Hey everyone. In an attempt to avoid doing my actual D&D prep work, I've wasted my morning writing a summary page of all the main languages in D&D. I basically wanted to create a single document that gives a brief outline of all the languages, in what they look and sound like, so that when my players encounter languages they don't speak, I can give them a rough summary of what the language is like. Figured I'd share it for other people to use as well.
Scripts
Different languages are written in different scripts, dependant primarily on the tools used to write them;
Brush Script - Written using paintbrushes
Chisel Script - Written using chisels, stamps, and other tools, typically into stone
Claw Script - Written with sharp claws or tools
Pen Script - Written with a simple writing tool like a pen or quill
Unique - Written in a fashion unique to this language
Aarakocra
Script: Claw
Summary: Aarakocra is a language for the birds, and can be extremely difficult for a non-beaked creature to reproduce.
Sounds: The language is notable in the fact that it has many ways of saying the same thing, depending on the speakers mood. The same thought can be expressed in a loud, shrill tone, or a delightful tune of birdcalls.
Appearance: Aarakocra is probably the most elaborate of all the Claw-script languages, due to the increased dexterity of Aarakocran talons over other types of claws.
Abyssal/Infernal
Script: Claw
Summary: Aybssal and Infernal are the languages of demons, devils, and monsters. Anyone who speaks either must have some amount of magical ability, as they are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to create some of the noises in the language with normal humanoid vocal cords.
The two languages are essentially differing dialects of the same language, but over the millennia, have divided enough that knowing one doesn't allow someone to understand the other.
Sounds: Infernal is a high-pitched language, constructed out of a series if clicks, cracking noises, and sounds reminiscent of the shattering of glass. It can sometimes be painful to listen to.
Appearance: Infernal and Abyssal distinguish themselves from other Claw-Script languages in that the depth of the clawmarks comes into play. The written languages feature a great deal of dots - created by stabbing a claw into the thing being written upon, rather than just scratching - and the size of the dots relative to one another changes their meaning.
Aquan
Script: Unique
Summary: Aquan is a language developed entirely within water; the vibrations of speech carry much faster and further through water than through air. However, most humanoids don't have ears designed to perceive sound clearly in water, meaning that understanding Aquan can be almost impossible without some sort of tool or magical device to help translation.
Sounds: Within water, Aquan is usually a soothing, beautiful sound, even for those who can't understand it or perceive it fully. It sounds like whalesong, and even a furious Aquan speaker would sound more like a deep, baritone singer than a shouting person. However, without water to carry the sound properly, Aquan can sound like a very disturbing gurgling noise, almost like a person being strangled or choking. Even two people who both speak Aquan, if communicating out of water, would struggle to understand each other.
Appearance: Aquan doesn't have a written language in the traditional sense. Instead, Aquan singers with sufficient magic ability can convey information and meaning via sculpting three-dimensional shapes from bubbles. These shapes look almost like sculptures, and attempting to reduce them into a two-dimensional, printable form robs them of a great deal of meaning.
Auran
Script: Unique
Summary: Auran is a unique language, in that it doesn't require vocal cords to speak, only a set of lungs (or other air-moving apparatus).
Sounds: Auran is spoken via the inhaling or exhaling of air, and as such can sound like anything from a gentle sigh to a savage hurricane. All meaning is conveyed by the speed, intensity, and amount of air being inhaled or exhaled. An extended conversation in Auran could easily cause a normal humanoid to exhaust their lungs, faint, and potentially even asphyxiate themselves. It is very common for people learning Auran to think that they can hear secret messages in the blowing of the wind.
Appearance: Auran has no written form, but it is possible to make 'recordings' of Auran speech via a complex machine made up of bellows, airbags, and other such devices.
Celestial
Script: Brush
Summary: The language of the Celestials can be both beautiful and disturbing. The way of structuring words and sentences was developed minds wholly different from typical humanoids, which can make the language appear extremely chaotic and impossible to follow.
Sounds: Celestial is an inherently magical language, and those who can speak it seem to erupt with all the volume of a choir when they do.
Appearance: All the characters of the celestial text can be seen in the nights sky - each character resembles a different constellation, and is made up of a series of dots that represent the stars, and lines connecting them to form the shapes.
