Haunted Valley: Languages

Common is the Hero's Tongue...the Gods give all active Heroes the mystic ability to communicate with each other, with a language that is very precise when dealing with insults, respect, glory, oaths, ransom, glory and the Gods.

As this is hugely useful, most races that have heroes also have widespread use of Common, and many have adapted it to smooth communication inside their own subcultures.

It is impossible to insult someone in Common accidently...it is likewise impossible to misunderstand a gift of respect...or the failure to grant such a gift.

Aside from that it is a language rich in adjectives and is quite useful for boasting of deeds and lineage.

It has acquired many loan-words from other languages in common use...but a Hero who gains Common only by becoming a Hero might miss some of the meaning of the loan words.

The way to think of the Manditory languages for the various races is to really assume that the language minimum is 8 Intelligence. A non-Hero of 10+ intelligence will almost always take Common as his first "Bonus" language, but a Hero of any intelligence will get it whether he wants it or not. Heroes don't get any more bonus languages until they hit 12 intelligence. A low intelligence non-hero won't speak common, but someone in his community will, the local Hero if nothing else will serve.

Written Common has its own alphabet. Some scholars think it predates and is somehow mystically the root of all other languages, and cite the age of ancient works with Common runes on them as proof.

Halflings....Common is part of their compulsory education system and anyone in that society can speak Common if he can read. Those of 8 intelligence and less will speak only Halfling unless they are a Hero, but even these dim Citizens will know a smattering of Common, a kind of "pidgin" version.

Dwarves...All Dwarf warriors speak common regardless of intelligence (if badly) and any Dwarf with average or better intelligence will also speak Common. The reason is similar to that of insisting all combatants wear heavy armor....they don't want the speaking of Common to identify the Heroes from the rest. Isolated Dwarves might take Giantish instead of Common, these Dwarves mght also have other rules about Hero bands.

Sky People...it is very easy to make a protocol mistake in Seelie Court language or Unseelie Court language, and the polite forms are roughly opposite in those languages. To prevent friction, everyone is taught Common anywhere that the Seelie and Unseelie live and work in close proximity, with the stupider members speaking a pidgin version. Common is used when talking to someone not of your Court. In areas where the Seelie and Unseelie are isolated this practice may die off, leaving only Heroes and Aristocrats as automatic possessors of Common, and making the opposite Court Language the default for average intelligence Sky People.

Sea People... Elves get the local dialect of Orcish, for the same reason that they all have Local History knowledge skill. This language goes away when they do the mystic transformation to Hero, replaced by Mystic Common.

When a Hero they also get Common for free, in the Mystic form. Most Elves of 12 intelligence or higher also learn Common, as it facilitates communication with Heroes and other races.

Half-elves Aristocrats will normally speak Orcish in preference to Common as a second language, the rest will pick up Common as a simple way to communicate to other Sea People, intelligence permitting.

Humans choose Orcish or Elvish as their primary language, depending on which way they lean. The will usually get Common as the second language, unless they are very isolated from outside races.

Half-Orcs and Orcs often can't manage another language, not even the easy Common, and trust others to be able to speak Orcish. Their Heroes often serve as interpreters, using Mystic Common.

Related language groups are "in-class" skills for a member of that Races (costing one skill point instead of two)

Halflings have no related languages.

Seelie Court tongue and Unseelie Court tongue are related (PhB languages Goblin and Gnome)

Dwarvish and Giantish are related.

Elvish and Orcish are related.

Canine and Lupine are related (see below)

Druidic is a Mystic language, you get it by taking the class.

Almost no one speaks Elvish except Sea People and maybe someone who wants to spy on Sea People Society.

Extra allowed bonus languages: Seelie Court members have Canine (Blink Dog), Sylvan, Sphinx and Auran Unseelie Court members have Lupine (Worg, Winter Wolf), Sylvan, Gnoll

Monster languages have been tweaked to match the world and their orientation (Fire, Earth, Sea, Sky, Wild).

All classes except Commoners and Barbarians get literacy for free.

