New Languages: Ideas?

[orcmonk220]

Hi
I've been thinking of adding a few new languages to my campaigns. I was wondering if anybody had any to suggest. So far, here is what I have:

Sign Language: Useful for times when verbal communication is not an option, and for when the Silence spell arrives, it could be a useful was for a party to communicate, if everyone knows it.
Halfling Slang: This can only be learnt by Halflings, or if a halfling teaches it to a character (requires a DC 20 Intelligence check). It is comprised of sentences with seemingly random words thrown into it, but does make sense to anyone who knows the language. When used on a Bluff check against anyone who does not understand it, it grants a +2 bonus to the check.
Bird Calls: A bonus language for Druids and Rangers, which is added to their list of bonus languages, this is a series of whistles and other sounds. Using it grants a +2 bonus to Handle Animal checks when used on birds.

If you can think of any more, I'd love to hear them.
Chris

 

[howandwhy99]

Sign languages we use in our campaign. There are several and each counts as a "speak language" slot. Some are shared languages like English signed and some are wholly new languages.

 

[howandwhy99]

Sign languages we use in our campaign. There are several and each counts as a "speak language" slot. Some are shared languages like English signed and some are wholly new languages.

When smurfing smurf I just them know the smurf I use. It's as smurfy as that.

Bird calls I don't see conveying information, but could be simply created without the need for rules at all. It certainly isn't like learning mandarin chinese. Speak with animal or plant or the druids' and monks' speaking bonuses cover this too.

 

[Dei]

I have seen regional languages introduced with a lot of success in several games. Waterdehavian on the mid-western coast, further north this become Nethees until in the Silver Marches it was Gulmon, a bastardisation of dwarven and "the merchant's tongue" (normally known as common). To the south they spoke Chultan, in the midlands Ogian, etc, etc. In each geographical area they would speak an appropriate one and perhaps one or two per village would have a smattering of "the merchant's tongue" while in big cities most people spoke both it and their own language of origin fluently.

It made for some interesting roleplay situations when the PCs rode through a hundred miles of wilderness and only realised on the other end that they didn't have a translator.

 

[Spatzimaus]

IMC, we took a page from d20Modern, which laid out all of the major Real World languages, and organized them into language groups. So, we added dozens of languages, in a half-dozen language groups. If you knew one language in a group, you had a bonus to checks to understand someone using a related language.

It worked really well, actually. Without a single Common language that even the stupidest character was fluent in, the Speak Language skill actually mattered. People actually asked used spells like Comprehend Languages and Tongues, or the various telepathy powers that bypassed language. And language/culture issues led to about as many fights and wars as they do in the real world...

 

[paradox42]

My setting features an entire planet rather than just one continent, and not just the surface of the planet- I also use the idea of the "Underwave" for aquatic cultures, Underdark, and most exotic of all, a Hollow World inside the planet. Each of the seven major landmasses on the outer surface has its own Common, the Underdark has Undercommon, the Underwave has Aquacommon, and the inner world has its own Common (it would have more, but only one of its four continents is inhabited by anything you'd regularly want to converse with).

On top of all these, nearly every race has at least one language for itself- Humans are unique in not having a racial tongue, actually (though one highly-isolated subrace does). Elves, for example, can use High Elvish (further specialized by whether it's for the outer or inner surface of the world), Dark Elvish, Sun Elvish (a very secretive subrace that dwells only in one location in the inner world), Sea Elvish, and the Silent Tongue (Drow sign language). I should probably mention that I have a lot more available PC races than most worlds, with the exact count varying by the region you're talking about but worldwide it's on the order of 90 (assuming you count subraces of course). A few races with heavy intrigue/espionage interests have actually invented artificial languages purely for espionage purposes, too.

And as if that wasn't enough, my setting history also features several extinct cultures and races, and all but three of them have their own (now dead) languages. Of course, archaeologists and historians know most of these dead languages, and can teach them to others, so it's possible to learn them in the modern day.

At last count, I think I had about 80 different languages available in my campaign world. Yes, the Bard in my Epic game is not at all sorry she picked up Polyglot at 25th level.