Old School Essentials – Languages

Languages

The native languages spoken by a player character are determined by the character’s class.  These typically include the common tongue and an alignment language.  Characters with high INT may learn additional languages

Common Tongue (common): is a language which is widespread among intelligent species.  All player character races – as well as many monsters – are able to speak Common.

In some settings, the referee may rule that different cultures in the campaign world have different languages, in which case a particular language must be chosen instead of common.

Alignment Languages: All intelligent beings know a secret, unwritten language of gestures, signs, and code words associated with their alignment.  This secret language allows beings of the same alignment to communicate.  Beings of another alignment will recognize when an alignment language is being used, but will not understand.  It is not possible to learn another alignment language except by changing alignment, in which case the former language is forgotten.

Other Languages: Many demihuman and intelligent monsters species have their own language, which player characters may be able to learn.  The following languages are common and may be chosen by player characters with high intelligence (at the referee’s discretion).