Language
Key Ability: Int | Trained Only: Yes | Armor Check Penalty: No
You have learned to speak and read an additional language.
Like Craft, Knowledge, Perform, and Profession, Language is actually a number of separate skills. When you devote a skill rank to the Language skill, you choose a new language that you can speak or increase your fluency with a language in which you have already placed ranks. However, you are not a native speaker, and you must make Language skill checks to speak, understand, read, and write effectively.
- Speaking: When you wish to speak or understand spoken words, roll your language check (modified per usual with your Intelligence bonus and other adjustments) and multiply the result by 10%. This is the percent of the conversation that is communicated. Thus, a check of 10 offers perfect comprehension. A check of 20 means that you sound like a native speaker.
- Reading and Writing: When you wish to read or write, roll your check and multiply by 15% to determine the effectiveness of the translation/transcription. It is easier to read and write than to speak and comprehend the spoken word. If the writing is archaic or highly specialized (as for a scroll or spell book), then multiply by 10% or even 5%, at the game master's discretion.
The languages typically allowed in a Labyrinths & Liontaurs campaign are listed below.
| Language | Typical Speakers | Alphabet |
|---|---|---|
| Aboleth* | Creatures of the trenches and depths of the oceans | n/a |
| Abyssal | Demons, chaotic evil outsiders, clerics | Infernal |
| Aklo* | Derros, inhuman or otherworldly monsters, evil fey | Elven |
| Aquan* | Water-based creatures | Primordial |
| Auran* | Air-based creatures | Primordial |
| Axiom | Axiomites, inevitables, lawful neutral outsiders, clerics | Axiom |
| Boggard* | Boggards, gripplis | Boggard |
| Celestial | Good outsiders, clerics | Celestial |
| Common | Halflings, most people, some monsters | Common |
| Dark Folk* | Dark creepers, dark slayers, and dark stalkers | Common |
| Draconic | Kobolds, troglodytes, lizardfolk, dragons, mages | Draconic |
| Drow Sign Language* | Drow | n/a |
| Druidic* | Druids (only) | Druidic |
| Dwarven | Dwarves | Dwarven |
| Elven | Elves | Elven |
| Giant | Ogres, giants, ettins, trolls, minotaurs | Titanic |
| Gnome | Gnomes | Dwarven |
| Goblin | Goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears | Dwarven |
| Gnoll | Gnolls | Titanic |
| Human | Humans | Common |
| Ignan* | Fire-based creatures | Primordial |
| Infernal | Devils, lawful evil outsiders, clerics | Infernal |
| Liontaur | Liontaurs, rakshashas | Hieroglyphic |
| Orc* | n/a (dead language) | Dwarven |
| Protean | Proteans, chaotic neutral outsiders, clerics | Protean |
| Sphinx* | Sphinxes, necromancers, mummies, liches | Hieroglyphic |
| Sylvan* | Centaurs, neutral and good fey: dryads, brownies, leprechauns | Elven |
| Terran* | Xorns, other earth-based creatures | Primordial |
| Tengu* | Tengu | Tengu |
| Thieves' Cant* | Rogues, Bards | Hieroglyphic |
| Titan* | Titans, cyclopes | Titanic |
| Treant* | Treant | Treant |
| Vegepygmy* | Vegepygmy | n/a |
| Undercommon* | Drow, duergar, grimlocks, kuo-toa, svirfneblin, mind flayers | Elven |
| *This rare and exotic language cannot be learned as a bonus due to intelligence, and a teacher must be found in game if one seeks to learn it through the Language skill. For other languages, the game assumes that teachers, formal or informal, can be assumed. | ||
Action: The time it takes to speak. This could be a free action for a few words, up to an hour for a sophisticated oration.
Try Again: Under stress-free conditions, there is no penalty for taking 10 or taking 20, but not in combat, debate, etc. One can always try again, although the creature with whom you are communicating might become frustrated, impatient, or insulted by repeated failure.
Special: You start at 1st level knowing one or two languages (based on your race), plus an additional number of languages equal to your odd intelligence modifier (Your Column A modifier). These are the languages you know fluently, as a native, and they do not change, even if your Intelligence permanently rises or falls. You cannot spend skill ranks on these languages, and you never need to make Language checks for tasks in those languages.