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What would the DC be to identify a spoken language that you don't speak?
A member of our party has the tongues curse, and speaks in Infernal during battle. He doesn't feel like explaining himself to the rest of the group, and my character has been trying to piece his backstory together on her own. She has a base score of 12 in linguistics and 10 in Knowledge (Planes) but doesn't speak Infernal. Would she be able to recognize the language, or at least the type of language it is?
Like, for example, the way that someone who doesn't speak Italian (me!) can still go "Oh, hey! That's Italian!" when I hear it, or the way someone completely unfamiliar with the languages would be able to hear the difference between one of the romance languages and a Germanic language.
When you say "base score" do you mean that's your character's total bonus in those skills? They're both trained-only skills, so that would indicate your character has them as class skills and that you've either thrown a lot of ranks into them or you have a pretty high intelligence score (or both, depending on your level). All those things kind of impact how I'd rule whether or not you could recognize a "non-learned" language, as would your race, class, and character history.
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My GM just chimed in with "Thanks, Weirdo, for putting it on me." In other words, he couldn't decide, either, lol.
Those numbers are my total bonuses. Both are class skills, and I have an intelligence modifier of 4.
My character is a human rogue 3 in the Shattered Star AP. Her campaign trait is "Alabaster Outcast" (she's a disgraced noble). She's exceptionally well educated and has acquired a certain item which grants her a +2 in both of those skills.
My GM just chimed in with "Thanks, Weirdo, for putting it on me." In other words, he couldn't decide, either, lol.
Those numbers are my total bonuses. Both are class skills, and I have an intelligence modifier of 4.
My character is a human rogue 3 in the Shattered Star AP. Her campaign trait is "Alabaster Outcast" (she's a disgraced noble). She's exceptionally well educated and has acquired a certain item which grants her a +2 in both of those skills.
Well, all that taken into account, I'd certainly rule that you'd recognize it if I were your GM. But I'm not, and your GM may have thoughtful and judicious reasons for saying otherwise, mind.
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I would say that common languages are DC10, more uncommon ones DC15, really rare ones DC20 or higher.
Infernal would probably be DC20 or maybe DC10 in Cheliax :-)
If somebody can't recognize the language itself, I would check if the language is 'related' to any they know, such as Dwarven/Ulfen or Shadowtongue/Infernal and such, if they do know the other language (or can recognize the DC for it with a check), they should be able to know the language is somehow related (although if they don't know the other related language, but just passed the DC to recognize it, they may not know the over-heard language is different from the one they could have recognized - they could think it's a dialect like taldoran/chelish). In some cases, they should be able to know 'hm, language related to ulfen: probably dwarven' or something, but that isn't always comprehensive information, there can be other languages also related so their guess could be wrong.
I like the method that Quandary put forth. It's reasonable and follows common practice for checks where variable DCs are already in place.
You could also run the check not as a linguistics check, but as a knowledge check (local for humanoids, or maybe geography for more distant humanoid languages, religion/planes for outsider languages, arcane for draconic, nature for sylvan, etc.) that keeps linguistics just for understanding the words, but the knowledge would be enough to recognize what language it is. the same stuff about related languages could still apply. that seems more appropriate than using the linguistics skill for this, most people don't have any ranks in linguistics (or few) but may know alot about the world (knowledge skills).
Knowledge (planes) or (religion) would be more appropriate. Linguistics is how you learn languages, but that has more to do with understanding syntax, spelling, etc, at least that's what I think.
I think it's reasonable to allow Linguistics to make this check to recognize/ID but not understand, after all Linguistics lets you use it to understand languages you don't REALLY know (in addition to each rank giving you 1 more known language)
...But the Knowledge skills should also be allowed in addition to the Linguistics option. You couldn't roll BOTH skills for the same check, because it's just one check, but either/or seems pretty reasonable.
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Linguistics is appropriate. A good understanding of syntax isn't just knowing the difference between a verb and a noun, or even a transitive and intransitive verb. It's an understanding of the similarities and differences between the structures of different languages, the phonemes (sound types) that comprise them, and groups of languages that have similar syntax or sound.
If you want a check, I'd go with either Linguistics or Knowledge(Planes) or Knowledge(Religion), whichever is highest. If the character has both Linguistics and either Knowledge I'd give them a +2 bonus on the check for having both the basic technical understanding and a reasonable opportunity to have come across the actual language at some point.
I like giving bonuses for skill synergy if it seems appropriate, and I like letting more than one skill apply in an ambiguous situation.
My GM just chimed in with "Thanks, Weirdo, for putting it on me." In other words, he couldn't decide, either, lol.
Well, if he can't decide, he might as well take my suggestion that you would probably recognize it. However, I wanted to respect his right as a GM to rule otherwise. I try to avoid imposing my gaming style or personal rulings on others. Some consider it rude.
If he'd rather not dispel the mystery so easily by letting you auto-recognize it, letting you make a check to recognize it the first combat every session sounds appropriate, or giving you a check to remember enough of it to record phonetically and ask around next time you hit a town where someone might know Infernal.
If the character has both Linguistics and either Knowledge I'd give them a +2 bonus on the check
...OH... that sounds so un-Pathfinder... naughty, naughty...
If you're looking to just recognize the language, I'd probably call it a DC 10 Linguistics check for languages that are commonly spoken nearby, and go up from there. I'd probably say Infernal would bea DC 15 in most places. I'd also allow an appropriate Knowledge check at +5 DC instead. (Extraplanar languages: planes; terrestrial: geography; Aklo: dungeoneering; Draconic: arcana; etc).
The way I would adjucate that: have the PC roll a d20 and then add relevant modifiers for the same roll.
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If the character has both Linguistics and either Knowledge I'd give them a +2 bonus on the check...OH... that sounds so un-Pathfinder... naughty, naughty...
I don't care. Skill synergy is one of the few things I miss from 3E. It's basically a circumstance bonus where the circumstance is "you have training in multiple areas relevant to this skill check." If you are highly trained in Craft(Bows) or (Jewelry), of course you're going to have a bit of an advantage in appraising the value of a bow or piece of jewelry, since you can judge the workmanship.
The problem with the synergy was that in the RAW, it applied to all checks, and they were so many of them it became ridiculous.
A bonus on all Bluff checks, all the time, because you're trained in Perform (act)? Really? Aren't those pretty much the same thing?
And a bonus on Diplomacy to negotiate your ransom with filthy bandits because you have the Knowledge of proper court etiquette?
But awarding circumstance bonus case-by-case seems more than reasonnable to me.
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The problem with the synergy was that in the RAW, it applied to all checks, and they were so many of them it became ridiculous.
More ridiculous than 80% of skills rolls falling under the banner of perception, and the only reason for ever not maxing it being a flavor at the expense of mechanics type decision.