So Tortles in most images appear to be lip-less and sometimes presented with a beak structure. In "The Tortle Package" some of their suggested names contain the letter 'p' but mostly contain consonants that do not require a "Voiced bilabial stop" see:
Yeah this was definitely a random musing whilst I was coming up with a name...I try to give a character backstory through language use before I think about their actual history (because I'm bad at writing backgrounds) so if nothing else I had some quirk which defines the character culturally or what-have-you if I don't come up with something substantial. Also not wanting to commit to a specific voice for however long because I'm not a (voice) actor of any kind haha.
We don't have the slightest idea what the structure of their larynx is like. Lips might not be necessary for them to make such sounds.
Probably the best explanation aside from just "it's a fantasy, who cares?"
I can't help but just picture them as Ninja Turtles, personally, even though that's not at all how they're presented in any official artwork. And although the recent live-action films took it to an extreme, they have always had lips, or at least something similar to lips.
We don't have the slightest idea what the structure of their larynx is like. Lips might not be necessary for them to make such sounds.
Probably the best explanation aside from just "it's a fantasy, who cares?"
I can't help but just picture them as Ninja Turtles, personally, even though that's not at all how they're presented in any official artwork. And although the recent live-action films took it to an extreme, they have always had lips, or at least something similar to lips.
Oh yeah that's always a great way to imagine them though isn't it? This is all meant to be fun, and what is more fun than having a reason to shout "Cowabunga"?
You can get close enough to be understood by substituting other sounds, the way a ventriloquist does. So we don’t need to duck behind “fantasy,” necessarily. We could just say Tortles have a peculiar way of speaking Common.
I wouldn’t go to that much trouble in an actual game situation, though.
We don't have the slightest idea what the structure of their larynx is like. Lips might not be necessary for them to make such sounds.
In addition to this, we have no animation of them talking. For all we know, they have lip-like structure between their teeth and beak.
BenSz, I would say that unless there is something in a race/monster's info, or their 5e lore, which gives limits on their speech, just assume they have the needed structure to speak earth languages.
This is all great stuff, thanks all :) I am a very inexperienced player, having played one lv 1-5 campaign and DM'd a couple of stand-in sessions in the same world. I'm enjoying delving into this game and exploring my creative side my friends :) It was definitely useful to have this to focus on during the past year.
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So Tortles in most images appear to be lip-less and sometimes presented with a beak structure. In "The Tortle Package" some of their suggested names contain the letter 'p' but mostly contain consonants that do not require a "Voiced bilabial stop" see:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_bilabial_plosive
- https://www.englishlanguageclub.co.uk/b-sound/
To this end, I'm curious if anyone has any idea about how a Tortle would say such a name that contains b's and p's.
While in real life Turtles and Tortises have beaks, the Tortle in 5e has a CLAW attack, not a Beak attack the way a Crow has.
Tortles are anthropomorphized turtles, so they clearly have given up some turtle body parts and got some more human ones instead.
I see no reason to declare a Tortle has a beak. I would let them speak normally.
We don't have the slightest idea what the structure of their larynx is like. Lips might not be necessary for them to make such sounds.
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.
Yeah this was definitely a random musing whilst I was coming up with a name...I try to give a character backstory through language use before I think about their actual history (because I'm bad at writing backgrounds) so if nothing else I had some quirk which defines the character culturally or what-have-you if I don't come up with something substantial. Also not wanting to commit to a specific voice for however long because I'm not a (voice) actor of any kind haha.
Probably the best explanation aside from just "it's a fantasy, who cares?"
I can't help but just picture them as Ninja Turtles, personally, even though that's not at all how they're presented in any official artwork. And although the recent live-action films took it to an extreme, they have always had lips, or at least something similar to lips.
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Oh yeah that's always a great way to imagine them though isn't it? This is all meant to be fun, and what is more fun than having a reason to shout "Cowabunga"?
You can get close enough to be understood by substituting other sounds, the way a ventriloquist does. So we don’t need to duck behind “fantasy,” necessarily. We could just say Tortles have a peculiar way of speaking Common.
I wouldn’t go to that much trouble in an actual game situation, though.
In addition to this, we have no animation of them talking. For all we know, they have lip-like structure between their teeth and beak.
BenSz, I would say that unless there is something in a race/monster's info, or their 5e lore, which gives limits on their speech, just assume they have the needed structure to speak earth languages.
This is all great stuff, thanks all :) I am a very inexperienced player, having played one lv 1-5 campaign and DM'd a couple of stand-in sessions in the same world. I'm enjoying delving into this game and exploring my creative side my friends :) It was definitely useful to have this to focus on during the past year.