Ghostwise Halfling Silent Speech Ability

A player in my current campaign is playing a Ghostwise Halfling and wants to know if the person being communicated with would know from whom the telepathic messages are coming from and can you changes the "sound" and volume of the telepathic voice transmitted? E.g. can you telepathically yell or whisper? Can you attempt to disguise your telepathic voice to make the person you are communicating with not know it is you? E.g. use a woman's voice if the character is male, etc.

I am inclined to rule that Silent Speech works like telepathy spell, except that it is limited to 30 feet and can only transmitted speech (not images and sounds). But I would rule that the target does not recognize the user of deep speech unless they "recognize" the voice. In other words, unlike the much more powerful telepathy spell or monster ability (as described in the MM), Silent Speech works just like speech, except it take place in your head. It seems like the Ghostwise Halfling should be allowed to make a performance and deception check to attempt to trick the person into thinking the speech is from someone else, or just hide that fact that it is from the halfling.

Do you agree?

The Ghostwise Halfling Silent Speech ability reads as follows:

Silent Speech
You can speak telepathically to any creature within 30 feet of you. The creature understands you only if the two of you share a language. You can speak telepathically in this way to one creature at a time.

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The telepathy spell in the PHB reads:

You create a telepathic link between yourself and a willing creature with which you are familiar. The creature can be anywhere on the same plane of existence as you. The spell ends if you or the target are no longer on the same plane.
Until the spell ends, you and the target can instantaneously share words, images, sounds, and other sensory messages with one another through the link, and the target recognizes you as the creature it is communicating with. The spell enables a creature with an Intelligence score of at least 1 to understand the meaning of your words and take in the scope of any sensory messages you send to it.

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[emphasis mine]

The telepathy description in the Monster Manual reads:

Telepathy
Telepathy is a magical ability that allows a monster to communicate mentally with another creature within a specified range. The contacted creature doesn’t need to share a language with the monster to communicate in this way with it, but it must be able to understand at least one language. A creature without telepathy can receive and respond to telepathic messages but can’t initiate or terminate a telepathic conversation.
A telepathic monster doesn’t need to see a contacted creature and can end the telepathic contact at any time. The contact is broken as soon as the two creatures are no longer within range of each other or if the telepathic monster contacts a different creature within range. A telepathic monster can initiate or terminate a telepathic conversation without using an action, but while the monster is incapacitated, it can’t initiate telepathic contact, and any current contact is terminated.
A creature within the area of an antimagic field or in any other location where magic doesn’t function can’t send or receive telepathic messages.

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I would be more inclined to make it function like normal speech, but without moving your lips. If you did it to one of your friends, they would know it was you since your 'voice' is the same. Another person you never met would be thrown off for a bit but would eventually be able to determine who is 'talking' to him. Maybe a Wisdom check DC12, or a bluff check if trying to hid it.

It does not seem like it was set up to be a powerful ability and should have limitations. I can see improving it somehow through a class or spell or something, but generally I would limit it.

MNblockhead said:

A player in my current campaign is playing a Ghostwise Halfling and wants to know if the person being communicated with would know from whom the telepathic messages are coming from and can you changes the "sound" and volume of the telepathic voice transmitted? E.g. can you telepathically yell or whisper? Can you attempt to disguise your telepathic voice to make the person you are communicating with not know it is you? E.g. use a woman's voice if the character is male, etc.

I am inclined to rule that Silent Speech works like telepathy spell, except that it is limited to 30 feet and can only transmitted speech (not images and sounds). But I would rule that the target does not recognize the user of deep speech unless they "recognize" the voice. In other words, unlike the much more powerful telepathy spell or monster ability (as described in the MM), Silent Speech works just like speech, except it take place in your head. It seems like the Ghostwise Halfling should be allowed to make a performance and deception check to attempt to trick the person into thinking the speech is from someone else, or just hide that fact that it is from the halfling.

Do you agree?

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I think that's fine, though I would probably give some consideration to how common ghostwise halflings are or how well known it is that some halflings can speak to people telepathically. That may reasonably have some bearing on whether an attempt to deceive the target is successful, unsuccessful, or if there is uncertainty and a meaningful consequence of failure such that an ability check is appropriate (and whether that check has advantage or disadvantage).

In my experience, players often want to use telepathy to "mess" with NPCs and this can be quite tedious to everyone else at the table. I recommend getting on the same page with the player on this score before you see him or her running around trying to deceive NPCs with silent speech to the point where it negatively impacts the game experience.

thanks, what I ended up telling the player is:

Quiet speech is not the same as the telepathy spell or the MM telepathy language.

It is a way of communicating using spoken language, except that instead of transmitting it with your lungs, throat, lips, and tongue, you are using your mind. There is no actual sound waves made, but the recipient receives the words as if there were. They hear the language the same as if you had spoken them aloud.

So, like speech, they have to understand the language you are using.

