So with the release of Tasha’s one of the new rules is that players are free to exchange their race’s languages for any other languages they want.
Meaning, theoretically you could make a character that doesn’t speak Common. Has anyone attempted this? How did it go? Would this be functional or playable in any way?
What else do you speak, and do other party members speak it? For example, if you play a human who for some reason speaks only elven and dwarvish, but you have a party full of elves and dwarves, then it's probably not a HUGE issue, although it's possible sometimes only half the party would understand you. My experience with this is that it is fun to RP the translation a few times and then it gets old.
Then there is the issue of the world. Do most people speak common exclusively? If so, then you are going to have to get party members to translate everything all the time. Again, fun the first session or two, then it gets old really fast.
I'd say, depending on the situation, it is possible, and could be done just fine, but I suspect that it would get old after a while.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I'd say if your player is very skilled at portraying their character, go for it. It could make for a great deal of fun with pantomimes, facial expressions, body language, that sort of thing. You might even be able to play around with forms of sign language as a fun thing to do.
HOWEVER, I can TOTALLY see this one being abused by player who really doesn't want to invest anything into their character and just runs with the whole "emo silent type" trope.
I played a mute character once. It had it's moments, but I wouldn't recommend it for anything more than a very short campaign. And this is arguably a bigger pain in the ass. It's playable and functional but I don't think it'll be much fun unless the DM handwaives it a lot of the time and if that's the case, what's the point really? If you want to play something along those lines, maybe keep Common but make your character a novice speaker with a terrible accident who misunderstands people all the time (possibly deliberately in some cases) and regularly uses the wrong word or expression.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I have a Grung character that took the Archeologist background. The party knows that Grung don’t speak common but my little monk gained it from the background. We were level 4 before he trusted the group to let them in on the secret. He would cock his head when someone would ask him something.
You know, I think I might run a 1 shot or short 2-3 shot where Common is banned, or just simply doesn’t exist in the game world.
I would be interesting... Players and NPCs would need to share a particular language just to converse. You can bet players would be paying WAY more attention to what languages their characters speak.
currently, languages are a bit lame. Everyone for the most part is assumed to be speaking Common and “What languages do you speak” really only comes up if you are reading some ancient elven stone tablet or whatever you know something like that.
currently, languages are a bit lame. Everyone for the most part is assumed to be speaking Common and “What languages do you speak” really only comes up if you are reading some ancient elven stone tablet or whatever you know something like that.
It doesn't have to be that way. Just because there's a lingua franca for convenience doesn't mean that it's the main language everywhere. Non-humans typically speak their own language whenever they can, and humans can have various languages by nation or region - and those non-humans can have dialects or regional languages as well. Thieves have their Cant, Druids have their own secret language - whatever organisation you want to be difficult to interact with could have come up with something similar too.
Common basically exists so there isn't a potential language problem in every single campaign, but if you want there to be one in yours it's really easy to come up with a plausible reason to introduce an issue.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I cannot fathom how any player, or DM, or group of fellow players, would find it in any way "cool" to have a char in the group that can't speak the language named for what it is: "Common". Why do people throw barriers up like this? It adds nothing to a gaming session.
Anyone tried that at my table, or the other 2 tables I play at, and the players and DM's would laugh that player right off the table.
You know, I think I might run a 1 shot or short 2-3 shot where Common is banned, or just simply doesn’t exist in the game world.
I would be interesting... Players and NPCs would need to share a particular language just to converse. You can bet players would be paying WAY more attention to what languages their characters speak.
currently, languages are a bit lame. Everyone for the most part is assumed to be speaking Common and “What languages do you speak” really only comes up if you are reading some ancient elven stone tablet or whatever you know something like that.
This here is the essence of D&D. Do you man. Do you!
It would never work at my table because:
I don't find it interesting.
I see no value in it.
My player's don't either
but..as said, do you. If it's a thing you want to fix, I'm sure you'll come up with something cool!
i second pan's 'what's the point'? it doesn't add/remove much from the game unless you're in a heavy roleplay or political scenario. its like visiting a foreign country - (and barely even then - far away from the tourist traps). you point, use hand signals, etc. ...****y if you really want to deal with that at a table
I could see this being more useful in a campaign set within a particular non-human race. For example if all the characters are Elves and they communicate together in Elvish, but only some of them know common.
In a vacuum, it sounds fun, but it’ll definitely be annoying for the DM and other players, constantly pushing your character into a spotlight while hamstringing your ability to roleplay. I just don’t think it’d be fun in practice. Maybe for a kooky one-shot, but in a campaign, it’d get old fast.
