Post originally by Haerandir at 2004-09-25 10:30:09
Converted from Phorums BB System



Conan wrote:
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These are meant to be average people, not experienced collegiate professors - knowing multiple languages is a real talent - not a skill. I think that making language a merit rather than a skill is a *good* thing. And it should be expensive - learning to be fluent in a foreign language takes a lot of time and dedication. Yes, some people take to it like a duck to water - but given the benefit in a game like WoD, I think it is a reasonable balance.
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By that logic, the game shouldn't include any Mental skills at all, they should all be 3-point+ Merits. Unless you're seriously trying to advance the position that spending an hour a day for a year or two learning Spanish in high school represents a greater investment of time and effort, and provides greater utility, than a broadly-defined skill such as Science or Academics?

I'm not saying that divorcing languages from Skills is necessarily a bad idea (the old Linguistics rules gave me a headache), but for the opportunity to communicate clearly with, realistically speaking, one or two NPC's over the course of an average chronicle (or whatever the current WW lingo for 'campaign' is), I'd spend 1 Merit point, tops. And if you're in a chronicle where command of foreign languages is vital, then it's even more important to make multilingualism easily available, IMHO.