The status of different languages in your game?

[Jon_Dahl]

Since PCs get 1-4 (sometimes more than this) bonus languages for high intelligence, what are the roles and functions that different languages - mostly racial languages - have in your campaign?

For instance, Common is for communication and the official language of the whole world. This is pretty much a fact in your standard D&D game. But what about other languages?

In my game, it would be something likes:
- Elven is the language of art, poetry, music, culture and the history of the humanoid era. Drow is the same thing in the Underdark.
- Dragonic is the language of all things arcane and the history before humanoid civilizations. Aboleth has the same function in the Underdark.
- Dwarven is the language of engineering.
- Gnomish is the language of technology and alchemy.
- Halfling is a popular language among thieves of all sorts.
What else?

I don't give extra languages for high intelligence, so ironically this question has very little to do with my campaign.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Jon_Dahl
In my game, it would be something likes:
- Elven is the language of art, poetry, music, culture and the history of the humanoid era. Drow is the same thing in the Underdark.
- Dragonic is the language of all things arcane and the history before humanoid civilizations. Aboleth has the same function in the Underdark.
- Dwarven is the language of engineering.
- Gnomish is the language of technology and alchemy.
- Halfling is a popular language among thieves of all sorts.

These are pretty cool, and make sense in the context of a standard D&D world.

In my campaign world I place more emphasis on regional languages. “Common” is the primary language of the empire which dominates the continent, and it serves as a trade language past the empire’s borders; but it will only take you so far once you get into real wilderness, and there are some cultures which make a point of not speaking the empire’s languages.

So far the PCs have been dealing with several tribal languages, which I like both for atmosphere and because it gives the PCs who invest in Linguistics a prominent role in dealing with the cultures they come across. In my campaign world, languages like “Elven” and “Halfling” are really trading dialects for their respective races, and Draconic is so far removed as to be virtually unknown.

Also, in my world the gnomes are extremely shy forest dwellers with no facility for technology, so their language is almost as obscure as Draconic.

[BWR]

I run Mystara so languages are important and varied. Common is not a single language, but something between the most common spoken language in any given area and the most influential - which means pretty much any language can be Common.
Racial languages are varied, to the point where speakers different dialects can find it hard/impossible to understand each other, and many members of a non-human race can grow up without learning their racial tongue (depending on where they live). There are language families, creoles and pidgins (and a healthy fan effort at listing familial relations is very useful). Non-human cultures are varied enough that there isn't really a unifying theme for them, so your approach of having racial languages popular for certain activities is at best only workable in very limited areas, and usually meaningless.
And dragons keep their language(s) to themselves; no lesser beings are worthy of learning it.
My players almost always invest at least a few ranks in Linguistics in a game. We always keep note of what dialect of any given language they speak, and this influences how easily they can understand and communicate in other dialects.

[Falontani]

New Use of Speak Language:You may speak one of the planar languages to cause an effect on the Material Plane. The planar languages each have their own effects varied based on how loud they are spoken, however only the most skilled of users may speak them for any length of time. You may whisper a planar language for a length of time = to your Intelligence Modifier number of rounds. Continuing to do so puts a physical strain on your mind, requiring you to make intelligence checks DC 10+number of rounds you’ve been speaking or become fatigued. Continued use renders you exhausted. If you attempt to even whisper one of the planar languages on the material plane while you are exhausted you risk unconsciousness. Native Speakers do not have this problem with their native language. Speaking at a normal level halves the time you may speak, and shouting halves it again. After one hour of not speaking a language your mind will recover. Native Speakers are immune to the effects of the language.
Planar Fluency
You can a speak planar language for longer amounts of time.
Prerequisite: ability to speak a planar language, Knowledge The Planes 5 ranks
Benefit: When speaking the planar language you chose you may speak it for your concentration+Intelligence Mod number of rounds before risking intelligence checks.
Normal: you may only speak a planar language for Int number of rounds before making checks.




