New/Altered Skills

Taeran Languages

Universal Languages	Racial Languages		Secret and Espionage Languages	Nonexistent Languages (from the core rules)
Abyssal	Aarakocra	Kobold	Aspis	Gnoll
Ancient Taeran	Aboleth	Kuo-Toan	Cerulean	Halfling
Aquacommon	Badder	Lizardfolk	Clamfolk	Sylvan
Aquan	Cephalid	Locathah	Coelopteran
Auran	Crabfolk	Loxo	Druidic (Taera  |  Arite)
Celestial	Dark Dwarvish	Lumin	Friizan
Common (Anarcia)	Dark Elvish	Minotaur	Frond
Common (Anyrk)	Dark Illithid	Myconid	K'r'r'r
Common (Arcia)	Dark Orcish	Old Aboleth	Nilbog
Common (Arite)	Deep Dwarvish	Ophidian	Rigodruokan
Common (Nakhu)	Draconic	Orcish	Shakti
Common (Nikkon)	Duergar	Pterran	Silent Tongue
Common (Yoor)	Flarn	Rolfish
Common (Zephra)	Flawder	Sea Elvish
Ignan	Giant	Sun Elvish
Infernal	Gnomish	Tabaxi
Terran	Goblin	Tako
Undercommon	Grippli	Thri-Kreen
	High Dwarvish	Urluu
	High Elvish (Taera  |  Arite)	Xyph'r
	High Illithid

Class Skills Table

Skill Synergy Table

Descriptions

In addition to creating a physical disguise to change your appearance, Disguise can be used to mimic sounds other than your own voice. You can use your mouth and body to imitate noises your race doesn't naturally make, such as animal or machine noises, or change your voice to imitate another individual. A Disguise check of this nature is opposed by Listen checks rather than Spot checks, and normally can be done as a free action (for those capable of good mimicry, it is nearly as easy as talking). Of course, if your Disguise check fails, the listeners are unlikely to be fooled by another attempt, but that is no different than a failure at physical disguise. In order to make a Ghost Sound spell imitate a specific individual, you make a Disguise check with a +10 bonus.

Intimidate [STR]

Intimidate is nominally the skill for scaring others into submission by threatening violence, but it can also be used for scaring others into submission with actual violence. Big, strong people with few social skills generally become good at this form of persuasion, because it depends on STR rather than CHA. When a character takes his/her first rank in Intimidate, the player must decide whether the character will choose the "subtle" path of CHA-based Intimidation, or the "obvious" way of STR-based threats. Thereafter, the character always uses the chosen ability modifier for Intimidate checks, regardless of which score actually provides the better bonus.

Knowledge (new subskills) [INT; Trained Only]

This is a list of new domains for the Knowledge skill, as described in the Player's Handbook. The rules used are the same, with one important exception: some Knowledge skills may be used untrained, in Taeran games, because they represent facts that virtually every person in the world picks up a smattering of through living daily life. The Knowledge specialties which may be used untrained are Games and Gambling, Local, Puzzles, and Streetwise.
The new domains include Ancient Technology, Biology, Chemistry, Cryptography, Games & Gambling, Literature, Mathematics, Poisons, Politics, Puzzles, Streetwise, and War, and are described below.

• Ancient Technology: Machines made during the Golden Age and later, virtually any device made using the now-lost scientific and magical knowledge of Ancient Taera. This includes weapons, armor, utility devices, and materials used in construction of items and structures. Also includes robots- their features and characteristics, weaknesses, etc.
• Biology: Plants, animals, and other lifeforms of all types, and how they live- eating, sleeping, mating and reproduction, and so on. Though this specialty concentrates on empirical and mechanical knowledge of what goes on, rather than reverence and legend, it also includes the magical and psionic properties of lifeforms- especially the powers and abilities they use in combat (since those are relatively easy to observe). Artificial lifeforms such as robots, constructs, and undead are also covered in many cases, since (though they are not "biological" in the strictest sense of the term) some have biological parts. For instance, skeletons and zombies would be covered, albeit at a higher DC than Knowledge (Religion).
• Chemistry: Various compounds and how they react with each other. This is related to Craft (Alchemy), but Alchemy (as a Craft skill) concentrates on practical use; Chemistry, by contrast, is empirical knowledge of the building blocks of these materials, and how they physically interact.
• Cryptography: Codes and cyphers. Secret writing. Methods of subterfuge and secret communication- "cloak & dagger" concepts.
• Games and Gambling: Games of all varieties (chance and otherwise), their rules, strategies, methods of cheating, and champion players. Also used during actual play of games to determine a winner. May be used untrained.
• Literature: Stories, plays, ballads, epic poetry, legends, folktales, myths.
• Mathematics: How numbers behave. Methods of quick calculation; surveying techniques; time, distance, and position figuring.
• Poisons: Venoms and toxins derived naturally and artificially; what makes them, what they do, and how they do it. Also covers drugs, diseases, and folk remedies for common ailments.
• Politics: Not directly related to Poisons- honest! Government bureaucracies, petitions, bribes and who to give them to, subterfuge, art of compromise.
• Puzzles: Puzzles, riddles, word games, logic problems, and other mental challenges. Also used during riddling contests to determine a winner. May be used untrained.
• Streetwise: Drinking, flirting, guild signs, who's the real power in a town, locations of safehouses. May be used untrained.
• War: Famous battles and leaders, fortifications, military ranks, sapping, siege engines, strategy, tactics of all sorts, use of supernatural abilities in war.

Use this skill to realize that you are dreaming, consciously direct elements of a dream, and move into other dreamscapes.
Check: Lucid Dreaming can be used to take many different kinds of actions within a dream. The available action categories are listed below.

Task		DC
Realize you are dreaming		5
Recall a dream upon awakening		5
Change one aspect of your personal Dreamscape		15
Depart one Dreamscape for another		15
Change one aspect of another's Dreamscape		20
Change your personal appearance		20
Leave the Dreamheart		20
Enter the Dreamheart from a Dreamscape		25
Gain an ability		25
Carry experience gained in the Dream back into the waking world		30

