You Speak What?!!!

One of the benefits of going through my old game notes from the mid-to-late ‘80s as part of Forgotten Realms Week was unearthing a few bits and pieces that must have been of dire importance at the time. Looking at them now, I’m not sure what the hell I was thinking. The purpose of trying to rework Johnny Cash’s “Dark as a Dungeon” into a dwarven work song for example is something I’ll likely never recall.

Another one of these Notes of Vital Importance (At the Time) that I discovered was my master language list. I wrote this up during my Forgotten Realms campaign and I remember quite clearly going through each entry of the Monster Manual, Fiend Folio, and Monster Manual II, as well as the FR boxed set and whatever sourcebooks I owned at the time, seeking out each and every mention of creatures or races that spoke a distinctive language or dialect. Once my master list was composed, I organized them all by rarity and (I think) used this list during character creation to determine what languages a PC could begin the game with.

Looking at this list now, I remember why I disliked 3.5’s decision to condense all the known languages into a mere handful of tongues. Even though I can be rather cavalier about the need for realism and common sense to be an important part of the game, I found this reduction to rob the game of some of the fun that previous editions had with languages. Once upon a time, you had to choose which color of Dragon you spoke, and a poor or unlucky choice could land you in soup some years down the line. Now it seems everybody spoke boring old Draconic - even the kobolds.

I’ve reproduced that list below. If its missing anything, the fault is completely my own. I recall being rather thorough in my research, but it always possible that I skipped a tongue or two.

Languages and Dialects Common in Faerun

Commonly Known Languages
Barbarian Tribal Dialects*
Common
Druid Tongue
Dwarvish
Elvish
Goblin
Gnomish
Halfling
Orkish
Ruathlek (Illusionist Script)*
Thayian*
Thieves’ Cant
Thorass (Auld Common)*
Vassan Dialect*

Uncommon Languages
Alzhedo (Calimshan)*
Brownie
Bugbear
Bullywug
Centaur
Dryad
Gnoll
Hobgoblin
Korred
Kolbold
Lizard Man
Muthorandi*
Nymph
Ogre
Pixie
Small Burrowing Mammals
Satyr
Sprite
Sylph
Treant
Troglodyte
Troll
Untheric*

Rare Languages
Aarakocra
Beholder
Dragon, Black
Dragon, Blue
Dragon, Brass
Dragon, Bronze
Dragon, Brown
Dragon, Copper
Dragon, Faerie
Dragon, Gold
Dragon, Green
Dragon, Red
Dragon, Silver
Dragon, White
Firenewt
Genie
Giant, Cloud
Giant, Fire
Giant, Frost
Giant, Hill
Giant, Stone
Ki-rin
Lammasu
Sphinx

Very Rare Languages
Dragon Common – Evil
Dragon Common – Good
Duergar
Drow
Pegasus
Undercommon
Unicorn

*denotes a language from a Forgotten Realms supplement or boxed set.