Speaking in Tongues: Using Languages in Your Campaign

The monk halts mid-step and tilts her head.  Yes, those are voices!  She silently drops down next to the sarcophagus and presses her ear to the granite floor.  There must be some sort of chamber below!

"Everything is falling into place," a sinister voice echoes from below.  "That earthquake will have awakened the Unconquered Bull."

"The people will also take it as a sign of divine disfavour.  Their faith in the Emperor will be shaken.  We need only push, and he will fall," a deeper voice responded.  

"Yes, soon the People of the Bull will topple this decadent society and usher in a reign of blood and fire!  We must return to the capital and complete the rituals."

"Indeed.  It is best we move as far from the coast as possible; the tidal wave will come shortly."

The monk sits up, puzzled.  She pulls out her Hyksaean-Zhengi phrasebook and flips through the pages with a practiced hand.  "I wish I knew what they were saying."

Language is key to how we interact with and interpret the world.  As such, it naturally comes up a lot while roleplaying as well.  The character from a distant land.  The ancient inscription above the doorway.  The conversation overheard between hobgoblin guards.  Yet the rules for learning, speaking, and reading languages are surprisingly slim in the d20 and PFRPG systems.

This sort of thing bugs me, so I came up with a new set of rules that govern how a character learns and uses languages.  It works fine if your approach to languages is as simple as "Common, Dwarven, Elvish, Orcish, etc." but it also includes optional rules for those GMs who want to lend some realism to their campaign settings by including regional languages and language families (Try going to Latvia and see how far speaking "Common" gets you).  So if you are looking for a more comprehensive rule set for languages in your campaign, look no further.  Actually, look a little further; the rules are below.

The following gold text and its associated tables are available as Open Game Content under the OGL.  Open Game Content is (C)2014 Jonah Bomgaars.

Linguistics Skill Checks

Task	DC
Decipher incomplete message	10
Decipher unknown script	20
Understand unknown spoken language	30
Carry on conversation in unknown spoken language	40

Decipher incomplete message

Deciphering an incomplete message in a language that you know requires a DC 10 Linguistics check.  This can either be a snippet of an overheard sentence or writing that has been damaged or partially erased in some way.  The DC may increase (per the GM's discretion) depending on how incomplete the message is. 

   Failure means you are unable to understand the message, and cannot try again until you gain more points in the Linguistics skill, some level of competency in the language in question, or a new clue that would help you decipher it.  Failure also triggers a DC 5 Wisdom check (modified based on Table: Related Languages and Skill Check Bonuses) to see if you draw a false conclusion about the message. 

   Action: full-round action (plus an additional round for every 5 by which the DC is increased due to extreme incompleteness). 

Decipher unknown script

Reading a simple message written in an unknown language requires a DC 20 Linguistics check.  The DC becomes higher based on the difficulty of the text in question.

Text Difficulty	DC Modifier
Simple message	+0
Standard text	+5
Obtuse or complex text	+10
Unfamiliar alphabet	+10
Message incomplete	+5

   A successful check means you get the general idea of what the piece of writing says.  Exceeding the DC by 5 or more means you can make an exact translation of the text.  Every additional page of texts requires a new check. 

   Failure means you are unable to understand the text, and cannot try again until you gain more points in the Linguistics skill, some level of competency in the language in question, or a new clue that would help you decipher it.  Failure also triggers a DC 5 Wisdom check (modified based on Table: Related Languages and Skill Check Bonuses) to see if you draw a false conclusion about the text. 

   Action: Deciphering unknown script takes five minutes (50 full rounds) plus an additional five minutes for every 5 by which the DC is increased due to difficulty, minus one minute for every point by which you exceed the DC (minimum 1 minute). 

Understand unknown spoken language

Translating spoken language is more difficult than written language because you must translate it instantaneously.  The DC becomes higher based on the complexity of the ideas being communicated or the difficulty of hearing the spoken language in general.

   The complexity of the ideas is up to the GM, but general examples include:

   Simple ideas: "The king is secretly a vampire."  "War will be devastating."

   Standard ideas: "Did you hear about the King? I heard from Greg down by the docks that he's a vampire!"  "A war between our city and the kingdom beyond the mountains will be devastating not only for our harvest, but our way of life."

