Kenku, Minor Illusion, and Silent Image

[Segev]

Minor Illusion

Minor illusion (http://5e.d20srd.org/srd/spells/minorIllusion.htm)'s audio version says that it "can be your voice, someone else’s voice, a lion’s roar, a beating of drums, or any other sound you choose. The sound continues unabated throughout the duration, or you can make discrete sounds at different times before the spell ends." (emphasis added)

This suggests that you can control the sound pretty much at will throughout the whole minute duration, anywhere within range. I emphasize "anywhere within range," because the limitation to a 5 ft. cube is specifically under the "image" part of the spell description, and nowhere mentioned related to the "sound" part of it.

This could theoretically allow you to have a conversation, creating any discrete sounds you need (e.g. words and phrases) in any voice you want.

Of some import, as well: minor illusion has no verbal component, so you don't have to break stealth to do it; hide anywhere within 30 feet of where you want the sound to come from, and no telltale sounds come from you.

Unfortunately, minor illusion's image is very limited, and weirdly doesn't benefit much from sound being added to it. "Weirdly," because that's the first Illusionist perk: having both versions active with every casting.

Silent Image

However, minor illusion having so much flexibility with its sound-generation means that it can be used to GIVE sound effects to a silent image (http://5e.d20srd.org/srd/spells/silentImage.htm), as long as you keep the silent image within 30 feet (it does have a greater range than minor illusion). Sure, the cantrip has 1/10 the duration, but as it's got no verbal component, you can just keep re-casting it.

Now, let's consider the Kenku. Kenku have their mimicry ability. This lets them replicate any sound they've ever heard. No action required; it's just vocalization for them. A Kenku, then, could provide sound effects for a silent image (his own or cast by another). Up side: no action required, and questions of whether the caster can make minor illusion create sounds "off-turn" without a reaction (or even with one; no action is specified to control the sounds it makes) don't arise because anybody can vocalize at any time (barring things actively restricting that, which are abnormal circumstances). And since minor illusion can go from "a whisper to a scream," the volume range sounds like it's about the same. The down side would be that the Kenku can't place the sound just anywhere; it's coming from him.

Maybe a Charisma (Deception) or Charisma (Perform:Ventriloquism) check could make it sound like it's coming from the silent image?

Is there real, non-contrived advantage to a Kenku spellcaster using his own vocalizations rather than minor illusion to provide sound effects to his silent images, or does minor illusion obviate any utility the Kenku racial feature might give?

(One side note: Keen Mind is often considered great in conjunction with minor illusion due to the ability to affix perfect photographic memory of things. Kenku have perfect memory for sounds, so that's at least one thing that's worthwhile.)

Kenku and their curse

The curse of the Kenku is twofold (discounting lack of flight): They lack creativity, and lack a voice of their own.

They can mix and match their mimicked vocalizations to construct sentences, but they sound like what they are: cut-and-paste jobs. Would a Kenku with the ability to cast minor illusion be able to bypass this aspect of their curse entirely, making audible illusions of coherent speech? At this point, it doesn't even matter if he's "fooling" anybody; the point is the communication, not the deception. But he could theoretically have it originate from himself, too, and move his beak so it looks and sounds like he's talking.

Or does their curse extend to an inability to even construct sounds with minor illusion that they've never heard before? It doesn't SAY it does in their mechanics, but this seems something that would drive them all to learning Magic Initiate if it were this "easy." On the other hand, does knowing minor illusion make anyone who has it able to out-do a Kenku's racial mimicry ability? Again, there's the question of the importance of taking an action to cast the spell, and the question of the perfect memory for any sound heard.

For that matter, while it's said they can't do creative works of their own (but are great forgers), can they write down messages, or are they restricted to forging handwriting of other people's words to make the equivalent of ransom notes cut out letter-by-letter from magazines and pasted into a new arrangement?

Certainly, Kenku have enough originality of thought to construct a thought they wish to communicate. This does mean a Kenku Warlock might be tempted by a Great Old One Patron for the freedom that Awakened Mind gives him in terms of making his thoughts known. And that could give them silent image at will to use with their mimicry, assuming minor illusion taken as a cantrip doesn't just obviate that.

