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When warlock chooses a pact with The Great Old One, he gains a feature called Awakened Mind (Player's Handbook, p. 110):

Starting at 1st level, your alien knowledge gives you the ability to touch the minds of other creatures. You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 30 feet of you.

My question is, is the communication two-ways, or only one-way?

I assume it's only one-way: I can "send" messages to target creature's mind but I can't receive any responses. So it's not possible for this creature to "send" me back any thoughts or messages and I can't read any of the creature's thoughts.

EDIT:

It was brought to my attention in comments, that the wording of the Warlock's Awakened Mind feature was changed in the latest printing. Before it was:

"You can communicate telepathically with any creature"

But now it is:

"You can telepathically speak to any creature"

Which is suggesting clearly to me that this is only one-way communication.

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    \$\begingroup\$ related: Is Dominate Person's telepathic link one-way or two-way? \$\endgroup\$
    – Rubiksmoose
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 22:11
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    \$\begingroup\$ related: Is the telepathy rule in the Monster Manual only applicable to monster telepathy abilities? \$\endgroup\$
    – Rubiksmoose
    Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 22:11
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    \$\begingroup\$ The wording of the GOO warlock's Awakened Mind feature was changed in the latest printing (though it's not noted in the errata). You may want to review the answers accordingly. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Sep 6, 2019 at 5:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ Rather than editing your question to indicate what you think the answer is, you should leave the question as-is and accept the answer that you feel matches this answer - or leave your own answer, if none of the existing answers fit. (You can change the accepted answer at any time, I believe.) \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 10:14
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    \$\begingroup\$ @V2Blast - thank you for suggestions and news about new wording. I think the answer to my question remains the same, and is selected as accepted. What changed is the context, so I wanted to include it as part of question for others to have cleaner overview. \$\endgroup\$
    – Lech Osiński
    Commented Sep 10, 2019 at 11:56

8 Answers 8

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From Wizards' July 2015 Sage Advice column:

Does the warlock’s Awakened Mind feature allow two-way telepathic communication? The feature is intended to provide one-way communication. The warlock can use the feature to speak telepathically to a creature, but the feature doesn’t give that creature the ability to telepathically reply. In contrast, the telepathy ability that some monsters have (MM, 9) does make two-way communication possible.

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    \$\begingroup\$ O, heavens! It really is like the example in my answer! Madness! Madness, I say. \$\endgroup\$
    – Hey I Can Chan
    Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 17:40
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    \$\begingroup\$ The wording of the GOO warlock's Awakened Mind feature was changed in the latest printing (though it's not noted in the errata) from "You can communicate telepathically with any creature" to "You can telepathically speak to any creature". That said, the Sage Advice Compendium phrasing hasn't changed. You may want to update your answer accordingly. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented May 24, 2019 at 22:48
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Two-way

The description of the Awakened Mind feature reads:

Starting at 1st level, your alien knowledge gives you the ability to touch the minds of other creatures. You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 30 feet of you.

And from the DM's Basic Rules, page 5:

A creature without telepathy can receive and respond to telepathic messages but can't initiate or terminate a telepathic conversation.

(All emphasis mine.)

So yes, it should allow two way communication since everyone automatically have the ability to respond to others' telepathic messages.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Can't terminate? That's interesting. I think I'd allow opposing Wisdom rolls, or similar, personally. \$\endgroup\$
    – Jason_c_o
    Commented Dec 3, 2014 at 5:18
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    \$\begingroup\$ Can't terminate seems perfectly sensible - if I am shouting at you you will still hear me, you don't have to reply. Similarly, the warlock can talk to you telepathically, you don't have to reply. \$\endgroup\$
    – Dale M
    Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 1:40
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    \$\begingroup\$ Despite the Crawford tweet, I still strongly support this answer. The text unambiguously contradicts the avowed intention expressed in that tweet that it be only one-way. Game writers need to put rules and explanation they want to be part of the game in the game, and take out parts that say the opposite of their intentions; with errata if necessary. My esteem of the editing of 5e is sinking rather quickly, as they're reaching old WW levels of "oh oops the book shouldn't say that". \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Dec 4, 2014 at 17:44
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    \$\begingroup\$ The wording of the GOO warlock's Awakened Mind feature was changed in the latest printing (though it's not noted in the errata) from "You can communicate telepathically with any creature" to "You can telepathically speak to any creature". You may want to update your answer accordingly. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented May 24, 2019 at 22:42
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    \$\begingroup\$ @V2Blast Really wish they would keep up with the errata as they update DnDBeyond since I refuse to pay for something I already paid for. The original text in the PHB also states that you can be understood (explicitly calling that out is important) it is silent on whether you can understand them, which is why I think that the actual text in the PHB alludes to one-way communication. This change to DDB helps a great deal though. \$\endgroup\$
    – Slagmoth
    Commented Sep 6, 2019 at 19:34
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Telepathy should probably be two-way

