Just because he's a PC?

[Salad Shooter]

10 INT? That barely meets the threshold of sentience!

Last I checked, a 10 was average. Isn't above a 2 or thereabouts sentient? I might be wrong on that, but a 10 is definately not on the threshold of sentience.

I played an elf once that didn't speak common. Had some issues speaking for a while, but eventually we sorted out the language. As long as your player can actually PLAY a character that can't communicate. A 10 intelligence should be high enough to at least convey some simple ideas through waving of arms and speaking in a different language (Look out! I'll do it! No! Yes!, things like that). At his earliest possible convenience make sure he picks up a language at least one of the other PCs speaks.

 

[Greylock]

No biggie, Salad Shooter, but when I wrote that the thread author had left the impression that his problem barbarian had a 10 INT and was an idiot. I was being facetious. Later in the thread, the author reveals the true INT score if the barbarian is 6.

HTH

 

[JoeGKushner]

Reminds me of my post about a PC who insist on playing dangerous loners in a heroic campaign. To paraphrase myself. "Don't let the door hit your loner behind on the way out."

I hate to say majority rules, but I know that none of the PC's I've played would travel along with such a character just because he's the PC. If he's so gun ho as to sacrifice a common language barrier, then fault's on him.

I'd make his decesions clean to him and then move on. I certainly hope he doesn't for example, expect the players to learn his language so that he doesn't have to spend his points.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I am going to assume at this ponit that all this has been aired at the gaming table, so the DM and the player of the goliath know the issues you and others have. If not, then that's where this has to start.

Once that is done, the best solution I can come up with is have the DM provide an opportunity to speak with the goliath through a translator. The party comes to a tavern. In the tavern the barkeep takes the drink orders from the party in "tradespeak" or some other well known language, then takes the order from the goliath in his own tongue. At this point, the rest of the party should jump at the chance to speak with the goliath through the barkeep. Figure out the reasons for the goliath to be with the party, hopefully the player (and perhaps the DM as well) has worked out some good reasons why you would accept him (something like Painandgreed stated back in post #6). Then, once the versimilitude issues have been resolved, you can continue on and just have some fun roleplaying the language barrier problems until someone has the chance to use a skill point to get a common language.

 

[Ry]

If I were this DM, I'd say "The Goliath is learning Common, bit by bit. He just needs to." Then depending on how my players were, I'd either just give it to him free, or make a one-time charge of 750 exp for it.

 

[billd91]

While any player should be able to play the PC he wants to play, there has to be a middle ground if they expect to play ball. New PCs coming into an existing situation should be the ones on whom the burden falls to fit in. If that means he has to wait an extra level before taking a prestige class, then too bad. If fitting in means he needs to invest in a particular skill, then he has to invest. If fitting in means he has to adjust his history or spend his own money to provide an appropriate introduction with an interpreter, then so be it.

 

[JoeGKushner]

While any player should be able to play the PC he wants to play, there has to be a middle ground if they expect to play ball. New PCs coming into an existing situation should be the ones on whom the burden falls to fit in. If that means he has to wait an extra level before taking a prestige class, then too bad. If fitting in means he needs to invest in a particular skill, then he has to invest. If fitting in means he has to adjust his history or spend his own money to provide an appropriate introduction with an interpreter, then so be it.

Well, I guess we're going to have to agree to disagree. If I set up the campaign guidelines and stat no evil characters, I expect that the players will make, yes, you guessed it, no evil characters.

The rest of your statement is pretty much how I see things though.

 

[Krud]

He Ain't kidding folks...

The soul of the party currently is a half-orc bard 3/ barabarian 1 with 6 Int, but he can speak all the languages.

Sadly its true. Through sheer bullying and personal magnetism, this less than intelligent example of the half-orc race holds a lot of sway within our party. Its changing, but slowly...

I might add that our party is evilly aligned on average, so we're probably less than likely to treat newcomers with respect (let alone compassion). I'm currently leaning towards accepting him as a meat shield, despite his lack of communicative skills. He would hold the lowest rank in the party until he paid out the skill points for a common language though.

We've got too much on our plate at the moment. A good aligned order wants to use us as a 'dirty half-dozen' ('accept under pain of execution for heresy') to recover evil artifacts that we earlier smuggled into the capital city, and I forsee lots of combat in the future as we engage in a dirty underworld war against the gangs and nobles that also want the artifacts (for an assassination no less). An extra blade could be quite handy....

 

[drascade]

Mute, illiterate barbarian

in an eberron campaign we have, I rolled up a fill in character. he was a shifter barbarian who took the flaw Mute. So now he can't speak or write, he basically has no way to communicate. After the adventure he was filling in for, the guy who hired us, took him on full time because he wouldn't be able to tell anyone about the various going ons that the merchant had going on.

 

[jaded]

Well I guess I'm looking for the middle road.

The language rule applies to all characters, straight up, so I guess we all have a responsibility to each other (as players) to concede at least a couple of skill points to it.

That said, I agree that there is roleplaying potential in a character that (initially at least) cannot communicate with the other characters. And many posters have suggested great ideas on how to deal with and incorporate this into our game. All adventuring parties are groups of disparate characters so some tolerance is definitely in order.

In this case though, most players (and the DM) came off with the distinct impression that the language problem is the result of the player simply unwilling to give up early prestige class entry, and thus expecting the party to take on a character because he is a PC.

I have to admit that I don't really feel good about refusing another player's character, but I do feel somewhat justfied because I cannot come up with a good in character reason to do so. As a player I guess that i'm a bit miffed that another player would attempt to take advantage of that.