Carry Experience: Experience gained in dreams normally does nothing for you in the waking world, but by succeeding at this check, you can carry some of it back with you. During any dream in which you gained XP, you may make this check upon awakening to attempt to retain the XP so gained. If the check is successful, you retain 10% of the XP for each point by which your check exceeds 30. If your check exactly equals 30, you only retain 1% of the experience. If this check succeeds, you automatically Recall the dream as if you succeeded at a check to do so (see below).
Change Aspect: Aspects of Dreamscapes include background features such as lighting, terrain, architecture, and vegetation (or lack thereof). They are innocuous features of a Dreamscape that have little or no effect on the ability of the dreamers within to function. Thus, you cannot use Lucid Dreaming to make a bolt of lightning strike an enemy, or a pit open up beneath its feet.
Change Appearance: You can adopt the outward appearance of another creature within two size categories of your own. None of your abilities change, just your appearance.
Enter the Dreamheart: If you successfully Grapple an opponent before making the Lucid Dreaming check, you can pull the opponent into the Dreamheart with you instead of pinning it.
Gain Ability: You can gain an ability duplicating the effect of any spell or psionic power of 3rd level or lower, such as flight (as if under a Fly spell) or invisibility. This ability lasts as long as you want it to, but the maximum number of such abilities that you can have at any one time is equal to your WIS modifier (if positive), or one (if your WIS modifier is less than +1). If you attempt to gain an ability that would put you over your limit, it replaces one of the abilities you already gained this way (you may choose the one that is lost). You cannot gain offensive abilities this way; only spells or powers which can affect you personally are allowed. Also, you cannot grant abilities to another dreamwalker this way- only to yourself.
Realize you are Dreaming: None of the other abilities of Lucid Dreaming can be used until this check has been successful. This check may be attempted the first time something seems out of place, such as when a Will save to overcome an illusion would be allowed.
Recall a dream: Make this check when you wake up to retain memories of the dream. If you later encounter creatures or objects in the waking world that you saw in the dream, you can make a Lucid Dreaming check in place of any Knowledge check you may want to make about them, to gain the same information.

Action: Varies. Making a Lucid Dreaming check to realize you are dreaming, recall a dream upon awakening, or carry experience back into the waking world is a free action, and is normally performed automatically at the first available opportunity (for instance, immediately upon awakening in the case of recalling a dream). Making a Lucid Dreaming check in place of a Knowledge check, assuming you remember a dream and later need to use the information, is treated exactly like a Knowledge check- it is generally not even an action. Changing a Dreamscape aspect, whether yours or somebody else's, is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Changing your personal appearance is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Moving between Dreamscapes, or to/from the Dreamheart, is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. Finally, gaining a special ability (or altering your current set) requires one full minute of concentration- ten consecutive full-round actions, none of which provoke attacks of opportunity. Of course, attempting such a change in any sort of combat tends to be a Bad Idea.
Try Again: Varies. Lucid Dreaming checks involving recall, including carrying experience to the waking world and making Lucid Dreaming checks in place of Knowledge checks, may only be tried once- either you kept the information with you, or you didn't. Other Lucid Dreaming checks normally may be retried after a failure, but only once per round (at most) no matter what kind of action the check requires to work.
Class Skill: Bard, Conjoiner, Cleric, Dragon, Elementalist, Mage-Priest, Monk, Naturalist, Psion (Seer), Sorcerer, Wizard.

Open Lock [INT; Trained Only]

Open Lock is usually used to open relatively primitive mechanical locks which are opened by keys. Even so, it can also be used to open locks which don't work on mechanical principles, such as number sequence locks or biometric (typically handprint) locks, nonphysical locks like a password to a computer system, or even mechanical locks which cannot be opened by keys (such as puzzle locks). Though it is possible to build intricate puzzle locks with modern (primitive) techniques, most such locks are Ancient technology- of course, some modern engineers are able to build even those using scavenged parts and Craft (Technology). This sort of lock presents very different problems to the would-be lockpicker than key-based locks do, and as a result the lockpick's DEX offers no significant help. Instead, the character's INT modifier must be used to open these "Codelocks."
Unlike the other dual-ability skill (Intimidate), whether a lockpicking character uses DEX or INT to open a lock depends on what kind of lock is being picked. Modern lockpicking training prepares the cracker for both types. When a character encounters a Codelock, INT is used; when a conventional key-based lock is encountered, DEX is used.
Check: Codelocks use essentially the same rules for checks that key-based locks do, aside from the different tools used for Codelocks. Using a tool such as a Codecracker Computer, or knowledge of those who are authorized to open the lock, may allow a circumstance bonus on the check. Making a check without any tools carries a minimum -4 circumstance penalty (and in many cases becomes "Practically Impossible"). Examples of some Codelocks that can be opened are:

	Lock		DC
Conventional Puzzle Lock
	Very Simple		15
	Average		20
	Good		30
	Amazing		40
Keypad Number Lock
	Very Simple		20
	Average		25
	Good		35
	Amazing		50
Computer Password
	Very Simple		15
	Average		25
	Good		35
	Amazing		45
Biometric Lock
	Very Simple		30
	Average		40
	Good		50
	Amazing		60
Genetic Imprint Lock
	Very Simple		40
	Average		50
	Good		65
	Amazing		80

Action: Opening a Codelock requires one full minute (ten consecutive full-round actions) of work, at a minimum. Very Simple and Average Codelocks may be opened in this timeframe. Good Codelocks typically require 1d6+4 minutes of work, while Amazing ones require 1d6 × 10 minutes.
Try Again: With a typical Codelock built with advanced Ancient technology, retries are not possible, because the lock is sensitive to tampering and will resist any further attempts to crack it. Computer passwords generally allow a user a few retries, but very rarely enough to allow a character to take 20 on the check- normally, two or three retries are allowed before the system in question cuts off all access. Modern puzzle locks, on the other hand, are purely mechanical devices, and do not often have inner mechanisms to prevent trying the lock again. Of course, even where retries are possible, they are often a losing strategy due to the time involved in making even a single check (see above).
Special: Untrained characters can't open most Codelocks, but they may try basic INT checks to open puzzle locks. Untrained characters might also be able to force physical locks open by attacking them regardless of type.
Synergy: Characters with 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (Cryptography) get a +2 synergy bonus to all Open Lock checks which involve a password or keypad sequence. Characters with 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (Puzzles) get a +2 synergy bonus to all Open Lock checks which involve a conventional puzzle lock.

Taunt [CHA]

This skill is used when you want to be deliberately undiplomatic, for instance, when you want to make that guard angry enough to come after you and leave his post (so your friend can sneak in), make the chief of invading tribe A think that the chief of invading tribe B insulted his ancestors, thus making your enemies fight each other instead of you, and other situations where the opposite of Diplomacy is what's called for. Taunting is the opposite of Diplomacy in many ways; it includes knowledge of etiquette and social graces (and how to ruin both), tact and subtlety (and a talent for ignoring them), and a (bad) way with words. A skilled taunter knows the formal and informal rules of conduct, social expectations, proper forms of address, and knows exactly what he or she can get away with in terms of breaking and/or ignoring them. This skill represents the ability to draw negative attention from others onto oneself, how to deflect such attention onto somebody else, how to make fun of others in ways that really do hurt, and how to make opponents really, really angry (so that they're distracted and don't notice what you or your friends are actually trying to do).
Check: Your Taunt check determines how well you change others' attitudes towards you and others, and is opposed by the opponents' Sense Motive checks (if they recognize that your Taunting is manipulative, they're more likely to grit their teeth and ignore it). If successful, you change the target's attitude towards you or somebody else towards Hostile. The table below shows base DCs for influencing attitudes this way. Note that it is possible for particularly inept Taunting to actually make an opponent more friendly towards you; in this case, the insults were so inept that the person actually found them amusing and likes you better. For instance, a barbarian chief might laugh at your insult, and give you grudging respect for having the nerve to try to anger him at all. Whether or not a Taunt check makes an NPC more friendly is ultimately up to the DM, but the table below gives base check results for which it is possible.

