Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 bortus Mar 30, 2008 14:20:39	It says that you purchase the skill like any other skill but instead of buying a rank you choose a new language so does this mean that I can take "Speak Language" as a skill but purchase no points and voila I can speak a new language? Seems most players would take it if it was free right? Or maybe you actually put 1 point into the skill and every point means an additional language? Confused here.
#2 watsyurname529 Mar 30, 2008 14:26:08	Normally learning a Language takes 2 skill points per language. With Speak Language as a Class Skill, it only takes 1 skill point.
#3 jamfalcon_the_gnome Mar 30, 2008 14:28:26	I think what it is, is just that for 1 skill point you can learn a new language. I've always used offical charicter sheets (three versions) and never on the skills page has there been "speak language". Although for some classes it's a class skill. My understanding of that is that it perhaps means it costs 2 skill points if it isn't? I'm not sure but thats how I've always done it. Ooh watsyurname beat me to it.
#4 Tovec Mar 30, 2008 14:38:52	We often use what we call the Barbarian variant. Costing 2 points per language; 1 for spoken and 1 for written. Assuming its class skilled. Doubling would make it either 3 or 4 skill points. For non class-skilled. Basically it equates to learning a new language over the course of a level, it detracts from reality no more then a wizard suddenly having 2 extra spells in his book or that a cleric just got better at healing, etc.
#5 drmorganes Mar 30, 2008 17:36:26	It says that you purchase the skill like any other skill but instead of buying a rank you choose a new language so does this mean that I can take "Speak Language" as a skill but purchase no points and voila I can speak a new language? Seems most players would take it if it was free right? Or maybe you actually put 1 point into the skill and every point means an additional language? Confused here. Look at it this way: Speak Language is a skill. You purchase ranks in it just as any other skill: 1 point per rank for class skills, 2 points per rank for cross-class skills. Speak Language is a bit different than other skills in that you never actually make a Speak Language Check. Instead, each rank you purchase in Speak Language adds a language to your known languages list. Note: You only need to even worry about Speak Language in the following situations: You want to learn more languages than your INT bonus allows You want to learn a language not on your racial bonus language list Remember, starting characters speak Common and their racial language, plus one additional language from the racial bonus language list per point of INT bonus. House Rule Option I've seen many house rules on Speak Language. Since Tovec mentioned one his group uses (a poor one, in my opinion, that penalizes characters unnecessarily for expanding their language skills), I'll toss this one on the table as well. I've seen it implemented in several games with success. Speak Language costs 2 skill points as a cross-class skill. Those 2 skill points will allow you to speak & understand and read & write the language fluently, with a slight (if any) accent. Characters may opt to spend 1 skill point (half rank) to speak the language with a thick accent. The character is not literate in the chosen language unless (until) a second skill point is spent on learning the rest of the language. In the event a character adds Speak Language to their class skill list, he must still spend a second skill point to completely learn half-ranked languages.
#6 kuros81 Mar 30, 2008 17:40:41	Languages are done poorly in DnD. You pay 2 skill points (1 if you are a bard), and you are now fluent in the language. Voila! But, there's this language called common, which everyone speaks anyway. *shakes head*
#7 kouk Mar 31, 2008 1:10:09	Most characters can speak "Common" but that doesn't mean they write in it or speak amongst themselves in that language. If you want to eavesdrop or read lips, you gotta know the language they are using. If you find a message written in Draconic, you gotta have a way of reading it (or Deciphering its meaning). Not all intelligent creatures speak common. Some campaigns do not really deal with different languages though. Depends on the DM and how much attention he puts to that aspect of racial differentiation.
#8 gixanthrax Mar 31, 2008 7:16:54	mhm according to a houserule our party uses, diplomacy works better if you speak the native language of the guy you are talking to. Same works for a kenders Taunt...