Quickleaf
Legend
I appreciate the idea of root languages a lot. I'd be inclined to allow partial understanding or grasping/communicating the gist of a simple idea with an Intelligence check, aye.I'm glad for little the touches. I'll be taking Island Carib and semaphore for our Mr Teague. As a thought/incentive to higher-Int characters, would it be possible for characters who succeed on an Intelligence check (ie. probably not me) to partially understand languages with a common root? Provided they haven't drifted too much. Some of the Romance languages and Latin, for example, or, the example that made me think of this, Island Carib and Arawak? Bear in mind this very very much a layman's perspective. Still, thought it was worth bringing up.
Yeah, I can see that as something I'd do ad hoc.I'd also add that something that's worked well for me, both online and at the table, is treating Initiative as a skill/proficiency, rather than something completely independent-- something that players actively choose to roll, in situations where split-second timing is more important than physical coordination or prowess.
For initiative, I suspect I may eschew rolling in most fights (or perhaps roll for enemies and assume PC have average and win all ties), and instead compare values to establish an initiative order in any post in which I'm narrating the start of combat. I would then use what others have said for initiative: those before monsters go in any order, then monsters go, then those after monsters go in any order.
Obviously, exceptional circumstances may arise where rolling initiative makes sense, or situations like an enemy ambush or Lair Actions which I'd probably include in my initiating post.
Awesome! Great writeup of Old Zef!Fenris said:Ok, here is most of Old Zef. He isn't done, and I need to work in Hugo and Queenie's character into his back story a bit, but @Quickleaf can get an idea of where I am going with him.
Btw, I'm interpreting "Thieves' Can't" as a sort of pirate pidgin which includes a lot of double entendres and names with hidden meaning that only a pirate would grasp. So it's kind of overlaid over the main language being spoken, and can be used without being obvious or can be laid on thick and be quite obvious, depending on the speaker's intention. A good example is in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End when Elizabeth Swan is singing a song as she rows a canoe, passing under several guards who don't pay her any mind, but the pirates recognize the song as a secret message.