Initial	New Attitude (DC to achieve)
Attitude	Helpful	Friendly	Indifferent	Unfriendly	Hostile
Helpful	< 20	20	25	35	50
Friendly	< 5	5	15	25	40
Indifferent		< 1	1	15	30
Unfriendly			< 1	1	20
Hostile	-	-	-	< 1	1

Action: Making a Taunt check is generally a standard action that does not provoke attacks of oportunity (despite the fact that its actual intention is to provoke the target). In some cases, it may take longer, including long times on par with Diplomacy checks- but in general, good relations can be ruined much faster than they can be built.
Try Again: You may retry Taunt checks to make opponents do foolish or dangerous things, but each failure grants them a +2 cumulative circumstance bonus to their opposed checks. Somebody who realizes that your Taunting is an attempt at manipulation is less likely to let you get under his or her skin, no matter how much your words sting.
Synergy: Taunt and Diplomacy are closely related skills. 5 or more ranks in Taunt grant a +2 synergy bonus to Diplomacy checks, because you recognize what to avoid doing when you want to favorably influence people. Likewise, 5 or more ranks in Diplomacy grant a +2 synergy bonus to Taunt checks, because you know which rules to break in order to get people angry, and when and how to break them.
Class Skill: Barbarian, Rogue.

Urban Survival [WIS]

This skill is the city-based counterpart to Survival. It covers the same skills, but the actions and knowledge necessary to perform the same functions in a city (for instance, finding enough food and water to survive) are so radically different in an urban environment, that a separate skill is a better method for handling it.
Check: You can keep yourself and others fed and safe in a city or town. The table below gives DCs for various tasks requiring Urban Survival checks.

DC		Task
10		Scrounge up enough food and water to stay alive for a day; find a reasonably safe place to sleep on the streets.
15		Determine if an urban location (such as an open courtyard or abandoned building) is safe, or is likely to collapse or to be inhabited by monsters.
15		Keep from getting lost in a large city, however mazelike the streets.
20		Gauge the mood and distribution of knowledge among the local inhabitants, and thus gain a +2 circumstance bonus to CHA-based checks made on them during the next 24 hours. You may grant the same bonus to one other character for every 1 point by which your check result exceeds 20.
20		Recognize signs of underworld factions/guilds; know whose turf you're on.
Varies		Track a target through crowds and streets (called "shadowing"; uses the Track feat)

Action: Varies. A single Urban Survival check may represent activity over several hours or even a full day. Shadowing a target through a city is typically a standard action, but picking up a target's trail after losing it often requires one or more full-round actions to get information from passers-by and the like.
Try Again: Varies. You may try to find food and shelter once every 24 hours. The result of that check applies until the next one is made. Attempting to gain the bonus to CHA-based checks may be done only once per 24-hour period, and as with finding food and shelter, the results of the check stay in place until the next one is made. Retries to avoid getting lost or determine the safety of a particular location are not allowed, but retries to determine the locations of local guilds, factions, and underworld "turf" are allowed after 1 hour. Retries to pick up a lost trail are allowed after 10 minutes of searching and talking with passers-by (if any are about).
Restriction: While anyone can use Urban Survival to shadow a target who is not trying to lose pursuit, only an Urban ranger (or character with the Track feat) can use it to follow a target who does not want to be followed.
Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Gather Information, you get a +2 bonus on Urban Survival checks made to shadow a target through inhabited areas of a city. If you have 5 or more ranks in Urban Survival, you get a +2 bonus on Knowledge (Streetwise) checks.
Class Skill: Bard, Ranger (Urban), Rogue.

Use Ancient Device [WIS or INT]

Use this skill (modified by your WIS score) to activate any Ancient technology you find, and are unfamiliar with. You also use this skill (modified instead by your INT score) when creating a program within a computer system.
Check: A Use Ancient Device check must be made for each attempt to activate any one ability of an item you are not familiar with. Each successful activation of one ability grants you a cumulative +5 circumstance bonus towards activating that same ability again in the future. After this bonus reaches +20 for any one ability, you know how to activate it consistently, and no longer need to make a check to do so. This standard Use Ancient Device check is modified by your WIS score.
    Using any Ancient weapon requires a Use Ancient Device check each time you fire, activate, or deactivate it, until you have a +20 bonus as described above. You can't become proficient with a weapon or device until you no longer need checks to activate at least one of its abilities.
    You also use Use Ancient Device to create a new program within a computer system or network that you have gained access to somehow; gaining access in and of itself (or using an existing program within the system) is a standard use of the skill as described above. Creating a program, however, involves thinking more like a crafter than a mere user, and therefore is not modified by your WIS score as normal- instead, creating a new program is a Use Ancient Device check modified by your INT score as the standard Craft skills are. More specifics on creating programs can be found in the Technology document. You cannot use the skill in this way unless you have at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (Ancient Technology) or Craft (Technology).
Action: A Use Ancient Device check typically requires a standard action, and provokes attacks of opportunity. If you take a -5 circumstance penalty to the check, you may "use defensively" and avoid attacks of opportunity, but doing so still requires a standard action.
    Accessing a computer system, or a subsystem within the control set of a complex device such as a starship or cannon, typically requires a full-round action instead. Performing a complex task such as deciding which of several possible programs to run in order to uncover desired information or start up a deactivated subsystem usually requires even more time, on the order of a minute or longer (at the DM's option depending on the complexity of the task).
    Creating a new program using a standard "seeder" user interface (that is, one designed for non-programmers to use) takes 5 minutes, assuming you do not make significant modifications to the standard program you are creating. If you do make modifications, the time required to make the check is instead 10 minutes. If you create a program without using such an interface, whether because no such interface exists in the system you are creating the program for, or because you wish to make a program so different from a standard type that the interface is effectively useless, then the time required for the check rises to 30 minutes or longer (at the DM's option). A good rule of thumb is a number of minutes equal to the DC to craft the desired program.
Try Again: Under normal circumstances, failing to activate a device has no consequences other than losing the action, and you may try again with your next action. However, every time you roll a 1 when attempting to activate an ability of an Ancient device, you get a -5 cumulative penalty to further checks to activate that ability. If this gives you a net penalty to your check (i.e. you've failed to activate it more often than you succeeded), then the device must make a DC 15 Fortitude save (with no bonuses, not even yours), or it breaks and loses that ability permanently. Particularly complex devices (such as a starship or cannon) may, at the DM's option, activate an unintended function on a check that fails the DC by 5 or more- for example, you could cause the starship to run itself into the ground, cause the cannon to fire early, or activate the wrong program in the computer system you are attempting to access, making your desired task more difficult.
    Failing the DC to create a desired program normally means you fail to create any program at all- whatever you put together has no effect when activated (or "run") on the system, except perhaps to generate error messages. Rolling a 1 on a check to create a program has a different effect- instead of failing to create a program at all, you instead create a program that has undesirable effects when it runs. This could mean that the AI you create is hostile to you, or effectively insane, or it could mean that instead of creating a program to monitor the security devices in the Ancient installation you are within, you instead created a program that monitors the contents of the installation's storage lockers.
Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (Ancient Technology), you get a +2 synergy bonus for any Use Ancient Device check.
Class Skill: Bard, Rogue.

