Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
If these are intended as examples and they genuinely expect groups to mostly make their own examples, this would be a great tweak.
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D&D (2024) Bonus languages in One D&D backgrounds goes contrary to their other goals
- Thread starter Whizbang Dustyboots
- Start date
Thommy H-H
Adventurer
No, but this one did. And it's plausible that others might too, because in some D&D worlds, Draconic is a language used by ancient empires or humanoid scholars. So a noble in one of those worlds who has been the recipient an expensive education might well have had to learn it during their studies.
I'm definitely putting that one in my suggestion list now
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
"You were raised in a castle as a creature of wealth, power, and privilege—none of it earned. Your family are minor aristocrats who saw to it that you received a first-class education, some of which you appreciated and some of which you resented. (Was it truly necessary to read all those ancient histories in their original Draconic?) Your time in the castle, especially the many hours you spent observing your family at court, also taught you a great deal about leadership."
No, the writer is saying that history books are written in Draconic, not that this noble learned anything about arcana.
I mean, I do believe there would be dragons who would love to watch History Channel and yell about all the things they get wrong, because they were there, but I think the suggestion that Draconic is the language of history books is pretty goofy.
I agree with you (even if it could be more explicit).
I concur with you on draconic. If you want to learn history, you turn to witnesses, and dragons are long-living. If you're a wizard, you know draconic (because it's the language of magic) so you go and interview dragons, write history books in draconic (you don't target a mass market). A few decades later, they are picked up as curricular material by the court wizard who's in charge of teaching the scion of the house about the deed of the past to inspire him to emulate them. It's not that far-fetched to warrant rejection.
I'd even say that the fact that Farmer picked up halfling doesn't mean anything about halflings and farming in general. "Like many farmers, you made frequent use of the agricultural almanachs producted by the greatest halfling farmers." It just means that some of the greatest halfings farmers (which doesn't imply halflings are generally better at farming, nor than any other races can't have superior farmers) wrote agricultural almanachs that were a library success among farmers in your area and that you DECIDED to pick up halfling as a foreign language because you liked the idea of reading them in their original language. The regular farmer doesn't get the background benefits of being a hero, so he probably just read the translated version and never picked halfling anyway.
Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
It’s not saying Draconic is the language of history, it’s saying that the history books “you” read were written in Draconic.
Thommy H-H
Adventurer
In the Nentir Vale setting, Draconic is the language of Arkhosia, one of the two ancient empires that dominate the history of the known world. So there's at least one D&D world where it makes perfect sense for histories to be written in Draconic.
@Whizbang Dustyboots
Does "Noble of Drakewind Pass" (or some other draconic sounding place name) make it happier?
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
It would be an extremely good change to label this as "Scion of Arkhosia," then, rather than "Noble."
Thommy H-H
Adventurer
Idk, I understood what they were getting at.
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