Common
Script: Pen
Summary: Common is, as the name suggests, the most commonly spoken language in the world. It was a language formed by the fusion of many cultures all slowly combining together over centuries.
Sounds: Common is heavily impacted by the other languages that the speaker knows, taking on elements of those languages. For example, a speaker who also knows elvish will speak in a more sing-song fashion, while a speaker who also knows gnomish will speak so quickly that it can still resemble the gnomish language, and be difficult to understand.
Appearance: Common writing is unique in that it was the only script that had some amount of conscious design behind it, as opposed to developing naturally over centuries, as with other languages. Its characters are simple, and constructed entirely of straight lines and right-angles, making it easy to write in, no matter what tool is being used.
Deep Speech
Script: Brush
Summary: Deep Speech not a singular language, but an umbrella term referring to the methods of communication aberrations use. Beholders, Mindflayers, Nothics, Slaadi, and Aboleths do not necessarily speak the same languages, but a person studying Deep Speech would need to understand all of them - and most likely go mad in the process.
Sounds: The sound of Deep Speech varies from creature to creature, but can usually be identified by the presence of noises that most vocal cords couldn't realistically produce; Vibrations, creaking wood, the dripping of water, etc..
Appearance: Some aberrations have their own written words, but the core concepts of Deep Speech - as perceived by those who study it - are expressed in a manner similar to elvish, with elaborate brushwork requiring a great deal of skill.
Draconic
Script: Claw
Summary: Draconic is the language of Dragons, Dragonborn, Kobold, and other related creatures. It is thought to be one of the oldest languages, and is often used in the study of magic.
Sounds: The language sounds harsh to most other creatures, and includes numerous hard consonants and sibilants.
Appearance: Draconic is written via the claw, and as such, the characters look like scratch marks.
Druidic
Summary: Druidic is the secret language of Druids, and is not a full language in the traditional sense. Instead, it is a way for druids to communicate with one-another, or the spirits of nature that surround them. It can be expressed in many ways - an arrangement of twigs in the nock of a cave where they won't be disturbed, or growing mushrooms in a particular pattern, or a sequence of symbols designed to give warning of the surrounding area, such as a 'danger ahead' sign near the den of a cave bear.
Dwarvish
Script: Chisel
Summary: The language of the dwarves.
Sounds: Dwarvish is full of hard consonants and guttural sounds. It sounds best when spoken by those with deep, booming voices, as to be heard over the loud noises of stoneworking, as well as over great distances.
Appearance: Dwarvish looks quite blocky, as the primary method of writing for dwarves is into stone, using elaborate chisels and stamps.
Elvish
Script: Brush
Summary: Elvish is a complex language, with a great deal of subtlety and intricate grammar. It is very easy to say the wrong thing just by putting emphasis on the wrong syllable in a word. It is a common language among bards.
Sounds: Elvish sounds very lyrical, and due to the importance of how each syllable is emphasised, it often sounds like people are singing when they speak.
Appearance: Elvish characters are traditionally written with a paintbrush-like tool, making the characters elaborate, rounded, and loopy.
Giant/Jotun
Script: Chisel
Summary: Jotun is a bizarre language - it is possible to convey deep intellectual meaning with it, but difficult to have casual conversation. As such, the written language is far more elaborate than the spoken language.
Sounds: Due to the nature of giants, Jotun can only really be spoken at a shout, and in a deep, booming voice. For this reason, many humanoid races struggle to speak it with any level of clarity. Prolonged conversation with a giant can cause hearing loss.
Appearance: The written language of the giants is a beautiful thing to behind - constructed by a series of elaborate rune-stamps that giants can pound into stone with great strength and precision. There is a huge variety of runes, and owning a complete set of all the characters is a significant feat in itself.
Gith
Script: Claw
Summary: The Gith language has two distinct dialects; one for the Githyanki, and one for the Githzerai. Being familiar with one of them means a person can generally decipher the other.
Sounds: The spoken language of the Gith is a bizarre, rough one, and comes across as a far more organised, understandable version of Deep Speech. It contains none of the unspeakable noises of Deep Speech, but learning how to pronounce all the strange, screeching sounds correctly requires some intense vocal training.
Appearance: The written word if the Gith is quite unique in appearance. Each sentence is written in a circular shape, resulting in a page full of circles that can be a little difficult to read for an untrained person.
