LANGUAGES AND STARTING SKILLS
Introduction
This section gives some general guidelines and rules for languages, skills, and feats. Generally speaking, I'm very flexible about how you combine and use feats, languages, and skills.
Player's Discretion
For this campaign, I'm allowing everyone to swap feats and skills around as desired, provided you let me know first. Because the rule system is so new, I don't want anyone to end up with a bad feat or skill set that destroys the character's playability. Besides, I'll be doing the same with the bad guys.
DM’s Discretion
I may give extra skill ranks above and beyond what the character normally gets if the character concept is particularly interesting or if logic would dictate the character would have extra skill in the given area. Past examples of this include: Giving free slots in Blind-fighting to a blind warrior, extra weapon smithing, armor-making, and blacksmithing slots for a Dwarven smith who was 130 years old when he started adventuring, and extra slots in brewing to the son of a brewer who wanted to open his own tavern.
Starting Skills
Your character starts with the skills shown in Table 10. These skills combine with and override those presented in the new Players' Handbook. You may notice that you're actually getting more skills than the standard rules allow. This is intentional. Your character, being of a particular race and culture, reaps some benefits, and some drawbacks. Most of these drawbacks appear when dealing with other races and cultures!
You will notice that some races get a Wilderness Lore skill with an addition like "- Arctic". This indicates that in the given terrain type, members of that race gain the benefits of the Wilderness Lore skill. This takes into account that, if you've grown up in that particular environment, you know how to survive in it. If your character spends any skill points on Wilderness Lore, you gain a +2 synergy bonus whenever you are in that particular environment.
By dint of travel, nearly all adventurers start with Tradespeak as one of their languages. You can take another language, or possibly even a skill, in place of Tradespeak. Talk to me first. Note that characters from Karuthea, the Southern Continent, do not get Tradespeak (Common) as a starting language unless there's a good reason for it.
Table 10: Bonus Proficiencies by Race
| Race | Proficiencies |
| Aryan | Wilderness Lore - Arctic; Ethkaldi, Tradespeak |
| Ci’thas | Wilderness Lore - Forest; Athosi-veyr |
| Dandrian | Profession - Mining or Farming; Kehkrian, Tradespeak |
| Darklander | Profession - Sailing; Urdawi |
| Diaunese | Wilderness Lore - Tundra; Kehkrian, Tradespeak |
| Draccaean | Wilderness Lore - Barrens; Iianj |
| Drakken | Parent Dragon language, Parent non-Dragon language, Tradespeak |
| Duanan | Wilderness Lore - Plains; Rhyshel, Perhadese, Tradespeak |
| Dwarf (Any) | Craft (Weaponsmith or Armorsmith) or Profession (Mining, Stonemasonry); Chak Hara’en, Getharin, Giant, Goblin, Orc, Terran, Tradespeak |
| Elf, Silver Forest | Wilderness Lore - Forest; Athosi-veyr, Tradespeak |
| Elf, Desert | Wilderness Lore - Desert; Upai or Athosi-veyr, Tradespeak |
| Elf, Fenuihl | Wilderness Lore - Jungle; Shavishere or Athosi-veyr, Tradespeak |
| Elf, Peacewood | Wilderness Lore - Forest; Drow, Athosi-veyr, Tradespeak |
| Freelander | Choose any 2 from the other human lands, Tradespeak |
| Gnome | Gem Cutting or Artistic Ability (Jewelry); Getharin, Tradespeak |
| Halfling | Bluff; Ithkas, Tradespeak |
| Hartlander | (Choose 1) Profession (Farming or Fishing), Diplomacy, Perform (Dance); Perhadese, Tradespeak |
| Illdarin | (Choose 1) Planar lore, Ancient History (any), Religion. |
| Karanukese | Sense Motive; Tastarien or Perhadese, Tradespeak |
| Karuthean | Wide variety possible - choose one appropriate; Hishanji |
| Kathnyri | Profession (Mining or Stonemasonry); Chak Hara’en, Athrashi, Tradespeak |
| Mraas | Wilderness Lore - Mountains; Mraas, Tradespeak |
| Plainsman | Wilderness Lore - Plains, Ride; Riding, Land-based; Vhin’s’ain, Tradespeak |
| Ralkstagian | Religion (Accuris); Bitharese, Tradespeak |
| Tatheari | (Choose 1) Artistic Ability, Musical Instrument, Singing; Kasaresh, Tradespeak |
| Thri-kreen | Wilderness Lore - Desert; Thri-kreen |
Spoken Languages
The Language Map shows how the various languages relate to eachother. Of course, Tradespeak is in the middle since it is a polyglot of many languages. What this means is that someone who speaks Upai, for example, has a better chance of understanding someone speaking Teshian than normal. By the same token, Jin Asi-veyr is so distantly removed from Kehkrian that they won't understand eachother.
People who speak languages that are closely linked (i.e. Jin Asi-veyr and Athosi'veyr) can understand roughly 1/3 to 1/4 of what the other person is saying. The greater the "distance" between languages (i.e. Ain'jiak and Tradespeak), the less likely the two speakers will understand each other. This translates to a DC of about 7 for every language between you and the speaker.
Languages that are extinct are noted with two asterisks (**).
Other Spoken Languages
These languages don't appear on the map simply because they are either very rare, or not well-known: gnoll, kobold, various giant-kind languages, lizard man, and various Draconic languages.
Written Languages
Those languages with a written form have an asterisk (*) next to them. There was a written form of Shavishere, but it was extremely rare. Only the Ogre Magi Lords of now-destroyed Avernia could use it, much less translate it.
There is no written Kehkrian. Instead, a general group of symbols and pictograms are used. Only the shamans and wisewomen of the Diaunese tribes can translate it. This ideograph language is also resistant to magical translation through Comprehend Languages.
MAP OF SPOKEN LANGUAGES
