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Post by magremore on Jul 8, 2017 10:07:48 GMT -5
I like the hierarchy (progression of complexity/power) of the speaking spells Men & Magic presents: Speak with Animals (2nd level), Speak with Plants (4th level), and Commune/speak with god (5th/highest level).
Greyhawk adds Speak with Dead, slotting it in nicely as the missing 3rd level “speaking spell.” But Greyhawk also adds Speak with Monsters as one of the newly introduced sixth level spells, which seems out of whack.
Speak with Monsters draws attention to something more obviously missing—probably one of the closest things to a real world low-level clerical-type “spell”—glossolalia or speaking in tongues. AD&D 1e addressed this by adding Tongues as a 4th level spell, but that puts it on par with Speaking with Plants. Also, since most languages are monster languages and Tongues has been added, 1e has to emphasize the “any monster” aspect of Speak with Monsters.
Speak in Tongues makes too much sense not to include as an option for clerics. And it fits right in as a first level spell where its utility matches other low-level abilities, e.g., Read Languages (1st level magic-users, but also 3rd level thieves with 80% chance of success).
So, from my slow-going house spell list update:
LEVEL 1 Speak in Tongues Range: — Duration: 6 turns Cleric can communicate in an unknown language.
LEVEL 2 Speak with Animals Range: 30' Duration: 6 turns Cleric can communicate with normal or giant animals.
LEVEL 3 Speak with Dead Range: 10' Duration: 6 turns Cleric can ask a corpse three questions.
LEVEL 4 Speak with Plants Range: 30' Duration: 6 turns Cleric can communicate with vegetation.
LEVEL 5 Commune Range: — Duration: 3 turns Clerics can ask their divine power three questions, generally only once a month.
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Post by Mighty Darci on Jul 18, 2017 20:32:08 GMT -5
I had never noticed that until you pulled it out separately! This is great!
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