Taeran Languages

Taera and Arite have many more languages in them than those listed in the Player's Handbook, and even some languages from that book require changes. The complete list of languages available in Taeran/Aritian games is below.

• Aarakocra: Aarakocra are mutant birds, and this heritage is readily audible in their native language, with its long vowel sounds (many sound like near-screeches when correctly pronounced) and clipped consonants. Aarakocra learned writing from friendly Elves (particularly those who became the Avariel) many centuries ago, and their language therefore uses the High Elvish (specifically, Taeran High Elvish) script.
• Aboleth: Aboleth do not speak using sound, but rather with their minds; their speech is telepathic. Even so, they do have their own language; though it is never spoken aloud (except perhaps by other races trying to learn it), it has a written form similar to the Quallith of the Illithid languages (though the meanings of particular breaks in the Aboleth forms are very different). Aboleth typically write their language using all four of their tentacles at once, and read it the same way when it is carved in stone (so they do not need to even see it). Non-Aboleth rarely learn this language, but it does occasionally happen- especially among people intending to make raids or strikes inside Aboleth territory.
• Abyssal: This language of chaotic evil Outsiders is unchanged from the Player's Handbook version. It uses the same letters as the Infernal language, though the letters mean different sounds in the context of Abyssal use.
• Ancient Taeran: Though no people actively use it today, Ancient Taeran is still used for ceremony among the Gamma Knights and similar societies carried down from Ancient days, and spoken by robots and computers which have survived to the present day. A character with at least 10 ranks of Knowledge (Ancient Technology) can sound out words written in the Ancient tongue, and understands approximately 25% of any Ancient document that he or she comes across. Perhaps the oddest feature of Ancient Taeran, from a modern perspective, is that it uses 16 digits to write its numbers instead of 10. The reason for this difference between Ancient and modern forms is not known. Though Ancient Taeran is not actively spoken by modern people, its use is still widespread enough that it is not considered a secret language for game purposes.
• Aquacommon: This is the Common language of the Underwave, the inhabited seas and oceans of Taera's surface. The few undersea communities that exist in Arite are always closely tied to nearby land-based communities, due to the hostility of the briny ocean there, and therefore Aritian aquatic creatures do not have an Aquacommon language. Written Aquacommon uses an alphabet which closely resembles that of Ancient Taera, though the letters stand for different sounds.
• Aspis: This extinct language is now known only in written form. Its original "speakers," the ant-people known as the Aspis, are extinct, and the actual language was based on scent rather than sound, so no non-Aspis ever learned to understand "spoken" Aspis itself. A character who learns this language learns to read and write the written form. Aspis has a strange script that is simultaneously curvilinear and angular, and uses a structure based not on lines but on a hexagonal lattice similar to a honeycomb. For game purposes it is considered a secret language; a character may only learn it from a teacher who already knows it, and after training for at least one month.
• Aquan: This is the language of creatures hailing from, or closely associated with, the Elemental Plane of Water and those adjoining it. It uses its own alphabet in Taeran games, which is designed to be written in a single flowing line of thoughts and ideas regardless of what direction the line happens to be directed in.
• Auran: This is the language of creatures hailing from, or closely associated with, the Elemental Plane of Air and those adjoining it. It uses its own alphabet in Taeran games, using shapes which bring to mind puffs of cloud and blowing winds.
• Badder: Though this language is as extinct as the race that gave birth to it, surviving only in written form, the scholars of the Rolfish Imperium have gone to great lengths to preserve Badder records for future generations. Its original speakers destroyed themselves in a cataclysmic civil war, and the central authorities of the Imperium are determined to preserve the knowledge of their mistake so as not to repeat it. Therefore, although no Badders exist today, the sounds of the language may still be heard in schools and libraries, and unlike most other extinct tongues it is not considered a secret language for game purposes. Badder sounds similar to Rolfish, but has different syntax and word structure; its script is based upon three vertical lines connected by horizontal and diagonal bars, curves, and polygons, read top to bottom, right to left. Badder script is very distinctive, and does not significantly match any other form of writing known today (though Nikkonian Common at least duplicates its reading pattern).
• Celestial: This language of good Outsiders is unchanged from the Player's Handbook version. It uses its own script.
• Cephalid: The so-called Dark Tako, or Cephalids as they prefer to call themselves in other languages, speak a strange form of language that does not use sound at all. Instead, it makes use of both the Cephalids' extreme natural flexibility (being both boneless and possessed of eight tentacle-arms) and color-changing ability, communicating by means of gesture and color-shifts of the speaker's skin. Because the requisite 8 arms and color-changing ability are not typically features of non-Cephalids, aside from their more benign cousins the Tako, no non-Tako can actually "speak" in Cephalid- though such races can and do learn to understand it. The written form of Cephalid consists of modular pictograms, each of which represents a single word or root concept. Each pictogram has three basic parts- an "core symbol" which is usually at the center of the pictogram, a "border symbol" which is usually the border of the pictogram, and a "sweep" which is a series of lines and curves drawn between the two. The pictures used in the core symbols and border symbols are invariably hollow, closed (or at least convex) shapes such as circles, squares, and pentagons, and individual shapes may be used in either the core or the border, or both. They represent the color-portion of the Cephalid speech, and when they are different between the core and the border the pictogram represents the speaker changing his or her skin tone from the core color (at the start) to the border color (at the finish). The sweep, by contrast, represents the gestural portion of the language, and is written in such a way as to be approximately based upon 8 lines radiating from a central point (the original versions of "sweeps" used in pictograms in fact were tracks drawn in ocean-bottom sand by Cephalids trying to make themselves understood by others). Of course, the "central point" that a sweep radiates from is not usually a point, but rather the core color symbol. By combining basic conceptual symbols in these three portions of each pictogram, Cephalid writing consists of literally thousands of individual symbols, most of which look very much like others but convey very different meanings due to minor differences in one of the three parts. When forming paragraphs and more complex structures in their writing, Cephalid speech is usually written so as to start in a central glyph, and then spiral outward in a counterclockwise manner until the last glyph is reached. Those who can speak or understand Cephalid can understand roughly 25% of the Tako language, and vice versa.
