D&D 5E psionic interrogation

[pukunui]

Hi all,

As you may know, the PCs in my Scourge of the Sword Coast campaign have been taken captive by duergar. While I've spent the past fortnight pondering my options, the recent UA psionics article inspired me to whip up a psionic monk-type character to help showcase the duergars' connection with psionics. There's a shrine to Deep Duerra (the Queen of the Invisible Art) in the dungeon where the PCs are being kept, after all.

The NPC I've whipped up is a mix of things: I've given him a few bits and pieces from the psionics article (namely, mind thrust and telepathy and such), along with some monk abilities. Rather than faff about with psi points and disciplines and the like, though, I've just given him the doppelganger's Read Thoughts and the nothic's Weird Insight.

Anyway, here's my thinking:

1) The duergar leader - who is a half-fiend warlock - will have the PCs assembled in one place, where he will proceed to cast mass suggestion on them in an attempt to coerce them into being cooperative and honest when asked questions (because duergar value honesty highly ~ because you never know who might be listening!).

2) The leader will then have each PC taken before the duergar mystic individually. The mystic will stare at them, reading their surface thoughts and maybe probing a bit deeper if needed. He might ask them some questions telepathically. He'll then relay any info he learns telepathically to the duergar leader. So the entire interrogation will take place without any of the duergar speaking out loud.

Creepy, right? Forget the whole "We have ways of making you talk" thing. Talking is wholly unnecessary!


The question is: How does one determine what precisely a PC's surface thoughts are? Do I leave that up to each player? The doppelganger's fluff states that it "can read a creature's surface thoughts, allowing it to glean that creature's name, desires, and fears, along with a few scattered memories." Does that mean that reading surface thoughts automatically gets you a creature's real name and so on?

While Weird Insight requires an ability contest, Read Thoughts is automatic. Should I give the players a chance to disguise their thoughts, or would they need a special ability for that (the mind blank spell, for instance)? If I don't, the duergar will basically be able to learn everything they need to (the PCs' names, abilities, and why they came) without the PCs being able to do anything about it.

A penny for your thoughts?

Thanks!




p.s. Next session is tomorrow night.

 

[iserith]

The question is: How does one determine what precisely a PC's surface thoughts are? Do I leave that up to each player? The doppelganger's fluff states that it "can read a creature's surface thoughts, allowing it to glean that creature's name, desires, and fears, along with a few scattered memories." Does that mean that reading surface thoughts automatically gets you a creature's real name and so on?

I would ask the player framed questions after telling them that the mystic's ability to read their thoughts precludes deception. It's an opportunity for players to reveal secrets about their characters and flesh out their backgrounds and bonds without the other characters necessarily knowing it (even though the other players will). Lidda might take this opportunity to reveal that she is secretly afraid that Krusk's barbarian rage will get them all killed one day, for example. Krusk's player will get to hear this, but Krusk will not. Krusk's player can then use that information to play to Lidda's fears in future scenes or have some kind of turnaround that shows Lidda's fears are unfounded.

After having read their surface thoughts, the mystic then gets advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks in future interactions including the Weird Insight contest. I would ignore the advantage to Charisma (Intimidation, Persuasion) checks - I don't make those against PCs.

While Weird Insight requires an ability contest, Read Thoughts is automatic. Should I give the players a chance to disguise their thoughts, or would they need a special ability for that (the mind blank spell, for instance)? If I don't, the duergar will basically be able to learn everything they need to (the PCs' names, abilities, and why they came) without the PCs being able to do anything about it.

While these abilities seem a little redundant, I would suggest that Read Thoughts just scratches the surface and gives the mystic advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks, Weird Thoughts is far more invasive. Describe this more as an attack than a scan and that the mystic is trying to learn some valuable secret or fact outside of what was already learned with Read Thoughts. Ask what the character does as the mystic invades his or her mind. If there is resistance or evasion, boil that down to an appropriate ability check contested by the mystic's Wisdom (Insight) with advantage. Let the player know that if her or she fails the contest, he or she must give up a valuable secret or fact. As above, this is also a good opportunity to divulge something juicy that helps flesh out the character.

 

[pukunui]

I would ask the player framed questions after telling them that the mystic's ability to read their thoughts precludes deception.

OK. I think the main things that the duergar leader would want to know are the PCs' goals (why did they come, what are they here for, etc) and whether they know anything about "the plan" (which involves some Thayan Red Wizards and a pit fiend spirit). Stuff like their names and backgrounds might be considered somewhat unnecessary. Learning the PCs' personal characteristics might help the duergar manipulate them, though.

I would ignore the advantage to Charisma (Intimidation, Persuasion) checks - I don't make those against PCs.

I don't either.

While these abilities seem a little redundant, I would suggest that Read Thoughts just scratches the surface and gives the mystic advantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks, Weird Thoughts is far more invasive. Describe this more as an attack than a scan and that the mystic is trying to learn some valuable secret or fact outside of what was already learned with Read Thoughts. Ask what the character does as the mystic invades his or her mind. If there is resistance or evasion, boil that down to an appropriate ability check contested by the mystic's Wisdom (Insight) with advantage. Let the player know that if her or she fails the contest, he or she must give up a valuable secret or fact. As above, this is also a good opportunity to divulge something juicy that helps flesh out the character.

That's how I see the difference, too. These two abilities are also essentially the same as the two main functions of the detect thoughts spell. In fact, it might just be easier for me to have the mystic be able to cast that spell, perhaps even at will (like a mind flayer!).

 

[EvanNave55]

I'm not familiar with your campaign or weird thoughts but as for detect thoughts in my opinion it just reveals whatever the person is directly thinking about automatically anything about their origin or motivations would fall under the deeper probe category. So if the PCs know these people are communicating telepathically and can read thoughts then if they're smart and think of this (I wouldn't tell them, they have to figure it out on their own) they can just concentrate on some mental image and song our something during the interrogation so they don't think about the questions they are being asked. That way they don't give anything away automatically though if he attempts the deeper probe then it's a skill contest or save DC or whatever it was.

 

[Fralex]

I'm not familiar with your campaign or weird thoughts but as for detect thoughts in my opinion it just reveals whatever the person is directly thinking about automatically anything about their origin or motivations would fall under the deeper probe category. So if the PCs know these people are communicating telepathically and can read thoughts then if they're smart and think of this (I wouldn't tell them, they have to figure it out on their own) they can just concentrate on some mental image and song our something during the interrogation so they don't think about the questions they are being asked. That way they don't give anything away automatically though if he attempts the deeper probe then it's a skill contest or save DC or whatever it was.

Of course, if you try not to think of a pink rhinoceros...