Armageddon General Discussion Board

I think that linguists, masters of sound, should be able to listen.

At this particular moment I dont have time to give details.  Depending on the responses, I may state them when I get the time.

For now, who thinks linguists should have the 'listen' skill.

If yes or no, why?

Listen is easily one of the most powerful skills in the game. It's really not something that should be given out easily. Listen can make you thousands of sid, tell you who Lord Bottomsworth is plotting to kill, and inform you of when that wealthy Salarri's guards are going to be out on the town.

While it does make IC sense, it is a powerful skill that shouldn't be easily tossed around.

Quote from: "Sephiroto"I think that linguists, masters of sound, should be able to listen.

Linguists are masters of language, not sound.  The linguist subguild already gives a tremendous boon to people who opt to go that route; moreover, I do not believe this skill fits.

Quote from: "Lazloth"
Linguists are masters of language, not sound.  The linguist subguild already gives a tremendous boon to people who opt to go that route; moreover, I do not believe this skill fits.

You said it exactly, Lasloth, Linguists are masters of language, and learning it.  They do not have any linguistic skill, and they do not, unlike their real-world Linguist counterparts, have tape recorders to listen to, or are that much better at listening.

Rather, Linguists in Arm likely have either A) A lifelong history exposing them to multiple languages, or B) A mature cognitive script that is conducive to them picking up languages.  Anyone remember the early Enterprise episodes when Hoshi, a language teacher, had to put her skills to the test?  She had minimal samples to work with, and had to rely on her education of languages, and language structures, to learn.

Language is comprised or various sounds, and picking up these sounds quickly means that one would have the right mind-focus.  I just think that this would make them more apt to be good listeners.  No more or less than a bard would

Too many characters have listen already.  I  think two or three subclasses already have it, and two of the non-karma main classes have it (not counting classes that branch it, which would bring the count to three or four).
I think listen should be a rare, valuable skill, and should be removed from subclasses if anything.
On top of that, I just don't think listen fits with linguists.

I would like to see Listen tweaked A LOT before it's given out on a more regular basis. I agree it does make sense for linguists to have listen (you have to have a good ear for understanding languages as has been said), I think it's more of a code concern atm.

IMO a bit too many classes have the listen skill. But there is NOTHING worse then creating a servant/guard role and not have the listen skill. It is DEAD boring from an OOC standpoint to stand in a tavern full of people guarding Lord Inbred's table and not hearing a WORD of it.

I personally would like to see EVERYONE get listen, but I think it needs to be tweaked A HELL OF A LOT before that ever comes into place. ;)

Quote from: "John"I personally would like to see EVERYONE get listen, but I think it needs to be tweaked A HELL OF A LOT before that ever comes into place. ;)

I suggested something similar (here's a thread), and still think it'd be viable.

As to linguists having "an ear for listen," I will respectfully disagree.  IRL I am a de facto linguist with the paperwork to back me up (woo!).  The fact that I've studied the theories of language as relate to syntax, semantics, phonology, numerous languages in depth, neural modelling, et.al., does not in any fashion say within a given bar, I have a better knack for eavesdropping than that guy.  Yes, linguistics on Zalanthas and in our reality are different animals, but again, the study and/or knowledge of a given language set and the ability to isolate an individual talking through the din of a room are completely unrelated.

I don't believe linguists should have a listen skill.

I do believe, however, that maybe they could have another language or two added or a considerable bonus in picking up languages that they hear (considering a lot of languages are related to other languages), especially if the languages are distantly related.

Why? Most people who know more than one language fluently have a much easier time picking up and deciphering languages, and have less of a problem creating the specific sounds of the language especially if the languages are related. I was raised bilingually, in fact, even though I was born american, english was not the first language I learned. In different language courses I took, I had a much easier time both picking up the accents and sounds of the languages and deciphering the meanings of words, -even if I never heard them in the language before-.

It would be nice if linguists could pick languages up much faster than non-linguists if they don't already.