Telepathy that only allows sending thoughts just isn't that useful unless there's an offensive component… and, here, there isn't. This means folks are free to ignore the voice in their heads, and that means the entire campaign could elapse with no one—except maybe the warlock's companions after much convincing—acknowledging the warlock's superpower at all, ascribing the warlock's telepathic intrusions to demonic influence, madness, magic, bad (or good!) pipeweed, or whatever.

Example

Warlock: Now I will communicate with you telepathically. (He does.) Into your head I just projected the sentence You like puppies.
Queen: But I liked puppies before. How do I know you made me think that?
Warlock: I didn't make you think it. I put that thought from my head into your head.
Queen: But how do I know that? Here. I will think of something, and you…
Warlock: It doesn't work that way. I can only speak into your head not hear your replies.
Queen: So you tell me what I think?
Warlock: No, I'm telling you what I think… mentally.
Queen: So you and I both like puppies?
Warlock: Eldritch blast!

As mentioned in this answer and this answer, it seems the intent really is to have the warlock's telepathy be one-way—the warlock capable of sending thoughts but not receiving them—, but it might be a worthwhile (and sanity-saving!) house rule to make the warlock's telepathy two-way anyway.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I haven’t used it in a game yet, but I think it’s up to player creativity and DM interactivity you make this power useful. For one thing there’s a lot of potential for communicating with other players without NPCs hearing. I could have my invisible imp scouting ahead or providing a help action and notify my ally about it telepathically. They could just nod that they understand. Using it offensively is the problem. I wish there were a couple sentences describing how that might go. Can we harass someone with this? Seems legit, but then what’s the saving throw to ignore it? \$\endgroup\$
    – jerclarke
    Commented Nov 12, 2019 at 15:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ Also a sense of how it sounds to them would be useful. Does it sound like their own thoughts? Like an outside force? Is it inherently disturbing if unexpected? These really change how to RP situations and whether it would be useful. \$\endgroup\$
    – jerclarke
    Commented Nov 12, 2019 at 15:14
  • \$\begingroup\$ The other thing I think about is how this serves to justify Dissonant Whispers as a spell. If you can send thoughts then that explains how that spell can function. For me, Awaken serves as a building block for a lot of the spells that GOO opens up. \$\endgroup\$
    – jerclarke
    Commented Nov 12, 2019 at 15:16
  • \$\begingroup\$ That example only works if you have the recipient act like an obtuse idiot. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ettina Kitten
    Commented Oct 15, 2020 at 12:44
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Starting at 1st level, your alien knowledge gives you the ability to touch the minds of other creatures. You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 30 feet of you.

You left out a part that from my point of view gives at least a hint what is intended. The paragraph continues to read:

You don't need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic utterances, but the creature must be able understand at least one language.

That is the full text. Remarkably, nothing is said about the warlocks ability to understand the reply. The focus is solely on the receiver of the warlocks message. If the communication was meant to be both ways, I would have expected this to read:

You don't need to share a language with the creature to communicate with it, but the creature must be able to communicate in at least one language.

In contrast to the wording of the ability in question, the spell telepathy for example is very clear about the communication being both ways:

[...] you and the target can share [...] with one another through the link.

TL;DR:

As this ability is worded specifically for sending messages, I suspect that it's actually intended to do just that. It lets you send messages. One-way.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ The wording of the GOO warlock's Awakened Mind feature was changed in the latest printing (though it's not noted in the errata) from "You can communicate telepathically with any creature" to "You can telepathically speak to any creature". You may want to update your answer accordingly. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented May 24, 2019 at 22:43
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On twitter Jeremy Crawford states that their intent was for it to be one-way ;)

My main concern is that it does not mention anything about creature willing to communicate. Moreover it doesn't even give the creature the possibility to terminate the conversation.

A creature without telepathy can receive and respond to telepathic messages but can't initiate or terminate a telepathic conversation.

