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Chapter 5 talks about having the Scribbler mine information from the PCs, potentially entering into a tit-for-tat exchange with the them. My question - how does he communicate with a typical party?
He lacks the common language, having only Abyssal and Thassalonian. He scribbles in Thassalonian, per the text, which even suggests bring Quink along so he can read it. And this makes sense as none of the hold overs from the last age speak common. One assumes that it wasn't developed yet, or that they used Thassalonian as their own common.
I see nothing in his stat block that gives him tongues, but assume he could prepare it as a 4th level cleric spell. If that's the case, which should I remove from his prepared list to replace it? Honestly, though, I don't know that a guy who's only learned two languages in thousands of years of life really cares about communication...
The same problem, though, also should have already presented itself in the library in the last chapter. How many of those tomes were written in a language other than Thassalonian? I may give the party the opportunity to pick up the language from study there, but as the AP makes several assumptions about them not being able to read it, this could cause problems.
For THAT matter, Karzoug doesn't speak common either. Did he think to cast tongues before taking Mokmurian's body in chapter 4? And if he didn't pre-cast it, could he have cast it through the link once he realized that nobody understood a word he was saying? Really, since he was musing to himself almost exclusively, mocking the party, this too should have been spoken in Thassolonian, I would think.
I'm just a little surprised that after all the thousands of times this has been played to be 'finding' something like this. So I guess maybe I'm overlooking something obvious.
Thoughts?
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It looks like the Scribbler must be the one bridging the gap, somehow. He's using speak with dead on someone who doesn't speak his languages, and the spell specifically says it doesn't add any... Though, to be fair, I don't see that on the list of the Scribbler's third level prepared spells either.
I think he should get seven of that level, and that's what he has in his statblock. So maybe this is on a week where the corpse is on cooldown... :)
Nice point! I think I'll have both speak only Thassilon! Won't be TOO big a deal as the Barbarian is a Thassilon Scholar (Trait purchase) and thus knows the language....
It seems that there are enough references to the language in the early stages to prompt someone to learn it. One of my PCs picked it up after they ran into the Scribbler's meditation room in the Catacombs of Wrath.
It helps that learning languages is pretty straightforward in the Pathfinder rules.
Honestly, though, I don't know that a guy who's only learned two languages in thousands of years of life really cares about communication...
Unless something has changed between the original version & the Anniversary Edition, the Scribbler doesn't have thousands of years of life. I'm pretty sure the same events that awoke the Runewell encountered in Burnt Offerings are what prompted Lamashtu to 're-instate' her previous agent in the area, likely combined with the actions of Pazuzu's agents in the area hinted at here & there.
Yeah. He was dead all that time. That said, he's interrogated those guards he caught, so he may very well have taught himself the local language so to better understand what's going on up above. And who's to say Lamashtu didn't bring him back with knowledge of the Common tongue so to be more effective?
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I agree with Chris on this - by the time the party encounters the Scribbler, it's safe to say that they know that Thassilon is A Pretty Big Deal, and have had plenty of opportunities to learn the language. There's plenty of ways to do it, too - Brodert Quink can teach them as soon as they start looking into the Thassilonian histories, they could spend some influence with the Pathfinder Lodge in Magnimar get taught that way, or even learn it from cross-referencing materials found in the Library of Thassilon, possibly from the clockwork librarian, who helpfully speaks a ton of languages. It's an investiture of a single skill point for every class in the game. In my opinion, it's about as bad an idea as playing Skull & Shackles and not putting at least a single point into Profession (sailor). This is what the story is about!
That said, if nobody wants to take the plunge and learn Thassilonian, there's plenty of magical solutions by this point. Tongues comes to mind, as does the helm of comprehend languages and read magic. There's tons of ways to interact with the Scribbler, and if a party hasn't gotten it by this point, then it's because they simply don't want to. Not much you can do about that.
Karzoug has a permanent tongues spell cast upon him - he doesn't need to speak Common. Even if he didn't, I'd be fine with spotting him Common. He's a friggin' genius, and I doubt it'd take too much time for him to learn a language that has ten thousand years of devolution.
If you want a real problem in communication, then you don't have to look further than Runeforge. A conclave of wizards from ten thousand years ago, and not a one of them speaks Common. Again, some of them have taken magical steps to solve this problem, but it still exists.
There is also the simple fact that one of the Campaign Traits in the AE Player's Guide gives you Thassilonian as an extra language. That is another pretty big hint right there...
There is also the simple fact that one of the Campaign Traits in the AE Player's Guide gives you Thassilonian as an extra language. That is another pretty big hint right there...
Exactly. This is one my arcane players have taken and are making maximum use of.
Honestly, though, I don't know that a guy who's only learned two languages in thousands of years of life really cares about communication...Unless something has changed between the original version & the Anniversary Edition, the Scribbler doesn't have thousands of years of life. I'm pretty sure the same events that awoke the Runewell encountered in Burnt Offerings are what prompted Lamashtu to 're-instate' her previous agent in the area, likely combined with the actions of Pazuzu's agents in the area hinted at here & there.
Irnk do you remember the specific moments for Pazuzu being hinted at? I feel like I missed them.
MCbobbo, good catch, almost to the scribbler, so I probably would have had him talk in common. I think by now 2 or 3 of my players characters knows Thassilonian, so it shouldn't be a problem. I had them find a book of it at some point, so they unlocked the ability to take it, since none of them took the scholar trait.