Languages And Literacy

Each race or culture tends to have their own language that they speak. This can be both a tool of secrecy and a barrier of communication, from two creatures speaking in their native tongue in a foreign land to reduce who listens in to their conversation; to adventurers happening upon a tribe of orcs and being unable to discern their words, left to only guess their intentions.

Of all the languages, one exists as “common”, common itself isn’t exactly a language, but instead is representative of the language used commonly for your area/region, meaning if you’re in a campaign of a land dominated by elves, then likely common will be your language.

Starting Languages
Almost all races and their respective heritages will have a “Starting Languages” section to their listing. Some heritages may have their own special dialect, while all of their race may share the same language. In almost all cases each race has the option of starting with common or the language appropriate to their race, though some may get their racial language in addition to the common language.

If a creature starts with a 14 or higher intelligence score, they may start with one additional language of their choice.

Learning New Languages
A creature may choose to spend skill ranks to learn a new language instead of spending those ranks in additional skills.

Literacy
In the basic Niche D20 setting literacy is not a guarantee. As a result it is assumed most creatures may be able to speak a language, but are not automatically literate. This does not affect spellcasters as the method to reading and understanding magic is not the same as reading mundane script.

If a creature has a 12 or 13 starting intelligence score they are assumed to have literacy in the common language. A creature with a 14 or higher starting intelligence is assumed to have literacy in all their starting languages.

For creatures learning new languages, or simply did not have literacy in the first place, may spend skill ranks to gain literacy in a language instead of spending those ranks in additional skills. Creatures could have literacy but be unable to speak a language, but this could cause confusion for some players, so it is recommended to limit literacy to languages a creature can speak.

Some settings may call for more common literacy, as a result a more renaissance to industrial era setting may call for simply a 12 or higher to gain literacy in all starting languages, while a more modern setting would assume all creatures are automatically literate in any language they can speak.

List of Languages
Below is a list of languages within the Niche D20 system. You may always choose to add more as appropriate to your own setting, but below is a list defined within the system.