Questions tagged [languages]
For questions relating to setting-specific use of language in RPGs. Questions about real-world languages should be tagged with the specific language instead (e.g. [french]).
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Where and how often do the exotic languages appear?
I've chosen the Haunted One background for my new half-orc blood hunter. I get to pick an exotic language (Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon), but ...
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What ways can you give a creature the capability to speak?
I am looking for ways in 5e to grant the capability of speech to a creature, ideally permanently.
To be specific, I am interested in granting an Artificer's Steel Defender and creatures like it the ...
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How to read the elven on the 3rd edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting cover?
The cover for the book in question has inscriptions in the espruar script on its outer circle. According to one of the authors, it means: “We remember cities now in ruin and forests murdered, yet ...
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Are there any canon examples of texts written in elvish?
I’m referring to the Elven language of the Forgotten Realms, usually written with the Espruar script. Are there any examples of messages, poems, paragraphs, ...? More specifically, ones that make ...
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The Espruar script seems to have changed from past editions. Is there an in-universe explanation given for the change?
Whilst exploring the internet, I’ve found a variety of different official scripts for Elvish. From my understanding of it, Rellanic is a generic one (not tied to a setting), and Espruar is Forgotten ...
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How does it affect the game if not everything speaks Common?
Going through the bestiary DBs, you find that of the monsters that speak a language, almost all speak Common as well. (Or have some form of telepathy or truespeech.)
From the data my friend gathered,...
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How do I swear in Goblin? Orcish? [closed]
I have a character who speaks Orcish and Goblin in addition to Common. He's got a poor Charisma score, so I want to play him as being rather uncouth, adding a liberal amount of coarse language to his ...
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What PC races do not speak Common?
In 5e, seemingly all races know "Common and [at least 1 other language]" for their languages.
Are there player races or subraces published by Wizards of the Coast, either officially or in UA, that do ...
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Can the Actor feat allow a character to effectively speak a language they don't know?
I have a player in my game I'll call "Joe" running a Bard I'll call "Hansel."
Hansel has the Actor feat, and does not speak Orc. Hansel listened to an Orc for 1 minute a few adventures ago, a 2nd PC ...
- 1,187
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What is Dark Speech?
In the D&D 5e DMG, the artifact called the Book of Vile Darkness has the following property (pp. 223-224):
Dark Speech. While you carry the Book of Vile Darkness and are attuned to it, you can ...
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Can a PC choose ‘Beast Speech’ as a language?
Lets say a PC gets to choose a language, can they choose to learn to speak beast?
For instance they choose to play a Ranger with the UA Class Feature Variant Deft Explorer, the benefit Canny says:
...
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Does the Jack-Of-All-Trades edge grant basic proficiency in every language?
In Savage Worlds Deluxe, the Jack-Of-All-Trades edge grants the following benefit:
Any time he makes an unskilled roll for a Smarts-based skill, he may do so at d4 instead of the usual d4–2.
...
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Is it possible to write a message in Thieves' Cant?
If a Rogue is in an alleyway and wants to recruit a group of NPC thieves to rob an enemy, could they use chalk to write a message in Thieves' Cant for anyone who can read it who comes by, or is ...
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Dominate Person: delegation of authority
A mage cast dominate person on two gnolls, and both failed their saving throws. He does not share a language with them, but an ally coached him in Gnoll to tell the gnolls to follow another that ally'...
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What are the most commonly encountered languages of Golarion?
Pathfinder campaign starting soon, I'm playing a human arcanist with high intelligence, which lets me take a bunch of languages.
So far I have Common (automatic), Thassilonian (from Scholar of the ...
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Are there any ways to make an improved familiar speak with people other than its master?
Outside ones that can talk naturally, like the silvanshi (who has truespeech), I can't think of any way to get an improved familiar to talk with people other than its master.
The mascot and decoy ...
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Thieves cant across different languages [duplicate]
All rogues know thieves cant.
If one rogue in the party is talking to an enemy in a language that an ally rogue in the party does not understand, would the speaking rogue be able to use thieves cant ...
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Can a wizard learn spells written in an unfamiliar language using the Comprehend Languages spell?
If a wizard finds a spell book in an unfamiliar language, which he can understand via the Comprehend Languages spell (but not otherwise), can he transcribe these spells in his own spell book?
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Does "speak any language" include talking to animals?
I've noticed how a monk's Tongue of the Sun and Moon and an oracle's Tongues curse allow them to "speak with any creature" and "speak and understand any language" respectively.
My question is, does ...
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Does casting Tongues on the tarrasque (a language-less monstrosity) let it understand language?
Tongues description:
This spell grants the creature you touch the
ability to understand any spoken language it hears. Moreover, when the
target speaks, any creature that knows at least one ...
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Can the Balhannoth speak?
From Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes comes the Balhannoth (p. 119). In the Languages part of its statblock, it says:
Languages understands Deep Speech, telepathy 1 mile
Normally when a creature speaks ...
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Does the multilingual feat allow me to choose a language I don't have access to?
The Pathfinder 2e multilingual feat says:
You easily pick up new languages. You learn two new languages, chosen
from common languages, uncommon languages, and any others you have
access to.
...
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How can I qualify for the Necril language?
Necril is an uncommon language in Pathfinder 2e, meaning that you need some special feature to qualify for it.
Are there any existing ways for a player character to have access to the Necril language?...
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What the heck is the luraic language?
Our party is currently playing through Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (no spoilers, please!) and we're nearing the end of the campaign. The other night our party was discussing a teaching exchange of ...
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Is there a way to make a Beast Master ranger's animal companion able to read a language?
