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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 7551578" data-attributes="member: 7006">My interpretation (and how I run it as a DM) is that the reason you either have to move to another creature or probe deeper is that the surface level thoughts will not change round to round.&nbsp; &quot;Surface level thoughts&quot; to me would be like &quot;defiance&quot; or &quot;agony&quot; or &quot;fear&quot; or &quot;amused&quot;.&nbsp; To me its like a always-truthful successful Insight check and once you have the information about their top-level state, that's how it remains.&nbsp; Anything specific and actual thought-processing is below the surface.So if you actually want to &quot;read their mind&quot; to get at actual information or actual thoughts from the person, you have to read their mind by probing deeper.&nbsp; If the spell wanted you to get &quot;real&quot; information from the person from the beginning, it would have made the saving throw requirement happen upon casting.&nbsp; That tells me &quot;surface level thoughts&quot; are just basic empathic stuff and nothing specific that would be gained from multi-round study (which is why you can also use the spell as a &quot;Detect Thinking Creatures&quot; spell, you're just glazing over the surface and seeing &quot;Yep, angry person there-- scared person there-- another angry person over there, etc. etc..)</blockquote>

[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 7551578, member: 7006"] My interpretation (and how I run it as a DM) is that the reason you either have to move to another creature or probe deeper is that the surface level thoughts will not change round to round. "Surface level thoughts" to me would be like "defiance" or "agony" or "fear" or "amused". To me its like a always-truthful successful Insight check and once you have the information about their top-level state, that's how it remains. Anything specific and actual thought-processing is below the surface. So if you actually want to "read their mind" to get at actual information or actual thoughts from the person, you have to read their mind by probing deeper. If the spell wanted you to get "real" information from the person from the beginning, it would have made the saving throw requirement happen upon casting. That tells me "surface level thoughts" are just basic empathic stuff and nothing specific that would be gained from multi-round study (which is why you can also use the spell as a "Detect Thinking Creatures" spell, you're just glazing over the surface and seeing "Yep, angry person there-- scared person there-- another angry person over there, etc. etc..) [/QUOTE]

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