Language

Native Speaker

Plane of Existence

Descriptor



Abyssal

Demons

Shavarath

Chaos, Evil*



Daelkyr

Daelkyr, Aberrations

Xoriat

Compulsion



Ignan

Fire Elementals

Fernia

Fire



Infernal

Devils

Shavarath

Law, Evil*



Irial

Ravids

Irian

Light



Kythric

Slaad

Kythri

Chaos



Mabaran

Undead

Mabar

Shadow



Quori

Quori

Dal Quor

Phantasm



Risian

Ice Elementals

Risia

Cold



Sylvan

Fey

Thelanis

Charm



Syranian

Angels

Syrania

Good, Law*



Terran

Earth Elementals

Lamania

Earth, Acid



Secret Language

Maruts

Dolurrh

Evil



Daan

Formians

Daanvi

Law



Auran

Air Elementals

Lamania

Air, Electricity, Sonic



Aquan

Water Elementals

Lamania

Water



Celestial

Archons

Shavarath

Chaos, Good*








Language

Whisper

Spoken

Shout



Abyssal

Causes those that hear to become Shaken

Causes those that hear to become Panicked

Causes those that hear to Cower



Daelkyr

Those able to hear subject to Lesser Confusion

Those able to hear subject to Confusion

Those able to hear subject to Insanity



Ignan

Raise Ambient Temperature by 1 temperature band

Raise Ambient Temperature by 2 temperature bands

Raise Ambient Temperature by 3 temperature bands



Infernal






Irial

Raises ambient Light Level by 1 step

Raises ambient Light Level by 2 steps

Raises ambient Light Level by 3 steps



Kythric

Decreases Hardness





Mabaran

Lowers ambient Light level by 1 step

Lowers ambient Light level by 2 steps

Lowers ambient Light level by 3 steps



Quori

Produces a hypnotism like effect

Causes sleep




Risian

Lower Ambient Temperature by 1 temperature band

Lower Ambient Temperature by 2 temperature bands

Lower Ambient Temperature by 3 temperature bands



Sylvan

Charm person

Charm monster

Dominate person



Syranian

Calm emotions

Inspire courage

Inspire greatness



Terran

Produces Sand





Daan

Increases Hardness





Auran

Produces Air

Gust of Wind in area you are looking

Cyclonic Blast in area you are looking



Aquan

Produces Water





Celestial







This is a system that I have been trying to complete for my table, several players have shown interest, but I haven't figured out how to complete the whole thing yet. I would like to keep things not too powerful, and some of the things here are already too powerful for where I'd like them, if anyone has any inspiration to assist please PM me rather than post further in this thread as to not derail. This is one of the roles language has in my world, mostly the "common" languages serve the same purpose as Jon_Dahl's version, however since my main campaign setting is set in Eberron Elven is a much more barbaric language, whereas if you hear someone speaking in a Cyrian Dialect of common your more likely to be hearing someone at least trying to act knowledgeable about the arts.

[Particle_Man]

Usually the use of the languages is either for Players to get to gether and pick the same obscure bonus language that they, and (pretty much) only they, can converse in without being understood by evesdroppers, or conversely for the DM to find a language that either nobody or Only the Chosen One (tm) PC can understand (and thus overhear conversations/read letters of the adversary-of-the-week).

I sometimes wonder what would happen if I got rid of "Common" entirely (give humans either "Human" or a regional tongue) but I have played 7th Sea and see that can lead to issues too - certainly it is *easier* if everyone can speak a common language.

Then again, I sometimes wonder about bringing back the nine alignment languages from 1st ed. And what if *they* were the only languages? :smallamused:

[Florian]

I sometimes wonder what would happen if I got rid of "Common" entirely (give humans either "Human" or a regional tongue) but I have played 7th Sea and see that can lead to issues too - certainly it is *easier* if everyone can speak a common language.

Depends on how you go at it. The fantasy setting I use has or had some contingent-spanning empires, which either totally or partially collapsed and dissolved. So it´s actually pretty hard to find a mono culture there, as at one point, each and every race/ethnicity got either conquered or was assimilated into each empire and adapted to it. It´s like... hm... the Europa-like continent had it´s rome and that influenced a lot, from writing, architecture and such, but most people speak their local language or dialect, bastard latin is also possible, but classic latin is the language when details really matter.