you the ability to read their thoughts.
However, you can do exactly this thing with the spell Detect Thoughts, which is a spell that all Great Old One Warlocks automatically have prepared. You don't need to have connected with the target via Awakened Mind to use that spell on them.
pronouns: he/she/they
As written, it can be made with an unwilling creature, but you're reading too much into the ability. It's a channel of communication, nothing more. You can't pull images from somebody's mind. You can't influence somebody's thoughts, except inasmuch as you can by talking to them.
Whether the other creature notices the link being made, whether it knows somebody else is speaking to it, and whether it knows who that person is are all DM calls. (I would probably rule no, yes, if it can perceive you.)