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Message: <blockquote data-quote="3catcircus" data-source="post: 1414035" data-attributes="member: 16077">Languages play a large role in how well my players' characters can interact with the people and locales of my campaign, set in FR.I use Tom Costa's Speaking in Tongues as the basis for my language system (3e FRCS basically dumbed this down.)  I use the Thorass, Dethek and Espruar fonts (easily found on the 'net), as well as substitutes for Infernal (Aradia font), Celestial (a Hebrew font), Druidic (Beth-Luis Nion font) and Draconic (Cthulhu Runes font) when providing handouts.I also use real-world languages as substitutes (e.g. I use Danish for Illuskan and Persian for Alzhedo) - with all of the available resources on the 'net, an (imperfect) translation is possible.I have rules for speaking and reading/writing languages within a group (e.g. Thorass and Chondathan), outside of a group (e.g. Thorass and Aglarondan), and outside of a language family (e.g. Chondathan and Illuskan) - based on the complexity of the communication.I've modified the Speak Language skill as follows:Clerics, Paladins, Bards, Wizards and Sorcerors are literate (gain the  Read/Write Language (Int, Trained [special]) skill for free to start.)  All others must spend a 1/2 skill point, except for Barbarians who must spend 1 skill point.All of the classes are capable of Speak Language (Int, Untrained [special]) as a class skill.  Buying a new language costs 1/2 skill point.  Spending more than 1/2 skill point (up to 1.5 total) will reduce the complexity of a message one step (i.e. buying one whole skill point in a language will reduce an "intricate" message to "standard" while buying 1.5 skill points will reduce the same message to "simple.")  The DC to read/write or speak a language depends upon its complexity (Simple, Standard, Intricate), whether the person is trained or untrained, and whether the language is within the same group, outside of the same group, or outside of the same family as any languages the character speaks. (makes sense - someone who speaks Dutch can figure out some German.  Someone who speaks English may be able to figure out *some* German.  Someone who speaks English has a really hard time trying to figure out Chinese.  If the person actually knows the languages, the difficulty greatly decreases for each case.)Bards, certain Clerics, and Wizards can gain Knowledge (Ancient Languages) (Int, Trained) as a class skill.  It allows understanding of dead or ancient languages (such as Truskan, Netherese, etc.Speaking all or 5+ languages within a group gives a +2 synergy bonus on other languages in the group.</blockquote>

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