For the duration, you can read the thoughts of certain creatures. When you cast the spell and as your action on each turn until the spell ends, you can focus your mind on any one creature that you can see within 30 feet of you. If the creature you choose has an Intelligence of 3 or lower or doesn’t speak any language, the creature is unaffected.
You initially learn the surface thoughts of the creature—what is most on its mind in that moment. As an action, you can either shift your attention to another creature’s thoughts or attempt to probe deeper into the same creature’s mind. If you probe deeper, the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. If it fails, you gain insight into its reasoning (if any), its emotional state, and something that looms large in its mind (such as something it worries over, loves, or hates). If it succeeds, the spell ends. Either way, the target knows that you are probing into its mind, and unless you shift your attention to another creature’s thoughts, the creature can use its action on its turn to make an Intelligence check contested by your Intelligence check; if it succeeds, the spell ends.
Questions verbally directed at the target creature naturally shape the course of its thoughts, so this spell is particularly effective as part of an interrogation.
You can also use this spell to detect the presence of thinking creatures you can’t see. When you cast the spell or as your action during the duration, you can search for thoughts within 30 feet of you. The spell can penetrate barriers, but 2 feet of rock, 2 inches of any metal other than lead, or a thin sheet of lead blocks you. You can’t detect a creature with an Intelligence of 3 or lower or one that doesn’t speak any language.
Once you detect the presence of a creature in this way, you can read its thoughts for the rest of the duration as described above, even if you can’t see it, but it must still be within range.
* - (a copper piece)
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Posted Dec 4, 2022Oh my gosh I love that.
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Posted Dec 7, 2022I think we need to lay the ground work to establish what a DND thought is (memories + emotion + consciousness)? Is it primarily language based, like the voice of their consciousness? Or is that just what telepathy does? Are you seeing through their eyes the last important thing the happened? Or just what they think about you?
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Posted Mar 19, 2023" You can also use this spell to detect the presence of thinking creatures you can’t see. ... You can’t detect a creature with an Intelligence of 3 or lower or one that doesn’t speak any language. "
The placement of the final caveat at the end of this paragraph creates ambiguity.
Does this mean you can scan creatures of Int < 3 and creatures with no language as long as you can see them?
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Posted Mar 19, 2023> Does the caster have to speak the same language as the target of this spell in order to understand surface thoughts? Or does it work more like telepathy?
I would rule that if you can't speak the language that the creature normally thinks in (its native tongue, normally), then you perceive their thoughts as a short montage of sensory impressions (mental pictures, sounds, smells, touch, taste) but without any contextual clues. If the target creature is thinking about their mate, you might get an impression of its mate's physical features, feelings of emotional attachment and familiarity, etc.
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Posted Sep 2, 2023Helpful re-wording of the 2nd paragraph:
If you probe deeper, the target must make a Wisdom saving throw. Success or failure, the target knows that you are probing into its mind. If it succeeds, the spell ends. If it fails, you gain insight into its reasoning (if any), its emotional state, and something that looms large in its mind (such as something it worries over, loves, or hates); unless you shift your attention to another creature’s thoughts, the creature can use its action on its turn to make an Intelligence check contested by your Intelligence check; if it succeeds, the spell ends.
I do this because in the original wording, the part about contested Intelligence checks does not follow logically from "either way," because on a successful Wisdom save, the spell ends, obviating any contested Intelligence check.
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Posted Oct 20, 2023My question is this; Is the 30 feet in this section of the spell a 30 foot radius, line directly in front the caster, cone?
My DM & I weren't certain, so I'm trying to discern what the general ruling is at other tables. Thanks in advance.
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Posted Mar 29, 2024"within" implies radius
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Posted Jul 13, 2024Shouldn't this spell give disadvantage on attacks against the cast to the one they are focused on?
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Posted Nov 11, 2024So... now there's this Aberrant Sorcerer issue -
Psionic Spells has Detect Thoughts.
Psionic Sorcery says "If you cast the spell using Sorcery Points, it requires no Verbal or Somatic components, and it requires no Material components *unless they are consumed by the spell or have a cost specified in it*." 🪙
Detect Thoughts has a material component of "a copper piece" which, as it turns out, costs 1 copper piece. Ummm...
This means that you can't make Detect Thoughts a purely Psionic action. That is... that's pretty messed up, because it's one of the *most* Psionic things in the game! 🤣
@WotC, how about an errata here, maybe? 🤦♂️
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Posted Dec 29, 2024A specified cost in regards to a material component is always express as "worth at least [x] gp" -thus for the intents and purposes of spellcasting rules with regards to material components, "a copper piece" has no gp value.