Gnoll
Script: Claw
Summary: The sounds of gnoll can be extremely intimidating, and to the untrained ear, it is indistinguishable from the wordless roars and growls of savage beasts.
Sounds: The trademark cackling of the gnoll is omnipresent within their spoken language, so much so that a group of gnoll having a conversation sounds remarkably like a group of people in riotous laughter. The way a speaker pitches their cackling is essential to conveying meaning, and it is very easy to end up speaking complete gibberish upon occasion.
Appearance: Gnollish didn't form a written language of its own, and has borrowed heavily from other Claw-script languages - most notably, draconic.
Gnomish
Script: Chisel
Summary: Gnomish language developed alongside dwarvish, though segued into its own complex language as gnomes became more technically minded.
Sounds: Gnomish is a less guttural, more chittery language, and is spoken a great deal faster than dwarvish and most other languages.
Appearance: Gnomish writing is designed to convey a great deal of information in a short space. The language contains thousands of characters that interlink with each other, making a gnomish text look almost like a blueprint.
Goblin
Script: Claw
Summary: Goblin is the language spoken by all Goblinoids (Goblins, hobgoblins, bugbear, etc.).
Sounds: Goblin is a very throat-heavy language, with a great deal of hissing noises. It can be very difficult to understand, especially as it is generally spoken at very low volumes, and is easily covered up by other noises in the surrounding area.
Appearance: Goblin script is probably the simplest of all the written languages, constructed of very simple scratches. It is hard to express any real depth of meaning in the written word, and most goblins will opt to write in common instead.
Halfling
Script: Pen
Summary: Traditional Halfling culture is built very heavily around folklore and storytelling. However, they believe that the performance of a story is essential to conveying its meaning. This has resulted in a very elaborate spoken language, contrasted with a somewhat crude written language.
Sounds: Halfling is a perfect language for storytelling, filled with soft sounds and a structure that allows the speaker to talk endlessly without tiring.
Appearance: Halfling writing, though normally done with a pen, actually closer resembles Claw script, earning it the nickname 'Chicken Scratch'.
Ignan
Script: Unique
Summary: The Ignan language is the very sound of fire, and fire is necessary in order to communicate with it. For those not born with the natural ability, it is near-impossible to perceive or speak it, and many have accidentally incinerated themselves in their attempts to master it.
Sounds: Ignan is the language of fire, and as such, it ranges in intensity as much as fire. From the imperceptible hiss of a single burning candle, to the deafening roar or a towering inferno. For those who can understand it, speech in Ignan doesn't sound like a single person talking, but rather a huge crowd all shouting the same thing at the same time.
Appearance: There is no written Ignan language, but an arcane master of sufficient skill could examine the scorch marks left behind by a fire and deduce whether they were created by natural fire, or by a conversation between two Ignan speakers.
Orcish
Script: Brush
Summary: Orcish is as much a visual language as it is a audible one. The bodily gestures of the speaker are important to understanding the context and meaning of their words.
Sounds: Orcish is a loud, forceful language, with many of its speakers insisting that it only sounds correct if you are yelling it at the top of your lungs.
Appearance: Orcish is written with a brush, and many of its characters resemble the shapes of veins.
Primordial
Script: Unique
Summary: Primordial is the oldest language, so old that it cannot be separated out from the reality that it engulfs. The languages of the elementals (Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran) are all dialects of Primordial, and anyone who speaks Primordial can understand all of them.
Sounds: Primordial is the sound of a wave hitting the shore, of wind blowing through a valley, of mountains raising and falling, and of the sun burning its way through the sky.
Appearance: Primordial has no script - it is older than the concept of writing - but it can be seen in the way that the sun shines through clouds, or the way grass moves in the wind.
Sylvan
Script: Brush
Summary: The Sylvan language is a beautiful one, though entirely unpronounceable for anyone with regular vocal cords. The entire language is like music played on a string instrument.
Sounds: True Sylvan sounds like the music of a harp, or similar string instrument, being played by a master. However, as humanoids can't produce these sounds naturally, the fey have developed a version of their language that can be performed via whistling, instead. The result is a language that sounds halfway between Auran and Aarakocran.
