D&D General Do you use languages in your D&D game?

[payn]

It's not always the DM, though. The "can't understand each other over and over and over" piece more often comes up when two or more characters within the same party....

No thanks, not doing that.

 

[pointofyou]

Sometimes the message is a clue. Sometimes the language the message is written in is a clue.

That said in every game I run the PCs have a common language and most of the NPCs will speak it too. I have never seen failure to communicate improve the experience in a TRPG.

 

[Stormonu]

It fluctuates.

I've had players run across monsters they didn't understand and had to get a translator or cast comprehend languages, tongues or find a way to communicate through hand gestures and the like to get their point across. I know enough words/cadence of a couple languages that I might BS my way through a scene with a different language the party doesn't know.

Likewise, there have been cases when the players run across notes, clues or other written text in a language they don't know, forcing them to use methods similar to above. I can't recall a case where vital clue was given out in a language none of the party knew and couldn't proceed, I usually do it for side quests or where as part of the quest the characters know they need to find someone who can decipher the writing.

In rare cases if I'm just too tired/lazy to deal with it (usually a wandering monster or spontaneous town visit), its in Common.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Languages matter a lot to me in game, not because there is no way through other than knowing the language, but because knowing the right language often leads to the non-face character needing to be the one making the social checks, or the non-intelligence-focused character needing to be the one making the knowledge checks. Language proficiency is a wonderful means to give characters who might normally take a backseat in social and exploration a chance to shine (or be comically inept, as the case may me). This happens organically for me every third session or so, and once in a blue moon I've planned around a language I knew a particular character had.

And there are definitely times when I'll have enemies whom I do not plan for negotiation to be an option with, but if a player reveals that they know the enemy's obscure native tongue, unlikely to ever come up again, suddenly we're having negotiations.

 

[Lazybones]

This just came up in my last session, where the party encountered an intelligent monster that didn't speak Common. It started as a potential combat encounter, but when the group was able to find a common language they were able to avoid conflict. It's fairly easy for me to adjudicate this since I use a VTT (Fantasy Grounds) that has language support built in, so you can enter text in the chat and only the players that have that language on their character sheet will get a translation of what's being said.

 

[Voadam]

I thought of another time it became a front burner issue in a D&D game. In a 2e Ravenloft campaign I ran the Web of Illusion module where the PCs end up on the island of Sri Raji where common is not a local or trade language and there is a local power structure with religious assassins hostile to outsiders. The party did not have tongues or comprehend languages (which back then did not allow speaking in the language and required touching whatever you were trying to understand) so they started out with no understanding of anybody. Eventually they met two people who were originally outsiders themselves who speak both common and the indigenous language, one is a vulnerable innocent whose outsider status is hidden behind a mask and a claim of disfigurement, the other a villainous factional power player trying to overthrow the local power so a potential ally/potential enemy.

This meant the party was very much underground and hiding and not directly interacting with most people, with decisions about who to ally with and get involved with.

The limited fellow speakers definitely added to the isolation and outsider feeling and gave the island a much more exotic feel.

 

[bloodtide]

I use language a lot like right here on Earth: everyone everywhere speaks something different. Once a character gets a bit far from their home, they will find folks speaking other languages.

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's not always the DM, though. The "can't understand each other over and over and over" piece more often comes up when two or more characters within the same party don't share a language, which is a) allowed and b) happens surprisingly often.

Example: if you're a PC with an Int score (usually 7 or less) that only allows you one language and you're from the Alotanian (faux-Spanish) region of my world, your only language* will be Alotan. If no-one else in the party can speak it, communication immediately becomes a real problem.

* - your first language, or "native tongue", is always that of the culture in which you were raised. Common is not and cannot be anyone's native tongue.

That last bit is brilliant! I'm using that from now on.

 

[Hex08]

And if so, how much?

For me, I think I can count on one hand the number of times language really mattered in a D&D game I was in. Occasionally a DM will ask what languages people speak and generally somebody speaks the right language. If not, if the info is hidden behind a language gate, we get the info some other way if it matters. It's rare for a DM to introduce an NPC and not have us able to talk to them.

Never, I don't allow my players to speak or sign or write during my games.

It occasionally comes up in my games. If my players sneak up on a group of monsters to try and spy on them, for example, the monsters will talk in their native language, even if they know Common. If not being able to speak a specific language would grind a campaign to a halt then I change the language or come up with another solution, but I won't change it up if it's just making it harder on the players.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

It's not always the DM, though. The "can't understand each other over and over and over" piece more often comes up when two or more characters within the same party don't share a language, which is a) allowed and b) happens surprisingly often.

I had one group with a total troll player who insisted his character spoke only Elvish, which only a couple people in the large and unwieldy party spoke (perhaps with the right player in the right group this could be cool, this was a case of definitely the wrong group and a player who was just playing a whole separate game from the rest of the group). I got back at him by deciding that Elvish was French, and so whenever I, as one of the Elvish speakers, was required to communicate something to him I did it in (simple and butchered) French which the player seemed to be baffled by.

I'd like to emphasize that that was the only time I've ever felt compelled to "get back at someone" I was gaming with. It started out as a way to gently tease him about an annoying character choice, but it got a little more mean-spirited as the groups frustration with the choice grew.