Vecnasaurus
First Post
Howdy, folks. This is my official introduction. I've been reading the site for a while now, but only officially signed on tonight. Kudos to Kamikaze Midget, the math major with the name that conjures up unsettling images, for beginning the wonderful "Common Commoner" thread and convincing me that I just had to join the fun.
Anyway, to my point... I've known a lot of DM's who tweak the language rules because they feel the system is unrealistic and feels false... the sheer weirdness of Common, the automatic bonus languages, one language called Giant for most bipeds over 10 feet tall, etc., and I've struggled for years to come up with some alternative that limits some of the cookie-cutter feel without shortchanging the players. I think I have a winner, and I just thought I'd share it and see what people think:
History: The continent was once united by a far-reaching empire with a single language. This empire fell nearly 900 years ago, and since then the old language has disappeared from the vernacular and is restricted to ceremonial use (i.e., it's Latin with a different name).
Assumptions: There is no true Common tongue. Most modern languages evolved from the old imperial tongue (i.e., French, Italian, Spanish, etc.) or from one of the other primordial languages (now extinct). Some are imports, arrived since the end of the old empire.
New Rules:
1: Everyone speaks their native language for free. Native language is determined either by race, or culture, or both, as appropriate.
2: All PC classes with an Intelligence score of at least 8 speak a second language for free.
3: All PC's begin with free skill points in the Speak Language skill equal to their Intelligence modifier (minimun zero). If Speak Language is cross-class for you, and your INT modifier is an odd number, you may either forfeit the leftover free point or supplement it with one of your standard skill points.
4: There are no automatic bonus languages for non-humans or lists of class/race based choices for languages. To select the languages to which you are entitled, pick them from the homebrew language chart, and if you have an acceptable reason why your character would know that language, its fine. Knowing the language of the next kingdom over is always acceptable; if you want to speak the language of the Anteater Tribe of the Bubby-Wub barbarians, please explain your rationale. It could end up a plot hook in the future (my elf was raised by a gnoll barbarian who lived with a family of traveling gnomes!).
I find that these rules will give a character anywhere from one (say, a fighter with an INT of 7) to six (a bard with an INT of 18) languages at the beginning of the game, assuming no additional skill points are spent. Which, if my meager math serves, is the same range as characters using the standard system, but eliminates the bonus language for non-humans and the Common tongue. Most importantly, in my mind, it narrows the range of languages the >average< starting character will have, from 1-6 to 2-4, while guaranteeing that almost all PC's will be able to speak at least two languages (a near-necessity when Common is eliminated).
What do you think? Good? Bad? A waste of my precious time on this Earth? To the last, I say 'meh'. If I cared about my time on this Earth, I wouldn't spend so much of it on Oerth.
Anyway, to my point... I've known a lot of DM's who tweak the language rules because they feel the system is unrealistic and feels false... the sheer weirdness of Common, the automatic bonus languages, one language called Giant for most bipeds over 10 feet tall, etc., and I've struggled for years to come up with some alternative that limits some of the cookie-cutter feel without shortchanging the players. I think I have a winner, and I just thought I'd share it and see what people think:
History: The continent was once united by a far-reaching empire with a single language. This empire fell nearly 900 years ago, and since then the old language has disappeared from the vernacular and is restricted to ceremonial use (i.e., it's Latin with a different name).
Assumptions: There is no true Common tongue. Most modern languages evolved from the old imperial tongue (i.e., French, Italian, Spanish, etc.) or from one of the other primordial languages (now extinct). Some are imports, arrived since the end of the old empire.
New Rules:
1: Everyone speaks their native language for free. Native language is determined either by race, or culture, or both, as appropriate.
2: All PC classes with an Intelligence score of at least 8 speak a second language for free.
3: All PC's begin with free skill points in the Speak Language skill equal to their Intelligence modifier (minimun zero). If Speak Language is cross-class for you, and your INT modifier is an odd number, you may either forfeit the leftover free point or supplement it with one of your standard skill points.
4: There are no automatic bonus languages for non-humans or lists of class/race based choices for languages. To select the languages to which you are entitled, pick them from the homebrew language chart, and if you have an acceptable reason why your character would know that language, its fine. Knowing the language of the next kingdom over is always acceptable; if you want to speak the language of the Anteater Tribe of the Bubby-Wub barbarians, please explain your rationale. It could end up a plot hook in the future (my elf was raised by a gnoll barbarian who lived with a family of traveling gnomes!).
I find that these rules will give a character anywhere from one (say, a fighter with an INT of 7) to six (a bard with an INT of 18) languages at the beginning of the game, assuming no additional skill points are spent. Which, if my meager math serves, is the same range as characters using the standard system, but eliminates the bonus language for non-humans and the Common tongue. Most importantly, in my mind, it narrows the range of languages the >average< starting character will have, from 1-6 to 2-4, while guaranteeing that almost all PC's will be able to speak at least two languages (a near-necessity when Common is eliminated).
What do you think? Good? Bad? A waste of my precious time on this Earth? To the last, I say 'meh'. If I cared about my time on this Earth, I wouldn't spend so much of it on Oerth.
