Tongue of the Sun and Moon, Monk Ability

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This Extraordinary Ability lets a Monk of 17th level speak to any
living thing. Which is darn cool. But it has brought up a couple of
questions for me:

Can a Monk with this ability speak to Undead when they do not share
a common language?

If a Monk is speaking to a crowd of living beings, do they all
"hear" his speech as being in their native tongue?

--
Tetsubo
My page: http://home.comcast.net/~tetsubo/
--------------------------------------
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
-- Anatole France

 

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"Tetsubo" <tetsubo@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:wNidncHZx_UBgtnfRVn-2Q@comcast.com...
> This Extraordinary Ability lets a Monk of 17th level speak to any
> living thing. Which is darn cool.

Just to clarify, the SRD says "speak with" rather than "speak to" so I would
assume that the monk can understand as well as speak to other creatures.
The description is a bit light though with just a single sentence so it's
not very helpful for answering your other questions. (Is there more in the
Player's Handbook? My copy is about 3000 miles away at the moment).

> But it has brought up a couple of questions for me:
>
> Can a Monk with this ability speak to Undead when they do not share a
> common language?
>
> If a Monk is speaking to a crowd of living beings, do they all "hear"
> his speech as being in their native tongue?

Hmmmm, good questions. Going by the letter of the rule in the SRD I would
say no to talking with undead since they aren't "living creatures" but if it
were my campaign I would rule that the ability works like the Tongues spell
and allow it. As to the other question, I would once again rule that it
works as the Tongues spell, so the monk could only speak one language at a
time.


--

-smithdoerr

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

smithdoerr wrote:

>"Tetsubo" <tetsubo@comcast.net> wrote in message
>news:wNidncHZx_UBgtnfRVn-2Q@comcast.com...
>
>
>> This Extraordinary Ability lets a Monk of 17th level speak to any
>>living thing. Which is darn cool.
>>
>>
>
>Just to clarify, the SRD says "speak with" rather than "speak to" so I would
>assume that the monk can understand as well as speak to other creatures.
>The description is a bit light though with just a single sentence so it's
>not very helpful for answering your other questions. (Is there more in the
>Player's Handbook? My copy is about 3000 miles away at the moment).
>
>
>
>>But it has brought up a couple of questions for me:
>>
>> Can a Monk with this ability speak to Undead when they do not share a
>>common language?
>>
>> If a Monk is speaking to a crowd of living beings, do they all "hear"
>>his speech as being in their native tongue?
>>
>>
>
>Hmmmm, good questions. Going by the letter of the rule in the SRD I would
>say no to talking with undead since they aren't "living creatures" but if it
>were my campaign I would rule that the ability works like the Tongues spell
>and allow it. As to the other question, I would once again rule that it
>works as the Tongues spell, so the monk could only speak one language at a
>time.
>
>
>
>
But is the Monk actually speaking a language at all? Or is he
communicating on some universal level with all life? You know, that
mystic stuff...

--
Tetsubo
My page: http://home.comcast.net/~tetsubo/
--------------------------------------
If fifty million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
-- Anatole France

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

"Tetsubo" <tetsubo@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:UsWdnXwcBtSm8NnfRVn-jw@comcast.com...

> But is the Monk actually speaking a language at all? Or is he
> communicating on some universal level with all life? You know, that mystic
> stuff...

I like your explanation better.

--
^v^v^Malachias Invictus^v^v^

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishment the scroll,
I am the Master of my fate:
I am the Captain of my soul.

from _Invictus_, by William Ernest Henley

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 09:26:24 -0500, Tetsubo <tetsubo@comcast.net> scribed
into the ether:

> This Extraordinary Ability lets a Monk of 17th level speak to any
>living thing. Which is darn cool. But it has brought up a couple of
>questions for me:
>
> Can a Monk with this ability speak to Undead when they do not share
>a common language?

Assuming that the undead spoke a common language, like Abyssal or Ignan and
not some language of his origin society which has been lost for 5000 years,
that yes, the Monk could communicate with an undead like that.

> If a Monk is speaking to a crowd of living beings, do they all
>"hear" his speech as being in their native tongue?

That's a good one...depends on how you interpret the ability.

If it is some sort of mental process where the Monk's words are projected
out in some kind of universally comprehensible form, then they could talk
to a large number of different creatures at once.

If the monk is able to divine the appropriate language to speak to
something, and actually alters his/her words to be understood, then you
only get one language at a time.

 

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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)

"Tetsubo" <tetsubo@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:UsWdnXwcBtSm8NnfRVn-jw@comcast.com...
> smithdoerr wrote:
>
>>Hmmmm, good questions. Going by the letter of the rule in the SRD I would
>>say no to talking with undead since they aren't "living creatures" but if
>>it were my campaign I would rule that the ability works like the Tongues
>>spell and allow it. As to the other question, I would once again rule
>>that it works as the Tongues spell, so the monk could only speak one
>>language at a time.
>>
> But is the Monk actually speaking a language at all? Or is he
> communicating on some universal level with all life? You know, that mystic
> stuff...

Hey that works too. In that case I'd rule no to communicating with undead
and yes to "talking" to groups of living beings all at once even if they all
understand different languages. Either way I'd rule range and everything
else the same as if the monk were speaking normally (i.e won't work in the
area of a Silence spell).


--

-smithdoerr