Keeper of Starlight
2011-05-28, 01:27 AM
So, I've been taking a look at and trying to figure out the system for learning languages in D&D of late, and ... well, wow. That's some pretty crazy $h!t. As it works at the moment, a character starts with one or two languages in addition to a number of languages equal to their Intelligence score. This works just fine, in my opinion; however, in order to gain a new language, a player spends two skill points, and that language is automatically learned. I mean, really?
And so we get to my way of fixing this. In realistic terms, no character should be able to just learn a language at some point with no practice, so there has to be a bit of a method behind this. A person who wants to learn a language needs a few things:
1. A mentor (or RosettaStone).
2. A reason to learn.
3. Time. Lots of time.
Number 1 is the easiest to take care of. If no one who tends to travel with you knows a language that you are trying to learn, you can't be taught it. For those that do, they will have to attempt a Profession (Mentorship) Check, with a DC dependent upon the difficulty of the language. If they succeed at the check, then during that day, week, or month of teaching, they make a large amount of progress. If they fail by 4 or less, they make 1/4 progress, and if they fail by 5 or more, they make no progress during that time period whatsoever. This makes the learners dependent upon someone who knows the language, which is more realistic, as evidenced by my former Spanish teacher (I remember no Spanish).
DC Checks will be largely based on the DM's world, and the commonness of that language (if you hear it often, it's easier to learn), but as a basis, languages such as Elven would often have a DC of 12 to 15, while Draconic or Celestial would be around 25 to 30.
With that part done, we can move to part 2: a reason to learn. This is very simple. Just tell everyone why you want to learn. Are you guys wanting a somewhat secret language so outsiders don't understand you, or does your new girlfriend speak only a little Common, and you want to learn to talk to her in Swedish?
And finally, we have the third section, time. The average time for someone to learn a language is probably a minimum of two years, and that is with around an hour and a half of practice a day. However, we can assume that this timeline involves a few bad days or weeks of teaching that put you behind schedule. So with that in mind, a year and a half of successful DC checks should be enough to teach someone a language, or, with constant unsuccessful checks that aren't below 5 of the DC, six years.
Before making the check, a player should decide the interval of time they are making the check for: one day, one week, or one month. The check determines the total progress for that amount of time, and so if they fail it by 5 or more, they have to wait for the time to elapse before trying again.
Well, those are my thoughts on the matter. Please let me know what you think of the concept.
And so we get to my way of fixing this. In realistic terms, no character should be able to just learn a language at some point with no practice, so there has to be a bit of a method behind this. A person who wants to learn a language needs a few things:
1. A mentor (or RosettaStone).
2. A reason to learn.
3. Time. Lots of time.
Number 1 is the easiest to take care of. If no one who tends to travel with you knows a language that you are trying to learn, you can't be taught it. For those that do, they will have to attempt a Profession (Mentorship) Check, with a DC dependent upon the difficulty of the language. If they succeed at the check, then during that day, week, or month of teaching, they make a large amount of progress. If they fail by 4 or less, they make 1/4 progress, and if they fail by 5 or more, they make no progress during that time period whatsoever. This makes the learners dependent upon someone who knows the language, which is more realistic, as evidenced by my former Spanish teacher (I remember no Spanish).
DC Checks will be largely based on the DM's world, and the commonness of that language (if you hear it often, it's easier to learn), but as a basis, languages such as Elven would often have a DC of 12 to 15, while Draconic or Celestial would be around 25 to 30.
With that part done, we can move to part 2: a reason to learn. This is very simple. Just tell everyone why you want to learn. Are you guys wanting a somewhat secret language so outsiders don't understand you, or does your new girlfriend speak only a little Common, and you want to learn to talk to her in Swedish?
And finally, we have the third section, time. The average time for someone to learn a language is probably a minimum of two years, and that is with around an hour and a half of practice a day. However, we can assume that this timeline involves a few bad days or weeks of teaching that put you behind schedule. So with that in mind, a year and a half of successful DC checks should be enough to teach someone a language, or, with constant unsuccessful checks that aren't below 5 of the DC, six years.
Before making the check, a player should decide the interval of time they are making the check for: one day, one week, or one month. The check determines the total progress for that amount of time, and so if they fail it by 5 or more, they have to wait for the time to elapse before trying again.
Well, those are my thoughts on the matter. Please let me know what you think of the concept.