Appearance: The language of they fey is largely hieroglyphic in nature, with characters that resemble images of flowers, trees, snowflakes, and other symbols of nature.
Terran
Script: Unique
Summary: Sound travels fastest through solid objects, and as such, Terran is potentially the loudest of all the languages. Deep, booming rumbling travelling through the very mantle of the planet can be interpreted as speech to those trained in the subtle and complex art of Terran speech.
Sounds: Terran is the sound of the earth rumbling, and of stone scraping against stone.
Appearance: Terran has no written language, but its knowledge can be stored in the form of magnetism. A rock charged with the energy of a Terran speaker can reveal hidden messages when held by another.
Thieves Cant
Summary: Thieves cant is not a language in-and-of-itself, but can be spoken in any language. It is a way of communicating hidden messages in seemingly innocent words, gestures, actions, etc.. The more familiar the speakers are with one another, the more intricate and elaborate the language becomes between them. Everything about the language is situational, making it extremely difficult to decode.
For example, two people speaking in thieves cant may be having a casual conversation about the weather that is actually code for a planned heist - The temperature would indicate the planned time, the expected rainfall would mean the amount of resistance expected, any mention of foggy weather would indicate the presence of magic, and so on.
Oh my gosh!! This is exactly what I've been looking for! Everywhere I go people keep comparing dnd languages to real world languages which is cool but doesn't describe how it could sound and be more fantastical. I wish this was official because what dnd currently supplies for languages is really disappointing. Only describes a language in 5 words in the some race sections :(
I will definitely be using this in my campaign and for other world building projects ^^
this is 100% awesome. a thing I started in my camapignes is to make a language web showing how all the different languages are related (ex. someone who speaks Sylvan can make an intelligence check to see if they can understand goblin because those are related) and this was super helpful
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Alignment: Lawful Evil
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Hey everyone. In an attempt to avoid doing my actual D&D prep work, I've wasted my morning writing a summary page of all the main languages in D&D. I basically wanted to create a single document that gives a brief outline of all the languages, in what they look and sound like, so that when my players encounter languages they don't speak, I can give them a rough summary of what the language is like. Figured I'd share it for other people to use as well.
Scripts
Different languages are written in different scripts, dependant primarily on the tools used to write them;
Aarakocra
Script: Claw
Summary: Aarakocra is a language for the birds, and can be extremely difficult for a non-beaked creature to reproduce.
Sounds: The language is notable in the fact that it has many ways of saying the same thing, depending on the speakers mood. The same thought can be expressed in a loud, shrill tone, or a delightful tune of birdcalls.
Appearance: Aarakocra is probably the most elaborate of all the Claw-script languages, due to the increased dexterity of Aarakocran talons over other types of claws.
Abyssal/Infernal
Script: Claw
Summary: Aybssal and Infernal are the languages of demons, devils, and monsters. Anyone who speaks either must have some amount of magical ability, as they are extremely difficult, if not impossible, to create some of the noises in the language with normal humanoid vocal cords.
The two languages are essentially differing dialects of the same language, but over the millennia, have divided enough that knowing one doesn't allow someone to understand the other.
Sounds: Infernal is a high-pitched language, constructed out of a series if clicks, cracking noises, and sounds reminiscent of the shattering of glass. It can sometimes be painful to listen to.
Appearance: Infernal and Abyssal distinguish themselves from other Claw-Script languages in that the depth of the clawmarks comes into play. The written languages feature a great deal of dots - created by stabbing a claw into the thing being written upon, rather than just scratching - and the size of the dots relative to one another changes their meaning.
Aquan
Script: Unique
Summary: Aquan is a language developed entirely within water; the vibrations of speech carry much faster and further through water than through air. However, most humanoids don't have ears designed to perceive sound clearly in water, meaning that understanding Aquan can be almost impossible without some sort of tool or magical device to help translation.
Sounds: Within water, Aquan is usually a soothing, beautiful sound, even for those who can't understand it or perceive it fully. It sounds like whalesong, and even a furious Aquan speaker would sound more like a deep, baritone singer than a shouting person. However, without water to carry the sound properly, Aquan can sound like a very disturbing gurgling noise, almost like a person being strangled or choking. Even two people who both speak Aquan, if communicating out of water, would struggle to understand each other.
