Is Speak Language a useless skill?

[Nifft]

IMC, there are languages of men ("common" tongues) and languages of power (celestial, infernal, abyssal, druidic, etc.). Spells like Tongues work for languages of men, but not always for languages of power, since the very act of speaking (or writing) them is in some cases magical.

-- N

 

[Victim]

Speak Language allows the group to share a tongue for [more] secure communication in battle.

 

[BrooklynKnight]

Speak Language allows the group to share a tongue for [more] secure communication in battle.

is that granny safe? j/k

 

[Orius]

Speak language isn't worthless because of the existence of the common tongue.

Speak language is worthless because of the existence of comprehend languages and tongues, which both simulate infinite ranks in speak language.

Unless you KNOW that you'll be using a language a lot, don't bother getting it with one of your precious skill points - rely on a spell or other translating device.

And there's the clincher, both spells are low-level, comprehend languages is 1st level, tongues is 3rd. So unless the campaign is very low-magic, PC's will have fairly easy access to such magic.

And it depends on how much the DM wants to futz around with other languages, if you've got a campaign that does a lot of dungeon crawling, you tend to gloss over language differences so you can get back to the looting.

 

[johnsemlak]

The Kingdom's of Kalamar Player's Guide as an intereting chart for the Speak Language skill that determines how well you can communicate with person depending on how many ranks you have in a particular language. It's interesting, but I don't know if I'd use it.

 

[Trainz]

"I have not seen RETURN OF THE KING yet. Please avoid posting spoilers. Thank you."

Aragorn is Sauron.

Joking aside, we also, IOC, use a common language in the party, so that we can communicate without others understanding. Great trick that only costs 1 point.

 

[johnsemlak]

"I have not seen RETURN OF THE KING yet. Please avoid posting spoilers. Thank you."

Aragorn is Sauron.

Really. That's another thing borrowed from STAR WARS .

Reminds me, I'm going to put a note on my sig. I'll be seeing RotK when it opens next weekend. Finally!

 

[reiella]

Common tongue doesn't really destroy the usefulness of Speak Language.
Speaking the native language, or at least being fluent will allow one a great deal of diplomatic/situational boost.

Speak Language is typically not too useful in campaigns where political intrigue doesn't take a forefront however (in my opinion).

Introduce necessities for learning languages besides the common tongue. Elementals only understand their elemental tongue, not common, etc.

Comprehend Languages is useful one-way (understanding), tongues is useful both ways (Speaking and understanding). Those are troubling issues, although they can also be addressed in a fairly simple manner. Consider the use of magical aides tantamount to having a translator walk around with you everywhere. It gets the message across, although you may miss out on specific inflections due to 'common' not having 78 different words for snow. It may also been seen as a bit insulting (or at the least, frustrating). For my campaign, well, it honestly hasn't really come up, except for my Cheese Gate Measure. 'Elder' languages cannot be translated by those magics. Sure, it's heavy handed, but it works to maintain some of their mystery.

Speak Language may typically be the most underutilized skill in D&D campaigns however . Nothing quite wrong with it, and it sorta echoes a sentiment of not bothering to learn many languages once past their 'upbringing' period (ie, pre-adventuring).

 

[MerakSpielman]

johnsemlak - Kalamar also has no "common tongue." The closest thing it has is Merchant's Tongue, which people only bother learning if they do a lot of traveling and trading. The majority of the population only speaks the local language.

Sure, Comprehend Languages and Tongues get around this sort of thing, but especially at low levels, they take up valuable spell slots, or gp for scrolls (the price adds up over the years).

 

[MerakSpielman]

"I have not seen RETURN OF THE KING yet. Please avoid posting spoilers. Thank you."

And then, in the end, Aragorn dresses up in a white suit with sequins all over it and seranades Arwen with "Always on my Mind." And everybody knows - the King has returned.