Skeleton communication help!

[reapersoulEater]

The title says it all.

how can i maintain my skeletons way to talk?

i already found a way to make them intelligent yet ability to speak eludes me.

help this necromancer out?

thx in advance:smallamused:

[captain fubar]

raw if they have an int score already then they should get some skill points (Hdx(4 + Int modifier, minimum 1)) , and undead tend to have lots of hd for their cr put a few points into speak language.

as far as fluf it would seem strange that somthing without lungs could make and sort of vocal sounds though so consider a non verbal language like drow sign language.

[Splendor]

Any intelligent undead can talk. The monster manual states specifically that Bodaks, Devourers, Ghouls, Lichs, Mummies, Vampire Spawn, Wights and Wraiths all speak common.



From the awakened undead spell:
Awakened undead do not regain any skills, feats, or extraordinary abilities they had in life, but they do gain skill points ([4 + Int mod] x HD)and feats (one for first Hit Die, one for each three HD thereafter) normally after being awakened.
Undead regain the armor and weapon proficiencies they had in life (assume the undead were formerly NPC warriors unless your DM specifies otherwise) and will don armor and take up weapons while obeying your commands.

If your DMs an ass and says they don't know any language, spend their new skill points on one.

As for not having lungs and being able to talk. Look at most intelligent undead, they can all talk. Warforged can talk. Awakened constructs can talk. Elementals can talk. There was one article that says that creatures without lungs couldn't play wind instruments.

[drack]

Yup, can even fluff it as the raspy growl of bone grinding against bone to produce sounds that sound eerily like speech. :smallbiggrin:

[Nerd-o-rama]

If your DM's going to be a stickler for realism in your animated skeleton that lacks any musculature or sensory organs, you can always blow five grand for an item from a free adventure module (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20020125a).

[Psyren]

Bone Creatures from BoVD can speak IIRC, and look just like skeletons.

[erikun]

I'm always considered Drow language to include Drow sign language, which is... well, sign language. No voice needed.

[Tock Zipporah]

From "Start of Darkness" :

"Well, you're undead now, you don't have trachea and a larynx, much less lungs to expel air through them. So your voice is magically created by the negative energy that powers you now."

[captain fubar]

Just to be clear I never ment that there was any rule against skeletons talking normaly infact many dms would probibly just let it know common the moment it gained an int score. My intent was just to show how this could be mechanicly viable even with a less lenient dm.

[Slipperychicken]

I think Song and Silence mentions that skeletal undead can speak somehow (some supernatural mumbo-jumbo), but don't have the breath to play wind instruments. I'm away from my books at the moment, but it's in a section talking about what instruments a skeleton can play.

Edit: Nevermind, it only mentions that skeletons lack the breath to play wind instruments.