Languages

In the original incarnation of this website I changed the rules regarding languages. Now, I am changing them again. Well, perhaps "changing" is to harsh a word.... tweaking, perhaps. Yes, I am tweaking the languages. So, what is wrong with the rules as they appear in the PHB? The problem I have with those rules is the same problem I have always had with them - namely they make no differentiation between being able to speak a language and read and write a language.

According to the rules as laid down in the PHB all characters, with the exception of the barbarian are literate. This is blatantly ridiculous. D&D is set in a cod-mediaeval version of Europe. The vast majority of people should not know how to read and write. As a result of this I created rules to differentiate between spoken and written tongues. These are as follows:

• There is no common tongue. It's a very silly idea and has no place in the system.
  
  
• At character generation all playable races can speak at least one language. Many non-human races can speak two. See the section on races to see how many languages your character can speak.
  
  
• At character generation all races receive a number of bonus languages equal to their intelligence modify. If they don't have an intelligence modifier then they have no bonus languages. Characters with a negative intelligence modifier don't lose the language they've got.
  
  
• The selection of bonus languages is not laid down by a character's race. The choice is made by mutual agreement between the player and the GM.
  
  
• From this number of bonus languages characters can buy the ability to speak a language or to read and write a certain alphabet. Once a character knows an alphabet he may read and write any language he can speak that uses that alphabet.
  
  
• Characters wishing to buy languages or alphabets beyond this quote may buy them with skill points. The ability to speak and read languages is only a class skill for the bard. For all other classes it is a cross class skill and costs two skill points per spoken language or written alphabet selected.
  
  
• As a note, the barbarian uses exactly the same mechanics. Most barbarians are illiterate, but if a PC wants to play one that can read and write, the rules do not penalise the choice

The GM's word is final in regard to which languages are available in a given campaign. The actual choice of languages will vary depending on the campaign setting. The languages available in the Forgotten Realms setting are vastly different from those of Krynn, Oerth or Iourn.

See Also:

• Languages of Iourn