Languages

Astora has a broad variety of peoples and cultures with an equally broad variety of languages to match. While there exists multiple universal "trade" languages to allow at least limited communication with most literate denizens of Astora, languages can still form a barrier to communications, and knowledge of a language can impose a distinct advantage in the right situation.  

Basic Language Mechanics

Common

All player characters begin with knowledge of Common, or more rarely Undercommon. These languages are considered trade languages, and are known at least in part by the majority of sentient creatures in Astora.   While their ubiquity is vast, their complexity is limited. Trade languages have a drastically limited vocabulary set, and place limits on what can be effectively communicated with them. Any complex or nuanced information or concepts require a full-fledged language to properly convey, limiting conversations in common (or undercommon) to basic ones, though both come with a more complete complement of vocabulary involving the topic of trade, allowing for more normal conversations in such transactions.  

Dialects and Families

Many languages have multiple dialects within them, and many languages share origins or other relations with other languages to form language families. Whenever a character learns a language, however the means, they choose which dialect to learn if more than one is available. These relations affect Linguistics checks made involving different languages or attempts to understand languages not known to a character.  

Scripts

Almost all languages have a script, representing the characters used in its written form. Many languages share a common ancestry and thus a common script. Knowing a language with a given script can make deciphering the text of other languages in the same script easier (see decipher script in Linguistics).  

Language Categories

Languages can be common, uncommon, or restricted. Common languages are broadly known and widely available to learn, thus any character is free to choose them when learning a new language unless otherwise restricted. Uncommon languages are either rare or generally not shared by those who know them, and are generally available only if a character obtains some means of access to learning it. This can include being listed as a bonus language for a character's race, access to an individual fluent in it and willing to teach it, or other material from which it can be learned.  

Language Categories From a Meta-gaming Perspective

Common languages are available for anyone to learn unless restricted in their choice by the source granting the language (most commonly a character's bonus languages at character creation).   Uncommon languages are available by DM discretion (with a few exceptions granted automatically by some races and/or classes). This will typically mean some minor to moderate effort to obtain a source from which to learn it, but they are otherwise largely available to players. For best results, talk to the DM early about learning an uncommon language.   Restricted languages are generally not available, and are granted only by specific game mechanics (in the form of Silvaran for Druids and Thieves Cant for Rogues) or rarely by DM discretion. Learning these languages is not necessarily impossible, but expect a great deal of character effort that will likely span many levels, or an extremely rare opportunity to present itself to gain access to do so. As with uncommon languages, talk to the DM early about it for best results.

 

Learning Languages

Multilingualism is quite common in Astora, especially amongst adventurers and highly educated NPCs. All player characters begin the game with at least a few known languages, and can learn more from there.  

• Base Starting Languages: A character begins play with any automatic languages provided by their race, plus any languages granted by traits, feats, or unlocked class features. Player characters also start with a language appropriate to their upbringing (i.e. the language of their homeland, their parents/guardians, etc). The DM may also specify a language relating to a campaign for all players to have automatic fluency in as well.
• Bonus Languages: Characters also begin with a number of bonus languages known equal to their Intelligence modifier. These languages must be chosen from the list of bonus languages provided by their race. Bonus languages in excess of those listed under their race may be spent on any common language. If a character's base Intelligence bonus (not counting bonuses granted from worn items) increases later, they gain additional bonus languages commensurate with the new higher bonus.
• Linguistics: Characters may learn additional languages as they progress by investing ranks into the Linguistics skill. For each rank placed in Linguistics, a character may learn a new language available to them.
• Teaching and Books: Characters can learn additional languages by spending downtime under the tutilage of others or reading books dedicated to them. This is covered in more detail in the Downtime article.