Forgotten Kingdoms Forums

I've noticed that elves start out with elven and common language, but I was curious if there was a reason why half-elves don't start off with elven. Maybe not at grandmastery, but maybe an apprentice or novice.

From a purely mechanical point of view, my understanding is that a character gets both its racial language and that of its home town - which is why elven characters can speak both languages and half-elves can't.

From a roleplay perspective I've always run with the fact that as humans tend to be more accepting of half-elves than elves are, my half-elf characters have been brought up in human communities. Why hasn't their elven parent taught them their native tongue? Well... perhaps they aren't around, or perhaps they thought that having their child speak only common would lead to less problems with their offspring 'fitting in' with the human society they live in - after all, bilingual children might have a tendancy to switch from one language to another without really thinking, and perhaps the other local children would bully them...

If you'd really like to say your half-elf has been taught a smattering of elven, then train it up asap and roleplay that your parents taught you the very basics?

As I was typing this I was wondering about the reasons elves get common - but I think that probably any elf who knew they would be spending time in a human settlement would make the effort to learn at least enough common to get by (and it's not like they don't have the time to learn it )

As I was typing this I was wondering about the reasons elves get common - but I think that probably any elf who knew they would be spending time in a human settlement would make the effort to learn at least enough common to get by (and it's not like they don't have the time to learn it Wink )

I think that maybe, because we don't differentiate between different regional human languages here on Forgotten Kingdoms, we have adopted the common language as the human language instead - when in fact, the idea of "common" language is just a smattering of local words that are mutually understood among the different races of a region. Human languages include Chondathan from Waterdeep east to the Dalelands, Illuskan in the north and in the Moonshaes, Damaran around the Moonsea, as well as many other local languages specific to certain cities or secluded regions, like Chultan, Shaaran, Chessentan, and Alzhedo. Common has grown from a kind of pidgin Chondathan and is most closely related to that language, and so it is very popular and most used in the Heartlands, but because it is also a trade language it has spread in all directions across Faerun and most people speak at least enough common to get by in addition to their native tongue.

So in answer to why elves get common - it's everyone's language, except perhaps some of the goblinoid, orcish and monsterous races. Elves might be disinclined to learn a true human language like the ones I listed above, but common is a different matter altogether.

Relevant link:
http://www.forgottenkingdoms.com/board/ ... +languages

I do not know if in 3ed they get elven language, but in 3.5 they get it.