Scribing:

All Wizard spellbooks are written in Elven, even if the wizard does not speak that language. It is the language of wizardry. Wizards receive Elven as a possible bonus language even if they do not have it available to their race. All scrolls written by a wizard or sorcerers are in Elven. (Sorcerers cast in Draconic, but the method for transcribing arcane spells uses Elven.) Someone who speaks Elven can make a Spellcraft roll at DC 15+Spell Level to try to figure out the type of spell(s) a spellbook or scroll contains, even if they have not used read magic on it. This merely reveals the name of the spell and does not count as deciphering or preparing and can only be tried once per day.

Bards who can scribe spells write them as songs, using the style of music notation created by the Seelie.

Divine spells are channeled by the caster and will be in scripts appropriate to the aspect of the god being channeled. If this is a single language, then the DC is 15+Spell Level to figure out the type of spell(s) contained by someone with the language. If it is a blend then it's DC 20+Spell Level

Creature Language Groupings

Sky People (Seelie):

• Blink Dog: as MM (Canine)
• Giant Eagle: as MM (Auran, Common)
• Gnome: (Seelie and as Lang doc)
• Lammasu: (Celestial, Common, Auran)
• Sphinx: (Sphinx, Auran, Common, b. lang Seelie or Unseelie or Sylvan)
• Sprite (Grig): as MM (Sylvan, some Common)
• Sprite (Nixie): as MM (Sylvan, Aquan, some Common)
• Sprite (Pixie): as MM (Sylvan, Common) change bonus: Seelie, Unseelie, Auran

Sky People (Unseelie):

• Bugbear: (Unseelie and as Lang doc)
• Goblin: (Unseelie and as Lang doc)
• Hobgoblin: (Unseelie and Common and as Lang doc)
• Winter Wolf: (Lupine, Unseelie, Common or Giant if smart enough/circumstances)
• Worg: (Lupine, Unseelie, Common if smart enough)

The Wild:

• Aranea: (Sylvan, racial as form, Common by Int)
• Behir: as MM (Common)
• Centaur: (Sylvan, Seelie, bonus lang if appropriate)
• Destrachan: as MM (understands Common)
• Displacer Beast: (Unseelie or Sylvan)
• Doppelganger: (Common, language as shifted)
• Dryad: (Sylvan, Seelie, Unseelie, usually Common)
• Gargoyle: as MM (Terran, Common)
• Giant Owls: (Sylvan, Auran, bonus Common, Unseelie, or Seelie)
• Gnoll: (Gnoll, bonus Sylvan, Unseelie, or Seelie)
• Grey Render: as MM (no apparent languages)
• Griffon: as MM (understand but do not speak Common)
• Harpy: (Sylvan, bonus Unseelie, Seelie, or Common)
• Kraken: as MM (Aquan, Common)
• Lamia: (Sylvan, Unseelie, bonus Common or Seelie)
• Locathah: (Mer, Aquan, Common by Int/Class)
• Manticore: as MM (Common)
• Merfolk: (Mer, Aquan, Common by Int/Class)
• Minotaur (Sylvan, b. Unseelie, Common, or Seelie)
• Nymph as MM (Sylvan, Common)
• Pegasus: (understand Sylvan & Common)
• Phasm: as MM (Common, prefers Telepathy)
• Roper: as MM (Terran, Undercommon)
• Satyr: (Sylvan, b. Seelie or Unseelie or Common)
• Treant: as MM (Treant, Sylvan, Common, "get out of my trees" in most humanoid)
• Unicorn: as MM (Sylvan, Common)

Sun People:

• Athach: as MM (crude Giant)
• Dwarf: (Dwarven, see lang doc)
• Ettin: (Giant)
• Giants: (Giant, Dwarven, b. Common and elementals by type)
• Hags: as MM (Giant, Common)
• Ogre/Merrow: as MM (Giant, Common as app, bonus Dwarven, Orc, Unseelie, Terran)
• Ogre Mage: as MM (Giant, Common, bonus Dwarven, Orc, Unseelie, Infernal)
• Troll/Scrag: (Giant, bonus Common, Dwarf)
• Derro: (Giant, Undercommon)

Earth People:

• Halfling: (Halfling, as per lang doc)
• Grimlock: (Grimlock, Common; bonus Draconic, Dwarven, Undercommon, Terran)
• Medusa: (Undercommon, bonus lang Common, Orc, Dwarven)
• Mind Flayer: as MM (Undercommon, Telepathy, Common as char, bonus lang in book)
• Kuo-toa: as MM (Kuo-toan, Aquan, Undercommon)