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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 8740840" data-attributes="member: 22779">Yeah, the whole issue with languages is one that runs straight into the wall of &quot;Well, is this fun?&quot;Now, one area where language does matter is magic - particularly language dependent spells.&nbsp; There are quite a few actually.&nbsp; And it is a good way to limit casters (if you want to) by simply having the baddy not speak your language.&nbsp; Sorry, your &quot;command&quot; spell doesn't work because that critter doesn't speak Common.Now, adding in Common obviously has nothing to do with simulation and everything to do with making the game simpler and easier to run.&nbsp; Never minding NPC's, how about PC's?&nbsp; Why does your Outlander background character speak the same language as my character?&nbsp; You're from far away and have just arrived in town.&nbsp; You should not be able to speak to anyone.&nbsp; Miming and whatnot is fun for about ten minutes.&nbsp; After that it's just a PITA, and no one wants to turn every session of D&amp;D into Charades.&nbsp; But, as far as language being important, well, it's as important as you want to make it.&nbsp; Tongues is great, except you can't read with it.&nbsp; It's actually surprising how difficult things get when you don't have a shared language.&nbsp; In my current Candlekeep game, because of the varying travel and whatnot, language has become a HUGE part of the campaign and the players have spent several downtime periods picking up more and more languages.&nbsp; They are constantly running into stuff that they need to talk to/read and have needed this or that language to do it.Now, as far as actual language proficiency rules and the like?&nbsp; Well, as a language teacher of many years, I can say that no mechanics that would actually fit acquiring a new language would ever, ever be fun at the table.&nbsp; So, yeah, 10 weeks and some gold?&nbsp; Good enough.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 8740840, member: 22779"] Yeah, the whole issue with languages is one that runs straight into the wall of "Well, is this fun?" Now, one area where language does matter is magic - particularly language dependent spells. There are quite a few actually. And it is a good way to limit casters (if you want to) by simply having the baddy not speak your language. Sorry, your "command" spell doesn't work because that critter doesn't speak Common. Now, adding in Common obviously has nothing to do with simulation and everything to do with making the game simpler and easier to run. Never minding NPC's, how about PC's? Why does your Outlander background character speak the same language as my character? You're from far away and have just arrived in town. You should not be able to speak to anyone. Miming and whatnot is fun for about ten minutes. After that it's just a PITA, and no one wants to turn every session of D&D into Charades. But, as far as language being important, well, it's as important as you want to make it. Tongues is great, except you can't read with it. It's actually surprising how difficult things get when you don't have a shared language. In my current Candlekeep game, because of the varying travel and whatnot, language has become a HUGE part of the campaign and the players have spent several downtime periods picking up more and more languages. They are constantly running into stuff that they need to talk to/read and have needed this or that language to do it. Now, as far as actual language proficiency rules and the like? Well, as a language teacher of many years, I can say that no mechanics that would actually fit acquiring a new language would ever, ever be fun at the table. So, yeah, 10 weeks and some gold? Good enough. [/QUOTE]

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