• Cerulean: The "Blue Goblins" of Arite created this language for secret communication among their own kind, though those still living as slaves of the Mind Flayers rarely know it because the Mind Flayers punish any attempt to keep secrets from them with death. Arite also has stunted orc mutants identical to Taeran Goblins living in it and its side of the Underdark, and those goblins typically learn Cerulean as their racial language even though they are not actual Ceruleans themselves. Cerulean has no "official" written form, since literacy is another skill the Mind Flayers typically punish with death, but it may use Orcish, Dwarvish, or even Elvish letters depending on the whims of its writers. Such messages usually appear to be mere gibberish in the chosen language, though it is possible to write Cerulean messages coded and hidden within a "surface" message in the chosen language such that it may be found and understood only by a person who knows both languages. To write such a message, the character must know Cerulean and an appropriate alternate language (valid choices include Dark Dwarvish, Dark Elvish, Dark Orcish, Duergar, Gnomish, or High Elvish (Arite)), and have at least 2 ranks in Bluff or Knowledge (Cryptography). Successfully writing the message requires a Bluff or Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 25); failure renders one or both messages incomprehensible. A success means that the message in the non-Cerulean language is a perfectly understandable one, though typical messages of this sort will make a casual reader wonder why anyone would bother writing them down. However, a reader who knows both the chosen language and Cerulean, and has at least 2 ranks in Decipher Script or Knowledge (Cryptography), may read the hidden Cerulean message with a Decipher Script or Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 25). A character who does not understand Cerulean, but who has at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (Cryptography), may make a Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 30) to recognize the existence of the secret message- though this will not reveal the content of the hidden message to the character, since it is in an unknown language.
• Clamfolk: Clamfolk writing is as pretty to look at as the art and sculpture that that extinct race produced, and is unique among the scripts of Taeran races in that the color of the letters carries meaning. As a result, though reading it rarely poses much of a problem for a trained character, writing in it today is very difficult without expensive inks or magic/psionic effects. Accordingly, few people learn to read it, and Clamfolk is considered a secret language for game purposes. A character must find a teacher and train for at least one month in order to learn the language.
• Coelopteran: Coelopteran is a language of quick consonants and buzzing vowel sounds, with many clicks and glottal stops. Though still officially illegal in the lands of the K'r'r'r who created the Coelopteran race, it is widely spoken there by even loyal Coelopterans and those who regularly communicate with them. Its written form has only been developed comparitively recently (invented by anonymous rebel Coelopterans around 4000 A.A.), and it uses K'r'r'r script for its writing. Because Coelopteran and K'r'r'r are so similar in sound and script, it is possible to write secret messages in Coelopteran coded and hidden within "surface" messages in K'r'r'r that may be found and understood only by a person who knows both languages. To write such a message, the character must know Coelopteran and K'r'r'r, and have at least 2 ranks in Bluff or Knowledge (Cryptography). Successfully writing the message requires a Bluff or Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 25); failure renders one or both messages incomprehensible. A success means that the message in the K'r'r'r language is a perfectly understandable one, though typical messages of this sort will make a casual reader wonder why anyone would bother writing them down. However, a reader who knows both K'r'r'r and Coelopteran, and has at least 2 ranks in Decipher Script or Knowledge (Cryptography), may read the hidden Coelopteran message with a Decipher Script or Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 25). A character who does not understand Coelopteran, but who does understand K'r'r'r and has at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (Cryptography), may make a Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 30) to recognize the existence of the secret message- though this will not reveal the content of the hidden message to the character, since it is in an unknown language. This use of Coelopteran for espionage is the major reason the K'r'r'r so tolerate its existence today despite its potential for fomenting rebellion, since the spider-people are themselves such master spies.
• Common: There is no single Common language spoken by all people on Taera and Arite. Instead, the local Common language depends on geographical region. The allowed regions are:
  • Anarcia: Half the land space of Anarcia is occupied by the Dragon Vale, home of dragonkind on Taera. Anarcia has no significant non-dragon political entities; small city-states are where the bulk of the nondraconic population spend their lives. The Anarcian Common language, therefore, is very similar to Draconic, with speakers of one being able to correctly interpret between 25 and 50% of the other. Anarcian Common uses the Draconic alphabet for its written form.
  • Anyrk: Home continent of the primary Thri-Kreen hive, the ancestral homelands of the Frostlings and other cold-dwelling people, and of New Eldor, the largest city on Taera today, the continent of Anyrk is arguably the most culturally diverse of all the Taeran continents. Whereas most other continental Common languages are based on the base tongues of one or two dominant political entities on that land, Anyrk has no single political entity that is strong enough to so impose itself- and its Common language accordingly brings in words and ideas from an enormous variety of its modern dwellers. Its written form uses a unique alphabet not directly derived from any of the other languages spoken by its inhabitants.
  • Arcia: Location of the still-partially-working Diamond Tower, the ruins of the so-called Diamond City, and three of the seven Gamma Knight bases, the continent of Arcia has retained the most traditions and cultural norms from the Golden Age of any modern continent. Arcian Common is still quite close to the original Ancient Taeran, as a result, and it even still uses the same alphabet for its written form (albeit with the addition of four letters and loss of two others, and using only ten numeric digits instead of the Anciently-correct sixteen). Speakers of Arcian Common can read and understand roughly 25% of the material in Ancient Taeran scripts they come across.
  • Arite: Though Arite has four continents, three are occupied by singular forces which impose their own cultural forces upon those areas. The fourth continent, Nufalgrot, carries the bulk of the free peoples of Arite. The Aritian Common tongue is spoken by inhabitants of Nufalgrot, and also by those inhabitants of the other three continents who deal with them. The Aritian alphabet is a corruption of Ancient Taeran forms, with additions from Orcish and Elvish.
  • Nakhu: Nakhu is a landscape dominated by wide plains with few trees, and in many cases few plants of any kind. This landscape has given birth to a number of nomadic, tribal cultures, with a few small city-states using fertile land to cultivate food. In this environment, the common culture of the tribes dominates, and the Common language they have developed reflects this origin. Nakhuvian Common uses pictograms for its written form, but the pictograms are fairly simple and may be carved in stone, wood, or other hard materials quickly and easily as long as one has the proper tools to do so. Large rocks and trees on Nakhu often bear the imprint of centuries of travellers' marks, left behind to guide or inform whoever comes after.
  • Nikkon: The sole Common language that does not hail from a full continent is spoken on the large island of Nikkon, off the western coast of Arcia. Nikkon is culturally distinct from both Arcia and Anarcia, the two closest continents, and accordingly has its own Common language as well. Written Nikkonian Common uses pictograms rather than an alphabet as such, though it has a series of phonetic characters called the "Khanj" which are used for informal writing and spelling out words which are too new to have developed pictograms for themselves.
  • Yoor: Yoorian Common evolved as a patois between the K'r'r'r and the Wood Elves, who formed the first large political entities on it in the modern age. Though those nations are largely gone now, the trade language they used remains in use today. Written Yoorian Common uses characters which mimic Elvish forms, though the letters themselves stand for different sounds. There is little relation today between Yoorian Common and the K'r'r'r or Elvish languages.
  • Zephra: The expansionist Rolfish Imperium has managed to impose most of its culture even upon the parts of Zephra that it does not control, and therefore the Common language of Zephra is structurally and phonetically similar to Rolfish- though it has absorbed many expressions and words from other races and cultures on the continent. The Rolves of the Imperium generally refer to their own language as the "High Tongue," or "High Rolfish," and the Zephran Common language as "Low Rolfish" or the "Low Tongue." Zephran Common uses the Rolfish alphabet for its written form.
