Chewie on this...

[Boll Weevil]

I posted this question a while back but I guess it must have been on the temporary NATO boards. Please indulge me once again..

I have a character, The Wombat, who doesn't speak english. He's not human and basically lacks the human faculties of speech. He communicates in growls like Chewbacca. One of his teammates can understand him but is incapable of speaking to him for the same reason...anatomy.

In practical terms the situation is similar to Chewie and Han Solo. Han understands Chewbacca. Chewbacca understands english. I'm not sure who in else in Star Wars, besides maybe C3PO can understand him.

In game terms how would you handle such a thing. Wombat is far from home and is very unlikely to interact with another of his species in the future. This is important to note when assigning points, eh?

My first guess is to give him english as a second language with a physical limitation to prevent him from forming the words.

Any thoughts? And what of his teammate? He can understand Wombat's language but is physically incapable of speaking it. A physical limitation would be inapproriate for him as he is not impaired living on earth. The whole thing is giving me a headache.:confused:

[devlin1]

What about a Social Limitation?

Also, a Physical Limitation: Incapable of Speaking Foreign Languages.

[pinecone]

The "Lassie" power...mind link:Incantations...limited group (must have emotional bond)....

[Supreme Serpent]

If this is a normal, Earth-based game, I'd say that Wombat IS in fact limited. Not as limited in expressing as a mute, not as limited in understanding as an untrained deaf person, but still limited.

I'd give Wombat a Physical Lim: "Can't form the words to terrestrial languages" and probably call it Common, Greatly Limiting. Have him buy English (I assume that's what the team speaks) as a language with a significant dissimilarity penalty, and knock off a point for "understood only, can't speak". Even if somehow he gets transformed to a human, he hasn't trained himself physically to make the right sounds, etc. So, say 3pt Fluency, +3pts for dissimilar languages, -1pt for "never learned to speak it", say 5pts.

For those who work at understanding him, let them buy the language, as they would also be able to understand others of his kind, unlikely as it may be for them to encounter them. I'd say limit it to fluent conversation (2pts) as I doubt that they're going to really explore the full range of the language's possibilities, +3pts for dissimilar languages, -1pt for "never learned to speak it", for 4pts.

Depending on Wombat's hands, he may be able to pick up Sign Language as well. He would have no inherent difficulty in understanding it, and even if he can't form out letters, etc. he may be able to make a lot of the more gesture-based words/etc. to get his point across.

You may also want to identify a few words/etc that Wombat may be able to make understandably, and a few in his language that humans could approximate. Probably not too useful, but could add some spice to the game.

[Blue]

I was thinking a low point physical limitation ("Not capable of speaking anything but Wookie") then letting him buy whatever languages he wants to understand. Han & Co. on the other hand would have to buy the ability to understand Wookie (whether they can speak it or not).

It hink there's something in the book about when you buy a language you can't speak it unless you have the physical capability to do so (such as a carapace to click in order to speak a bug-language).

[Sketchpad]

The way the Star Wars RPGs have always handled this sort of thing is to have the Wombat have a friend that understands him and, as long as that character's around, they can speak normally ... In Hero terms, I would make this a Social Lim (or maybe a Phys Lim): Can Only Speak in Bestial Speak. Then I'd require the main buddy character to take a fluent understanding of the language with other characters getting a chance of understanding as they get to know the Wombat (as, with Chewie, most of the core characters could understand him by Jedi).