|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
What languages are worth learning because they come up a lot?
Tien is an obvious choice for season 3 adventures. I'm guessing Varisian would show up a lot in season 4, though I haven't played enough of those yet to know for sure.
And goblin is always good to know, because they tend to show up a lot, while I've never actually seen an orc in a Society scenario.
The reason I'm asking now is that I'm making a gnome bard with the Prankster archetype, and I want him to be able to insult people in as many languages as possible. So no dead languages on this PC, like the Ancient Azlanti that one of my PCs with a bookworm personality knows (and has actually used in a scenario).
I already gave him a 14 int for the sake of Bardic Knowledge, so that will get him two bonus languages. And he has the gnome Gift of Tongues racial trait, which gives two languages known for every rank in Linguistics, instead of one. So on top of starting with Common, Gnome, and Sylvan like all gnomes, he's actually going to start with four more languages, and pick up two more every level by keeping Linguistics maxed out.
|
|
Terran, Aquan, Ignan, etc... Lots of elementals in PFS.
Are elementals vulnerable to mind affecting stuff? If so, then that's a good choice for my bard. Otherwise, probably not worth learning the languages ahead of others.
Edit: Nevermind, looked it up in the Bestiary PRD and answered my own question. Elementals don't seem to be immune to enchantment, mind-affecting, language dependent, or fear affects. So my bard can go to town on them, which makes your language suggestions a good idea. Thanks!
|
|
No, kobolds speak draconic. Goblins have their own language.
Since gnomes only have 6 languages to choose from for their starting bonus languages based on int points, those are the obvious two choices. So my PC will know goblin and draconic from the start.
I still need to pick two more to start based on the rank in linguistics. There are a lot of good options, but I'll hit them all eventually.
Does anybody else have more information about this? I, too, am wondering what languages are useful. My character is a bit of a social butterfly, and he's getting a lot of language options. I'm simply looking for the languages most likely come up in social interactions. The character is a scholar as well, but he's similarly less interested in the archaic languages.
I'm completely new to Pathfinder Society. I've played in one game. In that scenario, I was asked if I knew Orc.
My character is (likely) Ulfen ethnicity, and (probably) Andoran faction. So he gets Skald as a language, for what that's worth. Halfling makes sense for an Andoran, right?
I went through the Inner Sea World Guide page by page to try to help my decision. Here's what I found.
Hallit: Spoken in 10 regions, primary language of a few. Sounds useful, but nobody else is mentioning it.
Osiriani: Spoken in 8 regions, primary language of some very important ones.
Kelish: Spoken in 7 regions, often the same regions as Osiriani.
Varisian: 7 regions.
Skald and Polyglot: 5 regions each, in specific geographical areas.
Vudrani and Dwarven: 3 regions each.
Elven and Infernal: 2 regions each.
Orc, Draconic, Aklo, Undercommon, Tien, Giant, Shadowtongue, Azlanti, Shoanti, and Abyssal all make an appearance in the book as well.
How often do you find yourself speaking human ethnicity languages, as opposed to monster or humanoid race languages? Should I mostly look towards one or the other?
|
|
I'm really shocked that you were asked about the Orc language in Society play. I've played about half of the Society scenarios, and I think I've seen that one come up once, in a fight against a group of half orcs that you really don't need to talk to.
As mentioned above, Tien is useful, because a lot of season 3 scenarios revolve around Tian Xia. A lot of season 4 is in Varisia, so I'd assume Varisian would be good to know. There are also other ethnic languages that come up when you have to translate writings and stuff - I've seen Ancient Azlanti, Osiriani, Ancient Osiriani, Kelish, and Ancient Thassilonian for stuff like that, among others.
I've seen one adventure each where Elvish and Vudrani have been useful.
At higher levels, you'll see lots of devils, demons, and the occasional dragon, so being able to speak their languages is helpful. As others have mentioned, Aklo shows up more than you'd expect. The elemental languages have shown up at least a couple of times. There's even one scenario where it's handy to know all four of them.
I don't think I've ever seen anyone use the dwarven or halfling languages, even if they were playing a dwarf or halfling.
|
Contributor
|
Yup, Gift of Tongues. I mentioned it in the original post. My character has it.Tengu get that, too, which I find weird. :P
Tengu are humanoid corvids in most conceptions, and corvids are the polyglots of the avian world, in terms of the breadth and range of their vocalizations. They're also prone to imitation, not just of other birds, but of just about any sounds they hear regularly--car alarms, for example. Makes sense to me.
|
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I just wish players with human characters would select an ethnicity and get the free language. I cannot tell you how many times I have asked a player from what nationality their PC hails and I get a blank stare. How am I supposed to incorporate role-playing into the session if you cannot even be bothered to pick an ethnic group? And I'm not talking about low-level new players, them I can forgive. Its the level 10 character of the player with multiple PCs and years of experience. If you cannot be bothered to develop the basics of your character, don't expect me to bend over backwards to create an immersive role-playing environment.
[/rant]
|
|
I just wish players with human characters would select an ethnicity and get the free language. I cannot tell you how many times I have asked a player from what nationality their PC hails and I get a blank stare. How am I supposed to incorporate role-playing into the session if you cannot even be bothered to pick an ethnic group? And I'm not talking about low-level new players, them I can forgive. Its the level 10 character of the player with multiple PCs and years of experience. If you cannot be bothered to develop the basics of your character, don't expect me to bend over backwards to create an immersive role-playing environment.
[/rant]
Except Taldans, Chelaxians, and Andorans.
|
I just wish players with human characters would select an ethnicity and get the free language.
Unless I'm mistaken, human ethnicities aren't in the Core Assumption, or even the rest of the core rules line.
Given that those of a Chelaxian extraction are in the majority all the way from Varisia to Andoran, I treat it as the 'default' human ethnicity in southern Avistan.
|
|
Unless I'm mistaken, human ethnicities aren't in the Core Assumption, or even the rest of the core rules line.
Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea World Guide...Races: All human ethnicities are legal except Azlanti, humans begin play knowing all listed languages for their chosen ethnicity as racial languages;...
I think Bob's Point is, if you are going to play PFS and are experience at least take the time to know the world you are in to be able to immerse yourself into the setting. A good start would be picking at least an ethnicity.
Thanks for the help, everybody! Anybody else?
I'm really shocked that you were asked about the Orc language in Society play. I've played about half of the Society scenarios, and I think I've seen that one come up once, in a fight against a group of half orcs that you really don't need to talk to.
If it helps, I believe it was faction-specific.