Translate
Typically used with: Insight.
In short: read, write, and speak. For all you cunning linguists out there, the Translate skill brings you what you enjoy most: figuring out all them funny words! Translate can be used to get the gist of writing or speech that you otherwise don't understand. It is also used to communicate with beings who don't speak or understand your language. Just as Discern is used to determine intent through behavior, Translate is used to determine intent through communication.
Your character starts the game knowing the "Common" language as well as a single language from your homeland. When you buy a rank in Translate, your character gets the added bonus of learning to speak, read, and write in a new language. Talk to your GM about which languages might be available for your character to learn. Here are some examples:
- Old Apsaravan
- Evengaran (Ancient, Modern)
- Ancient Jureni
- Kulgeric
- Maghashi (Old, Modern)
- Shou
- Gartanian
- Britavyan
- Slendorian
Difficulty
The difficulty for gaining information should be determined on a situational basis by the GM. Below are a few examples:
| Example | DL |
|---|---|
| A conversation or writing from recent years | 20 |
| A several hundred year old tablet | 25 |
| Ancient text in a forgotten alphabet | 30 |
| Conversation is muffled or text is slightly illegible (smeared, worn) | +5 |
These are the examples of difficulty for evoking ideas and intents across language barriers.
| Example | DL |
|---|---|
| Audience speaks or writes in a language similar to your own (Often geographical differences) | 10 |
| Audience speaks and writes with vastly different characters and patterns than your own (Often racial differences) | 20 |
| Audience has little to nothing in common with how you communicate (primitive and emotive grunting, exclusively written or signed language, etc.) | 30 |
The GM might want to roll the Translate check in secret so the player isn't sure what the character interpreted is correct or not.
Time
Translating a full page of text generally takes 5–10 minutes. Communicating without a common language depends on the complexity of what you are trying to say. Plus, some people you just can't get through to.
