Hello everyone! There is a character in my 5e campaign that doesn't know how to read. She can speak several languages, but due to her background (she was enslaved most of her life) doesn't have any knowledge on reading or writing in any languages. Another character in the party is trying to teach her how to read and write in Common.
So, my question: how long would this take? She has an Intelligence score of 12 if that helps. I've heard there's a language learning section in Xanathar's Guide, but I wasn't sure if it was different since she already knew how to speak it. Any advice is appreciated!
12 is a pretty good Intelligence score (for an average person anyway) so I would think she has no problems in absorbing new knowledge. In addition, she is being tutored by someone and Common would be a relatively simple language to speak and write. I would say two or three months of study every day, maybe with a weekly Int-check, with every success boosting the learning process.
If she's studying during adventures, it might take four or five months, as she can study only an hour or two during a long rest.
These are just my opinions. If I remember correctly, it would take something like 250 days to learn to speak AND write a new language, but seeing as she already can speak Common fluently, the time to learn to write would be cut down significantly.
Edit: I checked Xanathars guide and on page 134 there was a section called "Training", which states that it only takes ten workweeks and 25 gold per week to learn a new languange, though it assumes that the character can already write and read. As the character in you game cannot do either, I stick to my suggestion.
A friend of mine designed a real-world course to teach people to read and write in the local equivalent of Common: 1-2 lessons per week over about 6 months. Each lesson not more than 3 hours, but there might be homework.
Thank you all! This was super helpful. The players were very excited about teaching this NPC how to read/write as they travel with them, so I really appreciate the advice.
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Hello everyone! There is a character in my 5e campaign that doesn't know how to read. She can speak several languages, but due to her background (she was enslaved most of her life) doesn't have any knowledge on reading or writing in any languages. Another character in the party is trying to teach her how to read and write in Common.
So, my question: how long would this take? She has an Intelligence score of 12 if that helps. I've heard there's a language learning section in Xanathar's Guide, but I wasn't sure if it was different since she already knew how to speak it. Any advice is appreciated!
12 is a pretty good Intelligence score (for an average person anyway) so I would think she has no problems in absorbing new knowledge. In addition, she is being tutored by someone and Common would be a relatively simple language to speak and write. I would say two or three months of study every day, maybe with a weekly Int-check, with every success boosting the learning process.
If she's studying during adventures, it might take four or five months, as she can study only an hour or two during a long rest.
These are just my opinions. If I remember correctly, it would take something like 250 days to learn to speak AND write a new language, but seeing as she already can speak Common fluently, the time to learn to write would be cut down significantly.
Edit: I checked Xanathars guide and on page 134 there was a section called "Training", which states that it only takes ten workweeks and 25 gold per week to learn a new languange, though it assumes that the character can already write and read. As the character in you game cannot do either, I stick to my suggestion.
Treat it as a downtime activity!
A friend of mine designed a real-world course to teach people to read and write in the local equivalent of Common: 1-2 lessons per week over about 6 months. Each lesson not more than 3 hours, but there might be homework.
Thank you all! This was super helpful. The players were very excited about teaching this NPC how to read/write as they travel with them, so I really appreciate the advice.