I posted this in the homebrew forum, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask here too. So here goes...
In my homebrew campaigns I've always ignored Common in favor of regional or national languages. It seems to add a bit more realism doing it that way. Each of my campaign settings has about a dozen or so regional languages.
I do see a problem with doing it this way in Spelljammer. If I don't use a Common language, communicating with people from different worlds will quickly become a problem. I'm not 100% sure how to handle this.
I've thought about allowing Common again, and just calling it "Trade Tongue" or something like it. But that still presents a problem if I want to allow my players to fly to a world that has never been visited by people from other worlds.
I don't think there is an easy way to handle this without being cheesy and keeping Common as the default language everyone knows.
I think you might be overthinking it some - just do what you would on a regular world, albeit where the “regions” are separated by space. For unexplored worlds, just have them speak a language the party does not understand, forcing them to communicate through other means.
Though, personally, given the tone of Spelljammer, I would likely dispose of communication issues entirely and give everyone a Babel fish.
Do you still use racial languages? That can be an entry point, if you allow all, gnomes for example, to speak gnomish no matter where they are in the multiverse. And you could end up with some kind of interesting scenarios where people are both speaking their third language to each other, though I realize there’s no in game distinction there.
Your approach makes a lot more sense :) But it does pose some challenges - which can either become frustrations or great opportunities for RP.
I would suggest tweaking the linguist feat to include a skill to rapidly pick up on commonly used phrases and start developing a sense of a language (rather than giving them 3 languages, perhaps given them 2 and this aspect). This would mean the characters with the feat can establish communication - perhaps with a few intelligence and/or charisma checks in the first encounters. But after a short while, the linguist is able to relay intentions without further checks.
This wouldn't be uncommon to old expenditions on ships where they often carried people with specific language skills (heck even in Star Trek where the communications officer often speak or understand a multitide of languages)
There are obviously also spells like comprehend languages that could help if characters don't want to sink a feat into it. Perhaps it could even have been put into a magical device that can assist wayward travelers :)
An artificer could easily create a Universal Translater based on the Comprehend Languages spell. Problem solved. Even feels kinda thematic for the whole Fantasy Star Trek thing that is Spelljammer.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Languages in D&D have always been something that falls apart if you think about it too hard. There's something to be said for the "It works; don't worry about it" approach.
What I did in my homebrew SJ game is to establish a god who has worshippers among all the intelligent races. Since the god's portfolio includes trade, one of the major duties of their priesthood is to spread the common tongue, in order to make trade easier. Then, by inference, elvish, dwarven, human, etc., are all being spread by their own gods.
This doesn't work as well if you're using established settings, since they may not have room for another god, and the idea of a generally-worshipped god doesn't seem to have much traction in general.
Thanks for all the suggestions. After reading them over, I've decided to keep common, but treat it as janky trade language that can be learned, but doesn't come automatically at character creation, unless you choose it as one of your languages.
I also like the idea of the Gods of Trade pushing their followers to spread the common tongue to make trade more easily.
This way, spells like Comprehend Languages become more useful, are more likely to actually get used at my table.
So I'll have racial languages, regional languages, and the "lingua franca" that is common.
It may not impact your game at all EvilGeniusPrime, but I can see how this piece of information could help: Common in the One D&D playtest is stated to originate at the center of the multiverse and that was spread throughout. I think that is a little convenient, but maybe that is the point.
Oh, interesting! I missed that detail. Is it tied to the First World, then?
City of Sigil, iirc.
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I posted this in the homebrew forum, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask here too. So here goes...
In my homebrew campaigns I've always ignored Common in favor of regional or national languages. It seems to add a bit more realism doing it that way. Each of my campaign settings has about a dozen or so regional languages.
I do see a problem with doing it this way in Spelljammer. If I don't use a Common language, communicating with people from different worlds will quickly become a problem. I'm not 100% sure how to handle this.
I've thought about allowing Common again, and just calling it "Trade Tongue" or something like it. But that still presents a problem if I want to allow my players to fly to a world that has never been visited by people from other worlds.
I don't think there is an easy way to handle this without being cheesy and keeping Common as the default language everyone knows.
Any ideas, my fellow Dungeonmasters?
Dungeonmastering since 1992!
I think you might be overthinking it some - just do what you would on a regular world, albeit where the “regions” are separated by space. For unexplored worlds, just have them speak a language the party does not understand, forcing them to communicate through other means.
Though, personally, given the tone of Spelljammer, I would likely dispose of communication issues entirely and give everyone a Babel fish.
Do you still use racial languages? That can be an entry point, if you allow all, gnomes for example, to speak gnomish no matter where they are in the multiverse.
And you could end up with some kind of interesting scenarios where people are both speaking their third language to each other, though I realize there’s no in game distinction there.
Your approach makes a lot more sense :) But it does pose some challenges - which can either become frustrations or great opportunities for RP.
I would suggest tweaking the linguist feat to include a skill to rapidly pick up on commonly used phrases and start developing a sense of a language (rather than giving them 3 languages, perhaps given them 2 and this aspect). This would mean the characters with the feat can establish communication - perhaps with a few intelligence and/or charisma checks in the first encounters. But after a short while, the linguist is able to relay intentions without further checks.
This wouldn't be uncommon to old expenditions on ships where they often carried people with specific language skills (heck even in Star Trek where the communications officer often speak or understand a multitide of languages)
There are obviously also spells like comprehend languages that could help if characters don't want to sink a feat into it. Perhaps it could even have been put into a magical device that can assist wayward travelers :)
An artificer could easily create a Universal Translater based on the Comprehend Languages spell. Problem solved. Even feels kinda thematic for the whole Fantasy Star Trek thing that is Spelljammer.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
I agree with this! I would require a ridiculous quest to obtain the Babel fish, like in the HHGttG text adventure.
Seriously, such a translator would be a great quest goal, moreso than a McGuffin.
Languages in D&D have always been something that falls apart if you think about it too hard. There's something to be said for the "It works; don't worry about it" approach.
What I did in my homebrew SJ game is to establish a god who has worshippers among all the intelligent races. Since the god's portfolio includes trade, one of the major duties of their priesthood is to spread the common tongue, in order to make trade easier. Then, by inference, elvish, dwarven, human, etc., are all being spread by their own gods.
This doesn't work as well if you're using established settings, since they may not have room for another god, and the idea of a generally-worshipped god doesn't seem to have much traction in general.
Thanks for all the suggestions. After reading them over, I've decided to keep common, but treat it as janky trade language that can be learned, but doesn't come automatically at character creation, unless you choose it as one of your languages.
I also like the idea of the Gods of Trade pushing their followers to spread the common tongue to make trade more easily.
This way, spells like Comprehend Languages become more useful, are more likely to actually get used at my table.
So I'll have racial languages, regional languages, and the "lingua franca" that is common.
Dungeonmastering since 1992!
It does seem a little convenient. LOL! But hey, it's a fantasy game, so I guess anything goes.
Dungeonmastering since 1992!
City of Sigil, iirc.