Useful Languages? (3.5)

[Falcii]

What would you consider to be the highest priority languages to get learned for a new face beguiler? Currently i have: Common, Elven, Celestial, Draconic. I still need another 4. I also have telepathy and access to the tongues spell, but this id prefer to be able to shmooze without needing magic.

[Honest Tiefling]

Without the setting, we can't tell you diddly. Through an obscure language taught to the rest of the party is always good at lower levels.

Infernal and Sylvan are always good choices, even if you aren't batting for Team Evil.

[Âmesang]

In WORLD OF GREYHAWK® I'm of the opinion that Ancient Suloise could be used as a substitute for Draconic as the "ancient language used for ancient magic" sort of thing.

For non-setting specific I typically go with Draconic (especially for a spellcaster), Celestial (especially for a good-aligned spellcaster), Abyssal/Infernal (especially for an evil-aligned spellcaster), Sylvan (especially for a bard or nature-based character), and Undercommon (especially for scoundrel types).

I recall Manly P. Hall suggesting one should learn an "obscure" language simply to add more value or need to oneself, because if a time comes when that language will be needed guess who they'll turn to? With that said, when working on my hordling generator I added some code to grant it extra languages in case a high Intelligence score was generated, all of which I pulled from the Monster Manual: Aquan, Auran, Ignan, Terran, Githyanki, Githzerai, Beholder, Slaad, Aboleth, Yuan-ti, Kuo-toan, Sahuagin, Blink Dog, Worg, Grimlock, and Treant.

This makes me think that my last 3rd Edition group, simply out of sheer laziness, would lump in every world's Common tongue as a single language 'cause having to deal with incomprehensible speakers just wouldn't be "fun." Or, at the very least, assuming everything that speaks a language speaks Common just because.

[Falcii]

Without the setting, we can't tell you diddly. Through an obscure language taught to the rest of the party is always good at lower levels.


The campaign setting is entirely homebrewed, but the dm seems to be sticking to main races. so far we have encountered dwarves elves dragons and humans. Of the elves we have had several elemental varieties, including but not limited to water and some hailing from "the plane of endless sky(?)"

I guess my question is more along the lines of "what languages will help me best ingratiate myself with various races" or come off as a diplomat type. Are there any races that are particularly proud of their language and find common dirty?

Honestly i just dont know what to throw the last few into :P

[Honest Tiefling]

I guess my question is more along the lines of "what languages will help me best ingratiate myself with various races" or come off as a diplomat type. Are there any races that are particularly proud of their language and find common dirty?

...All of them?

On a more serious note, if you have elemental races running around and flying elves, have you considered the elemental languages? And what has the DM suggested?

[Eldariel]

If you're a Wizard, one very convenient thing is knowing the languages of your summons. That means Celestial, Abyssal, Infernal, Aquan, Auran, Terran, Ignan. Abyssal and Infernal in particular can also come in use while spying upon bad guys (be it through Scrying or whatever).

For diplomats, well, Dwarves are often written as sort-of reclusive so there's one. I'd definitely pick up Sylvan if you're an Elf anyways - Elven settlements often find themselves in forests and being able to communicate with fey is thus rather critical. Undercommon is just generally useful as well.

[BWR]

Ask your DM.
If s/he is the sort that sticks with the boring Racial/Planar/Exemplar languages the answer will be vastly different than from the sort of DM that has dozens of different languages which may be spoken by any number of races, plus different dialects of these with varying degrees of intelligibility based on which ones you already know, with historical variants taken into account (and the whole mess of extraplanar ones mostly ignored).

[Falcii]

I tend to avoid asking my dm directly about this stuff, mostly because asking "hey what languages are going to be useful" feels a lot like "hey, what races are coming up" and the whole spoiler thing is... meh.

I don't have a familiar, i'm a beguiler so i am kind of feat starved.

I am human, lawful evil, playing as a high class cut-purse diplomat. She infiltrates the upper echelons, plays the game, and pumps them for all the information she can, to be sold to the highest bidder later. Basically the bombshell in a ball gown ready to tell you everything you want to hear and hears everything you shouldn't have told.

[Honest Tiefling]

Don't think of it as "O great and wise DM who is certainly attractive to members of whatever sex you prefer, please tell me spoilers". Ask what someone of your character's background and knowledge would know about the world and consider to be good picks. Presumably your translator with a good skill list has some idea of politics and trade.

[Falcii]

Don't think of it as "O great and wise DM who is certainly attractive to members of whatever sex you prefer, please tell me spoilers". Ask what someone of your character's background and knowledge would know about the world and consider to be good picks. Presumably your translator with a good skill list has some idea of politics and trade.

that seems easier to swallow... now to get him to be cool with the fact that i have a contingency for when (not if) my incredibly stupid psion dies. (yay crit failing personal wisdom checks)

[RedMage125]

Depends on the campaign setting.

In Eberron, Goblin and Giant would also be extremely useful, because both had ancient empires, with powerful magicks and secrets at their disposal.

[BowStreetRunner]

While the specifics are going to vary from setting to setting, I can give you some examples of languages my characters have chosen in the past and the reason for them.


Many of my arcane characters have taken Draconic, which was the language of magic in the given setting. Likewise I had a character with Craft: Alchemy who took Gnomish because it was the language of alchemy in that setting.
In one group I played with all the party members took Drow sign language so we could be stealthy together and still communicate as long as we had line of sight. Interestingly enough there are actual bonuses that come with knowing this language (DotU page 46) which include spellcraft bonuses to identify spells with a somatic component.
Whenever I have a character with the Nymph's Kiss exalted feat I always make sure they speak Sylvan because that would be the language the Nymph uses.
For mercantile characters - and by this I usually mean the guy who fences all of our loot - I usually go with the languages of friendly races. While most of them will speak common, it keeps them from gaining the advantage of being able to speak with one another in front of him without his understanding.
For scout type characters I usually go with the languages of the most prevalent enemy races for eavesdropping purposes and to be able to read any intercepted communications.
Any time there is an important race in a campaign that does not speak common that language goes to the top of my list. Most races can speak common, so these are usually pretty rare.

[ekarney]

"the plane of endless sky(?)"

I guess my question is more along the lines of "what languages will help me best ingratiate myself with various races" or come off as a diplomat type. Are there any races that are particularly proud of their language and find common dirty?



1. Your DM could be using the plane of radiance, so fey might be useful, and i think the plane has its own language, its from Dragon 221 I think, the one with the firearms in it.

2. Drow have like 3 different languages, since they only speak undercommon when talking to non-drow who live in the underdark. They also have Drow Sign, which are like military hand signals, and Low and High Drow for their lower and upper class, respectively. I think. I could be very wrong.

[Yael]

Common.

Draconic, Elven and Dwarven. Those three have three different alphabets, and they are pretty useful regarding arcane magic. Celestial is always good to know for a good-aligned caster (cleric, healer, etc), and Infernal is just perfect for making deals :smallbiggrin: