So, I’m a Kenku Now

[Techcaliber]

Alright. I have a predicament. My DM wanted to get rid of a home brew system he implemented ( it was fun but messed with the game to much) and in order to do this, he had to remove these innate powers from everyone, and killed 85% of all people, and one of the party. My character failed the save, but it wasn’t bad enough to kill me, it changed my race. My character was a Goliath, but after this he’s a Kenku.

So here’s the question: can he speak?

I kept all my mental stats, but my physical got retooled. Will my character be able to speak as he did as a Goliath, or will he suffer from the kenku curse?

Thanks for your help, my party can’t come to an agreement.

Edit: I have wings like a normal Kenku, but with them I cannot fly. I do however have wings of flying, so that’s not a problem.

[Tawmis]

Alright. I have a predicament. My DM wanted to get rid of a home brew system he implemented ( it was fun but messed with the game to much) and in order to do this, he had to remove these innate powers from everyone, and killed 85% of all people, and one of the party. My character failed the save, but it wasn’t bad enough to kill me, it changed my race. My character was a Goliath, but after this he’s a Kenku.
So here’s the question: can he speak?
I kept all my mental stats, but my physical got retooled. Will my character be able to speak as he did as a Goliath, or will he suffer from the kenku curse?
Thanks for your help, my party can’t come to an agreement.

Kenku CAN speak. But they don't have their own voice. And can only say words and phrases they've heard before.

[Teaguethebean]

It all hangs on one question, do you have wings.

[Tawmis]

It all hangs on one question, do you have wings.

I am assuming he would; since all Kenku technically do (it's in their arms). But Kenku were cursed and lost their ability to fly.

[Teaguethebean]

I am assuming he would; since all Kenku technically do (it's in their arms). But Kenku were cursed and lost their ability to fly.

So I guess a better question is can he fly. Regardless if yes than he has creative thought and can speak if no, then yikes your character cannot think independently or have creative ideas unless you DM changes how Kenku work. (I always do) Kenku lost there voice, thoughts, and flight all from the same curse so yeah that is bad news.

[Techcaliber]

It all hangs on one question, do you have wings.

Wings of Flying

[Techcaliber]

Kenku CAN speak. But they don't have their own voice. And can only say words and phrases they've heard before.
Sorry, I misspoke. Would I be able to speak normally, having known and heard these things in a different body, or would I be only able to mimic.

[NNescio]

Sorry, I misspoke. Would I be able to speak normally, having known and heard these things in a different body, or would I be only able to mimic.

You are unable to speak normally, but you should still be able to communicate like someone using a text-to-speech device in real life. So, it would take considerable effort (you might need to spell a word you never pronounced before and have a party member say it out loud to add it to your "sound bank") compared with what you were used to, and might incur Disadvantage on social checks when talking to people who are intolerant and/or unaware of your condition.

Not unlike someone who was able to speak in real life, but later became unable to due to some acquired disability, such as a certain brilliant, world-renowned physicist.

Unless, of course, your DM decides to also hose your language skills and other acquired life experiences as part of the transformation (which, IMHO, is badwrongfun on the part of the DM). In which case it's like getting turned into a stroke victim (or Alzheimer's).

[Tawmis]

The depth of this "race change" will be up to your DM.

A normal Kenku can imitate voices it's heard before and "piece" sentences together in that fashion; however, to my understanding (and how I play my Level 7 Kenku Rogue) is the words you speak are in the voice you heard.

So for example, if you heard a female halfling say, "My dog is nice."
And you also heard a male human say, "Your right punch is vicious."

The Kenku might say "Your" (male human voice) "dog is" (female halfling voice) "vicious." (Male Human voice)

And while Kenku's do lose their "own" voice (so they can only mimic), and flight (despite having wings on their arms), and creativity - a Kenku isn't an "idiot." It learns from experience, the same way it talks and it's a master of mimicry (and forging as well, since it's a form of mimicking).

Typically, when I play my Kenku, I simply speak in broken English (as a part of being in character) because in my head the Kenku I am playing doesn't know every English word; so it's more like as if he's speaking a second language, that he's not proficient in.

But since your character, as a Goliath, probably did know all the words in Common; it stands to reason he may be able to speak normally.

