I'm working on a monster for a mod. The design of the mouth would preclude normal speech. Would it possible for the critter to use telepathy to talk to the players? Or is there nothing of this sort in Arcanis? I am work and don't have any of the books with me. I don't see this as a psionic power necessarily. If nothing of the sort is allowed I can redesign the monster but it would lose some of the alieness I want it to project. Thanks in advance for any feedback.

There are creatures capable of telepathy, but pure telepathy is very rare. Any psionic creature (il'Huan, Voiceless One, Valinor, etc) could in theory do it. Beyond that it gets a little dicy, but still possible as arcane casters can cast Mind Link.

What are the chances a monster would know and speak Ancient Altharin? I want something mess with their heads, make them go "How'd they do THAT?!"

That you might have to ask Henry about, but if there is a story reason for them to know Altharen, I see no reason why they couldn't speak it. The language is some 5,000 years old so there is plenty of time to learn it.

Good point that. The idea here is you see an really nasty looking monster, but it speaks the cultured Kings English as it were. Definitely should make players stop for a minute to go "what?" I don't yet have an in-story reason for this, so yeah I want to run this past Henry. Point is I want whatever they do speak to be as archaic as possible suggesting they have been out of the loop for a very long time.

Probably need to shift this question to: "Spoilers".

You're probably right. I can tell you this, less people than you think check these boards. Of the people I game with who play Arcanis, only one checks the boards on a regular basis, the rest don't even have a presence here and one has no Internet access. So I'm not overly worried. These boards see a lot less activity than the old Yahoo groups. But to play nice if anyone wants to comment further on this thread please send me a private message. Also to be clear I had no intention of spilling the beans on an upcoming mod, just wanted to get some opinions on an issue I am thinking about. Take care all and see you at Origins!

unless Henry does not bar it for story/world setting reasons, this is what the monstrous trait:special ability was designed for....all the weird, funky stuff not covered otherwise. In this case, it would be Special Ability: Telepathic Communication or something of the like.

That could work. Thanks Matt! BTW could you send me the stat file on the evil hummingbirds? Might use them or something like them in a mod if they fit. Would they exist in the Western Lands around Whon? Or the Shadow Towns?

The Western Lands has something else called Black Flamingos. I kid you not. They were warped when the Kuerenthe curse was spoken in Seremas Bay. Carniverous. Aggressive. Fly in flocks. Probably could be stated out as either common foes or as murders.

Something that talks by telepathy is weird but not that weird.