Template:Empath

This content deviates from 5e standards. Its use could dramatically alter campaigns, take extreme care.

Caution - Here there be monsters! This content intends to provide a different experience, or goes beyond the scope of the anticipated subjects and situations, than the 5e rules were intended to handle. Some portions of the content below may not be what you expect from traditional game content. When implementing this content, DMs and Players should read over all the information carefully, and consider the following specific notes of interest:

This material makes a character capable of passive mind-reading, so DMs should take note of that fact. Situations which assume that the character cannot arbitrarily know the true intentions or actual thoughts of other characters may not be significant challenges to a character using this material. Challenges of these sorts are, however, an excellent tool to highlight the character's advantage. One should be cautious to include challenges which are actually capable of threatening such a character regularly, such as undead or constructs which lack thoughts and emotions to be read, characters who have somehow protected themselves from such a thing, or other empaths, but without punishing the player or coming across as a gimmick. Be careful about who is allowed to use this material, as immature players will likely abuse this to derail the campaign. As should be standard, such players should be dealt with outside-of-game through open communication, but it is often best to avoid the situation in the first place. New players often have difficulties visualizing themselves as another person, let alone another creature capable of thinking in ways that they themselves will never experience. As such, if a new player is allowed to use this material, they may need some degree of guidance to remember that their character can read minds without limitations, though it should only take a few sessions to really drive the point home.