Experienced Linguist

Experienced Linguist
The character has a knack for learning languages, be they from races still alive or a million years dead.
Prerequsites: Intelligence 17, Linguist
Benefit: Researching a language for one full day gives the character a basic linguistic knowledge of that language. The character may only possess basic linguistic knowledge of a number of languages equal to his Intelligence bonus at any one time.

As long as the character has basic linguistic knowledge of a language, he may attempt to comprehend and even communicate in that language. A character requires written examples of the language to decipher it and audio examples of the language to understand the spoken word. Whilst reading and listening to a language are challenges, speaking or writing an unknown language is much harder. To speak or write a language, the character must make an Intelligence check – the DCs are given in the table below.

The knowledge of a language only lasts for a limited time (a number of days equal to the character’s Intelligence bonus after the character stops studying). How long it takes to understand the basic linguistics of a culture is up to the Games Master but will usually take at least a few days worth of intense study.
Normal:
Special:

Phrase Complexity	Example Phrase	Comprehend DC	Communicate DC
Easy	My friend is hurt.	5	10
Moderate	Get me to my ship, over the next ridge.	10	15
Hard	Our ship is in orbit above your world and our doctor can heal your tribespeople.	15+	20+