   Complex ideas: "I heard it through the grapevine that our beloved monarch has contracted Porphyric Hemophilia.  Are we to be governed by one who is now counted among the ranks of the undead?"  "The very concept of war is a difficult one.  Do we accept the stated socio-political motivations of the actors as handed down to us from their boot-licking mouthpieces, or do we recognize the inherent - perhaps unconscious - need to hide true motivations behind self-aggrandizing justification and moralization that plays to the lowest common denominator?  My objections are threefold…"

Difficulty	DC Modifier
Simple ideas	+0
Standard ideas	+5
Complex ideas	+10
Conversation	+5
Rapid speaking	+5
Muffled	+5
Drowned out	+10

   Conversation is more difficult than direct speech because of the number of participants.  Rapid speaking is more difficult because it gives less time for the listener to translate, and obscures the separations between words. 

   Speech could be muffled by distance, a separating wall, hearing it while underwater, or being whispered.  Speech could be drowned out by loud noises or many other simultaneous conversations. 

   A successful check means you get the general idea of the speech.  Exceeding the DC by 5 or more means you can make an exact translation of the speech.  Every additional round of speech requires a new check. 

   Failure means you are unable to understand the speech, and cannot try again until you gain more points in the Linguistics skill, some level of competency in the language in question, or a new clue that would help you decipher it.  Failure also triggers a DC 5 Wisdom check (modified based on Table: Related Languages and Skill Check Bonuses) to see if you draw a false conclusion about the speech. 

   Action: Understanding unknown spoken language is a free action, though it can be remembered up to a minute later with a DC 10 Intelligence check (modified based on difficulty according to the above table), to be translated as a full-round action at the same DC by you or anyone you choose to relate it to. 

Bluff Skill Checks

Pretending to be one step more competent in a language than you actually are requires a DC 15 Bluff check, plus another 5 for every step beyond that.  It is opposed by the listener's Sense Motive check.  The listener gets a +2 bonus to his Sense Motive for every step of competency he is above you, and a -2 penalty for ever step he is below you. 

Faking an accent or a dialect of a language that you know requires a DC 10 Bluff check.  Listeners who are familiar with that particular accent (or dialect), or speak it themselves gain a +5 bonus to detect your deception. 

Languages

Competency

A character can achieve various levels of competency in any given language. 

Your competency with a given language affects your Diplomacy and Bluff skill checks made in that language. 

Table: Competency and Language-Based Skill Checks

Competency	Unknown	Broken	Conversational	Fluent	Mastery
DC modifier	+10	+4	+2	+0	-2

Broken language allows you to perform the most rudimentary language-based tasks, including buying and selling items at a shop, asking for directions, or conversing about simple topics.  It is apparent to everyone that you are unskilled in the language, but at least you can speak and understand enough to get by. 

Conversational language skills allow you to speak relatively freely on many subjects, and even communicate and understand more complex ideas with effort.  You can converse with ease, get the gist of plays and songs, paraphrase, overhear conversations, do business, and describe things accurately and in detail.  Your accent, limited vocabulary, and strange turns of phrase still give you away as an outsider.

Fluent skill allows you to speak a language as well as any given native speaker.  You can understand all but the most technical jargon and the more removed dialects. 

Mastery of a language means you have an incredible grasp of the subtle nuances of a language and can be far more eloquent and verbose than most native speakers.  Your vocabulary is seemingly limitless, and you can understand and speak all dialects of the language.

Reading and Writing

The ability to read and write a language (even your native tongue) is not automatic.  You gain the ability to read and write by spending one Language Point.  You can read and write that language at the same competency level that you can speak it.  If you gain further competency in that language, you can read and write at the new competency level automatically at no extra cost. 

   If a language has multiple alternative writing systems, it takes one Language Point to learn each alphabet.  For example, the Japanese language has four 'alphabets': kanji, hiragana, katakana, and romanji.  Kanji, hiragana, and katakana together form the main writing system, so it takes one Language Point to know all three of them; romanji is an alternative writing system that uses the Latin alphabet, and would take another Language Point to learn. 

