Discussion between NautArch and jrferr

6:06 PM

Q: What kind of check is needed to read something to a character that doesn't speak the language?

So, I have a party with a Half-Orc Barbarian who cannot read. The last session ended with the party discovering a note written in Orc, which nobody other than the barbarian speaks. Multiple members of the party speak and read Dwarvish. Since Orc and Dwarvish use the same script, the plan is to r...

jrferr

@MrHiTech I am the DM.

NautArch

I'm not sure this is answerable as it stands now. There really isn't a 'right' answer to this and there could be many ways to do it - which ends up being idea generating answers (which we don't do here.)

Related on Languages shared script issue

You've also got a potential house-rule here on the character not being able to read.Not knowing how that interacts with RAW also makes this potentially opinion-based.

jrferr

@NautArch I was under the impression barbarians were illiterate as a general rule. The PC was the person who originally told me his character couldn't read with phrasing similar to "Since I'm a barbarian I can't read."

The title edit seems odd to me, the person being read to can speak the language, the reader cannot speak the language.

NautArch

@jrferr That may have been from previous editions - but nothing in 5e says they can't read.

The player may have elected that, but that may be a sign of my guy. Although there is nowhere near enough to know that based just on illiteracy.

There isn't a rules directive for barbarian illiteracy.

jrferr

Ah, well in that case I can present the option to the player to just be able to read.

NautArch

6:08 PM

We've got a 3 INT player at a table i'm playing at, and we decided as a group that guy can't read :)

or really speak.

jrferr

The player had previously played 3.5, so maybe he was just porting over some old rules in his head

Rubiksmoose

@jrferr fair point about the title edit BTW. If you have a way to make it clearer by all means do so!

NautArch

@jrferr Just a quick google search shows a reddit thread that it may be from 3.5/PF, but I haven't played those to confirm.

the other thing to consider is how to handle failure. I think trying to manage this may create more issues than it solves, but it's up to you and your table how you want to handle it.

Rubiksmoose

@NautArch oof. I don't know that I could handle that as a DM or player.

NautArch

@Rubiksmoose It's actually been going pretty well (he was the...previous DM)

but he plays him in a way that's interesting, but not annoying

or My Guyish

Rubiksmoose

6:11 PM

@NautArch ahhhh yes. I remember the stories.

@NautArch Excellent! that is honestly really good to hear.

jrferr

The player has an INT of 4, he hasn't really been playing too MyGuyish, but he really values the RP of playing such a low INT character.