Language in DnD: Part 3- Headless Turtle

(My turtle is sleeping on a pair of my pajama pants right now, but with her head tucked into her shell.)

Now, the mechanical benefits section could be taken as odd or unnecessary, especially if I've already convinced you of the need for language revolution with all of my appeals to setting richness and roleplaying.

However, many of the benefits are simply psychological; someone likes to be addressed in their own language. DMs can certainly apply circumstance bonuses to reflect this, and I'd encourage it; but in the case of goblins, for instance, the effect is even more considerable. Even if I were awarding a player a +2 bonus on a Diplomacy roll for an impassioned plea for mercy from a Despot Goblin holding a spear to his throat, I'd still also give them the bonus for speaking Goblin to a goblin. The Despot is moved by the eloquence of his captive, but further moved that his captive is managing to be eloquent in Goblin. I'd apply both bonuses even if the character was also a goblin, since in that case there's the added empathy of staring into a like face.

The Draconic and Elemental Tongue bonuses (and possibly the Spirit tongue, which I'm mulling over as I type this sentence) have a bit of that extra mystical flare to them. They aren't just psychologically appealing, they're essentially appealing, in that they speak to something at the core of the audience member. The effects will presumably come into play less often in the Tinderbox campaign than the benefit of knowing Goblin. What makes them powerful, though, is their capacity for use in situations where the audience can't talk. The krask are a good borderline example, as krask are fairly unintelligent and almost never know any language other than Draconic. A player has no hope of convincing a krask to halt its charge if he calls out in Dwarven, for example; but the same command delivered in Draconic gets a boost. Players, even non-rangers, could use similar tactics when beset by guard drakes, which are a fairly common creature in the Tran Empire.



Riffing on Spirit Tongue, I'd probably add a bit of complexity to its benefit and make it a light version of Speak with Spirits or Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes. As a minor action encounter power, a player could make a Diplomacy, Bluff, or Intimidate check to whisper (in Spirit Tongue) a request. If it's successful, some ancestral spirit whispers a response...and the player gains a +2 on her next knowledge, perception, or social roll. The dual riders--the limitations on where the bonus goes and the small size of the bonus--hopefully offset players getting this for "free." I also left the ability as a minor action to widen the gap between it and Speak with Spirits, as I had originally considered using it as a free action. As with the other languages, the hidden cost with Spirit Tongue is that the mechanical benefit offsets the relative rarity with which a player's ability to talk to spirits will directly affect conversations with actual NPCs. I might want to tweak the balance a bit in general, but for the kinds of players I take in my games, I think abuse is unlikely. One additional tweak would be to have the check always be against a Moderate or High DC for the character's level, with the reasoning that as the character grows more powerful, the spirits expect them to solve crises on their own. It's an interesting idea that bears more examination, but for now, on to the other benefits!

Some of the benefits are knowledge-based. The Dwarven benefit exists because people in the world know that there are different clans of dwarves, that the clans tend to behave differently, and that a given clan is likely to respond positively to a different approach. Again, players can figure these things out on their own, and should be encouraged to. Each clan has general physical identifiers, and I've even differentiated between their equipment. Players who pay attention will be able to use all of that to suss out whether a particular dwarf should be threatened, bluffed, or pleaded with.

But if I'm sitting at a bar and a positively Amazonian beauty happens to drop that Minnesotan O while ordering a drink, and I know a little something about Minnesota, I might be able to parlay that into a conversation (Hi honey!). And where the Dwarven benefit is particularly useful is in interacting with non-dwarves who happen to speak Dwarven. It's a gamble to invoke some tidbit of cultural information associated with the clan whose accent this orc's speech carries-- what if he hated his language tutor? --but the hope is he'll be more amenable to a strange goblin speaking to him of personal glory if he was mentored by Choeh dwarves.