[Glorthindel]

Personally, I would think it would be harsh to take away your characters voice, but even if the DM has decided to do that, you could mostly get around it by mimicking yourself before the change. This should allow you to talk almost normally (since you will mostly be using phrases and intonation as you have done in the past), with the occasional flavour of having to learn new words (like peoples names you've never met before, or phrases from regions you had never previously visited) like a normal Kenku, so you would occasionally have to break voice to use a mimicked word.

[Laserlight]

You can talk normally if using words you already know; you can't use new vocabulary until you've heard it. If for example you run into a mind flayer for the first time, you probably can't say "mind flayer" but rather "squid head purple man", if you've seen squid before, otherwise "purple man big head four long grabby tongues". And then someone will say "you mean, a mind flayer? Yikes!" And you can thereafter call them "mind flayer yikes".

In theory, you should say each individual word in the voice of the person from whom you first heard it, but in practice, you're almost certainly not that gifted a mimic and if you were, it would be annoying after about two minutes. Just use your regular voice.

[Sindal]

Does your dude remember who he used to be?

Because them he can just mimic "himself". He can talk exactly like a goliath, but in a very broken way for more complex sentences

[samcifer]

With Kenku, they mimic the sounds other people make. The best way to describe their speech patterns is to take snippets of conversations from other people and splice them together roughly toform coherent sentences. For example:

(as female orc:) "Hey there," (voice changes to that of an old human man:) "It's a pleasure to meet you," (voice changes again to that of a young elven boy:) "I hope we can be friends!"

so it would be you saying "Hey there, it's a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can be friends!" with the voice changing as described above throughout the speaking of that one statement.

[Techcaliber]

You are unable to speak normally, but you should still be able to communicate like someone using a text-to-speech device in real life. So, it would take considerable effort (you might need to spell a word you never pronounced before and have a party member say it out loud to add it to your "sound bank") compared with what you were used to, and might incur Disadvantage on social checks when talking to people who are intolerant and/or unaware of your condition.

Not unlike someone who was able to speak in real life, but later became unable to due to some acquired disability, such as a certain brilliant, world-renowned physicist.

Unless, of course, your DM decides to also hose your language skills and other acquired life experiences as part of the transformation (which, IMHO, is badwrongfun on the part of the DM). In which case it's like getting turned into a stroke victim (or Alzheimer's).

Alright, thank you. This answers my question perfectly, and it is going to make my game so much more fun (for me).

[Maelynn]

Since you've already had your question answered, here's an idea just for the fun of it.

Imagine a Kenku who can only speak by using movie/series/book quotes. It's rather '4th wall', but could be so much fun.

[HappyDaze]

Does your dude remember who he used to be?

Because them he can just mimic "himself". He can talk exactly like a goliath, but in a very broken way for more complex sentences

The ability to perfectly memorize and mimic others is only gained after becoming a kenku, so he can't use that for things he heard before becoming a kenku.

For the record, I think the kenku speech limitations are interesting for NPCs but a total pain in the butt for PCs.

[Tawmis]

For the record, I think the kenku speech limitations are interesting for NPCs but a total pain in the butt for PCs.

Honestly depends on your DM, doesn't it? If you're a Kenku who has spent all of your life in Waterdeep, for example; there's a very, very, very, very good chance you know 99% of the Common language, as a bustling city like Waterdeep, people are always talking all around you.

So you could, in such a case, if your DM wanted, just speak normally (if you wanted to add spice, you ca change your voice to "indicate" you're speaking with different voices; or you could explain how your voice changes as you speak).

[False God]

Honestly depends on your DM, doesn't it? If you're a Kenku who has spent all of your life in Waterdeep, for example; there's a very, very, very, very good chance you know 99% of the Common language, as a bustling city like Waterdeep, people are always talking all around you.

So you could, in such a case, if your DM wanted, just speak normally (if you wanted to add spice, you ca change your voice to "indicate" you're speaking with different voices; or you could explain how your voice changes as you speak).

I mean, at some point, you've heard everyone say a lot of common words so that nearly every word you say could be in a "different voice" to the point where the "adorable Bumblebee-ness" of talking via radio-stations turns into pure horror as you demonstrate not just your mental acuity, but the sheer volume of people you've overheard.

