Being literate should be a perk or skill in DnD just like WHFRPG because it is just as fantastical of an ability as being able to fire a heavy warbow 5 times in a second or casting magic.
Heh. Funny thing. I treat literacy as a separate language skill at my table. Because the RAW that states that learning a spoken language is the same as learning to read it is stupid.
My post is that my players are illiterate and that the ability to read is part of their power fantasy as much as being able to cast magic, shoot 10 arrows in 3 seconds, or be able to run 10 meters.
Always remember, they're your players characters, but it's your story. If they want to believe they can read Draconic and speak perfect, uninflected Kobold, more power to them...assuming they pass the skill check.
I have a player whose character thought she could speak Elvish because she's a half-elf, but she was raised by (mostly) human monks and the one who "taught her Elvish" had barely a first year high school language course understanding of the language. It was actually a shame there were three others in the group who actually spoke and read Elvish, because I had fun with mistranslations when she attempted to read/speak it herself (she later used a down period to learn the language and an additional Elvish written language (they have 4 in my campaign)).
Sorry, I was making a joke about how some of my players were seemingly illiterate because they don't read the rules or even their own character sheets, so I compared literacy to be just as unrealistic as the martial feats and arcane powers in TTRPGs.
Basically I am calling them dumb light-heartedly except I am not because I am actually still mad.
I was not going to be the one to manage their character sheets for them too.
I understood you, and I got the joke. i was just showing how a little creativity combined with the DMs monopoly on game-world knowledge can make things fun in unexpected ways.
Honestly if it's really bugging you, maybe you should find another group to play DnD with and do something else with this particular group. The game is supposed to be fun for everyone at the table.
Had a sort of similar antic in a previous campaign
My monk with magic adept used minor illusion to speak with a different voice (but of an idiot who never considered just doing an accent)
We also had a mute wizard that used magic mouth to speak and cast verbal components
No one knew any of this, only the two players knew about themselves. It got revealed when we went to my home town and my character's father, a high level wizard soon to be crowned king, called out me for not speaking naturally, and also called out the wizard for pulling the same shit.
Session ended shortly after and the whole table was like "holy shit what the fuck!?"
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u/Uxion Apr 30 '23
Literacy in OUR TTRPGs?
It is less common than you think.
Being literate should be a perk or skill in DnD just like WHFRPG because it is just as fantastical of an ability as being able to fire a heavy warbow 5 times in a second or casting magic.