The Infernal benefit is knowledge-based in a different way, and primarily of use when dealing with demons, devils, some elementals, tieflings, and some genasi. Instead of helping the player appeal to something in his audience, Infernal helps the player anticipate and guard against slippery language in his own speech as well as his interlocutor's. Although the math works out the same whether it's a bonus or a DC reduction, the concept here is that the character has an easier time with navigating the conversation. I could see a skill challenge that plays out like a combat, with characters making opposed bluff rolls to see if one can slip a lie under the other's radar. I could also see considering Insight a social skill (is it widely considered social?) for the benefit of this language.

Finally, I wanted at least one benefit (two now, since when I started writing this post I hadn't fleshed out the Spirit Tongue) that functioned in a noticeably distinct way from the others. Technically the High-Elven/Elven interaction is another, since choosing either language is effectively getting both, and in this campaign that gives players a reasonable chance to communicate with eleven races: Elves, eladrin, half-elves (Silken Kingdom), half-elves (Tran Empire), tieflings, genasi, githzerai, changelings, deva, warforged (Silken Kingdom), and shardminds. But Orcish is different, because Orcish actually rewards the player for speaking it to a listener who doesn't know the language. This fits well with Orcish being a relatively unpopular tongue to master, and I think the benefit also evokes an idea of how the language must sound; guttural and unsettling. It's limited to Intimidate, but I have a tweak to the uses of Intimidate and a general policy of not making it an auto-failure in my skill challenges.

--I think it's very frustrating to have a social skill, for many classes their only list social skill, and then punish players for using it. I think that intimidate is a broad skill that envelops fear, uncertainty, ominous suggestions, and in some cases appealing to the baser instincts of the target. Yelling at everyone with impunity is not how I view the skill, and while I would punish that type of behavior from a player I don't want to pretend that people aren't inclined to back down before an imposing presence.--

There is one last language available to characters, and in true ADnD Bard style I'm saving it for the next post, because it makes use of one more rule I'm adding for languages.

Language Mechanical Benefits

(Note that "C [Name of Civilization]" indicates the language is a protocommon)

Kingdom of Silks

• High-Elven (C Kingdom of Silks)
  The common tongue within the Kingdom is a derivation of Elven, and a modern speaker can be understood by those fluent in either tongue. All Kingdom citizens learn this language from birth, save gith and deva; either race may substitute Elven for High-Elven at character creation. The gith fell into the earth speaking a language that much more closely resembled Elven, and many refuse to abandon it for what they consider an inelegant substitute. Deva often emerge from their change-pods with entirely new personalities, and in some cases they carry memories of ancient ancestors, those who first developed the devic change process; like the gith, such individuals spoke something much closer to Elven. Soo dwarves often learn High-Elven in order to more easily facilitate trade between nations.
  
  A character fluent in High-Elven, but not Elven, suffers a -2 penalty on social rolls in a conversation with a character fluent only in Elven.
  
• 
  Infernal
  Most tieflings, and some eladrin and genasi, are familiar with the tongue of infernal creatures. It is a necessity for the horned bloodline, as they use it to scribe all of their contracts and otherwise interact with their patrons. Genasi use it for a similar purpose, in the event that their particular family venerates one of the more destructive elemental beings or demons. Others master this tongue if their dealings require extensive interaction with tieflings and genasi, whether that be for trade or in order to hunt rogue members of the bloodlines.
  
  While most infernal entities speak and understand many or all languages, the advantage to addressing them in infernal is that it is much more difficult to misspeak oneself. Characters engaging in social skill challenges with creatures who understand this language reduce the difficulty of social rolls by 2.
• 
  The Four Elemental Tongues (Air, Earth, Fire, Water)
  Although Genasi are the primary speakers of the elemental tongues, many primal characters, or wizards who concentrate on summoning magic, learn one or more as well. Elemental creatures, as well as many demons and spirits, recognize and are fluent in the elemental tongues which correspond to their keywords. Each of these languages must be taken separately.
  
