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Message: <blockquote data-quote="clark411" data-source="post: 386854" data-attributes="member: 4768">Firstly, I'm unsure if this is best for DnD Rules or House Rules, as it has to do both with well... Rules interpretations, and it also has to do with alternate ways to use the mechanic.That said, I've had a discussion with a player regarding the special mount his paladin is about to recieve, and the empathic link that he has with it.  I'm less strict with how rules are interpreted and more interested in playing a diverse game that might diverge from the rules in interesting (but not hampering/weakening ways).What I'd like to know is if empathic link can be interpreted as communication through a way that doesn't involve sentences, words, etc.  PHB pg 43 states "The paladin cannot see through the mount's eyes, but they can communicate telepathically."  Despite popular media uses of telepathy, and Star Trek differences between empathy and telepathy, telepathy proper lists verbal communication as a possibility amongst others- like emotion, sensation/perception, and pure thought.This being the case, I'd argue that an interaction could be something other than a direct dialogue in something the paladin perceives in common and the mount percieves in... horse or whatever you have.  The paladin feels pain, the mount's link allows it to percieve it, and it rushes to his side.  The paladin wants the mount to do something, the mount senses it and, hopefully, performs the action in the best way its animal mind can do so.  The paladin wonders what the horse is up to... and percieves the bite of cold and satisfaction of a strong desire in the horse to drink... ah- it's drinking at the bubbling brook we passed before camping.What are some of the limitations of this alternate interpretation?  Is it unreasonable, or restrictive?  Have you DMed or played with a similar kind of empathic link to a familiar or mount?</blockquote>

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