Just curious about "Number of Languages Known"

[Mike]

I know there's no hard and fast rule here folks (or anywhere) but I am curious to know how you handle the potentially large number of languages known by PCs.

In the past I've employed the following:
- Allowed players to choose any languages desired
- Had the player roll for additional languages on a custom table
- Allowed the player to select their character's languages during play (we meet orcs... did I tell you I spoke orcish?)
- Treated "Languages Known" as a potential maximum that could be learned in the right circumstances

Any more ways to skin this rabbit? How do you play it?

Thanks

[Deleted]

I completely throw realism out the window on this. Players can choose the languages they know, they may leave a few slots open for future languages. No set limits on the latter, I've never had to set one because nobody has ever abused it.

Players fill empty slots simply by saying they are putting it in their available slot ... and they now know that language.

Simple. It isn't realistic, but it's never broken the game.

[snorri]

A very easy way to handle it : each time, during the game, a character hear a new language, he can roll to know if he knows this one - as long as he got availables slots. The chance to know a language is 20%. Then he has to find a reason why he knows it - it fills the background as well.

[Sean Michael Kelly]

Sept 24, 2012 7:59:41 GMT -6 snorri said:

A very easy way to handle it : each time, during the game, a character hear a new language, he can roll to know if he knows this one - as long as he got availables slots. The chance to know a language is 20%. Then he has to find a reason why he knows it - it fills the background as well.

I like this!

[ravenheart87]

I give them a list about the languages and tell them to choose. They can learn more later, if they have free slots.

[alcyone]

In the game I just started, I have multiple human languages, which even I have not defined yet. I told players that they could reserve a certain number of their starting languages to defer until later in the game. I said if it's a human language, or one of the PC races, they can learn it automatically when it comes up and it will take a slot. If it is a monster language, they have a 20% chance of knowing it (only if it was deferred; if they take it at creation time they know it). If they fail their roll, the only way to learn it is through paid instruction. Paid instruction is always an option for filling up the deferred slots without risk of failure.

[Falconer]

Players can fill in the slots whenever they want in my games. That is, they can declare at any time that they know a language, and it fills that slot, and it retroactively becomes fact that they have known that language all along.

[Ynas Midgard]

I go with the following:
• everyone speaks Common
• Dwarves speak Dwarven and Elves speak Elven
• each character gains one extra language per INT score above 13 (no automatic Alignment tongue - and actually no Neutral tongue!)

Languages don't need to be chosen during character creation.

[mgtremaine]

Hmmm I wonder if it would be fun to have d4+1 or some other base roll for known starting languages then allow them to fill as the game progresses up to their own max....

-Mike