Appearance: Aquan doesn't have a written language in the traditional sense. Instead, Aquan singers with sufficient magic ability can convey information and meaning via sculpting three-dimensional shapes from bubbles. These shapes look almost like sculptures, and attempting to reduce them into a two-dimensional, printable form robs them of a great deal of meaning.
Auran
Script: Unique
Summary: Auran is a unique language, in that it doesn't require vocal cords to speak, only a set of lungs (or other air-moving apparatus).
Sounds: Auran is spoken via the inhaling or exhaling of air, and as such can sound like anything from a gentle sigh to a savage hurricane. All meaning is conveyed by the speed, intensity, and amount of air being inhaled or exhaled. An extended conversation in Auran could easily cause a normal humanoid to exhaust their lungs, faint, and potentially even asphyxiate themselves. It is very common for people learning Auran to think that they can hear secret messages in the blowing of the wind.
Appearance: Auran has no written form, but it is possible to make 'recordings' of Auran speech via a complex machine made up of bellows, airbags, and other such devices.
Celestial
Script: Brush
Summary: The language of the Celestials can be both beautiful and disturbing. The way of structuring words and sentences was developed minds wholly different from typical humanoids, which can make the language appear extremely chaotic and impossible to follow.
Sounds: Celestial is an inherently magical language, and those who can speak it seem to erupt with all the volume of a choir when they do.
Appearance: All the characters of the celestial text can be seen in the nights sky - each character resembles a different constellation, and is made up of a series of dots that represent the stars, and lines connecting them to form the shapes.
Common
Script: Pen
Summary: Common is, as the name suggests, the most commonly spoken language in the world. It was a language formed by the fusion of many cultures all slowly combining together over centuries.
Sounds: Common is heavily impacted by the other languages that the speaker knows, taking on elements of those languages. For example, a speaker who also knows elvish will speak in a more sing-song fashion, while a speaker who also knows gnomish will speak so quickly that it can still resemble the gnomish language, and be difficult to understand.
Appearance: Common writing is unique in that it was the only script that had some amount of conscious design behind it, as opposed to developing naturally over centuries, as with other languages. Its characters are simple, and constructed entirely of straight lines and right-angles, making it easy to write in, no matter what tool is being used.
Deep Speech
Script: Brush
Summary: Deep Speech not a singular language, but an umbrella term referring to the methods of communication aberrations use. Beholders, Mindflayers, Nothics, Slaadi, and Aboleths do not necessarily speak the same languages, but a person studying Deep Speech would need to understand all of them - and most likely go mad in the process.
Sounds: The sound of Deep Speech varies from creature to creature, but can usually be identified by the presence of noises that most vocal cords couldn't realistically produce; Vibrations, creaking wood, the dripping of water, etc..
Appearance: Some aberrations have their own written words, but the core concepts of Deep Speech - as perceived by those who study it - are expressed in a manner similar to elvish, with elaborate brushwork requiring a great deal of skill.
Draconic
Script: Claw
Summary: Draconic is the language of Dragons, Dragonborn, Kobold, and other related creatures. It is thought to be one of the oldest languages, and is often used in the study of magic.
Sounds: The language sounds harsh to most other creatures, and includes numerous hard consonants and sibilants.
Appearance: Draconic is written via the claw, and as such, the characters look like scratch marks.
Druidic
Summary: Druidic is the secret language of Druids, and is not a full language in the traditional sense. Instead, it is a way for druids to communicate with one-another, or the spirits of nature that surround them. It can be expressed in many ways - an arrangement of twigs in the nock of a cave where they won't be disturbed, or growing mushrooms in a particular pattern, or a sequence of symbols designed to give warning of the surrounding area, such as a 'danger ahead' sign near the den of a cave bear.
Dwarvish
Script: Chisel
Summary: The language of the dwarves.
Sounds: Dwarvish is full of hard consonants and guttural sounds. It sounds best when spoken by those with deep, booming voices, as to be heard over the loud noises of stoneworking, as well as over great distances.
Appearance: Dwarvish looks quite blocky, as the primary method of writing for dwarves is into stone, using elaborate chisels and stamps.
Elvish
Script: Brush
Summary: Elvish is a complex language, with a great deal of subtlety and intricate grammar. It is very easy to say the wrong thing just by putting emphasis on the wrong syllable in a word. It is a common language among bards.
