Languages
Your ancestry indicates the languages your character can speak by default, and your background might give you access to one or more additional languages of your choice.
Choose your languages from the Standard Languages table, or choose one that is common in your campaign. With your GM's permission, you can instead choose a language from the Exotic Languages table or a secret language, such as thieves' cant or the tongue of druids.
Standard Languages
| Language | Typical Speakers |
|---|---|
| Common | Most Creatures; Humans |
| Dwarvish | Dwarves |
| Elven | Elves |
| Giant | Ogres, Giants |
| Gnomish | Gnomes |
| Goblin | Goblinoids |
| Halfling | Halflings |
| Orcish | Orcs |
Exotic Languages
| Language | Typical Speakers |
|---|---|
| Abyssal | Demons |
| Celestial | Celestials |
| Draconic | Dragons |
| Deep Speech | Aberrations, Mind Flayers |
| Gith | Gith |
| Grung | Grung |
| Infernal | Devils |
| Oxen | Bovines, Minotaur |
| Primordial | Elementals |
| Squeak | Ratfolk |
| Sylvan | Fey, some Plants |
| Undercommon | Underdark Natives |
Coded / Nonspoken Languages
| Script | Typical Users |
|---|---|
| Druidic | Druids, Fey, some Plants |
| Handsigil | Humans, thieves |
| Thieves' Cant | Rogues, thieves |
Standard Languages
Common
Many worlds share one language that is most common amongst the widest variety of creatures, simply called Common or the Common Tongue. Common sounds and is written in a language that looks and sounds like a mix of a variety of real world languages.
Dwarvish
Dwarvish is a language full of hard consonants and guttural sounds, whose characteristics often spill over into whatever other language a native speaker might speak. Its written form is made up of runic symbols comprised of rigid, straight lines at sharp angles.
Elven
Elven is a soft, decorative language, often spoken musically. Its script is flowy and neat, with simple letters made of mostly curves.
Giant
Giant is a subtle, yet strong language, playing partly off of Dwarvish with its consonants, filled with concise words and phrases. Giant script is similar to Dwarvish script in that it is comprised of simple runes, but Giant is more commonly carved with softer angles and less rigid lines.
Gnomish
Gnomish is sounds like a softer version of Dwarvish mixed with Elven's decorative pronunciations when spoken, and when written is almost indistinguishable from Elven text.
Goblin
Goblin is an exceedingly simple language used to convey ideas quickly. Goblin words often slur together as they are spoken, meant to mimic drunken slurring to confuse or mess with others. Goblin script appears to be comprised of a highly specific arrangement of straight carved lines that convey simple ideas rather than words that- when combined together- could convey a whole page's worth of notes in just a few symbols.
Halfling
Halfling is often a mix of many of Common's terms and Gnomish's speed in spoken form. In written form, it appears to be a shortened version of Common script, with several of Common's letters having been combined for ease of use.
Orcish
Orc is a harsh, grating language with hard consonants. It's script is a combination of Goblin and Dwarvish, combining the simplicity of Dwarvish with the broad meanings of Goblin script.
Exotic Languages
Abyssal
Every word in Abyssal is a sickening, wet guttural sound prone to creating lots of spit, impossible to speak non-aggressively, even if the actual meaning isn't aggressive at all. Its written form is a worse version of Infernal, simplified into brutal carvings rather than carefully crafted letters.
Celestial
When spoken, celestial sounds like powerful, heavenly music mixed with what the feeling of bright light would sound like. Celetial's written form is simple and pretty, with its letters always appearing with perfect or near-perfect calligraphy.
Draconic
Draconic is a language of hard, breathy syllables that often sounds like growling and grunting. Its written form is comprised of marks that appear like claw strikes to the unknowing, but have hidden meaning amongst the draconic.
Deep Speech
Deep Speech is wholly alien and cosmic in nature, full of strange warblings and droning sounds. Deep Speech has no written form, rather it is commonly communicated nonverbally through telepathy.
Gith
Gith is an alien language spoken by the Gith comprised of harsh sounds and clicks. Each word in Gith is arranged as a circular pattern, also called a tir'su, with each letter constituting a "spoke" of the wheel.
Grung
Grung is the language of the Grung. Grung sounds like a cacophany of croaks and squeaks to other creatures, but it has meaning to Grung. Grung's written form appears like different arrangements of paint made by Grung feet.
Infernal
Infernal sounds like a meticulously crafted song that is neither too lively or too boring, but with a natural rhythym that makes it incredibly engaging. Its written form is made of complicated letters with many extravagant, sharp flourishes.
Oxen
Oxen is the language of the Minotaur. It sounds like a mix of bovine huffs and moos identical to that of wild oxen, but carries meaning in their patterns to Minotaur. Oxen's written form is an archaic Common, using ancient symbols in a shorter alphabet.
Primordial
Primordial sounds like the four elements and as such has four dialects: Primordial (Auran), Primoridal (Aquan), Primordial (Ignan), and Primordial (Terran), which sound like whipping wind, crashing waves, crackling flames, and crumbling earth respectively. Speakers of multiple dialects of Primordial might combine sounds of each dialect into their speech to convey meanings across the dialects, or to confuse some. Primordial's written form is comprised of marks made by the four elements- sand blown by air, holes carved by powerful waves, scorch marks made by fire, and cracks made from tremors, for example.
Squeak
Squeak is the language of Ratfolk. It sounds like the rapid squeaks of mice, and in written form it appears like tiny scratches in simple shapes.
Sylvan
Sylvan is a flowery ancestor of Elven, incorporating sounds of nature into its speech, such as birdsong and chittering animals. Its written form is a combination of Elven and Goblin but predates both, combining Elven lettering with Goblin's broad meanings.
Undercommon
Undercommon is described as beautiful chaos, sounding like a perfectly slurry of many languages mixed together but predominantly Common, Dwarvish, and Elven. Its written form is a mix of Dwarvish and Elven mashed together, as if halves of each script's letters were swapped with each other.
Coded / Nonspoken Languages
Druidic
Druidic is the secret language of Druids, combining the best traits of Sylvan and Elvish. Both its spoken and written forms are completely hidden in nature, be it mimicked bird calls or specific arrangements of twigs to convey meanings.
Handsigil
Handsigil is a nonspoken language of signs made with the hands, commonly used to communicate with the deaf or hard of hearing, or to communicate silently.
While Handsigil covers most societies, some have created their own form of Handsigil for various reasons, such as the Cavern Elves, who made their variant of Handsigil to communicate silently between other Cavern Elves without others who know Handsigil understanding.
Thieves' Cant
Thieves' Cant is a secret mix of dialect, jargon, and code known amongst Rogues that allows them to hide messages in seemingly normal conversation. Only another creature that knows thieves' cant understands such messages. It takes four times longer to convey such a message than it does to speak the same idea plainly.
In addition to coded words, Thieves' Cant also has a set of secret signs and symbols used to convey short, simple messages, such as whether an area is dangerous or the territory of a thieves' guild, whether loot is nearby, or whether the people in an area are easy marks or will provide a safe house for thieves on the run.