Psionic Telepathy

[Ferrum]

I've been running a Psionics game, and though all of us (DM and players) are fairly new to psionics, its been going well.

We've been having a bit of a conflict over the telepathic abilities of a psicrystal. We have a 5th level Psion who was going to use his psicrystal to telepathically communicate with a goblin (a blue actually) in order to intimidate. The Psion does not know goblin, and the goblin does not know common. The two have no known languages in common. Now, according to the SRD:

A psicrystal can speak one language of its owner’s choice (so long as it is a language the owner knows). A psicrystal can understand all other languages known by its owner, but cannot speak them.

and

Telepathic Speech (Ex): If the owner is 5th level or higher, the psicrystal can communicate telepathically with any creature that has a language and is within 30 feet of the psicrystal, while the psicrystal is also within 1 mile of the owner.

Now, I'm pretty sure I'm in the wrong as far as RAW is concerned, but I've ruled that there is not universal telepathic language. Intelligent creatures think primarily in their first language, and can only understand language in their head that they can understand through other means. It seems to me that having an automatic way around any language barrier is a bit of a strong ability when its a) given at 5th level, and b) always working.

I've ruled that, via telepathy, one mind can send another mind any kind of sensory input that both can understand, such as a visual image, an emotion, or tactile sensation. To me, this seems more appropriate, and besides, a picture is worth a thousand words. If the telepath transfers the right sensory experience, a low sense motive check would be all that's needed for successful communication.

So what do you think?

 

[DreamChaser]

The standard of telepathy in D&D is that it is not language dependant (as indicated by the lack of said descriptor). This is why aboleths, mindflayers, and many outsiders can communicate with anything even though they don't speak every language. If a mind flayer's telepathy were language dependant, they would have a much narrower range of potential thralls.

Thus, the psicrystal should be able to communicate with the Blue. However, the psicrystal has its own charisma score and thus does its own intimidating. The owner of the psicrystal could aid another to increase the chance of success, but you cannot make any skill check for another creature. Skills are individual.

Hope this helps.

DC

 

[Ferrum]

The standard of telepathy in D&D is that it is not language dependant (as indicated by the lack of said descriptor). This is why aboleths, mindflayers, and many outsiders can communicate with anything even though they don't speak every language. If a mind flayer's telepathy were language dependant, they would have a much narrower range of potential thralls.

Good point. Still, I could see a mindflayer and an aboleth having that sort of advantage, but for a 5th level familiar(essentially) it seems a bit much.

I feel the flavor of Telepathy would be improved by this change, the limitation of its usefulness won't matter too much with the addition of sensory transfer beyond language.

For special creatures like the aboleth and mindflayer I could just say they have an extraordinary ability called "Telepathic Tongues" which would allow them to communicate such basic concepts that they are universally understood.

anecdote: I was at an airport the other day. A hispanic woman came up to me, and asked if I spoke spanish. I do not. She tried to ask me to help her carry her luggage. Conveying this idea took her 5 minutes. If she had used more simplistic body language and less repitition of foreign words, I would have figured it out much faster. That sort of basic communication understanding I can see being an attribute of an an advanced telepathic creature, but not of a shiny rock that a low level adventurer keeps in his pocket and talks to on occasion.