I know that I can’t talk when I’m in wild shape. Makes sense since animals don’t have vocal cords. But when the moon Druid gets elemental wild shape each of the forms has a language ability. So if I’m an air elemental I can speak Auran but how much use is that when no one else speaks it.
However, if my elemental has the ability to speak AND druids maintain their mental stats when wildshaped then wouldn’t that mean my moon Druid can speak common or any other language I know when I’m in my elemental wild shape?
Well, many beasts DO have vocal cords. Dogs certainly need them to bark. Most Druids in beast form are not capable of speech because the musculature around their mouths is not adapted to the preciseness of human languages. However, if parrots exist in your DM's world, then a Druid who has observed parrots would certainly be able to speak Common while taking on the parrot form. (And Giant Elk, for some reason, can speak Sylvan.)
A Druid wildshaped into an Elemental should be able to speak Common as long as the Elemental form chosen has a mouth.
This makes sense to me. I believe the final ruling would be DM fiat, but if an animal has a language in it's stat block, it'd make sense for you to be able to speak your character's known languages plus the language of the form you take.
Indeed, if I am correct it is more than a DM fiat, it is RAW, as the language is part of the stat sheet, in which you gain the benefits of when shaped.
Go Moon Druids!
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"Anyone can smith at the cosmic anvil, yet only I can forge a weapon as good as thee."
You can’t cast spells, and your ability to speak or take any action that requires hands is limited to the capabilities of your beast form.
Given this, your element wild shape can, effectively, speak Primordial. From the PHB:
Some of these languages are actually families of languages with many dialects. For example, the Primordial language includes the Auran, Aquan, Ignan, and Terran dialects, one for each of the four elemental planes. Creatures that speak different dialects of the same language can communicate with one another.
So long as another character knows Primordial you are good to talk!
You can’t cast spells, and your ability to speak or take any action that requires hands is limited to the capabilities of your beast form.
Given this, your element wild shape can, effectively, speak Primordial. From the PHB:
Some of these languages are actually families of languages with many dialects. For example, the Primordial language includes the Auran, Aquan, Ignan, and Terran dialects, one for each of the four elemental planes. Creatures that speak different dialects of the same language can communicate with one another.
So long as another character knows Primordial you are good to talk!
Would you not gain primordial from the elemental form? And would you not be able to speak other languages since the elemental has the ability to take actions like speaking since it can speak primordial?
That's kind of the root of my question. If the elemental can speak Primordial then the important bit is that it CAN speak regardless of what language. Since the Druid maintains their own mental stats while in Wildshape then wouldn't that mean that I know all of the languages I know. So as long as my Wildshape has the ability to speak, regardless of what language, then I should be able to speak in any language that I know. Right?
Because it's uses the phrase "limited to" I would read it as no, however it is a grey area. An in-world explanation could be, for example, that elementals don't have tongues so primordial doesn't use sounds that require the tongue in different parts of the mouth.
However JC has tweeted yes they can. So rule it how you like.
I know that I can’t talk when I’m in wild shape. Makes sense since animals don’t have vocal cords. But when the moon Druid gets elemental wild shape each of the forms has a language ability. So if I’m an air elemental I can speak Auran but how much use is that when no one else speaks it.
However, if my elemental has the ability to speak AND druids maintain their mental stats when wildshaped then wouldn’t that mean my moon Druid can speak common or any other language I know when I’m in my elemental wild shape?
Well, many beasts DO have vocal cords. Dogs certainly need them to bark. Most Druids in beast form are not capable of speech because the musculature around their mouths is not adapted to the preciseness of human languages. However, if parrots exist in your DM's world, then a Druid who has observed parrots would certainly be able to speak Common while taking on the parrot form. (And Giant Elk, for some reason, can speak Sylvan.)
A Druid wildshaped into an Elemental should be able to speak Common as long as the Elemental form chosen has a mouth.
This makes sense to me. I believe the final ruling would be DM fiat, but if an animal has a language in it's stat block, it'd make sense for you to be able to speak your character's known languages plus the language of the form you take.
Drink water. Take a nap. Pray about it.
Indeed, if I am correct it is more than a DM fiat, it is RAW, as the language is part of the stat sheet, in which you gain the benefits of when shaped.
Go Moon Druids!
"Anyone can smith at the cosmic anvil, yet only I can forge a weapon as good as thee."
My Homebrew Please click it, they have my family.
Just use a character who has telepathy, and you can bypass this issue.
Under the wild shape rules it states:
Given this, your element wild shape can, effectively, speak Primordial. From the PHB:
So long as another character knows Primordial you are good to talk!
Would you not gain primordial from the elemental form? And would you not be able to speak other languages since the elemental has the ability to take actions like speaking since it can speak primordial?
Drink water. Take a nap. Pray about it.
That's kind of the root of my question. If the elemental can speak Primordial then the important bit is that it CAN speak regardless of what language. Since the Druid maintains their own mental stats while in Wildshape then wouldn't that mean that I know all of the languages I know. So as long as my Wildshape has the ability to speak, regardless of what language, then I should be able to speak in any language that I know. Right?
Because it's uses the phrase "limited to" I would read it as no, however it is a grey area. An in-world explanation could be, for example, that elementals don't have tongues so primordial doesn't use sounds that require the tongue in different parts of the mouth.
However JC has tweeted yes they can. So rule it how you like.
https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/618275271901233156?t=Q78myvN_nsjC2PdbQgnjAg&s=19
As Jeremy Crawford speaketh so shall it be. All hail the keeper of the Law!
the new elemental Wild shape is not good , being able to speak in it is an odd choice.