Player A cannot speak Common. Everyone else can. DM has an NPC do a narrative of say, 3 minutes, setting up a plot point. Player A has to step away from the table while this is happening, since they can't know what is being said. Now Player B, who knows Common and a language that player A knows, has to also step away from the table, and relay what was said to player A. Because otherwise, other players may chime in and correct any mistakes made by player B when relaying information to player A. Everyone else twiddles their thumbs while this happens.
Now imagine what happens if the NPC actually engages in conversation with the group, as opposed to a one-way narrative.
currently, languages are a bit lame. Everyone for the most part is assumed to be speaking Common and “What languages do you speak” really only comes up if you are reading some ancient elven stone tablet or whatever you know something like that.
It doesn't have to be that way. Just because there's a lingua franca for convenience doesn't mean that it's the main language everywhere. Non-humans typically speak their own language whenever they can, and humans can have various languages by nation or region - and those non-humans can have dialects or regional languages as well. Thieves have their Cant, Druids have their own secret language - whatever organisation you want to be difficult to interact with could have come up with something similar too.
Common basically exists so there isn't a potential language problem in every single campaign, but if you want there to be one in yours it's really easy to come up with a plausible reason to introduce an issue.
This is a good point. I guess at the end of the day it is up to the DM to determine how much they want to emphasize non humans and secretive organizations sticking to their native language, and their attitude towards non speakers.
One of the problems I have with languages in D&D is how they generally promote meta gaming. Especially the more exotic ones like celestial or primordial.
Unless I had prior information about the campaign why would I waste a language pick on something like Deep Speech? Isn’t Elven or Dwarvish a much safer pick? However if I was meta gaming and knew the DM was running a Far Realms adventure Deep Speech would be great.
One of the problems I have with languages in D&D is how they generally promote meta gaming. Especially the more exotic ones like celestial or primordial.
Unless I had prior information about the campaign why would I waste a language pick on something like Deep Speech? Isn’t Elven or Dwarvish a much safer pick? However if I was meta gaming and knew the DM was running a Far Realms adventure Deep Speech would be great.
I'm not sure that's a problem. I don't tell my players the exact campaign we're going to play, but I do give them some basic info so their characters will have some relevant abilities (it's not like otherwise everybody will always the exact same skills, right?) and languages, particularly rare ones, can be part of that. I typically change the more exotic languages of retrieved tomes or hidden runes to something one of the players knows if that's at all plausible as well. "Nobody speaks Celestial? I guess you won't know what this inscription outside the hidden temple says unless you copy it and trek back to town for three weeks first" is kind of a pointless thing to do to the players in most cases if it's just a random thing. If I want the players to not be able to read something, I can just make it so. Otherwise, why not let them have it?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
One of the problems I have with languages in D&D is how they generally promote meta gaming. Especially the more exotic ones like celestial or primordial.
Unless I had prior information about the campaign why would I waste a language pick on something like Deep Speech? Isn’t Elven or Dwarvish a much safer pick? However if I was meta gaming and knew the DM was running a Far Realms adventure Deep Speech would be great.
If making sure that everyone could speak a specific exotic language were really important for a campaign, I'd let the PCs learn it as a downtime learning thing. Otherwise, I'd just let them rely on Comprehend Languages and similar magic.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
If you wish to make common less impactful, consider giving real world restrictions on it's use:
For example - no words with 3 or more syllables are permitted in common. So it's a language that lets players converse but they have to be careful. You can also consider it being only usable with 1 syllable words to place even more significance on other languages:
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
So with the release of Tasha’s one of the new rules is that players are free to exchange their race’s languages for any other languages they want.
Meaning, theoretically you could make a character that doesn’t speak Common. Has anyone attempted this? How did it go? Would this be functional or playable in any way?
It depends on the situation.
What else do you speak, and do other party members speak it? For example, if you play a human who for some reason speaks only elven and dwarvish, but you have a party full of elves and dwarves, then it's probably not a HUGE issue, although it's possible sometimes only half the party would understand you. My experience with this is that it is fun to RP the translation a few times and then it gets old.
Then there is the issue of the world. Do most people speak common exclusively? If so, then you are going to have to get party members to translate everything all the time. Again, fun the first session or two, then it gets old really fast.
I'd say, depending on the situation, it is possible, and could be done just fine, but I suspect that it would get old after a while.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
I'd say if your player is very skilled at portraying their character, go for it. It could make for a great deal of fun with pantomimes, facial expressions, body language, that sort of thing. You might even be able to play around with forms of sign language as a fun thing to do.
HOWEVER, I can TOTALLY see this one being abused by player who really doesn't want to invest anything into their character and just runs with the whole "emo silent type" trope.
