Why can only Ravens talk?

[mythusmage]

Odin?

Which is what you'll get some poor soul crying if everybody had a talking familiar all going off at once, "Odin, will you never cease?"

 

[interwyrm]

Odin?

As a side note.. and straying into the dreaded 'real-world religion' territory. I know a guy who worships Odin.

He does not, however, have a talking raven.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

According to the DMG, thrushes also have speaking a language as their special ability. I'm not sure I've ever heard of such a thing in real life, but there is still variety in the core books. (And I'd allow comparable birds to the raven and thrush to be used as familiars with the same abilities, like mynah birds and sparrows, for instance.)

The reason they don't all speak is simply a balance issue, I think. Ravens give no skill or ability bonus to their masters, but they are a (crude) form of long-distance communication in a world without many mundane ways of doing so.

 

[diaglo]

According to the DMG, thrushes also have speaking a language as their special ability. I'm not sure I've ever heard of such a thing in real life, but there is still variety in the core books. (And I'd allow comparable birds to the raven and thrush to be used as familiars with the same abilities, like mynah birds and sparrows, for instance.).

The Hobbit



along with ravens you get others like jackdaws, magpies, mynahs, parrots (a whole bunch of them)

 

[kenobi65]

According to the DMG, thrushes also have speaking a language as their special ability. I'm not sure I've ever heard of such a thing in real life, but there is still variety in the core books. (And I'd allow comparable birds to the raven and thrush to be used as familiars with the same abilities, like mynah birds and sparrows, for instance.)

You must have different kinds of sparrows around your house than I have.

We have mostly house sparrows and chipping sparrows around here. While they are "talkative" as heck, even as birds go, they have really simple songs, just single cheeps, for the most part.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

You must have different kinds of sparrows around your house than I have.

Did I say sparrows in real life could talk?

 

[Driddle]

Parrots, good for those pirate sorcerers!

Sqwaaaak! Polly wants a fireball! Sqwaaak!

 

[Driddle]

Did I say sparrows in real life could talk?

No. That blue jay on your shoulder did.

 

[kenobi65]

Did I say sparrows in real life could talk?

This sentence confused me, then:

(And I'd allow comparable birds to the raven and thrush to be used as familiars with the same abilities, like mynah birds and sparrows, for instance.)

The other three birds in that list have some level of "talking" skill; apparently, you had some other (unstated) criteria you'd be using to put a sparrow into that group.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The other three birds in that list have some level of "talking" skill; apparently, you had some other (unstated) criteria you'd be using to put a sparrow into that group.

Birds of a similar physical size (stats) to the thrush and the raven. I'd give them talking in lieu of making up some new bonus for them, if someone wanted a small bird that wasn't a thrush or a large bird that wasn't a raven, just as many DMs typically have no problem turning a viper familiar into a rattlesnake or a cottonmouth, or what have you. From a mechanical standpoint, they're the same thing.

Any time we're talking about birds with INT 6 at level 1, we've left reality behind anyway.