Sounds: Elvish sounds very lyrical, and due to the importance of how each syllable is emphasised, it often sounds like people are singing when they speak.
Appearance: Elvish characters are traditionally written with a paintbrush-like tool, making the characters elaborate, rounded, and loopy.
Giant/Jotun
Script: Chisel
Summary: Jotun is a bizarre language - it is possible to convey deep intellectual meaning with it, but difficult to have casual conversation. As such, the written language is far more elaborate than the spoken language.
Sounds: Due to the nature of giants, Jotun can only really be spoken at a shout, and in a deep, booming voice. For this reason, many humanoid races struggle to speak it with any level of clarity. Prolonged conversation with a giant can cause hearing loss.
Appearance: The written language of the giants is a beautiful thing to behind - constructed by a series of elaborate rune-stamps that giants can pound into stone with great strength and precision. There is a huge variety of runes, and owning a complete set of all the characters is a significant feat in itself.
Gith
Script: Claw
Summary: The Gith language has two distinct dialects; one for the Githyanki, and one for the Githzerai. Being familiar with one of them means a person can generally decipher the other.
Sounds: The spoken language of the Gith is a bizarre, rough one, and comes across as a far more organised, understandable version of Deep Speech. It contains none of the unspeakable noises of Deep Speech, but learning how to pronounce all the strange, screeching sounds correctly requires some intense vocal training.
Appearance: The written word if the Gith is quite unique in appearance. Each sentence is written in a circular shape, resulting in a page full of circles that can be a little difficult to read for an untrained person.
Gnoll
Script: Claw
Summary: The sounds of gnoll can be extremely intimidating, and to the untrained ear, it is indistinguishable from the wordless roars and growls of savage beasts.
Sounds: The trademark cackling of the gnoll is omnipresent within their spoken language, so much so that a group of gnoll having a conversation sounds remarkably like a group of people in riotous laughter. The way a speaker pitches their cackling is essential to conveying meaning, and it is very easy to end up speaking complete gibberish upon occasion.
Appearance: Gnollish didn't form a written language of its own, and has borrowed heavily from other Claw-script languages - most notably, draconic.
Gnomish
Script: Chisel
Summary: Gnomish language developed alongside dwarvish, though segued into its own complex language as gnomes became more technically minded.
Sounds: Gnomish is a less guttural, more chittery language, and is spoken a great deal faster than dwarvish and most other languages.
Appearance: Gnomish writing is designed to convey a great deal of information in a short space. The language contains thousands of characters that interlink with each other, making a gnomish text look almost like a blueprint.
Goblin
Script: Claw
Summary: Goblin is the language spoken by all Goblinoids (Goblins, hobgoblins, bugbear, etc.).
Sounds: Goblin is a very throat-heavy language, with a great deal of hissing noises. It can be very difficult to understand, especially as it is generally spoken at very low volumes, and is easily covered up by other noises in the surrounding area.
Appearance: Goblin script is probably the simplest of all the written languages, constructed of very simple scratches. It is hard to express any real depth of meaning in the written word, and most goblins will opt to write in common instead.
Halfling
Script: Pen
Summary: Traditional Halfling culture is built very heavily around folklore and storytelling. However, they believe that the performance of a story is essential to conveying its meaning. This has resulted in a very elaborate spoken language, contrasted with a somewhat crude written language.
Sounds: Halfling is a perfect language for storytelling, filled with soft sounds and a structure that allows the speaker to talk endlessly without tiring.
Appearance: Halfling writing, though normally done with a pen, actually closer resembles Claw script, earning it the nickname 'Chicken Scratch'.
Ignan
Script: Unique
Summary: The Ignan language is the very sound of fire, and fire is necessary in order to communicate with it. For those not born with the natural ability, it is near-impossible to perceive or speak it, and many have accidentally incinerated themselves in their attempts to master it.
Sounds: Ignan is the language of fire, and as such, it ranges in intensity as much as fire. From the imperceptible hiss of a single burning candle, to the deafening roar or a towering inferno. For those who can understand it, speech in Ignan doesn't sound like a single person talking, but rather a huge crowd all shouting the same thing at the same time.
