Not Speaking with Laguages

[Kenn]

There are a number of languages, or at least forms of communication, in existence that do not have all of the components of most languages.

 

Ancient Egyptian has been largly translated, and people can learn to read it, but I don't know that anyone really knows how to speak it, or any other dead language.

 

American Sign Language and other sign languages all have communication, meaning, grammar and syntax, but they have no written component.

 

Semaphore and Morse Code are other weird cases.

 

Should these types of "language" be bought as Languages (and if so, how) or should they just be Knowledge skills?

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Not Speaking with Laguages

 

Depends on the value you as a DM place on it. For me, the ability to learn a language is really guaged by the design of the system. For example, ASL is known by such a limited group (comparatively) that they can freely communicate with each other without tipping off other people. For that reason my military packages contain "Field Sign" - the complex system of hand gestures that communicate location and enemy force types. I charge anything that allows people to communicate as a language.

 

However, if it's a plot element or something truly obscure, then yes, I'd likely only charge it as a KS. It's really a matter of the functionality and how often it comes up. For example, there's a dead (truly dead) language in my FH campaign, the knowledge of which is huge and it's difficult to learn - I doubled the cost of it across the board to represent that.