I think folks misunderstand the true terrifying power of the Kenku "curse". You're a tape-recorder in an era of "he said, she said". You're the Watergate tapes in an era when it is nearly impossible to record what someone said. If it is widely understood what Kenku are and how their curse functions then it would be almost impossible to disregard their repeating of someone's statements in any locale which placed any value on lawfulness, justice or courts, as many major D&D civilizations do.

[Tawmis]

I mean, at some point, you've heard everyone say a lot of common words so that nearly every word you say could be in a "different voice" to the point where the "adorable Bumblebee-ness" of talking via radio-stations turns into pure horror as you demonstrate not just your mental acuity, but the sheer volume of people you've overheard.
I think folks misunderstand the true terrifying power of the Kenku "curse". You're a tape-recorder in an era of "he said, she said". You're the Watergate tapes in an era when it is nearly impossible to record what someone said. If it is widely understood what Kenku are and how their curse functions then it would be almost impossible to disregard their repeating of someone's statements in any locale which placed any value on lawfulness, justice or courts, as many major D&D civilizations do.

This is exactly how I used my Kenku (Level 7) Rogue.
I joined a campaign already in progress (because quite a few players couldn't make it, so I was invited along). Traditionally I play Human, Dwarf, Elf - this time (because everyone else's character was something 'unusual' such as a Goliath, Tiefling, Aasimar, etc., I opted to go with Kenku to add another odd bird (pardon the pun) to the party's mix. As such, I was a prisoner at the time, looking into the Cult of Dragons, when the party came along. From down in my prison in the Hunting Lodge (I will leave it at that, to avoid spoilers) I could hear fighting - so I mimicked the commander's voice who I had heard barking orders, and sent the guards running in different directions, causing mass confusion. Then I started to mimic the sounds of combat I heard, so the guards came rushing in to see what was going on in the prison - just to see me there (along with "a few other prisoners"). This allowed the party to land a surprise on them and free me and the other prisoners. I joined the party, having been investigating the Cult of Dragons (my character had heard something about a great power coming into the world and wanted to see if he could find a way to break the Kenku curse for himself). Sadly, we've only played a few other sessions... but the Kenku opened my eyes really to playing other "less traditional" races. One other one I enjoyed at a brewery where they do D&D night once a week was a Tiefling Paladin.

[HappyDaze]

Minor Illusion can imitate someone else's voice. A kenku can fail the save to believe it and then imitate it, so not every "kenku recording" is legit. In fact, what's to stop a kenku with minor illusion from teaching itself a full range of conversations?

[NNescio]

I think folks misunderstand the true terrifying power of the Kenku "curse". You're a tape-recorder in an era of "he said, she said". You're the Watergate tapes in an era when it is nearly impossible to record what someone said. If it is widely understood what Kenku are and how their curse functions then it would be almost impossible to disregard their repeating of someone's statements in any locale which placed any value on lawfulness, justice or courts, as many major D&D civilizations do.

There are spells and other game effects that allow one to "fake" another's voice. Examples include Minor Illusion, Alter Self, and the Actor feat. Anybody with access to these effects can feed the Kenku fake testimony. (A particularly inventive Kenku may even manufacture a 'fake' itself with MI, to copy later). It's like the existence of deepfakes throwing the veracity of audiovisual evidence into question these days.

(Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from technology, as they say.)


Minor Illusion can imitate someone else's voice. A kenku can fail the save to believe it and then imitate it, so not every "kenku recording" is legit. In fact, what's to stop a kenku with minor illusion from teaching itself a full range of conversations?

Minor Illusion doesn't offer a save to disbelieve (similar to most illusions that are not directly harmful), unlike illusions from previous editions. The Kenku may think the sound is an illusion (especially if it has some knowledge of spellcasting and sees the caster casting the spell right in front of it), and use an action to 'examine' the sound and make the Investigation DC, but even then it can still freely imitate it.

That said, it might still be useful to try to fool the Kenku if you suspect it's going to be cross-examined (under Zone of Truth and the like) to 'corroborate' its testimony.

The Kenku's mimicry itself might be subjected to the same Investigation DC, since it's a mimicry of an illusion, but strictly speaking by RAW no Investigation check is possible because it's no longer an illusion, but a recording of an illusion.

(Though RAI the check should still be there because the Investigation DC is supposed to abstract away the accuracy/realism of Minor Illusion.)