So I'm gonna use the Bewildering Koan feat for my next build, and that would probably require them to actually understand me. The setting isn't decided yet, but I can expect to meet a wide variety of enemies.
By lv 6, when the build comes online, I'll know 16 languages. I think these ones would cover 99% of the enemies I'll meet.
Aboleth
Abyssal
Aquan ("Tongue of the Sea")
Auran ("Tongue of the Heavens")
Celestial
Common
Dark Folk
Draconic
Elven
Giant
Goblin
Ignan ("Tongue of Fire")
Infernal
Sylvan
Terran ("Tongue of Earth")
Undercommon
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I've decided to not bother with race-specific languages such as Dwarven/Tengu/Grippli/Halfling, since those creatures will have Common as a language already.
With the exception of Gnolls/Boggards, is there any sentient enemy I wouldn't be able to communicate with if I had these languages?
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This build is supposed to be PFS legal, but could the Gesture Expertise trait otherwise be used to communicate with anyone (with sight) with a DC 15 linguistics check?
Why you, you?
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Don't forget the language of love, most adventuring heroes always forget the tenderly language of love ;)
Don't forget the language of love, most adventuring heroes always forget the tenderly language of love ;)
Never fear, I got it covered.
Auran ("Tongue of the Heavens")
I'd just find a way to get truespeak on your character permanently.
Aklo for those unnamable horrors.
There are several regional human dialects where the speakers may not know Common; Vuldrani, Hallit, Kelish, Polygot, Tien.
I'd just find a way to get truespeak on your character permanently.
Anything a little more accessible for a lv 6 character? Wiz 5 is a little too tough.
Don't think the speech needs to be perfect, just getting the ability to communicate basic ideas would probably work.
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Aklo for those unnamable horrors.
There are several regional human dialects where the speakers may not know Common; Vuldrani, Hallit, Kelish, Polygot, Tien.
I thought Aklo was redundant, but it seems some horrors are monolingual. I'll have to pick it up later then.
And I forgot to mention that different human languages won't be a problem. All humans start out with Common, so different regional languages are largely inconsequential unless you want to keep secrets.
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Which languages are useful depends so wildly on the setting that there isn't really any good advice to give. The ones listed would be mostly useless in Mystara and of middling at best use in Dragonlance, for instance.
Can't say I'm familiar with those sources. If they would be useless because everyone speaks different regional languages, then I'm still good.
Okay, cast tongues on yourself.
Now you can speak the language of anyone you come across.
It's a 2nd level bard spell. You just need to find a reliable means of activating a wand of it.
You're probably good with the languages you've picked. But if you want to be sure you have all your bases covered you could grab a Traveler's Translator, to deal with any language that's a problem.
as for Gesture Expertise, it's a DM call but it probably wouldn't work since it says you can only convey simple concepts and Bewildering Koan relies on asking a complex question that gives people pause. Even if you made the check the target creature would probably just assume they didn't understand the question correctly.
Very little outside of magic is liable to enable you to speak with absolutely anyone you could ever meet if one starts talking about planar travel + getting to other worlds/campaign settings. Mystara and Dragonlance are their own "Material Plane" settings published many years ago. There's an entire race (whose name escapes me at the moment, believe it started with an 'A" (found it they were called the Arcane)) who literally spoke in 'thought bubbles' which appeared around their heads ... and were made up of pictograph/hieroglyphics symbols. In a sense they were encoding messages so they had a built in layer of 'defense' against a lot of language based magics. I don't recall if, for instance, Tongues even worked. You had to puzzle out what their speech bubble actually meant. They were in the Spelljammer setting iirc (2nd ed. roughly 30 years or so ago and I believe carried over into the Planescape setting.
Focus on a single setting (presumable Golarion) though and you have a chance.
The original post said they're trying to keep the build PFS legal, which means they're limited to the languages found in Golarion.
And I second the recommendation for Aklo. It's common to a lot of aberrations and evil fey, and is sometimes their only language. In fact, I'd take it before Aboleth, since that race speaks Aklo, too. (It's too bad the Tarrasque is immune to mind-affecting effects, because it only understands Aklo, and has no ranks in Sense Motive.)
So if we knew which setting you were playing in it would be easier to give recommendations.
Seems like I've made a mistake, didn't realize "setting" had a specific meaning.
I meant that the campaign might be about thwarting demon cultists attacking Atlantis, or saving good dragons from bloodthirsty princes. Or both.
Our GM loves monsters, and finds excuses to show off whatever new pet they've managed to dig up.
I'm guessing that no language except those found on the PFSRD page of Linguistics will exist, so 34 in total.
But I'd have to wait until level 15 if I want them all, so I'm trying to do away with all redundant languages and enter the campaign ready for anything.
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So if I had the previously mentioned 16 languages and Aklo, I should be able to make most creatures understand me.
Is there a reason to get Tongues after this?
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Since you are already investing in Linguistics, you might be interested in the Xenoglossy feat. Although you would need some serious bonus to Linguistics to pull it off reliably.
Since you are already investing in Linguistics, you might be interested in the Xenoglossy feat. Although you would need some serious bonus to Linguistics to pull it off reliably.
That's actually perfect!
I'd be able to get Tongues at lv 12, but the downside with that spell (and Linguistics in general) is that I'd have no way to know which language to speak. Zenoglossy would require some investment, but I don't have to waste turns trying out several languages before getting the right one.
Of course, this would have been a lot easier if those pesky humans didn't invent so many different languages.
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Things that correlate well with Linguistics:
- Skill Focus [Linguistics]
- Orator: use Linguistics instead of Diplomacy and Bluff
- Parrot Familiar: +3 to Linguistics and can aid another for an extra +2
Additionally, remember that Linguistics is also useful to create forgeries. With good enough false documents, you can go essentially anywhere.
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I just did a survey of the bestiary. Looking only at those that speak, I get this order:
Common
Draconic
Aklo
Abyssal
Giant
Terran
Sylvan
Aquan
Auran
Undercommon
Ignan
Infernal
Celestial
Once you get those, no other language is used by more than 6 creatures.
If you need to deal with summons, you may want to adjust your priority.
You might want to invest in a Ring of Eloquence, as it can give you 4 languages. This ring even works when polymorphed.
The other languages listed are:
/cevah
Polyglot is used instead of Common (Taldan) in many parts of the Mwangi Expanses.
"lady i only speak two languages, English and Bad English"