D&D 5E Hive mind help?

[Oofta]

So basically you want to give your PC access to a magical version of Google?

I'd let them make knowledge checks on trivial information that has little impact on the game on a regular basis. The right (creative) player could have a lot of fun making up information about the history of the color of the king's shoes for example.

Finding other information though means sorting through a lot of results that may or may not be accurate. Maybe there's a mystical version of Snopes that they can check, but there's some type of penalty to access it.

As far as mechanics, it really depends on your game. In my game I frequently limit the availability of short rests so if they wanted something significant they could forego a short rest in order to get the information since they are spending their time researching instead of resting.

Another option would be to include options of exhaustion - they can reroll any knowledge check they want, but when they do they have to make an intelligence saving throw. Fail the saving throw (or maybe fail the check by 5 points or more) and they suffer a level of exhaustion for the effort whether or not the new knowledge check succeeds.

I would avoid role-playing the knowledge checks except on rare occasions when it's critical and you can somehow engage the whole group. Maybe you need to have people join the character while they're in a mind meld? Or they're helpless while searching and the group has to defend the PC?

 

[Redthistle]

Color me old school, but if make it a percentile roll. In essence: what is the chance that somebody in the palace knows the information the character is seeking?

Simple, elegant, doesn't eat up a whole bunch of the non-participating characters' time.

Replace the percentile roll with a d20, and set the DC thresholds accordingly.

This keeps the mechanic more in line with 5e, and accomplishes the same effect as Ath-kethin's very good idea.

 

[Blue]

Do hive mind wizards have access to all spells?

 

[Edwin Suijkerbuijk]

So basically you want to give your PC access to a magical version of Google?

Maybe it would be more like a message board or forum then google.
You go on the board becouse you have a question and take the following steps.
1) See who is online and send a direct message if you think one of those people might know the awnser.
2) Make a tread and check back later if sombody who knew the awnser came along, and bothered to reply.

the first might be a investigation check, to find out if the users online might know the awnser.
the second a charisma check often a flat charisma check would have a lower result then the DC of the skill check you try to emulate. if you do roll higer on the charisma check then the DC you will gat a awnser within an hour, if your roll is lower then the check add +1 hour per point by witch you missed the DC.

 

[Lanliss]

Maybe it would be more like a message board or forum then google.
You go on the board becouse you have a question and take the following steps.
1) See who is online and send a direct message if you think one of those people might know the awnser.
2) Make a tread and check back later if sombody who knew the awnser came along, and bothered to reply.

the first might be a investigation check, to find out if the users online might know the awnser.
the second a charisma check often a flat charisma check would have a lower result then the DC of the skill check you try to emulate. if you do roll higer on the charisma check then the DC you will gat a awnser within an hour, if your roll is lower then the check add +1 hour per point by witch you missed the DC.

I realized this connection last night, but had to go to sleep before I could put it up. I am basically describing a magical forum, which just makes me like the idea even more.

A few other good ideas here too, thanks to all. Just woke up, so I will be able to dedicate more brain power to this in a little bit.

 

[Lanliss]

Alright, I thought more on it.

1) I will have different hives, though they will mostly be small sections of a larger hive, allowing them to all interact with each other.

2) The hive will largely be a backstory element, unless some sort of quest throws it to the front of the story. I will describe the Hive to the player, and give them a map of the areas they know.

3) when a player wants to collect info, they can go to their hive and look in specific places, or go to a different hive if no one in their own has the info they want. This will basically be a quick "What are you asking, and where are you going to ask?", followed by a DC based on how close they are to someone who has the info they want, which will be decided on the fly until I get around to laying out a knowledge list for the whole Hive. Minimal time taken away from the game, but still ringing it into effect.

New question

Should I make the DCs fairly high for useful knowledge? Much like this forum, there could be a large number of dissenting opinions, which would need filtering to find the most helpful answer.

Lastly, I will probably have a lot of you Forumites listed as NPCs in the Hive, because it will be fun for me.

 

[mellored]

+1 Int, +2 cha

Collective Dream: During each long rest, you can sleep and connect to the dream world where you can communicate with others of your race who are also asleep. During this time you can ask 3 questions of a random passerby that someone else of your race might know. The DM secretly rolls a d20, with advantage if the question is Intelligence based, and disadvantage if the question is about a local or specific event.

1-5: The person gives you false or misleading information they believe is correct.
6-10: The person does not know one way or the other.
11-15: The person gives you vague or second-hand information.
16-20: The person gives you the exact information you want.


Collective Experience: After a long rest select 1 skill except deception. You gain proficiency in that skill until you take another long rest.
Open Mind: Your mind is open to others, making deception difficult for you. You have disadvantage on any perception check.
Dream Master: You can cast the dream spell on yourself once per long rest, but can only communicate and not to become terrifying or monstrous. In addition, you are immune to any unwanted effect of the dream spell and any other ability that targets your dreams.

 

[Lanliss]

+1 Int, +2 cha

Collective Dream: During each long rest, you can sleep and connect to the dream world where you can communicate with others of your race who are also asleep. During this time you can ask 3 questions of a random passerby that someone else of your race might know. The DM secretly rolls a d20, with advantage if the question is Intelligence based, and disadvantage if the question is about a local or specific event.

1-5: The person gives you false or misleading information they believe is correct.
6-10: The person does not know one way or the other.
11-15: The person gives you vague or second-hand information.
16-20: The person gives you the exact information you want.


Collective Experience: After a long rest select 1 skill except deception. You gain proficiency in that skill until you take another long rest.
Open Mind: Your mind is open to others, making deception difficult for you. You have disadvantage on any perception check.
Dream Master: You can cast the dream spell on yourself once per long rest, but can only communicate and not to become terrifying or monstrous. In addition, you are immune to any unwanted effect of the dream spell and any other ability that targets your dreams.

A good basic write-up, thanks. I might reword the Dream master a bit, to say more along the lines of "Once per long rest you can communicate through dreams, as in the Dream spell. You gain no other benefits of the Dream spell." Same thing, but (slightly) less words.

What do you all think of Forumite as the race's name for themselves? Seems appropriate, and just enough of a fantasy sounding word to work.