Usefull Non PHB languages?

[JMS]

Currently building for a Lv. 30 ToB gestalt, and have 28 bonus languages from Int, and having taken all from the player's handbook, Drow Sign Language, Hand Battle Signals, Planar Trade Common and Flag Battle Signals, was wondering what else to pick up.

[gorfnab]

Here is a thread that might help: Complete List of Languages (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?208167-Complete-List-of-Languages)

[Jack_Simth]

Currently building for a Lv. 30 ToB gestalt, and have 28 bonus languages from Int, and having taken all from the player's handbook, Drow Sign Language, Hand Battle Signals, Planar Trade Common and Flag Battle Signals, was wondering what else to pick up.

There's three classes of languages that are useful:
1) The ones the DM will have on opponents.
2) The ones the DM will not have on opponents.
3) Ones that don't actually use sound.

The use of the first class is obvious: You get to listen to their battle chatter in combat, their planning out of combat, and so on.
The use of the second is less so, and restricted: It requires your party members know at least some of the same languages. Basically, it lets you talk to them effectively without being overheard.
The third is so that you can talk to your party mates without giving away your position.

At the point you're at, however, a specific list is mostly irrelevant. You've got the majority of category 1 and 3, so you want to grab the single most obscure language you can find for category 2, and make sure the rest of the party knows it. Phaerimm, maybe (a racial language noted in Lost Empires of Faerun), or maybe Roushoum (the ancient language of the Imaskari, from the same book).

Edit: Although if you really want to be sure, just take Polyglot (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/feats.htm#polyglot).

[Thurbane]

3) Ones that don't actually use sound.

The third is so that you can talk to your party mates without giving away your position.

Just on that...does anyone have a preference of Drow Sign Language vs. Battle Signals from HoB?

I would assume Battle Signals are less common, therefore less likely to be "eavesdropped" on by spectators; but I get the feeling that Drow Sign Langauge can express more complex concepts and messages?

Battle Signals also has a benefit that Fighters treat it as a "class skill" in terms of investing skill points.

[Falontani]

My games have a homebrew rule: Every language has a written, a spoken, and a sign language*. If you have an 8+ intelligence then you are proficient with all your starting verbal languages (good grammar and such), if you have a 10+ intelligence then you are proficient with all your starting written languages (barring barbarian and other illiterate characters). If you have a 12+ dexterity then you are proficient with all your starting sign languages. A single point of speak language gives you access to any of the three portions of the language (yes I nerfed speak language). Finally if you know multiple languages you may speak a combination of two languages at a time (kind of like how a slang language of Spanglish exists in some parts of the world). Someone that speaks both of the languages must succeed a DC 10 Sense Motive check (as a passively rolled check by the DM) to understand, if you know only one of the languages the DC increases by +10. You may choose to use a verbal language slot for the mixed language. Finally for every 5 written languages you understand you gain a +2 synergy bonus to decipher script.

*Languages spoken primarily by creatures without sight as a primary sensory organ may not possess Sign Language or written language, just as those without audible sensory organs most likely do not have a spoken language.

[Jack_Simth]

Just on that...does anyone have a preference of Drow Sign Language vs. Battle Signals from HoB?

I would assume Battle Signals are less common, therefore less likely to be "eavesdropped" on by spectators; but I get the feeling that Drow Sign Langauge can express more complex concepts and messages?

Battle Signals also has a benefit that Fighters treat it as a "class skill" in terms of investing skill points.

Depends entirely on your campaign and your DM. In an Underdark campaign, Drow Sign Language is going to be known by a lot of folks with 120 foot darkvision, who also happen to be in the movers & shakers category. On the other hand, if your DM plans to do a lot of mass battles and use Heroes of Battle for running it, then Battle Signals are going to be quite common...

...

Actually, scratch that. Battle Signals are limited to super-short instructions, and can be intercepted with a DC 15 Int check. The OP has 28 bonus languages from Int, and is thus rocking a +28 Intelligence modifier. Assuming opponents have even half that (+14), everything makes it on a 1 (even a "normal" Wizard after, say, 10th level, can probably understand it: NPC wizard with 15 base Int, +1 middle age, +2 level up, +4 item = 22 Int, for a +6 mod; needs a 9 or better, 60% chance). If they can be seen, they can be understood, and it is restricted to simple messages only. This makes it pretty useless relative to Drow Sign, in which someone needs to actually invest ranks, and is not restricted from actual conversations.

[BowStreetRunner]

I've played in more than one game in which Draconic was the language in which arcane magic was written, Gnome was the language that Alchemy used, and there were a few other languages that corresponded with not just a spoken racial language, but some other game mechanic. You might want to check and see if your DM uses any languages in a similar way. It tends to make those specific languages a bit more valuable.