The Common tongue

[Deadguy]

The Common Tongue is, as others have made clear, just a handwave to remove the impact of languages in play unless the DM needs it to be significant! That is, PCs will understand everything unless the adventure requires that some communication be confusing, when specialised skills are required.

I'll add that I went down a slightly different path for my own campaign. I've indicated that there are many thousands of tongues in the world (and PCs should just ask if they are interested in developing local language skills). But that there are also 4 other languages that for various reasons have achieved widespread usage - one a former Imperial tongue, one the language of a group of people who helped rebuild large areas of a devestated world, and two tongues used by traders who travel far and wide. Generally speaking if you can speak all 4, then you'll bump by in most parts of the world (well the cosmopolitan parts anyway - just don't be surprised if backwaters are confusing!).

 

[Silver Moon]

For ease of play we use common, and even have it being a variation of English, as it makes it easier for puzzles and riddles using the same alphabet for the players and their characters.

However, they have also adventured in lands where common was not spoken by the majority of the populations. We did an extended campaign in the orient where that was the case, and in the current module there are a group from a desert kingdom that only speak their own language.

 

[Angcuru]

I know that when I run MY campaigns, there is no automatic common tongue. For now, I run my campaigns in the Forgotten Realms, so everyone has a regional language, and the demi-human races have their racial language. I prefer to run the common tongue as a bonus language, rather than one that EVERYONE knows. It makes things seem more realistic, and actually helps out the feel of the game quite a bit.

But in other campaigns, common is similar to what latin was in the Dark Ages. It's a language that almost everyone knows so that different nations can communicate easily(besides the religious aspect of latin).

 

[evildm]

Very interesting responses people. Keep it up!

Personally, I've been running it in the idea that most of the people in a country won't know the common tongue or will only have a passing knowledge of it. The PCs and important NPCs will all know it, just for the sake of sanity, but I at least keep the verisimilitude there when they're in day to day dealings with average folk.

I have considered removing the Common tongue altogether though, as Chondathan and Damaran are quite prevalent in the Realms. But I probably won't for sake of sanity.

 

[the Jester]

'Common' in my game is usually Forinthian, but sometimes it's Peshan, elven, Strogassian, or another language. It all depends on where you're from.

For that matter, if you meet an elf from very far away, instead of Elven she might speak Elfisti of Elfisht, or another related dialect. Likewise, a citizen of the Forinthian Empire's far reaches will speak another tongue (say, Azaran) as their native language and Forinthian as a second language.

 

[willpax]

In my campaign, there is no common tongue. I've altered language rules to have two "levels" of language proficiency: basic (functional, but stumblingly or with a heavy accent, and subtle concepts may be lost--one skill rank) and fluent (complete mastery--two skill ranks). Everyone with average intelligence and above is fluent in at least one language.

There are four major linguistic families in which the languages are distant dialects of each other (think about the relationship between French, Spanish, and Italian). If you know one language in the family, then additional ones are regular cost. If you know no languages in a family, then you need additional skill points to learn it.

I also have separate alphabet systems, requiring skill points to be spent for literacy depending on alphabet (and most classes are not automatically literate--I run a world pre-mass education).

All of that would be nothing but a headache if it had no impact on the plot, but I've made sure that language matters. For the most part, their journeys have occurred within an area dominated by two branches of the same lunguistic famikly (and one that nearly everyone knows), but on three occasions they have had to deal with people who speak strnage tongues. That has made the bard a rather indispensable member of the group, as he knows languages in two families that no one else is familiar with.

There is also one ancient language that serves as a kind of international tongue among scholars (the equivalent of Medieval Latin), but common folks don't speak it any more, so its usefulness is somewhat narrow unless you are reading in old scrolls and such.

 

[dren]

To begin with, I find it hard to justify fantasy linguistics using real world history. So, in my campaign world, there is a god of language, whose faith is shared by the dwarves, elves, humans and some others. Thus there is a common root tongue for 90% of all humanoid tongues.

With this being said, common is not universal. Lots of races do not speak the common, dragons for instance. Thus there are actually six spoken languages of which one of is used by 95% of all prime sentient creatures. Sure, it's a convenient gaming mechanism, but it works relatively well for me in my campaigns.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I do have a "Trade Language", but there are only a dozen nations that are actually involved in trade and thus have access to it (plus it's mostly a merchant thing, so most people in those lands don't speak it anyway). In contrast, most of the lands are isolated due to glacial-bariers and Conan-esque barbarism, so no trade-language exists there.

To top it off, I bumped comprehend language and tongues up to Levels 3 and 4 in order to keep the importance of language and communication relavent to the game a bit longer (removing Clerics and working with Casting Fatigue makes either practically a non-factor until well past 9th Level).

To compensate, I moved Speak (and Write) Languages "outside" of the general Skill/Rank mechanics to allow progressive learning amongst characters that travel extensively; After all, characters like Conan and the soldiers of The Black Company were generally noted as being able to speak several languages, some as many as a dozen, of various proficiency ranging from "smattering" and "broken" to "accented" and "fluent", and I wanted to capture that sense of the PCs being more worldly.

Generally, character start with their native tongue ("Ranks" equal to Intelligence"), and then one Language Slot per Intelligence modifier (1 Slot=1/2 Intelligence Score, 2 Slots=Full Intelligence). The PCs pick from various "local languages", and then pick up more as their travels/adventures allow.

1 Rank=Smattering (Slow communication, often repeated several times to gain clarity)
5 Ranks=Broken, Heavy Accented (Slow, but often understood easily under "Take 10" conditions)
10 Ranks=Clear, Accented (obviously a foreigner, but no drawbacks)
15 Ranks=Fluent, Light Accent (individuals must be familiar with accent to place it)
18 Ranks=Fluent, No Accent
20+ Ranks=Refined ("High Speach" if such exists within the individual culture)

Ranks gained through time/practice, not Skill Points gained by leveling. Max Rank=Intelligence Score.

 

[willpax]

If ranks are based on intelligence score, does your chart imply that everyone with average intelligence speaks with an accent?

i'm not so sure I would limit mastery of a particular dialect (say, the high diplomatese of the court) with intelligence. I think amost anyone can master so,ething like that with sufficient exposure and practice.

 

[Bendris Noulg]

Yes, and no. That is to say, the accent is "local", kinda the same way people from New York, Chicago and Los Angles all speak English, but where they come from is clearly obvious in their inflections. In that regard, I do believe Intelligence is the suitable attribute, relating "proper speaking" to grammatical accuracy, using that over "popular" terminology or slang.

By extension, Diplomacy helps the character to know what manner of speaking is best used when.