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<blockquote data-quote="Pauln6" data-source="post: 8848610" data-attributes="member: 6777422">It has always seemed incongruous to me that they still don't have a distinction between basic, written, or fluent understanding.&nbsp; Basic requires an intelligence check to understand, written means you can read and write the language but not necessarily speak it etc.I'm not sure why literacy isn't something that is treated like a skill.&nbsp; The only class ever stated to be illiterate previously was the barbarian.&nbsp; Given that many D&amp;D settings have been quasi-medieval where huge swathes of the population were uneducated or that many developing cultures had no written language this seems a curious oversight.&nbsp; End of term parties at orc night school must be a riot.It was obviously a conscious design choice that has endured but I wonder what was behind it?&nbsp; Our barbarian player said he would like his character to learn some reading and writing skills but it seemed unrealistic that he would just become fluent.Understanding complex writing or different dialects can easily be handled by an intelligence check though.&nbsp; Understanding Glasweigan is not as easy as you might think.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Pauln6, post: 8848610, member: 6777422"] It has always seemed incongruous to me that they still don't have a distinction between basic, written, or fluent understanding. Basic requires an intelligence check to understand, written means you can read and write the language but not necessarily speak it etc. I'm not sure why literacy isn't something that is treated like a skill. The only class ever stated to be illiterate previously was the barbarian. Given that many D&D settings have been quasi-medieval where huge swathes of the population were uneducated or that many developing cultures had no written language this seems a curious oversight. End of term parties at orc night school must be a riot. It was obviously a conscious design choice that has endured but I wonder what was behind it? Our barbarian player said he would like his character to learn some reading and writing skills but it seemed unrealistic that he would just become fluent. Understanding complex writing or different dialects can easily be handled by an intelligence check though. Understanding Glasweigan is not as easy as you might think. [/QUOTE]

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