Accents and linguists.

[Anonymous Linguist]

So I think the accent coding is awesome, but I think linguists should either start with accents for free or (if they don't already) recieve a nice big boost to learning them.

I don't think this would be overpowered at all. The linguist sub-guild is the only one that has no particularly special benefits. The only thing it does is save you time. In the long-run, anyone can learn mirrukim and allundean.

Accents fall square into the same category of skill. Giving them to linguists for free wouldn't give them anything they couldn't get in the long-run, but would give them a nice little benefit in the short-run. And, frankly, it fits the sub-guild itself perfectly.

[Arabian Nights]

I think they should learn them easier than non-linguists but I don't think they should get them to start with.

[Manhattan]

nah, I completely disagree with you.
you may learn spanish, but it'd take a while longer to talk genuinely in their accent.

[Rindan]

Linguist is already chosen will above most other sub guilds and is already very powerful.  It is the only subguild that starts you maxed out in not one but TWO skills.  The linguist sub-guild doesn't need to be made any more powerful.  I could stomach bards getting a boost perhaps, but not linguist.

[JollyGreenGiant]

I disagree with linguists having access to more accents.  Perhaps they'd have an easier time learning accents, but knowing how to speak German doesn't let me imitate an Australian accent when speaking English.  However, years and years of watching Masterpiece Theater, Mystery, Fawlty Towers, Monty Python, Red Dwarf, Are You Being Served, and so on have given me a decent handle on a British accent.

[JohnGalt]

I completely disagree with giving linguists the accents as well.

I do believe they should get a bonus to learning accents however, as well as bards, con-artists, thieves and rebels.

[Rhyden]

IMO,

No, I think the new-acquired accents should be kept down to a bare minimum. I think the new accent code should be mainly used for those who immigrate from one society and are adapting into another. I don't really want to see a lot of people having three different accents up their sleeves unless they're very well educated spies or something along the lines.

It's like, if you leave Canada and move to Britain, living there for a year, you'll most likely begin to speak with an English accent. But a Canadian most likely wouldn't go to Britain for a few months, pick up an English accent then boast/use it back around Canada.

[Seeker]

meh.

Starting out with other accents for any subguild.  Naw.

Giving a modest bonus to the ability to pick one up.  Sure.  Bards, Linguists, and Con Artists.  Modest.

Seeker

[Anonymous]

Well, I'd be happy with them getting a boost or getting them to start.

I honestly don't understand the idea that linguist is such a supposedly powerful subguild.

Linguist is the only subguild that gives maxed access to not one but two skills, yes. It's also the only subguild that doesn't actually give any long-term benefits. Anyone can achieve what linguist gives regardless of their class, subclass, or race. On the other hand, my (for example) warrior/linguist will never learn how to make a suit of armor or listen in on conversations the way he could as an armocrafter or house servant. So I don't think the subguild is all that powerful at all compared to others.

[joyofdiscord]

I'd say linguist is easily the most powerful of all subguilds.  By a looong shot.   Most skills are physical, which quickly pale in comparison to those few coded "social skills" which include languages and accents.  For "balance," I'd actually prefer several subguilds, each giving only one or two fluent languages.  Knowing another language can easily save your neck, and learning a language from scratch takes a long time.  There's a big difference between having an ability on hour 0 and having it on day 20, otherwise we could all start with our skills branched and maxxed

[Hexxaex]

I only think that linguist should get a boost, if not only a slight one.

I know people from Britain, and they've been living here for a good 5-10 years I'm guessing, and we still get a laugh when they try to speak with a North American accent.  When they say pork chops in our accent, we hear "park chaps", and anything like "hair" always has the R way too exaggerated, whether they can help it or not, so I'm pretty sure that picking up an accent is hard enough.

Linguists would have to know northern, southern, rinthi, and tribal for each language.  So that would be four accents times three languages (mirrukim, allundean, sirihish), making it twelve accents to learn, minus one for the one they already speak, which is eleven.  That's a hell of a lot to learn, and I'll be damned if your thirteen-year-old assassin linguist already learned all the accents and all eleven accents by that age.

[Medena]

Starting out with other accents for any subguild.  Naw.

Giving a modest bonus to the ability to pick one up.  Sure.  Bards, Linguists, and Con Artists.  Modest.

This is exactly what I'd like to see. Everyone, no matter what guild or sub-guild, would have to spend some time listening and studying a dialect before being able to reproduce it in their own speech.  These three sub-guilds might be just a bit better and faster at doing this though, each for their own reason.

Linguists because they have an ear for picking out and remembering the unique sounds of a language, then reproducing them.

Bards have facility with languages and they are also mimics and actors.

Con artists make a living from pretending to be someone they are not. It follows they'd be keen observers and listeners.

Medena

[Arabian Nights]

Starting out with other accents for any subguild.  Naw.

Giving a modest bonus to the ability to pick one up.  Sure.  Bards, Linguists, and Con Artists.  Modest.

This is exactly what I'd like to see. Everyone, no matter what guild or sub-guild, would have to spend some time listening and studying a dialect before being able to reproduce it in their own speech.  These three sub-guilds might be just a bit better and faster at doing this though, each for their own reason.

Linguists because they have an ear for picking out and remembering the unique sounds of a language, then reproducing them.

Bards have facility with languages and they are also mimics and actors.

Con artists make a living from pretending to be someone they are not. It follows they'd be keen observers and listeners.

Medena

I agree with this completely, it just makes sense.