  Entities closely tied to the elements respond to queries and entreaties in these languages more favorably and attentively. When addressing a creature fluent in an elemental tongue and possessing the matching elemental keyword, players gain a +2 bonus to Bluff and Diplomacy rolls. Players who speak two or more elemental tongues also gain a +2 bonus on Insight rolls related to creatures with keywords matching the elemental tongues that they speak.
  

The Tran Empire

• Dwarven (C Tran Empire)
  The harsh, sharp syllables of Dwarven are immediately recognizable as symbols of the Tran Empire. All dwarven clans speak the same tongue, albeit with slightly different accents and dialects. Similarly, it is rare for that a goblin within the Empire does not speak fluent dwarven, as failure to do so would make render them unemployable and deeply suspect in the eyes of the clan. Many elves never learn the tongue, however.
  
  A character fluent in Dwarven can make an Insight roll upon hearing spoken Dwarven from a dwarf, in order to determine by the accent and dialect of the speaker which clan the dwarf is from. This same check can be attempted, with a -2 penalty, to ascertain similar information about any other race's spoken dwarven. A player who manages to make the knowledge provided by a successful roll application to his next use of a knowledge or social skill gains a +2 bonus on that roll.
  
  Note: In Tinderbox players can ask the DM, which is me, to make the Insight roll. That way the player will not know if the information she receives about the dialect is true or false. However, that there is not a mechanical penalty for failing the roll itself listed in this benefit.
  
• 
  Elven
  The original language of the Silken Kingdoms, Elven is still spoken by the defiant Elves of the Tran Empire. It is extremely similar to High-Elven, to the point that speakers of either language can make themselves understood by the other. Many dwarves consider learning Elven (or High-Elven) to be beneath them; however, hunters of the Xiechu clan, and many orcs, master the language for its utility in reconnaissance and interrogation. Also, as mentioned above, gith and deva may select Elven in lieu of High-Elven.
  
  A character fluent in Elven, but not High-Elven, suffers a -2 penalty on social rolls in a conversation with a character fluent only in High-Elven.
• 
  Orcish
  The language of the orcs is spoken primarily in a low register, which means many eladric races struggle with it. Elves, however, strive to master the language for the same reasons orcs master theirs. Most Xiechu dwarves know at least a few orcish words as well. Goblins consider learning orcish shameful, and view speaking it as uncivilized.
  
  A character fluent in Orcish gains a +1 bonus on their first Intimidate roll in each encounter or skill challenge, except against other Orcs. Against characters not fluent in Orcish, this bonus increases to +2 and characters do not suffer any Fluency penalty associated with the language.
• 
  Goblin
  The goblin language is actually the most-spoken language in the Tran Empire, given how vastly goblinoids outnumber dwarves. Nonetheless, it is not only not the official language of the Empire, but a language many dwarves never bother to learn. Many goblins only hear their native tongue in private, whether that be at home, at goblin bars, or at night in the guard barracks. Dwarven military commanders, however, may make the effort to master this tongue in order to form stronger relationships with their troops; this is much more common when the dwarf primarily deals with hobgoblins.
  
  As a result, characters fluent in goblin gain a +2 on Bluff and Diplomacy rolls when addressing a goblin, hobgoblin, or bugbear.

The Ruby Caliphate

• 
  Draconic (C Ruby Caliphate)
  The Draconic language is surprisingly mellifluous, especially when spoken with a rapid cadence. Jokes about it being all long S sounds are completely unfounded, and guaranteed to enrage Lessers who happen to hear them. Although Lessers and Shirrel share the same language, Lessers favor a slightly more stilted, formal version--somewhat akin to Victorian English versus modern. Krask understand Draconic, but struggle to speak it and favor short, mangled sentences. However, all three races feel a stirring in their hearts at the words, for Draconic is, at its core, an intensely magical and powerful language intrinsically tied to the scaled races.
  
  A character using Draconic to address any creature with the Reptillian or Dragon subtype gains a +2 bonus on social rolls. It is for this reason that many goblin and dwarven drake-handlers learn the language. Others, like the Soo, master it in order to have easier dealings with citizens of the Caliphate.