Does their forgery skill let them make perfect copies of anything they've seen with minor illusion? Do they effectively have Keen Mind's perfect memory trait for sight and sound?

[Man_Over_Game]

What it boils down to is whether Kenku are:


Physically unable to talk normally.
Mentally unable to talk normally.


And since it's a "Curse", and since they can duplicate any speech patterns they've already heard, it seems to me that they'd be able to talk if they heard everything possible.

That is, their ability to talk is directly tied into a mental aspect, not a physical one. As a result, they shouldn't be able to talk any differently with Minor Illusion than they could with their normal voices.

Now, there are two big things worth mentioning:

The curse is magic, so perhaps other forms of magic can ignore this limitation. It's kind of a stretch, but a DM might let you ignore your speech issues by using another form of magic.
Kenku may be unable, in any way, of producing creative thoughts. That is, they aren't unable from creating new things (a mental block), but that they're unable to think of new things (a missing element to the mind). These both appear the same, but it'd mean the difference of a Kenku being able to speak with the Great Old One feature normally or not. It is a curse, and this interpretation seems the most accurate. Coincidentally, it's also the simplest in concept, if not execution (having players talk funny the entire time can be difficult).

[Segev]

What it boils down to is whether Kenku are:


Physically unable to talk normally.
Mentally unable to talk normally.


And since it's a "Curse", and since they can duplicate any speech patterns they've already heard, it seems to me that they'd be able to talk if they heard everything possible.

That is, their ability to talk is directly tied into a mental aspect, not a physical one. As a result, they shouldn't be able to talk any differently with Minor Illusion than they could with their normal voices.

Now, there are two big things worth mentioning:

The curse is magic, so perhaps other forms of magic can ignore this limitation. It's kind of a stretch, but a DM might let you ignore your speech issues by using another form of magic.
Kenku may be unable, in any way, of producing creative thoughts. That is, they aren't unable from creating new things (a mental block), but that they're unable to think of new things (a missing element to the mind). These both appear the same, but it'd mean the difference of a Kenku being able to speak with the Great Old One feature normally or not. It is a curse, and this interpretation seems the most accurate. Coincidentally, it's also the simplest in concept, if not execution (having players talk funny the entire time can be difficult).


Well, the way the sidebar in Volo's puts it, your "at the table" portrayal should be about describing what sounds they're making and what they're conveying. (This actually makes their ability to mimic noises closer to the GoO's telepathy in terms of ability to communicate with literally any creature that understands language, ironically.) This at the very least suggests to me that they're capable of having thoughts that can be conveyed, and those thoughts can be at least self-generated. They're not JUST recordings that play out in random order, even in their own head.

This also does suggest to me that, at a MINIMUM, they could use the Great Old One telepathy normally, because that expressly is independent of language, so all that is necessary is a thought. (Plus, a pact with an Outer God or the like seems the kind of thing that could, if not overcome a curse, at least circumvent it. And this isn't giving them SPEECH.)

There's also no deep discussion about what the limits of the length of their "recordings" are. They aren't forced to replay a sound start to finish; the "steady hammer of a blacksmith" being used to convey boredom can be as many or as few beats as needed, no matter how long the kenku listened to the hammering go on. This means that they could do what was done with G.W. Bush for "Bloody Sunday" or Tony Blair for "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" and cut together words to form sentences. They'd just sound disjointed and possibly be in different voices and weird cadences. That's probably a lot harder than it is for normal creatures to formulate sentences, though, as they first have to think of the word, then think of "clips" in their memory to handle them.

This doesn't answer the minor illusion question, though, as you're right, it comes down to whether the curse prevents them from conceiving of how words would sound in an arbitrary and naturally-flowing order without having heard them in exactly that order first, or not.



And it also still makes one wonder if there's any advantage to a kenku using mimicry to give sounds to silent image over just casting minor illusion first, then casting silent image and having sounds come up.