| Veneficus |
OK, first post and new to the discussions here...
I was real-world trained as a military linguist many years ago. At that time, the US military had language skills broken into 5 ranks. I have adapted the system into my d20 games, as follows...
1 tier of linguistic speaking ability or reading ability costs 1 skill point (2 if Speak Language or Read/Write Language is a cross-class skill).
At Tier 1, the character can understand and use basic phrases, i.e., "where's the bathroom?" "I'm hungry," "Hello," etc.
At Tier 2, the character might even understand some of the responses to the above phrases. At this level, the character can catch a general gist of a conversation or document, and can (with difficulty) make himself understood.
At Tier 3, the character is proficient in the language. He is not a native speaker. Slang terminology, idiomatic expressions, and regional dialects are beyond his comprehension. He can, however, hold a meaningful dialogue.
At Tier 4, the character is a native speaker. He is fluent in the language and uses slang and idiom correctly.
At Tier 5, the character is a native speaker who has made a point of studying the intricacies and nuances of the language. He knows archaic word forms, word roots and etymology, archaic slang, formal forms of address, etc.
I let each character start at 1st level with their automatic languages at 4 ranks and any bonus languages at 2 ranks. If the character wishes to spend skill points on language skills, they pay seperately for tiers of speaking and reading/writing.
So far, it has worked quite well.