There are a couple of spells in the game so far that don't have a clear and effective use; Friends and Detect Thoughts. At the tabletop the number of NPCs you encounter is generally pretty small and it's easier to work in when these social heavy spells are useful. In a cRPG like Baldurs gate however there are so many people that the excess of choice means they basically don't get used. I tried out detect thoughts a couple of times in my first play through but didn't find any use. Presumably I didn't use it on the right NPCs.
My feedback is that I think it would be a significant improvement if NPCs that have been scripted to reveal something via Detect Thoughts has a speech option with [DETECT THOUGHTS]. Now I know, as a DM, that this wouldn't work at the tabletop. Spells in 5e have verbal and somatic components and NPCs would notice a player casting a spell in front of them. But in a cRPG it's not really fun to run around a corner, cast a spell, run back and do the thing you wanted to do. Might as well just be allowed to do it then and there. Maybe this will have implications for metamagic but things like subtle spell casting might work better for sneak attack anyway given that being noticed for casting spells isn't an important feature of the game. Besides, material components don't seem to be in the game anyway so there's clearly a good level of adaptation.
Please consider this Larian, this would be a great improvement on social spellcasting IMO and would help expand on the feeling of depth and choice. All it really requires is that characters who have (already) been programmed to reveal something under social spells get a marker during dialogue. It still would cost resources but would eliminate the feeling of "I can cast this on anyone...so I'll end up casting it on no one"
