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Geneticist
2007-03-21, 05:34 PM
Okay, I'm joining a campaign here on the GitP forums, and I'm running a werewolf character, who, for irrelevant fluff-based issues, is stuck in animal form, and can switch to hybrid form only for a short amount of time per level per day. So, obviously, my character makes a great wilderness scout, but I run into the problem of how to talk to the rest of the party. I really don't want to turn into "air bud", and have to emote everything. So. Is there a magic item or spell (that could be turned into an item) that allows animals to talk to people? I was thinking that a Collar of Speak with Animals would work, but then figured that it would have the affect of everyone being able to talk to me (which they already can, if they speak Common or one of the other languages I take), and me still not being able to talk.

Thoughts? Solutions?

hewhosaysfish
2007-03-21, 05:41 PM
Someone else could get a doohick of Speak with animals and act as interpreter?
That may be the best option if Perform(charades) and Craft(explanatory diagram) seem too silly.

martyboy74
2007-03-21, 05:41 PM
Take a class that gives you telepathy? That'd actually still be pretty handy for a scout character.

Jasdoif
2007-03-21, 05:42 PM
Sending (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/sending.htm) could do it. As could telepathic bond (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/telepathicBond.htm), and that one could even be permanent.

silentknight
2007-03-21, 05:43 PM
If I were your DM, I would allow you to spend skill points to "relearn" your known languages so that you can speak in animal form. You already know how to speak, so it would just take some time and training to teach your wolf vocal chords to reproduce the right sounds.

A collar of telepathic bond would work too. (Telepathic Bond is a 3.5 spell right?)

Nahal
2007-03-21, 05:47 PM
yup.

I'm currently stuck in a similar situation, where my party is time-travelling and now in Montauk, NY before any english-speaking civilizations arrived. We are now the pro-temp village heads of a tribe of builder natives fleeing an Iroquois war party, and nobody speaks any of the relevant languages.

martyboy74
2007-03-21, 05:49 PM
yup.

I'm currently stuck in a similar situation, where my party is time-travelling and now in Montauk, NY before any english-speaking civilizations arrived. We are now the pro-temp village heads of a tribe of builder natives fleeing an Iroquois war party, and nobody speaks any of the relevant languages.
...what system are you playing?

Geneticist
2007-03-21, 05:54 PM
Unfortunately, because of the fact that I am starting as a 5th level character, I do not have the cash to get telepathic bond cast permanently. (2,500 xp costX5gp = 12K = more than I have)

Geneticist
2007-03-21, 06:06 PM
Sorry for double posting, but would this work? And if so, how much would it cost?
Collar of Comprehend Languages
When a character grasps the collar and says the command word ("speak"), they come under the influence of a Comprehend Languages spell, that only applies to the wearer of the collar.

Mithreander
2007-03-21, 06:12 PM
That would be up to your DM... but I say it's a good idea!

Jasdoif
2007-03-21, 06:12 PM
If you take a level of psion with the telepathy discipline, you can manifest mindlink (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/mindlink.htm), which is like telepathic bond but 1st-level. Also, it's psionic, and not impacted by the restriction on verbal, somatic and material components you have.

Also...you can write, can't you? If you have access to, say, dirt on the ground, you could probably "write" in the dirt using your paws. Or a bunch of sticks or something to lay into letters. Or maybe work out something like Morse code (while you're in your brief period of hybrid form), so you can convey simple concepts that way.


Comprehend languages doesn't let you speak the languages, only understand them, which you already can. And since you won't be using "spoken words", the spell won't benefit your listeners, either.

Geneticist
2007-03-21, 06:30 PM
Comprehend languages doesn't let you speak the languages, only understand them, which you already can. And since you won't be using "spoken words", the spell won't benefit your listeners, either.
Ahh, see, the language that animals speak is a language (I assume) and thus what I'm doing is carrying around a magic item that allows others to use that spell for free if they know me already (i.e. the other party members). The spell doesn't affect me, it affects the person using the device. It's just hanging around my neck instead of theirs. I'm pretty sure that I can get their attention if I need to talk.

Jasdoif
2007-03-21, 06:37 PM
Ahh, see, the language that animals speak is a language (I assume) and thus what I'm doing is carrying around a magic item that allows others to use that spell for free if they know me already (i.e. the other party members). The spell doesn't affect me, it affects the person using the device. It's just hanging around my neck instead of theirs. I'm pretty sure that I can get their attention if I need to talk.It may be a language, but the spell description explicitly says "spoken words". It's really a DM call on whether the vocalizations of a wolf count as "words" or not.

That said, comprehend languages is a low-level spell and thus the general magic item guidelines are going to be far too cheap, but the guidelines suggest a command word item of a 1st level spell with a caster level of 1 costs 1,800gp.

Jimp
2007-03-21, 06:49 PM
Collar of Tounges to deal with speaking languages? Alternatively, you could pay for a permanent Tounges

Geneticist
2007-03-21, 06:50 PM
yeah, I agree with you that that seems very inexpensive, but when you take into consideration that it's still a hefty chunk of my starting income to do something that normal characters take for granted, I don't think that it's going to be too overpowered.

PMDM
2007-03-21, 07:13 PM
Guard your collar carefully, though...

LightBringer
2007-03-21, 09:32 PM
I would normally agree with your logic about the starting money G, but you are about to play a werewolf. A supernatural creature that relies on it's speed and strength to deal with opponents. I don't really see a werewolf buying a magical sword, or armor, or any of the other things, that 'normal' characters buy for themselves in the beginning.

Also I agree with the earlier statement, that you already know the languages you are trying to speak. In most systems a werewolf in full were form can still talk in rough gutteral words. I would simply ask to burn a FEAT, or use skill points to learn to speak in were form.

Nahal
2007-03-21, 10:00 PM
...what system are you playing?

A system the GM largely devised, called Ronin or somesuch. Made for modern-era campaigns, though I don't know if he's devised magic or cyber rules yet. Wholly d6-based.

We're playing FBI agents who have been thrust into a pan-temporal chess game/artifact hunt, and are currently in search of either a way out of this tribal war or another artifact (or both).

Fizban
2007-03-21, 10:16 PM
Since you're in wolf form, you don't have the physical ability to speak, so you're going to need magic if you want to speak personally. Tongues won't help, since you can't speak.

I would suggest working with your party to create a new language that you can speak in wolf form, like a complex morse code, and have everyone in the party learn it. Drow sign sets the precedent for a non-speaking language, so it doesn't break any rules.

The clause in tongues that says ""Tongues does not enable the subject to speak with creatures who don’t speak" leads me to believe that it wouldn't work, though a case could be made if you were using an established wolf-speak language, even if you made it up yourself (you'd still have to spend skillpoints on it). At the very least, a creature using tongues would understand your wolf-speak, and you may or may not be able to magically convert it into common using the spell.

There's probably an item in savage species that will do what you want, but I don't feel like looking it up at the moment.