Languages in PFS

[FanaticRat]

Being able to speak a ton of languages is cool, but never getting a chance to use any of them sucks. What languages do you see come up the most in PFS, so that players can "prioritize" which ones they learn? Or is it a moot point?

[Benrislove]

Often (meaning at least 4-5 scenarios, nothing is used constantly)
Thassilionian, Infernal, Varisian, Osirion/ancient osirion.

Others that I have seen, but I don't think i've used more than once.
Draconic, Abyssal, Celestial, Undercommon, Dwarven.

Languages for people who summon stuff, Ignan, Auran, Aquan, Terran. Gotta tell them elementals what to do :)

Thas, Osirion/Ancient, and the planar languages are all really nice to have.

Random note: Dark Folk is useful, as many of the darkfolk don't speak common, same with undercommon, but that only matters if you're trying to talk to them :)

[Bbauzh ap Aghauzh]

Well, you are pathfinders, which basically means you are Indiana Jones (an adventuring archeologist), so a smattering of various ancient languages couldn’t hurt. I’ve seen Thassilonian, Azlanti, Ancient Osirion, and Jistka appear. Additionally, if you take a look at the regions each season takes part in, you can reasonably extrapolate that in Season 3, Tien, and other various Tian Xia centric languages could be important. Or Season 4, taking place in Varisia, could make frequent use of Varisian and Shoanti. Additionally, now that Season 5 is taking us to the World Wound, I expect that Abyssal and maybe Infernal could be useful, as well as Hallit (the regional language of the native Kellids that live in that area.) I forget if the ancient kingdom of Sarkorian had its own language.

Many of the human regional languages are useful, because you never know when you’ll need to overhear someone in Skald or Polyglot. Racial languages are less important, although Goblins (go figure, it’s a Paizo product) tend to be favorites. And end of season 4 and beginning of season 5 scenario blurbs seem to have some dwarf teasers and if you listened to the Pod Cast that talked about the changes for season 5, we got a teaser that we’d get an adventure in Kyonin.

So, if I had to list importance of languages in PFS, I’d say:

1. Ancient
2. Regional
3. Racial (including Aklo—see a fair amount of Fey.)
4. Planar (probably Abyssal or Infernal is more important than the Elemental or Celestial)
5. Other (things like Sasquatch and Shadowtongue probably don’t get used a lot).

[Chris Mortika]

I second the recommendation for Aklo.

It's helpful when talking with things that would melt your brain or twist your head off. And it really freaks out the shopkeepers when you order a hot dog in the language of the Great Old Ones.

[Benrislove]

Oh yeah, Aklo for sure, I have seen that one come up a few times... not sure how I forgot it... I ran carrion hill on monday :-p

[Fromper]

Most of what I was going to say has already been mentioned, but I'd put different priorities.

If you want to translate stuff in ruins, Azlanti and Thassilonian are common ancient tongues. For regional languages, Tien comes up a lot in season 3, and Varisian comes up a lot in season 4, just due to geography. For monsters, goblin is useful at low levels and I've seen draconic a few times. Aklo is a lot more common than you'd expect. Devils are common enough in higher tier scenarios to make Infernal worth getting. I've seen Abyssal a few times, too, both for demons and evil demon worshiper types.

So if you want to be well rounded in languages known, go with all of those, then start worrying about everything else.

But you may want to factor the personality of your PC into this, as well. I have an intellectual type character who knows the ancient languages, but not so many for talking to people. On the opposite extreme, I have a prankster bard with the gnome gift of tongues, so he gets two languages known for each rank in linguistics. He intentionally keeps linguistics maxed out to learn many languages, so he can mock and insult as many people and monsters as possibl. So he'd never bother learning a dead language like Azlanti or Thassilonian, despite being useful languages for some Pathfinder missions.

[Matthew Morris]

Polyglot, Tien, Varisian, likely abyssal next season.

Amusing moment at the table. We were dealing with a scroll written in Tien, and I went "Stewardess! Stewardess! I speak Tien."

Clear generation gap in who got that joke and who didn't.

[WalterGM]

I'll throw in a vote for Sign Language. Talk about a secret, stealthy way to communicate. Also, deaf oracles no longer feel left out.

[Totenpfuhl]

Made the same joke with Undercommon a couple of weeks ago. Luckily everyone got it.

[Matthew Morris]

Good point, forgot about sign language. I'm making an Aasimar for season 5, just for truespeaker :-)

[Nefreet]

Erm... the only sign language I know of in Pathfinder is Drow Sign Language, and I don't see where it can be learned with Linguistics, since the skill specifically states "speak and read", and sign language isn't on the list in the CRB.

[Mike Lindner]

Indeed, there is no PFS legal sign language. You can however spend a rank in Linguistics to learn how to read lips per the FAQ.

[Sarta]

Kelesh has come up in several scenarios. Sphinx has been in a couple. Draconic as well.

Dark Folk has come up enough times as to make it nearly worth pursuing.

[Mike Lindner]

And now with the release of the Dungeoneer's Handbook, you can learn Dark Folk with the Dungeon Dweller trait.

[evilvolus]

No mention of Kellish?

[Matthew Pittard]

What is funny is that Aklo was picked by one of the players locally because it was the first language listed in Herolab :)

[Nefreet]

My Tengu speaks 18 languages, but Murphy's Law states that every time the GM asks "who here speaks _____", and everyone turns to see if I know it, I never do.

[Fromper]

Nefreet wrote:

My Tengu speaks 18 languages, but Murphy's Law states that every time the GM asks "who here speaks _____", and everyone turns to see if I know it, I never do.

Sounds like my gnome prankster bard. Two languages for every rank of linguistics and 14 int, so he's already up to 11 languages at level 3. But twice now, in only 4 times playing him, situations have come up where I haven't spoken a language we needed. And that's just living languages, which he specializes in. He would never bother learning a dead language like Azlanti or Thassilonian, because he can't insult anyone in those.