   Optional rule - Character systems: Some writing systems are harder to learn than others.  While letters in an alphabet represent a single sound and letters in a syllabary represent a single syllable, characters - such as those used in Chinese languages - each represent one or more ideas which can change based on context or subtle nuances.  Such a writing system can contain hundreds or even thousands of different characters.  In such cases, learning how to read and write is like learning a whole other language; each Language Point you put into reading and writing characters increases your competency in doing so, and you cannot increase your competency in reading and writing the language beyond your competency in speaking it. 

Table: Intelligence and Language Competency

Competency	Broken	Conversational	Fluent	Mastery	Read/Write1
Minimum Int	3	5	7	16	7

¹The ability to read and write even your native language is not guaranteed by having sufficient Intelligence; you must buy that ability separately. 

Native Languages

The languages a character begins play with (from their race and/or class) are considered their native languages, and that character has competency with that language as determined by his intelligence score (see Table: Intelligence and Language Competency).  Whenever the Intelligence score is permanently or temporarily raised or lowered, that character's language competency in his native languages is affected accordingly. 

   Note: although lowered intelligence may temporarily reduce a character's competency in a learned language, raised intelligence does not automatically grant a higher level of competency - merely the capacity to gain such competency through the normal means.

Language Points

Each rank of competency in language is purchased with language points.  These are similar to skill points in many respects.  There are three main ways of earning language points: Intelligence, Linguistics, and hard work. 

   At the start of the game, you gain a number of Language Points equal to twice your Intelligence modifier (minimum 0) to spend on languages.  Languages learned in this way do not count as native languages. 

   Every skill point spent in Linguistics gives you a Language Point, reflecting the inherent connection between understanding many languages and understanding how language works in general.

   Additionally, a GM who feels that your character has given sufficient study to a particular language may reward your character with a Language Point to spend on improving your competency with that language.  It is recommended that the GM give out no more than one such Language Point per level. 

Related Languages and Alphabets (Optional Rule)

   Those who speak a language from a particular family of languages have an easier time deciphering other languages in that family.  Languages families contain languages that have evolved from a common root sometime in the last millennium or so and which have remained relatively close together.  A real world example is the Romance Languages (Spanish, Italian, French, Romanian, Portuguese, and others), which all evolved from Latin.  A speaker of Italian would have a bonus on Linguistics checks made to decipher Spanish or Latin.  Geographic proximity might change that bonus (Spanish speakers would have an easier time understanding Portuguese than Romanian), as might frequent historic contact (one country ruling over another for an extended time might result in linguistic mixing).  At the same time, a language that has been subjected to linguistic mixing from outside its own language family might be harder for a speaker of another language in that family to understand (for example, French has been subject to linguistic mixing by the Germanic Franks, and might therefore be slightly harder for an Italian speaker to understand, but slightly easier for a German speaker to understand).

   While trying to decipher written script, it helps to know the alphabet.  Without knowing the alphabet, even a closely related language is difficult to interpret, but more distantly related languages that share an alphabet might be easier to read.  For instance, Serbian and Croatian are mutually intelligible dialects of the same language, but Serbian uses the Cyrillic alphabet while Croatian uses the Gaj-Latin alphabet, so while Serbs and Croats can understand each other perfectly well on the street, a speaker of the more-distantly related Russian language might have an easier time reading Serbian than a Croatian unfamiliar with the Cyrillic alphabet would. 

   Obviously, these optional rules can only apply if your GM has put this much linguistic detail into the campaign setting. 

When attempting to understand or decipher a language you do not know, you can gain bonuses to your Linguistics skill check based on that language's relationship to the closest related language that you know (referred to as the starting language). 

   The language you are trying to decipher can be:

   Closely related -  This is a language that is very similar to the starting language.  They are in the same family and are spoken in regions that are geographically or historically close, or it is a version of the starting language that is less than 500 years old.  This also applies to less standard dialects of the starting language.

   Real-world examples: Spanish to Portuguese, English to Middle English, French to Cajun

   Related language with outside mixing - This language is in the same language family as the starting language, but has experienced linguistic mixing with another outside language (often the result of close relations or conquest).

