OK according to this training takes 250 days and 1 gp per day to learn a new language, but above that the sentences states that the DM determines the length of time it takes. SO if my DM says it only takes 100 days and 1 gp per day, then I can go by what my DM says and not the book?
OK according to this training takes 250 days and 1 gp per day to learn a new language, but above that the sentences states that the DM determines the length of time it takes. SO if my DM says it only takes 100 days and 1 gp per day, then I can go by what my DM says and not the book?
In every instance of anything, you go by what your DM says and not the book, if they don't say the same thing. But, in this instance, the thing that the DM determines the length of is not the training itself but the finding of an instructor. The entire paragraph says: "First, you must find an instructor willing to teach you. The DM determines how long it takes, and whether one or more ability checks are required."
You can always use a Magic Mouth that repeats phrases for you to learn. Some try it when they sleep. In my experience, they end up knowing phrases to say but have no understanding of the response.
You also have to be careful with such learn-in-3-days techniques. Some tricksters have been known to replace "Tell the chef that the food it very good" with a phrase that suggests something obscene about the chef's parentage. There was a book that translated everything from another language into something obscene - apparently written by someone trying to start a war.*
(*Monty Python reference.)
As for players teaching players, that's up to the DM to determine how it is done and the quality of education. If it were me (and it's not), I'd have several checks over time - possibly a concerted check between teacher and student with both successes achieving faster learning than if only one of the succeeded - and each success increases the level of understanding of the new language but at Disadvantage for exotic languages and secondary languages not specific to the race.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
OK according to this training takes 250 days and 1 gp per day to learn a new language, but above that the sentences states that the DM determines the length of time it takes. SO if my DM says it only takes 100 days and 1 gp per day, then I can go by what my DM says and not the book?
That is referring to how long it takes to find an instructor, the actual training takes 250 days. But a DM can house rule however they want.
The DM could always drop an adventure hook with rumors of Libram of Tongues which when read allows the reader to become fluent in one language. Of course it’s part of a Red Dragon’s horde.
Just spitballing alternatives to just following the rules.
The DM could always drop an adventure hook with rumors of Libram of Tongues which when read allows the reader to become fluent in one language. Of course it’s part of a Red Dragon’s horde.
Just spitballing alternatives to just following the rules.
That could be a really useful idea for a DM not a player.
If your DM uses the Xanathar's Downtime rules the training time is cut considerably. 10 weeks, reduced by a number of weeks equal to the PCs INT modifier.
In my previous campaign the DM was fairly loose on letting people learn new languages. The system was fairly simple... one character could spend a few hours once per day to train another character in their language. For that time the student rolls a d20 (no modifiers). The student adds up each roll until they reach 200, and at that point they're not proficient in the new language.
Not the most balanced... it worked well in our campaign because the campaign was pretty RP-focused, so in downtime we would often focus on character interaction instead of just trying to maximize their known languages. Most characters only learned one additional language by the end of the game, and it was mostly limited to what would make sense for characterization.
Back in the day (2e) characters were expected to learn new things all the time. I remember one of my characters, an Arcane Magic User (what they used to call Wizards) sitting around the campfire in the evenings with my buddy’s Elf (that was actually a Class back then). The Elf spent most of a year teaching my character Elven a little bit at a time every evening.
Other than feats or magical means is there a way to increase the number of languages I can learn?
I mean as a rogue/thief it would be to my advantage to know as many languages as I can.
(In the real world id be able to study and learn a language, not sure how this works in the land of make believe.)
Yep. Check downtime:
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/phb/adventuring#Training
OK according to this training takes 250 days and 1 gp per day to learn a new language, but above that the sentences states that the DM determines the length of time it takes. SO if my DM says it only takes 100 days and 1 gp per day, then I can go by what my DM says and not the book?
In every instance of anything, you go by what your DM says and not the book, if they don't say the same thing. But, in this instance, the thing that the DM determines the length of is not the training itself but the finding of an instructor. The entire paragraph says: "First, you must find an instructor willing to teach you. The DM determines how long it takes, and whether one or more ability checks are required."
You can always use a Magic Mouth that repeats phrases for you to learn. Some try it when they sleep. In my experience, they end up knowing phrases to say but have no understanding of the response.
You also have to be careful with such learn-in-3-days techniques. Some tricksters have been known to replace "Tell the chef that the food it very good" with a phrase that suggests something obscene about the chef's parentage. There was a book that translated everything from another language into something obscene - apparently written by someone trying to start a war.*
(*Monty Python reference.)
As for players teaching players, that's up to the DM to determine how it is done and the quality of education. If it were me (and it's not), I'd have several checks over time - possibly a concerted check between teacher and student with both successes achieving faster learning than if only one of the succeeded - and each success increases the level of understanding of the new language but at Disadvantage for exotic languages and secondary languages not specific to the race.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
That is referring to how long it takes to find an instructor, the actual training takes 250 days. But a DM can house rule however they want.
The DM could always drop an adventure hook with rumors of Libram of Tongues which when read allows the reader to become fluent in one language. Of course it’s part of a Red Dragon’s horde.
Just spitballing alternatives to just following the rules.
That could be a really useful idea for a DM not a player.
Rules are specifically this forum's purpose.
If your DM uses the Xanathar's Downtime rules the training time is cut considerably. 10 weeks, reduced by a number of weeks equal to the PCs INT modifier.
In my previous campaign the DM was fairly loose on letting people learn new languages. The system was fairly simple... one character could spend a few hours once per day to train another character in their language. For that time the student rolls a d20 (no modifiers). The student adds up each roll until they reach 200, and at that point they're not proficient in the new language.
Not the most balanced... it worked well in our campaign because the campaign was pretty RP-focused, so in downtime we would often focus on character interaction instead of just trying to maximize their known languages. Most characters only learned one additional language by the end of the game, and it was mostly limited to what would make sense for characterization.
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Back in the day (2e) characters were expected to learn new things all the time. I remember one of my characters, an Arcane Magic User (what they used to call Wizards) sitting around the campfire in the evenings with my buddy’s Elf (that was actually a Class back then). The Elf spent most of a year teaching my character Elven a little bit at a time every evening.
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