Arelith

I keep seeing french used, the word Neb-i which I think is...Egyptian maybe? and many other strange words, if DMs want names I can send them, but well...it keeps being a thing. Is there an official ruling?

I think limited use of occasional words like these really add a lot of flavour to RP. For example, playing a Kozakuran character, there are a huge amount of crossovers between RL Japanese terms and Kozakuran cultural terms/norms/names. Same for Shou Lung and mainland China.

Whole sentences in another language probably isn't ok, but the occasional word seems fine. Isn't the term you were aiming for an endearing term meaning 'lotus'?

(Probably also worth noting that English uses many French words as it is! Maybe you've seen some of the less common ones!)

When I have to break character to ask what the heck a word even means...even if my Char would OOCly know it....it breaks the realism of the game.

I'm probably a bit biased, here, but I fail to see the issue with single words and short phrases in other languages. It helps add character -- I'll grant that huge sections of foreign languages, especially when used to exlude people (intentionally or not) is silly, but otherwise I don't see the problem.

If your character wouldn't know what the word means, it could be a nice little RP hook for you to ask the other characters and potentially learn about their culture or where they're from! It provides more opportunities for RP in this way.

If your character should know, then a Google search of the word might help, and that way you know for next time too because it will help with your own understanding of your character's culture, right?

I still would like a DMs or Admins view on this.

Mulhorandi is a straight takeaway from Ancient Egyptian (As in, from Earth, Egypt), so yes, the Neb' appellation is perfectly IC, as is all their other random interjections. While they may speak common, they do have their own phrases and such that are used because there is no direct corollary in Common Trade tongue.

Also your char likely should not know what everything means. You, yourself, likely couldn't just tell what any of the hundreds of languages on Earth means, and Toril has just as many, if not more, given there are more races there than here.

I dont think youre suppose to go on the forms like this to "innocently ask for clarity" when youre quite clearly personally offended. If you really wanted a DM/Admin yo weigh in on this without other people disagreeing with you, then you should've sent a pm.

I don't know what to post here beyond what Dovesong already put, except maybe:

It seems like you're less "waiting for a DM or Admin view" and more waiting for somebody to agree with you.

A question asked several times before.

Since you wanted a DM's input see this post to specifically see DM GrumpyCat's opinion on the matter.

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=13652&p=113704&hil ... ge#p113700

Thank you, thats exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

DM GrumpyCat wrote:Dropping a few RL world language words in a chat, to simulate a certain accent is also fine. (e.g. maybe your Damarran says 'Danke' occasionaly)

Making up a language and dropping a few wierd words in your dialgoue to express something is also OK, so long as it's small and sparodic. The occasional noun, the odd phrase no one else would use. So long as 99% of what you're saying is unerstandable by most people, that's fine.

Just for clarity for anyone reading through this thread - pretty much relates exactly to OP!

It is possible to drop a few words of an artificial language (that no one would understand) and still convey the meaning of the fake word. Shows like Star Trek do this all the time. You do not have to know the meaning of a word in order to understand its meaning, if it is placed in the right context.

When people are able to do this, it brings flavor and makes a char seem more "foreign". This is not the same as using it to metagame an advantage to your char ( as has been noted above in some examples).

One way I do this very thing is by using the language mechanic to find out what ancertain word is in orcish, say. Then I'll have my half orc use the word in context to demonstrate what he is talking about.

While the Mulanese were abducted by Imaskari sorcerers from real-life Earth, you could make the argument that this was over 3000+ years ago, and the language doesn't look the same anymore (or use the same words).

Taking a bigger distance from game would help.

I also run into many unknown words and i prefer to play my toon does not understand it or just quesses what it means.

That -should know- is kind of trap as no person IG is perfect.

My character often understands not to a Dwarf using some weird version of English...and the world does not break because of it neither immersion gets broken.

I understood half of what spets was saying two days ago

I'm fine with people throwing in a few phrases of german or other languages here and there. What's worse though, is the hardcore goblin-lingo that which not even the goblins understand anymore like 50% of the time.

I have my answer, can this be locked please, thanks.

Just confirming our stance, which is as mentioned above. Hunter got it about right. Going to lock this as per request of opening poster.