You can make a performance check to change how you "sound" (to mimic someone or to sound like the opposite sex or use another accent, etc.)
You can make a deception check to make it seem like someone else is making the communication.

I would rule that the person cannot communicate telepathically back. It says "speak to" and not "speak with." The telepathy spell and MM telepathy section explicitly discuss the recipients ability to communicate back. That the Quiet Speech text does not implies it is one way.

So, this means that with the appropriate checks, you could us it to:

* pass information to someone secretely
* try to make someon believe they are going mad
* make someone believe that someone hidden is speaking to them
* trick them into thinking someone else said something

MNblockhead said:

* try to make someon believe they are going mad

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^ That's the one I see most commonly among multiple players and groups and what I was referring to when I mentioned "messing" with NPCs.

It sounds like players ask or declare they make checks in your game. If that's the case, get ready for some nonsense.

I think your suggestions are fine. For my own campaign it's a little more limited. A person who is communicated to telepathically always knows they are not actually hearing anything any more than they would think that their own internal dialog is an external voice.

So they'll always know it's a voice inside their head, not real sound. Since magic is well known, there's a good chance they'll know it's someone communicating with them telepathically. So if your PC is trying to convince someone they're crazy it's normally deception vs arcana or insight, frequently with disadvantage. Of course other modifiers such as combining it with illusion spells or other actions can modify the result.

I'd lean toward permissiveness on this one, but that's mostly because I wouldn't expect it to be used with great frequency, because I wouldn't let it imbalance social game play. A key point [MENTION=6801845]Oofta[/MENTION] makes is that telepathy is a known phenomenon in most settings, and many of its users have evil reputations in my particular homebrew. When an NPC suddenly hears an unbidden voice in their mind, the most common response is extreme suspicion that a hostile agent is in the vicinity, not that something is wrong with their own head. There's a fair chance telepathy could autofail a social ability check. It varies, though. A country bumpkin is much more likely to be susceptible to this form of chicanery than an archmage.

I would rule that deception and performance checks are fine, but the 'sound' is definitely in their head. One couldn't project an illusion like a thrown voice, such as a captain calling a guard away from his post, or trick someone into believing a person they look at is speaking when their lips aren't moving. Just doesn't jive with how I conceive of the ability operating from a narrative point of view.

iserith said:

^ That's the one I see most commonly among multiple players and groups and what I was referring to when I mentioned "messing" with NPCs.

It sounds like players ask or declare they make checks in your game. If that's the case, get ready for some nonsense.

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Nope. It would work something like this:

Player character is hiding in the room or the next room.

Player: "I use my silent speech ability" to make a menacing voice and say "Your secrets are not as hidden as you believe. We know what you did. Return the stolen crown or I shall haunt you and curse your every effort."

At this point, based on the NPCs backstory, stats, and what has been going on in the story, I could:

(1) Decide that this gambit succeeds. No roll required.

I could decide that the NPC is exceptionally superstitious, easily scared, and dim-witted. If the player had taken time to have his character learn this and set up a scenario to take advantage of this, I could just declare that the NPC falls for the ruse and have him act accordingly.

(2) Decide that this gambit fails. No roll required.

I don't like to say no. Like "yes, and" or "yes, but". That said, there are times where it is so unlikely or impossible that I wouldn't allow a roll. For example, if the NPC knows about the ghostwise halfling character and the silent speech ability, as well as being informed about and used to protecting against various magic and psychic powers, I could rule that the NPC at most doesn't know who is doing this but knows it is not the ghost of the dead king whose crown he stole.

(3) Ask for a roll.

This is most likely in a situation like this. I may set the DC high or I may set it low, but I'll ask for a roll.

I'm not sure exactly what your concern is with the characters "messing with the NPCs". Why would that be a problem? I suppose it can be an issue if you have a character playing a slap stick, gonzo game when other players want to play a more serious game, or if someone is stealing the spotlight all the time or taking actions that create issues for the other players. But that isn't the fault of the ability. That a player who is not on the same page with the rest of the table.

I mean any ability can be misused for shenanigans. The wizard blasts the cabbage merchant with fireball for the lulz, the fighter "takes no prisoners" when mercy and interrogation could help the party meet its goals, and on and on.

MNblockhead said:

I'm not sure exactly what your concern is with the characters "messing with the NPCs". Why would that be a problem? I suppose it can be an issue if you have a character playing a slap stick, gonzo game when other players want to play a more serious game, or if someone is stealing the spotlight all the time or taking actions that create issues for the other players. But that isn't the fault of the ability. That a player who is not on the same page with the rest of the table.

I mean any ability can be misused for shenanigans. The wizard blasts the cabbage merchant with fireball for the lulz, the fighter "takes no prisoners" when mercy and interrogation could help the party meet its goals, and on and on.

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I addressed that upthread:

iserith said:

I recommend getting on the same page with the player on this score before you see him or her running around trying to deceive NPCs with silent speech to the point where it negatively impacts the game experience.

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