• Crabfolk:
• Dark Dwarvish: Originally spoken by the hardy Desert Dwarves of Arite, this language is today more commonly associated with their Mind-Flayer-mutated offshoot, the Derro. Like those so-called Dark Dwarves, this language has spread throughout the Underdark, and is even known by some on the surface of Taera itself; however, it is far more common on the Aritian side, and in Arite itself (where it is the primary Dwarvish language). Dark Dwarvish writing uses runes which closely resemble High Dwarvish, but the letters stand for different sounds (and in fact, several letters are different as well).
• Dark Elvish: The Dark Elves, or Drow, speak a form of Elvish which, though flowing and lyrical like other Elf languages, is at the same time harsh and blunt in its connotations and overtones. Dark Elvish is spoken by Drow on both sides of the Underdark, and also by most races which deal with Drow. Its written form makes use of a script which closely resembles High Elvish, but the letters stand for different sounds (and in fact, several letters are different as well).
• Dark Illithid: During the millennia the Mind Flayers were imprisoned in the Far Realm, their language diverged from that of the Psylons who remained free. Though the Mind Flayers (and their mutant offshoot the Haali) do not speak using sound, but rather with their minds, they do have their own language. It is never spoken aloud (except perhaps by other races trying to learn it), but it has a written form. This writing, which they also call the "Quallith" (like the Psylon language), consists of four horizontal lines with breaks in them at meaningful points; all four lines must be read simultaneously to properly decipher the meaning. It is rare for a non-Illithid to learn this language, but it does occasionally happen, especially among people intending to send strike teams or perform other clandestine activities in Mind Flayer or Haali territory. The Darthaala, for their part, frequently learn the Dark Illithid Quallith.
• Dark Orcish: The Orogs of Arite were a frightfully powerful race while they existed, and their variant of Orcish became the de facto Orcish language of both Arite and its side of the Underdark. Though the Orogs were wiped out many centuries ago, the language is still spoken by the orcs living there today. Dark Orcish writing closely resembles Dwarvish, though the symbols are subtlely different, and it is read vertically- top to bottom- rather than horizontally as Dwarvish is.
• Deep Dwarvish: The Sunken Dwarves who live in the Underwave have long been out of contact with their land-bound cousins, and even with the Sea Dwarves who sail the waves far above their heads; accordingly, their language has over the centuries evolved to incorporate new words and ideas important to aquatic life, while losing many of those which are not. Deep Dwarvish is written using High Dwarvish runes, and the word-forms are very similar to that mother-tongue; however, so many words are unique to one language or the other that Deep Dwarvish is at best 50% understandable to speakers of High Dwarvish, and vice versa.
• Draconic: Dragons are the originators and primary speakers of this language, though many other Taeran races learn it as well to help their dealings with the enormously powerful creatures. Draconic uses its own script, and is essentially unchanged from the Player's Handbook except for assuming a lesser role of importance in the multiverse.
• Druidic: The priestly order of Druids has long held its own secret language, taught only to initiates of the Order. Characters with Druid levels always know this language, but those without Druid levels normally do not and cannot learn it. Rare exceptions can be found among Gren, Wood Elves, and other deep-forest dwellers; however, such outsiders must beware the wrath of Druids who do not come from their own cultures. Druidic uses the Elvish alphabet for its written form, though the letters carry different meanings. It is possible to write a coded Druidic message into a written Elvish one, so that it may be found and understood only by a person who understands both languages. To write such a message, the character must know High Elvish and Druidic, and have at least 2 ranks in Bluff or Knowledge (Cryptography). Successfully writing the message requires a Bluff or Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 25); failure renders one or both messages incomprehensible. A success means that the Elvish message is a perfectly understandable one, though typical messages of this sort will make a casual reader wonder why anyone would bother writing them down. However, a reader who knows both High Elvish and Druidic, and has at least 2 ranks in Decipher Script or Knowledge (Cryptography), may read the hidden Druidic message with a Decipher Script or Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 25). A character who does not understand Druidic, but who has at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (Cryptography), may make a Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 30) to recognize the existence of the secret message- though this will not reveal the content of the hidden message to the character, since it is in an unknown language. There are two forms of Druidic, one for Arite, and one for Taera. Neither is understandable by speakers of the other, but each is associated with the High Elvish form of its native world.
• Duergar: The psionic Gray Dwarves have regular contact with both the Derro and the Mountain Dwarves, and over the centuries have evolved their own variant language which is something of a combination of the disparate languages spoken by those two cultures- High Dwarvish and Dark Dwarvish. Duergar is roughly 30% understandable to speakers of either of those two languages, and 60% understandable to characters who speak both; speakers of Duergar, by contrast, find each of the other two languages about 40% understandable. Duergar uses its own set of Dwarvish runes, which combine some from both sides.
• Flarn: The plant-people called Flarn speak a language of sound and scent alike. Flarn linguistic sounds are mostly sussurating and sighing, as they evolved from wind passing over specially shaped leaves. Though other races cannot duplicate the scent portions of Flarn, the sounds prove relatively easy to mimic. Flarn without the scent is considered (essentially) a pidgin dialect among Flarn themselves- understandable, if grammattically improper. Since they are interacting and allying with other races more and more as the centuries progress, the scent-based portion of their language is falling into disuse as they find it less and less convenient to keep it to themselves, though Flarn with minds for security and espionage are trying to go the opposite route and develop a language based entirely on scent, for use much like the Silent Tongue (see below). Flarn learned the concept of writing from the Wood Elves who first found them, in the forests of Yoor in the early 2700s AA. As a result, the Flarn language uses the High Elvish script for its written form, though the letters obviously stand for very different sounds (and even scents).
• Flawder:
• Friizan: This extinct language is now known only by a few especially obsessive scholars. This is primarily because the race that originally spoke it, the Ice Elves who once ruled the lands of the frozen north, are long dead; however, the fact that examples of its script are astoundingly rare also tends to keep it largely unknown and forgotten. Friizan uses a wholly unique angular script which vaguely resembles High Elvish, but is at best 10% readable to people who can read that language (although the word-forms appear similar enough that readers who know High Elvish may be fooled into thinking it is simply badly-written nonsense in that tongue). For game purposes it is considered a secret language; a character may only learn it from a teacher who already knows it, and after training for at least one month (or two weeks if the character already knows High Elvish).
• Frond: The peaceful Kelpfolk produced many wonders of lyrical poetry and song, which now survive only in the memories of their surviving allies. Though they never developed a written form for their language, their friends the Coral Elves applied their own alphabet to the task of writing it down, so a few records of it still survive today. Most commonly known by Bards of aquatic races who have a penchant for tragedy, the Frond language is considered secret for game purposes- only learnable if one can find a teacher and train with that person for at least one month.
• Giant: This language of Giants is unchanged from the Player's Handbook version. It uses Dwarvish script in its written form, though that use frequently offends actual Dwarves themselves given the less-than-happy history their cultures have with the Giantish ones.
