Thoughts

Thoughts enters a creature's mind to copy information. The spell never removes or alters what it finds. On a successful Will Save, the target rejects the intrusion and immediately feels that something tried to enter its mind. If the caster is visible, the target can identify them as the source. On a failure, the reading is normally undetected.

Everything copied reflects the target's own memory and understanding. A lie believed by the target remains false, a mistaken memory remains mistaken, and the spell cannot recover something the target has forgotten or never understood.

What Can Be Read

A fact is one short piece of information: a name, password, location, identity, instruction, or similar answer. At Level 2, the fact must pass naturally through the target's current thoughts during the casting. The caster cannot search beneath those thoughts.

A memory is one event or connected scene experienced by the target, including its sensory and emotional context. Beginning at Level 4, the caster may steer the target's thoughts toward a clearly stated person, place, event, object, or subject and attempt to find a relevant memory.

A spell formula, alchemical formula, language, crafting design, fighting technique, or comparable body of expertise is complex knowledge. For the spell's limits, one such body of knowledge counts as one memory. It may encompass many connected lessons, but not an entire unrelated field of study.

Learning and Fading

Complex knowledge follows the learning and fading rules of Transmit Knowledge. It provides complete instruction, not automatic mastery, and begins to fade after 2 days per caster level unless it is actively used. A creature with perfect memory, such as an Aboleth, is exempt from this fading.

Spell Scaling

At Levels 4 through 8, roll 1d6 once per casting when the caster searches for one specific memory. On a failure, the spell still copies the allowed number of relevant memories and facts, but the GM chooses them from the selected theme.

Spell Level	Memories or Complex Knowledge	Facts	Chance to Find One Specific Memory
2	—	2 current facts	—
4	1	2	1 in 6
6	2	3	2 in 6
8	3	4	3 in 6
10	6	8	Automatic

Level 10: Complete Reading

Instead of taking the normal Level 10 result, the caster may channel the spell to search through the target's entire memory. The target knows its mind is being searched and makes a new Will Save at the end of every round. A success ends the spell before any further memories are copied.

Each completed round opens another connected part of the target's life. The caster may follow people, places, subjects, and associations from one memory to the next. The GM determines how many rounds are required to explore the desired period or body of knowledge according to the target's age, the amount sought, and the complexity of its memories. Breaking the caster's concentration ends the reading.