The Realms are plain too big for a single common tongue. It's a bit like today's English: it's a trade language, many speak it, yet many others don't. And speaking english in an area where it's not the native language marks you as an outsider. Plus it won't stop people around you to chat in their own language; good luck for grasping rumors.
D&D 3E/3.5 getting rid of 'common' in 3.5 forgotten realms campaign?
- Thread starter krupintupple
- Start date
Drowbane
First Post
There are entirely too many languages in D&D. Why does every monster (or so it seems) need its own language?
I like to trim the fat... some examples (Homebrew):
Common: Does not exist. As with the above post regarding FR, this is much like "chondathan" and is known as Tallarnese. The Tallarn Empire covers a significant portion of the known world. Tallarn is also the name of one of the five surviving God-Kings from the Age of Man (I totally stole the concept of this nation from an old friend, Talath
).
Primal: covers Terran, Auran, Aquan & and Ignan... and any other "elemental" tongues. It might include other ancient/bizarre languages... such as Fey, Sylvan, etc.
Celestial: virtually all outsiders share a common ancestry if you go back far enough, so celestial, infernal, and abyssal (daemon, slaad, etc) are actually one language with some major dialect/accent issues (demons speak it at a clipped pace and much more gutterally than Archons do, for example).
Jotun: Northmen, dwarves, giants, orcs, goblinoids.
Draconic (the Auld Tongue): dragons, scholars, magi, elves, kobolds, lizardmen, etc.
Halfling: start with no known languages... but they are innately psionic and can speak with any sentient being that has a language... within 100ft.
At this point I always come down to the "half a dozen human tongues" issue and wonder why we get so many... yet I'm willing to cut away so many other languages. Some sort of "Tower of Babel" explaination? Hell, I dunno.
etc...
edit: the whole snipping languages down concept... I got it from Force_User while I was in his group in S.D. Great storyteller-DM btw!
re-edit: yeah, I'm not too good at the whole creativity thing... but I can yoink a great idea at the drop of a hat!
I like to trim the fat... some examples (Homebrew):
Common: Does not exist. As with the above post regarding FR, this is much like "chondathan" and is known as Tallarnese. The Tallarn Empire covers a significant portion of the known world. Tallarn is also the name of one of the five surviving God-Kings from the Age of Man (I totally stole the concept of this nation from an old friend, Talath
).Primal: covers Terran, Auran, Aquan & and Ignan... and any other "elemental" tongues. It might include other ancient/bizarre languages... such as Fey, Sylvan, etc.
Celestial: virtually all outsiders share a common ancestry if you go back far enough, so celestial, infernal, and abyssal (daemon, slaad, etc) are actually one language with some major dialect/accent issues (demons speak it at a clipped pace and much more gutterally than Archons do, for example).
Jotun: Northmen, dwarves, giants, orcs, goblinoids.
Draconic (the Auld Tongue): dragons, scholars, magi, elves, kobolds, lizardmen, etc.
Halfling: start with no known languages... but they are innately psionic and can speak with any sentient being that has a language... within 100ft.
At this point I always come down to the "half a dozen human tongues" issue and wonder why we get so many... yet I'm willing to cut away so many other languages. Some sort of "Tower of Babel" explaination? Hell, I dunno.
etc...
edit: the whole snipping languages down concept... I got it from Force_User while I was in his group in S.D. Great storyteller-DM btw!
re-edit: yeah, I'm not too good at the whole creativity thing... but I can yoink a great idea at the drop of a hat!
Last edited:
Primitive Screwhead
First Post
This is an issue that has always grated at my sense of 'realism', just as the Star Trek episodes where everyone spoke english. At least Dr Who waved the TARDIS wand to explain the ease of communication.
IMC I am using an alt rule that significantly changes the mechanics of language, and has not caused a negative impact on the game, either IC our OOC. Of course, the group has only gone through one nation. Soon they will be travelling to another country and encountering a number of folks from other areas...and trying to deal diplomatically with them.
My rules are at this thread
The biggest mechanical change is that the language used can affect social skill rolls, or make them completely impossible.
IMC I am using an alt rule that significantly changes the mechanics of language, and has not caused a negative impact on the game, either IC our OOC. Of course, the group has only gone through one nation. Soon they will be travelling to another country and encountering a number of folks from other areas...and trying to deal diplomatically with them.
My rules are at this thread
The biggest mechanical change is that the language used can affect social skill rolls, or make them completely impossible.
Similar Threads
