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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Spatzimaus" data-source="post: 1248108" data-attributes="member: 3051">This may not help you too much, but IMC, there are basically six parallel planes, each tied to a different element, and the typical adventurer lives on the Elemental Plane of Life (which has the same layout and basic history as Earth, modified a bit for magic).  Being the center of Life Magic and all, it's a plane with a lot more population than the others.  So, while the plane of water might only have a few million sentient inhabitants and one or two common languages, our plane will have billions of people with hundreds of languages.The d20modern rules have two key skills for this: Read/Write Language, and Speak Language.  They also separate the languages into groups, but don't give any sort of bonus for the groups other than an optional class ability for one class.  The big problem is this: if you expand the language skills to have multiple levels of complexity, you'll need to remove (or really raise in level) the Comprehend Languages, Tongues, and Mindlink spells/powers.  Otherwise, anyone who spends tons of skill points on languages will be inferior to someone who uses a basic spell or cheap item.IMC we said that most major languages on Gaia (the plane of life) were derived from the nearly-static languages from the other planes.  Japanese is an offshoot of Sylvan, one of the main languages from the plane of air, in the same way that French and Spanish are both offshoots of Latin (which was itself an offshoot of the Djinn language).  Ancient Greek is based on Atlantean (Atlantis is the largest city-state on the plane of water).  And so on.  So, take the d20Modern language groups, trim off a few, and add your other languages to the existing groups.Then, add a "comprehension check", like this:If two characters lacking a common language are trying to communicate, they must each make an INT check with a DC based on the complexity of the information being passed.  For example, you can break it down like this:Basic information that can be pantomimed and where the phrasing of the question doesn't really matter ("Where is the bathroom?"): DC 5, but the player has to actually act it out.  Great for humor value, BTW.More complex information that either includes proper nouns or can be partially pantomimed ("Which way to the Hagia Sophia?"): DC 10Detailed information with no easy context, but with a straightforward answer ("Where can I find a good restaurant at a reasonable price near here?"): DC 15Complex or technical information requiring a detailed answer ("How do I fix my electric toothbrush that exploded when I plugged into the 220V wall outlet?"): DC 20Both participants have to succeed in their checks for this to work.  If either fails by 5 or more, they misunderstand what the other said in a way that causes them to trade incorrect information.If either person uses a language in the group containing a language the other knows, add a +2 circumstance bonus to this check for both participants.  This works both ways; if an American who knows some Spanish is trying to get information from a Frenchman who can speak German, they each get a +4 bonus because they each know a language from the other's group.  When they get stuck in the discussion, each can use a word from their second language that the other is more likely to understand.</blockquote>

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