Speaking Different Languages

[Lord_Raven88]

How can PC's speak in different languages? i.e. dwarven, elvin etc.

Also how do you choose what languages a character begins play with, and if you increase your intelligence can you learn other lanuages?

And finally is there a provision for non-standard languages to be spoken, specifically Kobold

I have a character concept where I need to be able to speak Kobold. ;D

[Munroe]

A disclaimer: I have no authority here, I am just familiar with D&D and FR language rules.

Characters can speak different languages in NWN with the DMFI language widgets. The way the DMFI usually works is you get the language if you are the race automatically, but the DMs can give language widgets, (and should if there's a valid RP reason) which are OOC items that when activated allow you to speak a language and while in your possession allow you to understand a language. the DMFI language widgets exist for all the major racial groups as well as Thieves Cant.

Forgotten Realms rules for languages say you get Common, racial language, a number of bonus languages equal to your INT BONUS. Humans, which don't have a language for their whole race, get regional languages, ie Alzhedo for Calimshan, Chondathan for Amn, Tethyr, Waterdeep, Chondath and more (it's a very common language and Common is based on it), the language Illuskan for Luskan, the Moonshae Isles (which also gets Chondathan as a regional)... and so on. There are many more regional languages but those three are most familiar to me. The list of Forgotten Realms regions and thier languages can be found on pages 30-32 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. Cormyr's regional language is Chondathan.

Half-elves get racial (elven) and regional, as well as Common and their bonus languages, and Half-orcs get racial (orc) and regional, as well as Common and their bonus languages.

Creatures that get Undercommon as an automatic language do not get Common automatically.

More information on Languages in Forgotten Realms is on page 28 of the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting.

D&D language rules for bonus languages is that you get the number of bonus languages equal to your INT bonus at character creation. So, for example, if you have 14 INT at level 1, you get 2 bonus languages. Taking your INT up to 16 later does not grant you an additional language. This is because D&D has the Speak Language skill, which is a cross-class skill for every class except bards. One rank in Speak Language means you have learned the specified language. (Language specified at time point(s) are spent--or preferably specified through prior RP.) No such skill exists in NWN though so if you want to learn more languages later, I suppose you should work some guidelines with the DMs.

Finally to answer your kobold question, according to the Monster Manual 3.5, page 161:

Kobolds speak Draconic with a voice that sounds like that of a yapping dog.

Draconic is their racial language. Since the kobold entry says their INT is 10, I suppose they speak it as good as a common man speaks Common.

Anyway, that's just the information from my books paraphrased. If someone would like to step in and provide further information, please do so.

[kenny26]

you can speak your racial tongue by typing [what you wanna say].
type /dm [what you wanna say] if you wish to hide the translation so only people who speak the language will know what you're saying ooc as will as ic.

language tokens do excist and sometimes DMs hand them out, but it doens't occur alot since the DMs are sometimes busy.
rather than being given an extra language for every point of int bonus you have, the DMs will expect you to give a good reason why you have learned that language.

at least that is what i went through when i asked for a token a while back.

a warning though!
activating a token will overwrite your standard racial tongue. an elf activating his dwarven language token for an example, will now be unable to speak elven.

the DMs have told us that a new language script will be installed eventually, taking care of this and other minor problems.

but i'm no DM so i could be wrong in some of these points, and if i am please do correct me.

[DM Justicar - Creator of FRC]

Actually, the language tokens are created by the DMFI.

I don't think they were set up to be handed out the way we have, but it is a bit too far gone at this point to reverse it. To say this a different way: I don't know if these were designed with multiple languages in mind.

I will check with the DMFI team to see if there is an overall larger issue here.

I still think it's pretty sweet that we have racial languages alone.

Cheers!

DM Justicar

[Lord_Raven88]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

It seems I will need to get a hold of a Draconic language token for my character idea.

Basically I thought it would be fun to play an adolesent Dwarf (40 years old) whos family had been killed by kobolds when he was just a little boy (15 or 20), for some reason the kobolds decided to keep him as a pet/slave and he spent 20 odd years being 'raised' by the kobolds.

As such his main language would be Draconic, with a very limited understanding of dwarf and common.

When I first start playing 'Snivels' he will mainly be speaking (whining, cringing begging and pleading specifically) in Draconic.

Once I have got the widget for the Draconic language, how do you change it so that he can speak common?

Or does the widget merely overide the racial lang. thing?i.e /dm [type stuff here]

[kenny26]

if you type text normaly without the hard brackets you'll speak in common.

what i meant by languages overwriting each other, is that the different races have an automatic language that they speak (elves speak elven etc) without using a token.
so if you haven't activated any language tokens, your standard racial language will be set to elven if you're an elf.
however, if you activate another language with a token, like dwarven, you will be stuck speaking that language instead of elven, and since elves don't automatically recieve elven language tokens, there is no returning to elven.

[Munroe]

Regarding DMFI language widgets:

I don't know about on FRC, but on other servers using the same DMFI language widgets, the change is only until a server reset, at which point you will revert to whatever racial language is default for your race. I had a character once on another server who spoke Common, Celestial, Draconic, and Elven, but because he was a rogue class, every time the server would reset, it would default him to Thieves Cant, which he was only actually vaguely familiar with. It did this because (on that server, at least) Thieves Cant was given to all rogue class characters by the script the same way racial languages are. (I'm not sure if that's standard behaviour for DMFI languages or not.) Thieves Cant is not an automatic language for Rogues though, despite what getting it for free might lead you to believe.


If you have multiple language widgets, you just activate whichever one you want to speak in. Just possessing a language widget (or being the race if your race has a racial language) will allow you to understand speakers of that language so there's no problem with having multiple widgets. The only problem is if you don't have a widget for your racial language and your character does know it, in which case using a widget will lock you out of speaking that racial language until reset, but still allow you to understand it.

My character speaks Common, Alzhedo, Chondathan, and Elven, but since only Elven exists as a language widget, that's the only one I get. *pouts* I would LOVE if the Forgotten Realms Regional Languages existed as language widgets. On the few occasions I've asked DMs for them (both here and elsewhere) I've gotten funny looks (or at least the text read that way).