[jmordetsky]

How does the language code work now? Can you learn accents? I thought the languages themselves were coded skills. But are you saying now it's possible to learn "northern sirihish" after enough time?

[Tamarin]

Yes.

[flurry]

Linguists would have to know northern, southern, rinthi, and tribal for each language.  So that would be four accents times three languages (mirrukim, allundean, sirihish), making it twelve accents to learn, minus one for the one they already speak, which is eleven.  That's a hell of a lot to learn, and I'll be damned if your thirteen-year-old assassin linguist already learned all the accents and all eleven accents by that age.

I haven't gotten the impression that each accent has to be learned for each individual language.  Maybe it is that way.  It might make sense.

I have noticed that if you type 'change accent' with no argument, it shows you what accents you know.

[jmordetsky]

Yes.

Sweet.

[jmordetsky]

Linguists would have to know northern, southern, rinthi, and tribal for each language.  So that would be four accents times three languages (mirrukim, allundean, sirihish), making it twelve accents to learn, minus one for the one they already speak, which is eleven.  That's a hell of a lot to learn, and I'll be damned if your thirteen-year-old assassin linguist already learned all the accents and all eleven accents by that age.

I haven't gotten the impression that each accent has to be learned for each individual language.  Maybe it is that way.  It might make sense.

I have noticed that if you type 'change accent' with no argument, it shows you what accents you know.

I had no idea. Is that documented?

[flurry]

I don't think so.

[Bogre]

Starting out with other accents for any subguild.  Naw.

Giving a modest bonus to the ability to pick one up.  Sure.  Bards, Linguists, and Con Artists.  Modest.

This is exactly what I'd like to see. Everyone, no matter what guild or sub-guild, would have to spend some time listening and studying a dialect before being able to reproduce it in their own speech.  These three sub-guilds might be just a bit better and faster at doing this though, each for their own reason.

Linguists because they have an ear for picking out and remembering the unique sounds of a language, then reproducing them.

Bards have facility with languages and they are also mimics and actors.

Con artists make a living from pretending to be someone they are not. It follows they'd be keen observers and listeners.

Medena

I agree with this completely, it just makes sense.

I think Medena outlined the best idea for this.

[Only He Stands There]

Accent                                                          (Character)

  Accents are a manner of speaking characteristic of a region or city. On
Armageddon, when a character chooses a starting location in the Hall of
Kings, they are given the virtual accent of that location. This means when
they speak, people from other regions may be able to tell which region they
are from. Using region specific words and slang is still highly encouraged,
but this feature gives a coded indication of where someone is from.

  If you have in your background that you are from one region, but are
starting in another location, you may be able to get an immortal to change
your accent after entering the game by changing your objective to indicate
that you would like your accent changed, and what region to change it to.

Note:
  Knowing how to convincingly speak with a foreign accent (i.e. an accent
different from your character's regional accent) is a special ability which
can only be learned by listening to those who speak with the accent better
than your character.  Similar to learning a language, the learning curve is
extremely steep at first, so that one will require a very long time to
finally understand the basics of an accent.

  Recognizing a foreign accent and being talented enough to convincingly
speak with that accent are completely different.

  A thorough understanding of the fundamentals of a language are required
before one can make out the subtle nuances of an accent.

See Also:
  change, language

Very badass.

Also curious, suppose you have a, say, Northern PC who learns Allundean from a Southern Elf (speaking in a Southern accent). Would you learn Allundean in Southern accent or Northern accent? Just curious, if it's a "try it and see" answer - will do, eventually.

[InsertCleverNameHere]

... <snip> ...

I have noticed that if you type 'change accent' with no argument, it shows you what accents you know.

I had no idea. Is that documented?

Yes, it is. 'Help Change' brings up, right at the end..

Change accent takes as an argument the new accent with which you wish your character to begin speaking. If no argument is provided, the list of accents your character is familiar with enough to actually convincingly speak with that accent will be displayed.

change accent northern

[Rindan]

It seems to me that accents and language are independent of each other.  Your elf does not learn southern Sirihish then go learn northern Sirihish as a new language.  It seems more to me like you learn a southern accent which can be applied to any language you have, then learn a nothern accent that can be applied to any language you have.  If your southern elf who doesn't know Sirihish went north and learned how to speak Sirihish there, he could speak both southern and northern Sirihish.

[Reiloth]

I agree with Rindan.

All americans try to imitate British people at one point in their life.

Some better than others, some worse.
(Not saying that you should be able to change your accent to any accent whenever you want, that'd be crazy bad)

Now, some Americans travel to Britain, some more than others. Those that choose to live there for an extended period of time are much better at -imitating- other's accents.

I think where its weird for me is speaking other languages, like if you were to speak french in a british accent, though it seems relatively easy for us silly americans to try to speak englsih in a french accent, but actually speak french like a french person, convincingly? takes years and years of practice and living in the country.

just my thoughts.

[Sholdyn]

Everyone here that has tried to use the argument "If I learn a new language, I can't get the accent perfect right away" has forgotten that we are talking about a group of individuals who have made a life of studying language. This is not some common person who has just picked up some words over the years.

That being said, here's what I think. There are just too many accents for any one person to know them all, especially in three languages. NOBODY would ever have that much exposure. So that's out. Giving someone the common accents, like say, Southern and Northern, no matter where you start? Maybe, but it might not fit with someone's background, so if it were up to me, I wouldn't. But due the fact that these are people who specialize in languages, I do think they should get a bonus. Linguists would get a modest bonus, Bard's slightly lower and Con Artists lower still. IMO.