Appearance: There is no written Ignan language, but an arcane master of sufficient skill could examine the scorch marks left behind by a fire and deduce whether they were created by natural fire, or by a conversation between two Ignan speakers.
Orcish
Script: Brush
Summary: Orcish is as much a visual language as it is a audible one. The bodily gestures of the speaker are important to understanding the context and meaning of their words.
Sounds: Orcish is a loud, forceful language, with many of its speakers insisting that it only sounds correct if you are yelling it at the top of your lungs.
Appearance: Orcish is written with a brush, and many of its characters resemble the shapes of veins.
Primordial
Script: Unique
Summary: Primordial is the oldest language, so old that it cannot be separated out from the reality that it engulfs. The languages of the elementals (Aquan, Auran, Ignan, and Terran) are all dialects of Primordial, and anyone who speaks Primordial can understand all of them.
Sounds: Primordial is the sound of a wave hitting the shore, of wind blowing through a valley, of mountains raising and falling, and of the sun burning its way through the sky.
Appearance: Primordial has no script - it is older than the concept of writing - but it can be seen in the way that the sun shines through clouds, or the way grass moves in the wind.
Sylvan
Script: Brush
Summary: The Sylvan language is a beautiful one, though entirely unpronounceable for anyone with regular vocal cords. The entire language is like music played on a string instrument.
Sounds: True Sylvan sounds like the music of a harp, or similar string instrument, being played by a master. However, as humanoids can't produce these sounds naturally, the fey have developed a version of their language that can be performed via whistling, instead. The result is a language that sounds halfway between Auran and Aarakocran.
Appearance: The language of they fey is largely hieroglyphic in nature, with characters that resemble images of flowers, trees, snowflakes, and other symbols of nature.
Terran
Script: Unique
Summary: Sound travels fastest through solid objects, and as such, Terran is potentially the loudest of all the languages. Deep, booming rumbling travelling through the very mantle of the planet can be interpreted as speech to those trained in the subtle and complex art of Terran speech.
Sounds: Terran is the sound of the earth rumbling, and of stone scraping against stone.
Appearance: Terran has no written language, but its knowledge can be stored in the form of magnetism. A rock charged with the energy of a Terran speaker can reveal hidden messages when held by another.
Thieves Cant
Summary: Thieves cant is not a language in-and-of-itself, but can be spoken in any language. It is a way of communicating hidden messages in seemingly innocent words, gestures, actions, etc.. The more familiar the speakers are with one another, the more intricate and elaborate the language becomes between them. Everything about the language is situational, making it extremely difficult to decode.
For example, two people speaking in thieves cant may be having a casual conversation about the weather that is actually code for a planned heist - The temperature would indicate the planned time, the expected rainfall would mean the amount of resistance expected, any mention of foggy weather would indicate the presence of magic, and so on.
| D100 Non-combat Random Encounter Table | Enchantments Galore |
| Pulsing Brazier Magic Trap | Gnome Capsule Machine | Language - A Primer |
woah this is very impressive will most certainly use in the future
Check out my homebrew subclasses spells magic items feats monsters races
i am a sauce priest
help create a world here
Oh my gosh!! This is exactly what I've been looking for! Everywhere I go people keep comparing dnd languages to real world languages which is cool but doesn't describe how it could sound and be more fantastical. I wish this was official because what dnd currently supplies for languages is really disappointing. Only describes a language in 5 words in the some race sections :(
I will definitely be using this in my campaign and for other world building projects ^^
Hope you add more languages in the future ;)
This is so wonderful thank you!!!!
FROM YOUR GRAVE I RAISE YOU!
this is 100% awesome. a thing I started in my camapignes is to make a language web showing how all the different languages are related (ex. someone who speaks Sylvan can make an intelligence check to see if they can understand goblin because those are related) and this was super helpful
Race: Not Human. that's for sure
About Me: Godless monster in human form bent on extending their natural life to unnatural extremes /general of the goose horde /leader of Urat on kingdoms and crowns /holder of the evil storyteller badge of no honor /king of madness /The FBI/ The Archmage of I CAST...!
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Fun Fact: i gain more power the more you post on my forum threads. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
WHERE IS THE GOBLIN OPTION it doesnt appear as an option anywhere during character creation....
THIS IS AMAZING