• Gnoll: Gnolls do not exist on Taera, and this language is accordingly nonexistent in Taeran games. At the DM's option, characters who travel to other Prime Material Planes where gnolls do exist might be able to learn the language as if it were a secret one, by finding a teacher and training for at least one month.
• Gnomish: Gnome subraces in all regions speak this language. Strangely, although the gnomes of Arite have as little contact with Taeran people as other Aritians tend to, their local dialect of Gnomish has evolved in a virtually identical manner to that of the gnomes in the Underdark, or the surface of Taera for that matter. While individual gnome communities of any subrace may have occasional words or expressions unknown to others, the language as a whole remains the same, and the unknown items are generally easy to decipher from context. How this can be so is a mystery that has puzzled linguists for centuries- but the fact remains, Gnomish is Gnomish, the world over. Gnomish uses High Dwarvish runes for its written form, though the languages use different words and syntax structures; also, while Dwarvish is read from left to right, Gnomish is read from right to left.
• Goblin: Goblins living on Taera and in its side of the Underdark speak this language among their own kind. The stunted orc mutants of the frozen northern lands, the Xvarts, also speak and use Goblin. Goblin writing uses a script which looks similar to Orcish, but incorporates new symbols for the sounds which are not in that language.
• Grippli:
• Halfling: Halflings do not exist on modern Taera, and this language is accordingly nonexistent in Taeran games. At the DM's option, characters who travel to other Prime Material Planes where halflings do exist might be able to learn the language as if it were a secret one, by finding a teacher and training for at least one month.
• High Dwarvish: Dwarf subraces which live on or have regular contact with Taera, as opposed to Arite, speak this language. Dwarvish script is not in as widespread use as Elvish script, but there are several non-Dwarvish languages which use its angular, blocky runes for their written forms.
• High Elvish: Most elf subraces speak some form of this language, and its alphabet and graceful script are in widespread use among other languages. There are two forms of High Elvish- one for Taera, the other for Arite. The Taeran version is spoken by natives of Taera, while the Aritian version is spoken by natives of Arite. Each form is roughly 70% understandable to speakers of the other.
• High Illithid: Psylons do not speak using sound, but rather with their minds; their speech is telepathic. Even so, they do have their own language; though it is never spoken aloud (except perhaps by other races trying to learn it), it has a written form. This writing, called the "Quallith," consists of four horizontal lines with breaks in them at meaningful points; all four lines must be read simultaneously to properly decipher the meaning. It is rare for a non-Psylon to learn this language, but it does occasionally happen.
• Ignan: This is the language of creatures hailing from, or closely associated with, the Elemental Plane of Fire and those adjoining it. It uses its own alphabet in Taeran games, using shapes which bring to mind sparks, crackles, and tongues of flame.
• Infernal: This language of lawful evil Outsiders is unchanged from the Player's Handbook version. It uses its own script.
• Kobold:
• K'r'r'r: The K'r'r'r of Yoor are one of the most powerful civilizations on that continent today, and many people of all races native to that continent learn their whispery language as a result. K'r'r'r speech is completely atonal, with no emotion or meaning carried by the specific tone the words are spoken in in its proper form; since the K'r'r'r themselves have raspy voices that sound like whispers even when speaking at high volume, this is hardly a surprise to scholarly liguists. K'r'r'r also has few vowels, and makes great use of clicks and glottal stops (typically represented in other languages by a small tick or punctuation mark, such as used several times in the name K'r'r'r itself). K'r'r'r script consists of patterns of dots read either left to right or bottom to top, depending on the angle of writing (typically the angle is denoted by parallel lines in whatever document or monument contains the writing). The dots for each letter are based on eight lines radiating from a central point, and meaning is carried by the distance each dot is from the center, though the eight radiating lines themselves are never drawn with the letters except by new students of the language who are trying to learn the patterns. Because K'r'r'r and Coelopteran are so similar in sound and script, it is possible to write secret messages in K'r'r'r coded and hidden within "surface" messages in Coelopteran that may be found and understood only by a person who knows both languages. To write such a message, the character must know K'r'r'r and Coelopteran, and have at least 2 ranks in Bluff or Knowledge (Cryptography). Successfully writing the message requires a Bluff or Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 25); failure renders one or both messages incomprehensible. A success means that the message in the Coelopteran language is a perfectly understandable one, though typical messages of this sort will make a casual reader wonder why anyone would bother writing them down. However, a reader who knows both Coelopteran and K'r'r'r, and has at least 2 ranks in Decipher Script or Knowledge (Cryptography), may read the hidden K'r'r'r message with a Decipher Script or Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 25). A character who does not understand K'r'r'r, but who does understand Coelopteran and has at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (Cryptography), may make a Knowledge (Cryptography) check (DC 30) to recognize the existence of the secret message- though this will not reveal the content of the hidden message to the character, since it is in an unknown language.
• Kuo-Toan:
• Lizardfolk:
• Locathah:
• Loxo:
• Lumin: The elves who transformed their race to become the Luminous retained most of the High Elvish they spoke before the transformation, but have since evolved a new language from it. Lumin incorporates many words and concepts from High Elvish and Dark Elvish alike, and even borrows a few from Sun Elvish due to dealings the Luminous have had with Darthaala. Lumin is written using the High Elvish script, and is roughly 40% understandable to speakers of High Elvish or Dark Elvish.
• Minotaur:
• Myconid:
• Nilbog: Natively spoken only by the mutant goblin tribes (calling themselves Nilbogs) who live in Rigodruok, the Rainbow Vale, this language seems to be related to Ancient Taeran, Goblin, and Friizan all at once, without being recognizable as any of them. Nilbog has no natural written form, but it can be transcribed using the letters of Goblin or Orcish fairly well. For game purposes it is considered a secret language; a character may only learn it from a teacher who already knows it, and after training for at least one month (or two weeks if taught by a native speaker).
• Old Aboleth: The Green Aboleth, the subrace of that species which was not banished to the Far Realm for uncounted millennia during the Golden Age, kept the ancient form of their language intact while the imprisoned creatures evolved new forms and concepts. They still use it as their primary language today, though they do not speak using sound; instead, their speech is telepathic. Though it is never spoken aloud (except perhaps by other races trying to learn it), it has a written form similar to the Quallith of the Illithid languages (though the meanings of particular breaks in the Old Aboleth forms are very different). Green Aboleth typically write their language using all four of their tentacles at once, and read it the same way when it is carved in stone (so they do not need to even see it). Non-Aboleth rarely learn this language, but it does occasionally happen- especially among people who live among the "Sea Angels" for a significant length of time.
• Ophidian:
• Orcish: Orcs living on Taera and in its side of the Underdark speak this language among their own kind. The mutant orcs known as Ogres also speak Orcish, though the mutants known as Goblins speak their own variant language instead. Written Orcish uses a script which looks like a strange amalgam of Elvish and Dwarvish, and is read vertically- top to bottom- rather than horizontally. Orcish buildings and monuments are commonly decorated with long columns of inscriptions.