Let's say I am a Beast Master ranger and have a baboon animal companion. Is there a spell or magic item that would let it know how to read? Write?
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Does a gnoll speak both Gnoll and Abyssal, or is Gnoll a dialect of Abyssal?
In the Dungeons and Dragons 5e Monster Manual, the gnoll statblock lists their language as Gnoll. However, in Volo's Guide to Monsters, the section on gnolls indicates that they communicate with
...
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Is Thieves' Cant a language?
In a recent question there was some confusion as to whether or not Thieves' Cant is a language, a class feature, or both.
Which is it?
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Are there any other rule mechanics that could grant Thieves' Cant?
Thieves' Cant is a class feature of Rogues in 5e.
As it is a method of communication, can it be taken as a language? If not, is it mechanically equivalent to something that can be swapped so that ...
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Looking for a generic name substitute in Elvish, Draconic, Celestial, or Sylvan [closed]
I have a Far Traveler Sorcerer High Elf character who has lost most of his early memories so he does not remember his name. I am looking for a generic word or name substitute to make him more playable ...
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Does a race without a list of bonus languages still get extra languages from a high Intelligence score?
The Player's Handbook on Race and Languages says
All characters know how to speak Common.… A smart character (one who had an Intelligence bonus at 1st level) speaks other languages as well, one ...
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What's the difference between a monster that can't speak and a monster that doesn't speak?
In their languages section of stats for some monsters, the wording sometimes says "can't speak" and sometimes says "doesn't speak."
What functional difference is there between these two wordings?
...
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Can a polymorphed creature understand languages spoken under the effect of Tongues?
Let's say we have a spy that has been True Polymorphed into a sheep (to blend in, obviously). The spy originally knew Common + some other languages. As a sheep, though, she can only bleat.
True ...
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Elf (adjective) vs. Elvish vs. Elven
Are there rules on when to use elf (as an adjective) versus elvish versus elven in D&D?
For example, would any of the following sentences be more or less correct than the others?
"Many of them ...
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Do grungs have a written language?
It is unclear. Do grungs have any written language at all? And if they do, which script do they use for it?
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What's the easiest way for a whole party to be able to communicate with a creature that doesn't know Common?
My party befriended a Faerie Dragon who is now tagging along with us, but only one of us (a Dragonborn) is able to communicate with it. According to the MM, faerie dragons only know Draconic and ...
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What is known about tabaxi language and terminology, particularly the word "tabaxi" and the name of the Cat Lord?
According to this Dragon+ article, the term tabaxi originates with the race of cat people (at least in the Forgotten Realms setting as of D&D 5th edition):
Tabaxi with a capital T is the ...
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What kind of check is needed to read a language you don't speak to a character that doesn't know how to read?
So, I have a party with a Half-Orc Barbarian who cannot read and only speaks very simply. The last session ended with the party discovering a note written in Orc, which nobody other than the barbarian ...
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Is there an Undercommon word for beholders, as "illithid" is for mind flayers?
This answer states that "illithid" is Undercommon for mind flayer. Is there a similar word for beholder?
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Using D&D as a medium to help learn IRL language? [closed]
I am a DM of a small group of friends; we prefer D&D 5e but this question can apply to any TTRPG. My friends have some experience with English, but are not comfortable with it. Lately I've been ...
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Does the Detect Thoughts spell work against an Intellect Devourer?
The spell Detect Thoughts has the following limitation on potential targets:
You can't detect a creature with an Intelligence of 3 or lower or one that doesn't speak any language.
An Intellect ...
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Do these creatures from the Tomb of Annihilation campaign speak Common?
There are some creatures in the plot of ToA that my players will interact with.
The problem is that their stat block says they speak only their specific language, which my players' characters don't ...
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What customizable name generator am I remembering?
About 15 years ago, I came across a small program that allowed you to put in rules for name generation. I believe the program would have been no more than a couple years old at that point.
It ...
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If I Wild Shape into a Giant Elk, can I speak any language I know?
Jeremy Crawford, in a tweet, wrote that a Moon Druid can speak the languages it knows while shaped as an Elemental because the Elemental can speak.
The Giant Elk can speak the "Giant Elk" language, ...
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Do characters know how to read/write languages or just speak them?
I noticed that the rules for language selection state
Your race indicates the languages your character can speak by default, and your background might give you access to one or more additional ...
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Can a Sorcerer's companion raven speak with everyone?
In D&D 3.5, the Sorcerer's companion can be a Raven. In the PHB (p. 52), after the familiars table there is a note that says:
A raven familiar can speak one language of its master's choice as a ...
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Are most characters illiterate in SotDL?
I'm making a character for the first time, and with the exception of dwarves, the ancestries don't specify that you know how to read and write any of your languages. The professions state that you can ...
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Are there specific descriptions of what each of the racial languages sound like?
Running adventures with varied races of NPC, I run into a lot of times where I simply say "It sounds like they're speaking Elvish/Orcish/etc etc". I'd like to know if perhaps there are descriptions of ...
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How many level 1 characters does it take to have access to all languages?
How many characters are needed (using any 5e published race, background and class [no feats]) so that a party can understand (read and converse) all languages in PHB, GGtR and WgtE; at level 1 without ...
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What is the script for the Aarakocra language?
I have been unable to find this anywhere and was curious about it. I've found the relationship between all other languages and which script, if any, they have. The Aarakocra language seems to have a ...
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Does Warlock's Eyes of the Rune Keeper allow them to read Druidic?
Just a bit confused as the PHB states that Druidic is used to write in code. Does that mean that Eyes of the Rune Keeper will allow me to read Druidic but not understand what it means or could I read ...
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