On Languages...

[debalkez]

For the sake of running a campaign that has an occasional multi-dimensional door and a cameo of William Shatner or Darth Vader and the such, would the language "Common" be on the same playing level as our English? I assume it is...but I don't think it is ever clearly stated.

 

[irdeggman]

Well it depends on what you are trying to do.

It appears to me that you should be using the d20 Modern language rules instead:

Read/Write Language (None) Trained Only
The Read/Write Language skill doesn’t work like a standard skill.
• A character automatically knows how to read and write his or her native language; the character does not need ranks to do so.
• Each additional language costs 1 rank. When a character adds a rank to Read/Write Language, he or she chooses a new language that the character can read and write.
• A character never makes Read/Write Language checks. A character either knows how to read and write a specific language or doesn’t.
• To be able to speak a language that the character can read and write, he or she must take the Speak Language skill for the appropriate language.
• A character can choose any language, modern or ancient. (See below for suggestions.) The GM might determine that a character can’t learn a specific language due to the circumstances of the campaign.

Language Groups
There are thousands of languages to choose from when a character buys ranks in Speak Language or Read/Write Language. A few are listed here, sorted into their general language groups.
A language’s group doesn’t matter when a character is buying ranks in Speak Language or Read/Write Language. Language groups are provided because they pertain to the Smart hero’s Linguist talent.
This list is by no means exhaustive—there are many more language groups, and most groups contain more languages than those listed here.
Algic: Algonkin, Arapaho, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Shawnee.
Armenian: Armenian.
Athabascan: Apache, Chipewyan, Navaho.
Attic: Ancient Greek*, Greek.
Baltic: Latvian, Lithuanian.
Celtic: Gaelic (Irish), Gaelic (Scots), Welsh.
Chinese: Cantonese, Mandarin.
Finno-Lappic: Estonian, Finnish, Lapp.
Germanic: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, English, Flemish, German, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Yiddish.
Hamo-Semitic: Coptic*, Middle Egyptian*.
Indic: Hindi, Punjabi, Sanskrit*, Urdu.
Iranian: Farsi, Pashto.
Japanese: Japanese.
Korean: Korean.
Romance: French, Italian, Latin*, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish.
Semitic: Akkadian (aka Babylonian)*, Ancient Hebrew*, Arabic, Aramaic*, Hebrew.
Slavic: Belorussian, Bulgarian, Czech, Polish, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovak, Ukrainian.
Tibeto-Burman: Burmese, Sherpa, Tibetan.
Turkic: Azerbaijani, Turkish, Uzbek.
Ugric: Hungarian (aka Magyar).
*This is an ancient language. In the modern world it is spoken only by scholars, or in some cases by small populations in isolated corners of the world.

A setting like Birthright had no "common" and instead had "regional" dialects. There are others out there with similar "restrictions".

So it depends on what you are trying to do IMO. I would pick one path and be consistent and not throw something new at the players that they are not prepared for.

 

[UltimaGabe]

For the sake of running a campaign that has an occasional multi-dimensional door and a cameo of William Shatner or Darth Vader and the such, would the language "Common" be on the same playing level as our English? I assume it is...but I don't think it is ever clearly stated.

If you're willing to suspend the fantasy setting of D&D enough to allow an appearance of William Shatner, why in the world are you concerned with the rules not letting the players understand him? Obviously you're doing it for the sake of humor or amusement or something other than sticking purely to the rules. So it would obviously defeat the entire purpose if you decided they spoke an entirely different language, would it not?

And, for the record, there's no reason to assume Darth Vader or even Captain Kirk were speaking English.

 

[RefinedBean]

For the sake of running a campaign that has an occasional multi-dimensional door and a cameo of William Shatner or Darth Vader and the such, would the language "Common" be on the same playing level as our English? I assume it is...but I don't think it is ever clearly stated.

It's NOT English, it's just "Common." It has its own grammar and syntax based on the setting you've chosen. If you're doing this for humorous purposes, you're best bet is probably just to make it English...although then you're party might be wondering why these crazy people are speaking the same language!