• Pterran:
• Rigodruokan: Natively spoken only by the mutant human tribes (calling themselves the Day People) who live in Rigodruok, the Rainbow Vale, this language seems to be related to Ancient Taeran, Anyrkian Common, and Friizan all at once, without being recognizable as any of them. Rigodruokan has no natural written form, but it can be transcribed using the letters of Common (Anyrk) or modern High Elvish (Taeran) fairly well. For game purposes it is considered a secret language; a character may only learn it from a teacher who already knows it, and after training for at least one month (or two weeks if taught by a native speaker).
• Rolfish: Easily recognized by its harsh, almost barking consonant sounds, Rolfish is the official language of the mighty Rolfish Imperium based on Zephra. The first Rolf tribes that learned the trick of writing picked it up from local Orcs and Humans, but when the Seven Tribes congregated into the first Rolf kingdom of Xarba in the 26th century A.A., King Halfa decreed that his people should create their own alphabet (Rolves today typically refer to it as the "Halfabet" as a sort of ironic claiming of the term for their own kind) to prove their racial worth when considered beside the Elder Races. Rolfish script is angular, and each letter is fundamentally based on a grid of three horizontal and three vertical bars with lines of various thickness drawn between them, though the actual grid itself is used only by students learning to write the language. Originally, these letters were scratched into hard surfaces directly by the writers' claws, but over time (and especially as other races began to pick up the writing for diplomatic or other reasons) conventional writing tools became more common, and the modern standards developed. A Rolf today would consider claw-scratched letters to be primitive, derisive to the writer, and not at all civilized, though Rolves remain as capable of scratching their letters in the present day as their distant ancestors were centuries ago.
• Sea Elvish: The two Aquatic Elf subraces evolved this variant Elvish language to meet the unique needs of undersea communication. Sea Elvish uses the same alphabet as High Elvish, but sounds quite different when spoken.
• Shakti: The language of the now-extinct shark-folk survives only in written form, of interest only to historians and archaeologists of the aquatic races. Though many sea people are taught to recognize the distinctive wedge-shaped, tooth-like markings that form its script as Shakti writing, very few today can actually read it. Shakti is a secret language, only learnable if one can find a teacher willing to pass the knowledge on, and train with that teacher for one month. Though very few people care much about what Shakti writing has to say, persistent rumors tell of a cult of the Sahuagin god Sekolah who use the language for ritual purposes and secret communication. If the cult does exist, it hides itself well, even from the main cults of Sekolah among the Sea Devils themselves.
• The Silent Tongue: Originally invented by the Drow before the Golden Age, the use of this language spread to other Elder Races during that time. Today, though Drow are again the most common "speakers" of it, and it is usually kept carefully secret by those who know it, several other races which normally live in the lightless Underdark make use of it as well. The Silent Tongue is a code of complex hand signals and body gestures which can be accurately mimicked by any humanoid creature with five fingers (though the Drow often claim people other than themselves cannot copy all the nuances and levels of meaning, this claim is based more in their cultural arrogance and paranoia than in fact). The language has no written form; however, since creatures which "speak" it normally have sound-based languages to convey ideas in as well, it has never really needed one. It is possible to hold secret conversations in the Silent Tongue while simultaneously speaking about something completely different (and usually innocuous) in another language; this requires the one doing the double-speaking to have ranks in both Concentration and Bluff, and whoever is listening to have ranks in both Concentration and Sense Motive. Each must make either a Concentration check (DC 25) or a Bluff check (if transmitting) or Sense Motive check (if listening) (both DC 25) during each round in order to keep the conversations properly seperated. Characters may take 10 on these checks, but may not take 20. The benefit of double-talking this way is that observers of the conversation who do not know the Silent Tongue will think that the spoken conversation is the real one, and even those who do understand the Silent Tongue may be fooled into thinking one conversation is "real" when in fact it is the other one that should be paid attention to. A character may not learn the Silent Tongue unless he or she can find a teacher to learn it from, unless race or class abilities say otherwise; it is a secret language. Also, modern Drow guard the secret of this language jealously, and often try to kill people of other races who exhibit the ability to use or understand it. The fact that the Luminous train most of their children to use the Silent Tongue is endlessly annoying to the Drow, and a frequent source of contention between the two races.
• Sun Elvish: Evolved and spoken by the mysterious Darthaala, the "Sun Elves" of Arite, this language sounds similar to High Elvish, but contains many different concepts and sports a different syntax structure. Sun Elvish script is also very different from High Elvish; its forms are angular and straight, and more closely resembles a Dwarvish script than an Elvish one.
• Sylvan: Faeries and other creatures of the Fey type do not exist on Taera, thanks to the poisoning of the natural world by the Annihilation, and this language is accordingly nonexistent in Taeran games. At the DM's option, characters who travel to other planes where Faeries or creatures of the Fey type do exist might be able to learn the language as if it were a secret one, by finding a teacher and training for at least one month.
• Tabaxi:
• Tako: The Tako language, spoken by the intelligent octopus-mutants of the Underwave, is one of a very small number of soundless languages still used on modern Taera. The Tako cannot reproduce the wide variety of sounds that other races do, but their bodies have evolved an amazing capacity for color-changing skin, and it is this- combined with their boneless flexibility as mollusks- that the Tako use to create their racial form of communication. Because Tako speech conveys meaning via gestures made with 8 tentacle-arms, controtions of the head-body, and changes in skin coloration, it cannot actually be spoken by non-Tako, though it can be learned by such people so they can understand the Tako they deal with. Tako also has a written form, originally developed by the Cephalids (the largely-Evil-aligned Dark Tako who have a complex imperial culture in the deep Underwave) and then co-opted by their more benevolent cousins. It consists of modular glyphs made of three portions: a central "first color" symbol, a "sweep" of lines and curves proceeding out from the center, and an outer "border color" symbol- the two color symbols representing the color of the speaker's skin, and the sweep representing gestures. Tako speech is usually written so as to be read from a central glyph, in a pattern spiralling out in clockwise fashion from there. Non-Tako can and do learn how to read and write the written form of Tako, and in fact most merchants of the Underwave who regularly travel into or through the territories of the octopus-people do learn it. Those who can speak or understand Tako can understand roughly 25% of the Cephalid language, and vice versa.
• Terran: This is the language of creatures hailing from, or closely associated with, the Elemental Plane of Earth and those adjoining it. It uses its own alphabet in Taeran games, using blocky shapes requiring some filling in when written using typical mortal writing tools.
• Thri-Kreen:
• Undercommon: This is the Common language of the Underdark, the inhabited caverns and caves of the planet. Though the Underdark essentially has two geographically seperate regions, because of the change in gravity's direction between Taera and Arite, both "sides" speak more or less the same common language. Though accents are different, and the two sides each have unique words not used on the other, the languages are so similar that they may be considered equivalent for game purposes. Undercommon uses the Dwarvish alphabet, with a few additions to accommodate sounds borrowed from other languages.
• Urluu:
• Xyph'r:

Class Skills Table

Skill Synergy Table