   Real-world example: Spanish to French (Spanish has Arabic mixing, French has German mixing)

   Distantly related - This language is in the same language family as the starting language, but removed by time and geography, or it is an ancient version of the starting language 500-1000 years old.

   Real-world examples: Serbian to Russian, English to Old English

   Unrelated language with mixing - This language comes from outside the starting language's family, but has experienced linguistic mixing with the starting language or a language closely related to the starting language.

   Real-world examples: Japanese to Chinese, German to Polish, Arabic to Urdu

When attempting to decipher written script, these bonuses only apply when you know the alphabet the script is written in.  If you do not know the alphabet, you suffer a -10 penalty. 

Special Languages

Some languages are special cases, in that they can only be mastered up to a certain point, have no vocal components, or cannot be spoken by human tongues.

   Unwritten languages: Some languages do not have a writing system.  By spending a Language Point to learn how to read and write the language, you are creating a writing system for that language for your own personal use. 

   Hand signs:  A system of hand signing to communicate commands or simple ideas beyond what one can express with simple hand waves.  Many organizations - such as mercenary companies, thieves' guilds, and adventuring parties - have a vocabulary of unique hand signs of their own devising that let them communicate in situations where stealth and secrecy are required.  Learning such a skill requires one Language Point and instruction from one who already knows it (or careful, extended observation of the hand signals in action).  There is no competency beyond "Broken". 

   Sign language: Beyond simple hand signs, a sign language employed by a deaf and/or mute community is a language in its own right.  It can be learned like any other language, with any level of competency.  

   Lip-reading: By spending a Language Point, you can learn to read lips.  This applies to one language at any competency level, like reading and writing (see Reading and Writing above).  Lip-reading may require Perception checks under less-than-favorable circumstances. 

   Beast language: Although understanding and communicating with most animals requires magic, some very intelligent animal species (such as crows, chimpanzees, dolphins, and reef squid) actually have their own rudimentary linguistic forms of communication that can be understood by those who take the time to study them.  One can never obtain more than "Broken" competency in such languages.  Spending two Language Points grants you the ability to understand the beast language (and "speak" it in the unlikely event that is physiologically possible, per the GM's discretion).  One must have a minimum of five skill ranks in Knowledge (nature) to learn a beast language, and have familiarity with the species in question.

Compatibility

   Abilities: Any special abilities that grant additional languages (such as the Guileful Polyglot rogue talent) instead grant two Language Points for every one language it would have otherwise granted.  The tengu's Gifted Linguist racial ability grants it 2 Language Points per rank advanced in the Linguistics skill (instead of 2 additional languages, as the ability is written).

   Racial Bonus Languages: The list of languages that a character of a race can choose from for bonus languages should be ignored completely when using these rules for languages and linguistics.  Any member of any race can learn any language if they spend the Language Points to do so.

   Spells:

·         Spells that allow you to communicate with things that do not have a language, such as speak with plants and speak with animals, allow you to communicate with them with fluent competency. 

·         Speak with dead specifically states that the corpse only knows the languages it knew in life. 

·         Share language allows the caster to share one or more languages with other characters at the caster's competency level, regardless of the Intelligence score of the target creatures.

·         Comprehend languages allows you to understand the literal meaning of any spoken or written language, regardless of your competency level or the competency level of the speaker or writer.  This even allows you to understand languages you know at higher competency levels than you have in them.

·         Tongues - the level of language competency is determined by the target's Intelligence.

·        Decipher (Language) already says, "The target can read that language as if fluent in it", so perfect.

·        Translate (language) allows the target to read, write, speak, and understand a language at a fluent level.

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I am currently reworking my Improved Character Sheet to version 2.0 [ed: now version 3.0!], which will incorporate a number of changes including a section for using these language rules.  It will look something like this:

(c) Jonah Bomgaars

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I believe these rules will provide a framework for more interesting and realistic language use in your campaign.  No longer will a character be able to put a skill point in Linguistics and instantly become fluent in a language he had no previous knowledge of.  These rules encourage both players and the GM to think about language and the way that characters interact with the world.  They will foster more conscious roleplaying from players and more realistic and thought-out campaign settings from GMs.  

-your fricative d20 despot