Limited Language Talent?

[Tuk the Weekah]

I haven't seen anything on this idea in the archives (but I could have easily missed it): does it make sense to have Language Talent [One Language Family Only -70%]? I'm thinking that this would model similarities between different languages within a group (French, Italian, Spanish, etc.), and that the cost would justify taking it for up to 3 language families, but knowing 4 or more makes you a certified (certifiable?) polyglot.

Thoughts? Does the theory work? Is the cost logic appropriate?

[Phantasm]

How big a language family are you considering for the limitation? "Romance Languages" and "Germanic Languages" would probably each be -60% to -80% (your -70% seems viable), but "Indo-European Languages" is probably only a -10%.

[Dustin]

I don't think it breaks anything. For campaigns with only a few language families present (think what you can do in a medieval game with just Romance and Germanic) it would be a nice benefit.

That said, if what you're aiming for is greater fluency within a language family as a common feature of the campaign, you could just build it in that way. I often just say that Accented or better ability in one language provides Broken in its close cousins (in an Iron Age game, Welsh to other P-Celtic languages, or Saxon to other West Germanic languages, for example).

[Tuk the Weekah]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

How big a language family are you considering for the limitation? "Romance Languages" and "Germanic Languages" would probably each be -60% to -80% (your -70% seems viable), but "Indo-European Languages" is probably only a -10%.

I'm using taxonomic rank as a metaphor for linguistic connections (radical, I know). In that structure, "Romance" would approximate Family, primary languages (French) would be Genus, and local dialects (Meridional, Quebecois) Species.