D&D 5E The Kenku's Mimicry ability.

[orderofthings]

maybe the mimic ability is more than just a built in tape recorder. What if (and I'm riffing off the top of my head here, so go easy on me) the Kenku Wizard's spell list is restricted to spells the Kenku has seen others cast... like when the party gets blasted by it's first lightning bolt spell the player quick adds it to his list so that later, at "level whatever", he can cast it. This would mean that as a Kenku Wizard, you can't just flip open the PHB to find a new spell every time you have a chance to learn a new one, you have to go back and look at the list of spells that you have seen cast by others... maybe because of this ability, they don't need a spellbook? just a thought...

I'm sure within the next 5 minutes i'll think of fifty reasons why this wouldn't work but, you know, "for the sake of conversation"...

 

[SkidAce]

The Kenku lore section talks about how they lack creativity. They can't create their own sentences. Which, IMO, is really cool and flavorful and I'm not sure why anyone would want to find a loophole around it. It's the only reason why I'd consider playing a Kenku, because it's what makes them unique.

Great answer.

Yet, I'm trying to find a way to reconcile the fact that the party has met a kenku thieves guild in the past with this "new" lore.

Hmmmm, the leader did kinda sound like a parrot. Could say most use one or two word sentences, play up the echo effect while talking to the PCs, and have a few exceptional ones that can almost speak normally, through practice.

And a PC Kenku, could rp as they see fit, until the other members of the group started yelling "stop copying me", at which point the kenku would likely say "stop copying ME"

 

[SkidAce]

I just imagined it as working the same way as the car in the transformers movie that could only talk using his radio. Let the player (I assume we're not talking about an NPC) use a mosaic of repeated phrases to get a point across. The Kenku's lack of creativity gives the player a chance to be creative.

The Kenku turned to face Galvan. It cocked it's head to the side quizzically, as if trying to find the right words.
"I have a mission for you..." the bird stated, in the gruff voice of their Harper contact in Luskan. It's timbre then went soft and feminine. "We need food, darling". It was Selatia, Galvan's lover.
"I told you not to use her voice." Galvan said, with a shudder.
"Yea yea" the bird said, this time drawing upon Galvan's own words from the night before.

This is the answer!

Good stuff. I'll read the entire thread next time.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Here is the ability: Mimicry. You can mimic sounds you have heard, including voices. A creature that hears the sounds you make can tell they are imitations with a successful Wisdom (Insight) check opposed by your Charisma (Deception) check.

Notice the part that I highlighted. Since a kenku can Mimic voices, why couldn't they just Mimic someone's voice and just speak normally? Does their curse take away their ability to articulate?

"My... is... my... passport.... verify... me."

 

[Mad_Jack]

Assuming the kenku has the ability to "speak" by cobbling together words and phrases it's heard before, I think the easiest way to RP the kenku would be to just use the syntax and speech patterns of someone who's clearly not speaking a language they have any great deal of fluency in. Mixing up sentence structure, confusing tenses, dropping shorter words like "at, is, the", etc...