In PHB (p.281) there is a spell "Telepathy" which is of course much more powerful but still it's 8th lvl spell and it can be used only on creatures willing to communicate, and Awakened Mind does not have this limit.

In my opinion this ability gives the 1st lvl warlock possibility to torment people by non-stop talking inside their heads. :) I would at least suggest a wisdom save.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Huh. It would have been nice to put their intention into actual words in the book instead of expecting us to be magically telepathic. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie
    Commented Dec 3, 2014 at 17:36
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    \$\begingroup\$ Your quote still states receive and respond to, thus the conversation is two-way, but only the caster is able to start or stop the message. It does not allow another character to join, nor does it allow the receiver to control pace (dropping conversation). \$\endgroup\$
    – Aviose
    Commented Dec 3, 2014 at 19:38
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    \$\begingroup\$ The wording of the GOO warlock's Awakened Mind feature was changed in the latest printing (though it's not noted in the errata) from "You can communicate telepathically with any creature" to "You can telepathically speak to any creature". You may want to update your answer accordingly. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented May 24, 2019 at 22:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ I think a save is certainly appropriate if there’s an actual effect of your projections, like distracting them or convincing them of anything (persuasion/intimidation/deception). By default they can just ignore you same as if you were talking out loud (where they also can’t end the conversation). \$\endgroup\$
    – jerclarke
    Commented Nov 12, 2019 at 15:19
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There is nothing here that indicates whether or not it's 1-way or 2-way.

Here's the thing, you're touching another creature's mind. That means that you can both plant thoughts (transmit) and also read their thoughts that they allow you to (receive). The word used is "communicate" which certainly indicates the conversation is bi-directional.

The extent and limits of this ability are between you and your DM and how you guys want to play it. Talk to her about this.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ The wording of the GOO warlock's Awakened Mind feature was changed in the latest printing (though it's not noted in the errata) from "You can communicate telepathically with any creature" to "You can telepathically speak to any creature". You may want to update your answer accordingly. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented May 24, 2019 at 22:43
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It's two-way.

The description of the Great Old One warlock's Awakened Mind feature was originally ambiguously phrased (PHB, p. 110; emphasis mine):

You can communicate telepathically with any creature you can see within 30 feet of you.

"Communication with" a creature suggests that you might be able to communicate your thoughts to it, and that it might then be able to communicate back.

However, as briefly mentioned in Brazol's answer, rules designer Jeremy Crawford clarified in a (now-unofficial) tweet in 2014 that it was meant to be one-way:

For the Warlock Old One Pact Telepathy power. Is it one way or two way communication? I read it as one, but others don't.

The intent is for it to be one-way communication, but a DM could certainly rule that it's two-way telepathy, as in monsters.

As quoted in GuerillaNerd's answer, the July 2015 Sage Advice column (whose answers are reprinted in the Sage Advice Compendium) officially confirmed this intent:

Does the warlock’s Awakened Mind feature allow two-way telepathic communication?

The feature is intended to provide one-way communication. The warlock can use the feature to speak telepathically to a creature, but the feature doesn’t give that creature the ability to telepathically reply. In contrast, the telepathy ability that some monsters have (MM, 9) does make two-way communication possible.

Most recently, the latest printings of the PHB as of November 2018 changed the wording, even though the change isn't noted in errata.

The Great Old One warlock's Awakened Mind feature description now reads:

You can telepathically speak to any creature you can see within 30 feet of you.

Whereas the original printing might have suggested 2-way communication, the current wording is more clearly 1-way. Rather than "communicating with" a creature, it says you "speak to" a creature - indicating one-way speech rather than a dialogue. Thus, as of the November 2018 printing of the PHB, the rules now match the previously stated intent.

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I've been allowing my warlock player to use this ability to silently communicate with other players, like if they are in a "Silence" spell area of effect, trying to sneak up on something, or for private discussions when NPCs are present. Basically it gives an "in game" mechanism to allow the sort of interplayer discussion that usually occurs in combat or NPC parleys. To be strict you'd have to have the warlock repeat stuff to various other players to simulate the nature of the communication but I don't often get into the weeds like that.

The warlock player hasn't been too creative with it though. I don't let him use it as a "thought radar" to detect hidden beings that might be visible to his eyes if he just knew where to look. He does use it on occasion to intimidate some poor prisoner. I definitely do NOT let him read someones mind or gain advantage on an insight roll or something.

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