I was thinking about something a player brought up, and I didn't have an immediate RAW answer;
Can you cast comprehend languages after hearing something belted out in a foreign language, make a memory check, and thereby understand what was said after the fact? How do my fellow GMs deal with this one?
Posted Apr 20, 2023, 4:38 PM UTC
I'm going to say no based on RAW. It says you understand the spoken words of creatures. A memory is not that.
But my real objection is on the idea of remembering the sounds from a native speaker of a language you do not speak. I don't care how high your Int score is, you can't memorize speech sounds you heard once and accurately reproduce them. You can listen to a song in your own language once every day for a month and still miss or misunderstand bits. Now imagine trying it with a song in Japanese.
Agreeing with this, and I can offer a great demonstration of why this is the case. Listen to this reality-show singer who doesn't understand English trying to sing a Mariah Carey song.
She knows the song. She can re-create it, as she heard it, and apparently practiced it a bunch.
Now imagine she casts Comprehend Languages and sings the song so she understands what she's saying. She won't get crap, because what she understands is not actually in any language at all.
That was a pretty amazing example. Thank you!
You can listen to a song in your own language once every day for a month and still miss or misunderstand bits. Now imagine trying it with a song in Japanese.
It may be marginally heretical, but 3.5e has epic skills checks for exactly what you're talking about.
You (basically) take -20 to perform a song in a different language.
A character with a SIGNIFICANT enough perception should be able to accurately convert what they heard down.
You're not wrong. There are people in real life who could do it. But we're talking about significant abnormalities in the way a human brain normally works.
I'm not necessarily opposed to it being an epic skill check. But these are PCs, which means you give them a cookie and they'll want the milk to go with it. What begins as one instance will quickly become a trick they try to rely on. So it needs to be difficult enough, and with repercussions for failure (i.e., thinking they have the right translation when they're totally wrong), to dissuade abuse.
Failing an interpretation check by 5 gives you the wrong information IIRC.
If it was a few words or something that they heard chanted over and over, sure. But if it was just something heard once that was a conversation or long monolog, no.
see if any of the other players can remember what was said and then have them repeat it outloud after the spell was cast. better the memory check the closer to the actual meaning they get.
3.5e says pronouncing a different language adds a +20 to a perception equivalent check.
So DC 0 to parrot someone. +20 if they are speaking a different language. -1/10 feet from the original target because you could have misheard.
I'd say the memory check would be very hard, but sure. A lot of languages have words extremely close sounding that have wildly different meanings
if you play 3pp, the skill autohypnosis comes closest to what that is. it is a psychic skill, where you can remember complex stuff like the exact words of multible pages of a book and so on. so try to remember the last sentence of a language you don't speak should fit right in
That skill actually comes from 3.x as well, Dreamscarred Press copied it over from D&D's psionics.
yes this exists for a long while now. but then most of PF was a copy from 3.5. it is basicly a patch for the mess, that was DnD and made many classes more fun or even playable.
I would say no to my players as it would feel like a strain to logic and just wanting to know everything. Come on, the character won't remember the exact combo of sounds that was made. Especially when there are words in languages that sound exactly the same and are written differently. Or written the same and meaning different things.
I personally would allow a memory check, but only give them translations of specific words they remember hearing not the entire sentence or the structure.
Their memory might be able to remember one or 2 words of a foreign language but it would be near impossible to remember the exact right inflection and details of a foreign language's sentence let alone multiple.
I would give them some cherry picked words.
I belive RAW - no. It's a pretty strict spell overall, you don't actually get to know the language, just comprehend the literal meaning for the duration. However, it's your game - do whatever is more fun for you and your group! Just make sure to stick with your decision for the remainder of the campaign.