Tongue of the Sun and Moon.

A rather vaguely worded, but possibly very interesting little feat. I'm just curious what the current dm stance is on how it should be implemented.

I'm just looking for broad strokes here, heh. I have an image in my head of a monk being able to speak in raw meaning, a form of communication that transcends the mundane nature of language, to any living creature. And well.. a lot of what high level monks do transcends basic nature. Such as becoming an outsider, ki strike, immunity to things, timeless body, etc etc etc.

Just wondering if that's the wrong way to go about it, or if that's cool with our evil overlords.

(I did a few forum searches, found some useful little quips from tormak but a lot of the discussion on the matter was clogged up by arguments about druids and druidic/sylvan.)

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Blep!

This is a toughie:

Two points apply: 1) It's a PnP ability thus mutual consent required by all involved.

2) It's an ability that'd affect languages. Considering Languages are (within reason) something a Player can decide so long as they have a suitably good IC story for it...

I would go with more the first at this time but I would as happily love with the second school of thinking.

Yeah. Well one could assume that if you didn't have consent you need not worry about how to implement it. I'm curious what folk's thoughts are on how to go about actually expressing the ability, as its somewhat unique and very very vague.

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Blep!

Firstly, like it was said before me, PnP ability, people have right to decline.

Since it's a vaguely worded PnP ability, you know most of our DM's aren't usually eager touch it with anything near an "official stance" just like Detect Evil, besides it being PnP and you needing to get consent.

My own thoughts: You can communicate with any living creature. Simple and as broad and free as that. Writing, drawing, talking, miming, whatever floats the boat for your particular monk.

In any case, I believe the general consensus a good few years ago is that just because you can communicate in any language it certainly doesn't mean you "know" the language or can recall any specific use of it. Or even if it is guaranteed that you're even speaking the language. Communication ranges far beyond the bounds of dialects, mind you. ToSaM can simply mean you speak in Common to a Wild Dwarf and it understands what you mean on an empathic level. This would explain why you could communicate with things that don't necessarily have a language like animals. Or as I RP it, they hear it in their "mind's ear" as their own language(if it has one) but to anyone looking on, it sounds just like you're speaking your regular language.

That's also another point there was a general consensus on a while back: You can only communicate with a single creature at a time. "Speak with any living creature" is just that, a single living creature. From what it's used as in my experience with two monks and just time on the server, ToSaM means you get your point across and you can understand the point being made to you by a single creature. Outside of that is fluff and assuming most stuff outside of that fluff is usually stepping on one of the rules of thumb that goes along with it.

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People have the right to decline, sure, but since languages aren't enforced in the first place it's not like they can insist that you can't understand them.

But yeah, Dark Immolation stated my opinion already: you can speak, understand and be understood, but you don't actually learn every language out there. It is a more intuitive form of communication, and indeed restricted to direct, face-to-face communication. I wouldn't go so far as to say it has to be with a single creature - it could also be a pair - but it is explicitly restricted to speaking with them. This means eavesdropping is out of the question, IMO.

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If I recall correctly from topics around the ToSaM ability, you do need to get people to agree to it if you want to use it to communicate with their character. ToSaM doesn't teach you all languages, you can simply understand them, and they can understand you. When I've seen it used before, people wrote with a [ToSaM] prefix to make it clear that it's not a free-for-all to speak all languages, but rather something entirely different, who's speech, gestures, sounds etc etc all can vary from person to person, depending on who or what you are trying to communicate with. It's not so much a language, as it is some sort of zenlike universal method of understanding and making yourself understood to all living people and creatures.

I rather like this ability personally, because it's not very logical, nor done in a boring way (i.e. "Tongue of Sun and Moon lets your character understand and speak and understand any intelligent creature as per the Tongues spell). Instead it's left wide open for the individual monk to interpret how to approach the ability and weave it into something that makes sense for his character.

A Lifegardener of Chauntea might use this ability to communicate with his garden plants and wildlife in the area, similar to the behavior a druid might show. While a Monk of the Dark Moon might use the ability to interrigate people, creatures, and whatever to further his/her cause, or use it to be a pretty damn decent spy.

Personally if my Githzerai Monk ever used this ability, it'd be in some way that's tied to Zerthimon's teachings and the Githzerai mindset.

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Adair - Druid and part time treant cosplayer

Yes.

It still requires mutual consent as it is PnP.

There is your DM answer, anything else is irrelevant.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

danka

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Blep!

this is curius though..since it technically could mean he could understand the secret languages..or...have i misunderstood something of the powers nature..does it only mean he can communicate with any living being, not nessesarily understand anything they say?

((this isnta question about ooc concent, but rather a pnp question on the ability's power)

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-Ja'acira Arrows'R'Us
-Balorin Wolfhammer- A dwarf so old he remember when the Beer stein was invented
Saisha Jai'diem Knight of bahamut, and abit of a looker

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham

Like as in, it's just "Tongues," not "Comprehend Languages."..?

I think that's what he's asking.

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Mathus, Void Apostle of the New Moon

Communication implies a two or more way transfer of meaning. For example. You can talk to a wall. But you cannot communicate -with- a wall.

Note: After a Jeffery, you can. FUZZY WALLLLSSS

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Blep!

Speaking of wacky, my eyes are glowing purple now. Anyway to change that, to perhaps, a more appropriate color than neon purple?

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You dare mock the Tibbly one, catcherer of drowses?

At level 20, LN monks reach an epiphany which leads them to metrosexuality.

You'll just have to roll with it, sorry if you weren't aware of this change beforehand.

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UCE THIS, YOU COW.

The colors are hardcoded I'm affraid and for all I know cannot be changed.

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Not changeable, no.

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Davion Telemos - Monk of the Four Winds
Korthan Isharnos - Dragon Shaman of Thunder Spirit Zamasham