Baldur's Gate : The Sword Coast Chronicles : NWN2 Persistent World

you guys are going to hate me for bringing this up. But the complete divine source book goes further into the language and by the definition of dialect druidic is a language. Especially in regions that only speak it. Complete divine and another source book define it as a language that changes regionally and in some places it is the regional dialect. That is where it gets fuzzy. That's why I posted this. It comes down to do say due to the Devils advocate you can play with it, because if a wizard needed to speak to a druid that was raised in areas (looknow into them) where they only speak druidic, the go to would be tongues.

A reason to post here, other than the DM forums section is the value of community feedback. You aren't supposed to post in the DM question section unless you are A. a DM or B. the original poster.

This lets the community get involved with the interpretation of things that haven't had a ruling yet.

Hawke wrote:Could someone "learn" Druidic from the spell? I dont think he could by himself, but if a third party were involved, taking notes, possibly.

this part wouldnt happen though since it is forbidden, you couldnt take notes to translate what you dont understand if no one tells you the meaning

AlwaysSummer Day wrote:Perhaps a person was raised by druids thus their first language was druid if you really want to add a rule about that.

raised by and being one are still two different things

Blackman D wrote:

AlwaysSummer Day wrote:Perhaps a person was raised by druids thus their first language was druid if you really want to add a rule about that.

raised by and being one are still two different things

I don't think that would be possible, unless a druid broke the rules and taught it to a non-druid from a very young age. No one is born a druid, so no one would have it as their mother tongue, it would always be another language that they learned after becoming a druid and after first learning common/elven/thorass/illuskan/whatever.

That is what I meant. It was late at night and I was typing on my cellphone so it was difficult.

I meant to say - What if someone was the child of a druid, raised to be a druid, and spoke druidic as a first language. Also every single language spoken by more then one person arguably has dialects. Considering druids would typically be widely dispersed and sparse it is likely their druidic language would be highly influenced by more common languages and pronunciations. Of course now we are getting into linguistics which is off topic. The point is there is no reason whatsoever as far as I can tell to arbitrarily disqualify druidic from the tongues spell just because certain players want an unbreakable secret language that cannot be spied on ever no matter what ever +2.

AlwaysSummer Day wrote:What if someone was the child of a druid, raised to be a druid, and spoke druidic as a first language.

Then the Dad broke the rules. The son was not a Druid at the point he began teaching the language.

The question surely is how does the spell work? As far as I can see, the intention is that it allows you to communicate verbally with any person (e.g. Angels have Tongues as an innate ability, but they will be speaking Supernal). This is simply "magic"; you don't know the language, but you can understand what they are saying for the duration of the spell. It's as if they were speaking in a language you do know, i.e. as if it passed through a Star Trek Universal Translator.

exactly, any sort of logical conclusion that you can make that has someone being able to translate druidic implies someone taught them how, which means they broke the rule and are no longer a druid

and for the spell to translate it then that implies someone knew the language for the spell to able to do so to begin with, but if druids never teach to outsiders that wouldnt be possible

But magic doesn't need to be taught anything; it just works. For example the Angel will speak Supernal, but you will hear it (in your language*). If that's Druidic, then that's what you will hear.

* I would imagine that the language you hear will be whatever is most natural to you, i.e. the language you most commonly think in. That's the way Universal Translators work.

This is far too simplistic of course, but then D&D is simplistic.

right but planar languages are not exactly secrets and they go through no extremes to make them that way

Thorsson wrote:* I would imagine that the language you hear will be whatever is most natural to you, i.e. the language you most commonly think in. That's the way Universal Translators work.

this would be comprehend languages, understand only
tongues is comprehend and speak, but with either its still a grey area if druidic would count if they go to the extreme to make sure its not public knowledge

Thorsson wrote:

AlwaysSummer Day wrote:What if someone was the child of a druid, raised to be a druid, and spoke druidic as a first language.

Then the Dad broke the rules.

IIRC Druids are not required to be Lawful aligned. Nor are they infallible.

AlwaysSummer Day wrote:

Thorsson wrote:

AlwaysSummer Day wrote:What if someone was the child of a druid, raised to be a druid, and spoke druidic as a first language.

Then the Dad broke the rules.

IIRC Druids are not required to be Lawful aligned. Nor are they infallible.

A druid who ceases to revere nature, changes to a prohibited alignment, or teaches the Druidic language to a nondruid loses all spells and druid abilities (including her animal companion, but not including weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She cannot thereafter gain levels as a druid until she atones (see the atonement spell description, page 201).

They do have to keep their druidic oaths or they lose their abilities.

I think this comes down to a DM ruling for the server. There's too much one way or the other lore wise, imo.

Here's another grey area. Can blighters teach druidic? They are Already hated by druid gods and other druids. They are required to be ex-druids. They don't really fit that druidic code with the blighting thing lol

Truthiness wrote:They do have to keep their druidic oaths or they lose their abilities.

"Nor are they infallible." Druids can indeed lose their abilities and fail their oaths. Just like paladins and many other classes. The Language of Druids is not a divine granted ability as far as I know. It is not removed by losing your druidic abilities.

Edit: I will post a few things from the wiki -

ScriptEdit

Druidic made use of its own alphabetic script.[1]

SublanguagesEdit

Druidic was actually a language subgroup composed of two distinct but similar languages. The vast majority of druids spoke Drueidan; those from the Moonshaes spoke a language called Daelic.[2]

HistoryEdit

Drueidan was developed by a powerful group of druids who worshiped Silvanus. Silvanus made an agreement with the other nature gods of the Faerûnian pantheon to allow druids all over Faerûn to speak it.[2]

Daelic, on the other hand, was developed by druids who worshiped the Earthmother.[2]

This seems to confirm that there are dialects of druidic and that though the language was brought into mainstream druid culture by a god it is not a language granted by purely divine means. So unless it specifies somewhere that the language is taken away when a druid fails their oath we can assume a fallen druid does not lose his/her ability to speak it.

Blackman D wrote:right but planar languages are not exactly secrets and they go through no extremes to make them that way

Thorsson wrote:* I would imagine that the language you hear will be whatever is most natural to you, i.e. the language you most commonly think in. That's the way Universal Translators work.

this would be comprehend languages, understand only

No. Comprehend languages is about the written word. It works the same as tongues, but the latter is for verbal communication only.