D&D 5E Detect Thoughts as an interrogation tool

[Nebulous]

PCs have the baddie tied up and questioning him while the bard has Detect Thoughts going. What is the difference between surface thoughts and deeper probe that should allow a save to resist? They're asking him detailed stuff, such as "Who do you work for?" The baddie doesn't want to answer them, but of course he thinks "Mr. Redbeard." Said baddie is also a wizard familiar with magic and knows the PCs have magic.

 

[commandercrud]

If they don't want to give the information up, it deserves a save.

 

[Nebulous]

We've shockingly never used this spell before.

 

[turnip_farmer]

PCs have the baddie tied up and questioning him while the bard has Detect Thoughts going. What is the difference between surface thoughts and deeper probe that should allow a save to resist? They're asking him detailed stuff, such as "Who do you work for?" The baddie doesn't want to answer them, but of course he thinks "Mr. Redbeard." Said baddie is also a wizard familiar with magic and knows the PCs have magic.

If you don't want to just hand over all the info too easily, then the familiar is trained in this kind of stuff; so he's keeping his surface thoughts focused wholly on something innocuous. Perhaps a puzzle or some repetitive mantra. Give him his save; and remember that then he gets a contested intelligence check to stop the spell.

 

[Dioltach]

"Ohshitohshitohshitohshit, I hope I don't tell them anything otherwise the boss is going to be sooooo angry, don't think about the boss he's going to hurt me so bad like he did with the others, chopped off their toes and their ears and their fingers and then summoned a swarm and healed them with the insects still inside, I hope I don't tell them anything otherwise the boss will do the same to me ..."

 

[BookTenTiger]

Charm Person + Detect Thoughts is a fun combo!

 

[Umbran]

Detect thoughts is useful for interrogation when the target doesn't know they are being interrogated, or the target knows little about magic.

So, how smart, knowledgeable, and paranoid is the target?

The GM gets to answer those questions, but if it figures out this spell might be used, it should be singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb" or something to itself over and over any time the PCs are asking it questions, completely ignoring what they PCs say, so that its surface thoughts are not steered in any direction. Singing it very loudly, in fact, may help the target to not hear the questions in the first place.

 

[Nebulous]

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.

 

[prabe]

I have one player who uses detect thoughts not exactly as an interrogation tool, but as a way to ... make sure the information he gets is the correct information. He casts detect thoughts on himself, then engages the target in a casual conversation that is at least adjacent to what he wants to know about. He keeps to surface thoughts only, and is mostly interested in inconsistencies between the surface thoughts and the spoken words. These days, while we're gaming on Discord, the spoken conversation is audio while the surface thoughts are in a text channel. It's a little slower (because I cannot type something different than what I'm saying, while I'm talking) but it works pretty well.

 

[Mort]

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.

True, but this really depends on the baddie.

A flunkie may well give away the game with their thoughts.

But a seasoned operative, in a world where this kind of tactic is expected, could very well "think" false information. Say one thing and think something else, for example, so the characters assume they really have something. It would be kind of lie detector tests are now, not nearly as reliable as many people think!

Familiars can be pretty cunning, and this one knows its way around magic. It could certainly think false thoughts because it suspects this would throw the PCs off. Bonus is the PCs are likely to think the familiar isn't cunning enough to misdirect like that, and if they do - well good on them!