Can tongues allow a person to speak druidic?

[Moon-Lancer]

*edit* nevermind

 

[Xiam]

BTW, what's the problem with druidic? Apart from the fact that druids keep it secret there is nothing special about it and it's a language like any other one. I see no problem in allowing a PC to understand and speak druidic for an hour or so.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

BTW, what's the problem with druidic? Apart from the fact that druids keep it secret there is nothing special about it and it's a language like any other one. I see no problem in allowing a PC to understand and speak druidic for an hour or so.

Agreed.

 

[Drowbane]

As I understand the spell, Tongues facilitates conversation.... regardless of Language barriers.

Imagine a gathering of 5 creatures (lets say; orc, elf druid, satyr, human, and a dwarf... and just for kicks, the elf only speaks druidic), none of which have languages in common with each other, the Tongues spell would allow them to communicate, each creature hearing the other creatures in his native tongue (orcs hears orcish, the Druid hears druidic, etc, etc).

So its really not so much a matter of the other creatures understanding druidic... they're just understanding the druid.

 

[Question]

It depends. Is druidic a normal language in your game, or is it a series of code?

If it is the former, tongues works with it, plain and simple.

 

[Someone]

As I understand the spell, Tongues facilitates conversation.... regardless of Language barriers.

Imagine a gathering of 5 creatures (lets say; orc, elf druid, satyr, human, and a dwarf... and just for kicks, the elf only speaks druidic), none of which have languages in common with each other, the Tongues spell would allow them to communicate, each creature hearing the other creatures in his native tongue (orcs hears orcish, the Druid hears druidic, etc, etc).

So its really not so much a matter of the other creatures understanding druidic... they're just understanding the druid.

Actually...

The subject can speak only one language at a time, although it may be able to understand several languages.

What I´ve not decided is if the spell is able to translate the meaning of idioms, or it does a literal translation. Most likely the later.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

...ruling that tongues allows the subject to speak the (or a) first language of the target creature. I believe that that is the intent of the spell and that anything more is broken (for my campagin).

That's a pretty big nerf for a 3rd-lvl spell...

 

[Whimsical]

Short answer: yes.

However, depending on your game world, druidic might not be a language as such. It might be the local language with enough code words and conventions put in to render it unrecognisable to outsiders, like real world polari and shelta.

Alternatively, tongues will translate it into recognisable words, but the sentences might sound like riddles. Druids will already know the answers to these riddles from their training. This would be similar to a Mandarin chengyu .

Darmok and Jalad at Tenagra

 

[Mistwell]

That's a pretty big nerf for a 3rd-lvl spell...

I agree. The spell level is already arguably high, and his ruling pretty much assures that nobody is going to take that spell in his game. You would do better with comprehend languages and ranks in whatever skill you use for pantomime.

 

[The Forsaken One]

Exactly like Huw put it to keep possible abuse or some ingame mysticism in check and still going. For the rest never ever allow it to be used as to gain acces to a PRC, feat or whatever.