I played a mute character once. It had it's moments, but I wouldn't recommend it for anything more than a very short campaign. And this is arguably a bigger pain in the ass. It's playable and functional but I don't think it'll be much fun unless the DM handwaives it a lot of the time and if that's the case, what's the point really? If you want to play something along those lines, maybe keep Common but make your character a novice speaker with a terrible accident who misunderstands people all the time (possibly deliberately in some cases) and regularly uses the wrong word or expression.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I have a Grung character that took the Archeologist background. The party knows that Grung don’t speak common but my little monk gained it from the background. We were level 4 before he trusted the group to let them in on the secret. He would cock his head when someone would ask him something.
You know, I think I might run a 1 shot or short 2-3 shot where Common is banned, or just simply doesn’t exist in the game world.
I would be interesting... Players and NPCs would need to share a particular language just to converse. You can bet players would be paying WAY more attention to what languages their characters speak.
currently, languages are a bit lame. Everyone for the most part is assumed to be speaking Common and “What languages do you speak” really only comes up if you are reading some ancient elven stone tablet or whatever you know something like that.
It doesn't have to be that way. Just because there's a lingua franca for convenience doesn't mean that it's the main language everywhere. Non-humans typically speak their own language whenever they can, and humans can have various languages by nation or region - and those non-humans can have dialects or regional languages as well. Thieves have their Cant, Druids have their own secret language - whatever organisation you want to be difficult to interact with could have come up with something similar too.
Common basically exists so there isn't a potential language problem in every single campaign, but if you want there to be one in yours it's really easy to come up with a plausible reason to introduce an issue.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I cannot fathom how any player, or DM, or group of fellow players, would find it in any way "cool" to have a char in the group that can't speak the language named for what it is: "Common". Why do people throw barriers up like this? It adds nothing to a gaming session.
Anyone tried that at my table, or the other 2 tables I play at, and the players and DM's would laugh that player right off the table.
This here is the essence of D&D. Do you man. Do you!
It would never work at my table because:
but..as said, do you. If it's a thing you want to fix, I'm sure you'll come up with something cool!
All things Lich - DM tips, tricks, and other creative shenanigans
i second pan's 'what's the point'? it doesn't add/remove much from the game unless you're in a heavy roleplay or political scenario. its like visiting a foreign country - (and barely even then - far away from the tourist traps). you point, use hand signals, etc. ...****y if you really want to deal with that at a table
Guide to the Five Factions (PWYW)
Deck of Decks
I could see this being more useful in a campaign set within a particular non-human race. For example if all the characters are Elves and they communicate together in Elvish, but only some of them know common.
In a vacuum, it sounds fun, but it’ll definitely be annoying for the DM and other players, constantly pushing your character into a spotlight while hamstringing your ability to roleplay. I just don’t think it’d be fun in practice. Maybe for a kooky one-shot, but in a campaign, it’d get old fast.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Imagine this scenario:
Player A cannot speak Common. Everyone else can. DM has an NPC do a narrative of say, 3 minutes, setting up a plot point. Player A has to step away from the table while this is happening, since they can't know what is being said. Now Player B, who knows Common and a language that player A knows, has to also step away from the table, and relay what was said to player A. Because otherwise, other players may chime in and correct any mistakes made by player B when relaying information to player A. Everyone else twiddles their thumbs while this happens.
Now imagine what happens if the NPC actually engages in conversation with the group, as opposed to a one-way narrative.
No, just no. This is a terrible idea.
This is a good point. I guess at the end of the day it is up to the DM to determine how much they want to emphasize non humans and secretive organizations sticking to their native language, and their attitude towards non speakers.
Thanks for the reply.
One of the problems I have with languages in D&D is how they generally promote meta gaming. Especially the more exotic ones like celestial or primordial.
Unless I had prior information about the campaign why would I waste a language pick on something like Deep Speech? Isn’t Elven or Dwarvish a much safer pick? However if I was meta gaming and knew the DM was running a Far Realms adventure Deep Speech would be great.
I'm not sure that's a problem. I don't tell my players the exact campaign we're going to play, but I do give them some basic info so their characters will have some relevant abilities (it's not like otherwise everybody will always the exact same skills, right?) and languages, particularly rare ones, can be part of that. I typically change the more exotic languages of retrieved tomes or hidden runes to something one of the players knows if that's at all plausible as well. "Nobody speaks Celestial? I guess you won't know what this inscription outside the hidden temple says unless you copy it and trek back to town for three weeks first" is kind of a pointless thing to do to the players in most cases if it's just a random thing. If I want the players to not be able to read something, I can just make it so. Otherwise, why not let them have it?
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
If making sure that everyone could speak a specific exotic language were really important for a campaign, I'd let the PCs learn it as a downtime learning thing. Otherwise, I'd just let them rely on Comprehend Languages and similar magic.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
If you wish to make common less impactful, consider giving real world restrictions on it's use:
For example - no words with 3 or more syllables are permitted in common. So it's a language that lets players converse but they have to be careful. You can also consider it being only usable with 1 syllable words to place even more significance on other languages: