Basic Action Super Heroes!

If you want to speak, read and write any language, 3 pts. seems like an awful lot to pay for a power that doesn't have that much utility.
(Don't get me wrong, it would be VERY useful in real life, but in the world of comics and RPGs, the language barrier doesn't come up as much.)

My first thought would be to make it a 2 pt power for both of them, with a possible Limitation of "Can only translate written work" or "only spoken words."

Thoughts?

Brian

I agree that the cost seems a little high to me, exactly as you said: not in the real world, but as portrayed in typical comic books. In part, I think it is because I'd rather not deal with realistic language barriers in most super games I've run. If the players run across an alien race, or get teleported to some random country, I'd prefer that they have a way to communicate there. So making Omni-Linguist+Reader cost on the order of 10% of their point budget seems detrimental to me. I'd almost tend to think it is a 1 point power, or even an advantage (which costs 1 point with the optional rule). Speaking/reading any language certainly doesn't seem any more "valuable" in my supers games than advantages like Resources, Headquarters, etc. But that could easily just be the type of supers games I run.

I would agree on this, or even more to the point that it wouldn't even be a power or advanatge, but just background fluff.

"You speak Russian!?"

"I wasn't always a school teacher."

That type of thing. It would require narrator approval and all, but I think it makes more sense than charging points.

I wouldn't go that far. If I wanted to do that I would just specialize in the foreign cultures skill, then ask the GM if I could leave some slots "blank" to be filled in when needed.

Despite the fact that it, in my opinion, costs too much, the power to speak, read, and write any language IS a power, and can prove very useful to those world-saving supers who travel internationally a lot.

Note that it also lets you speak Kree, Ancient Egyptian, Klingon, Unknown languages spoken by cavemen living at the center of the earth, etc. The cost is comparable to Telepathy, but has the benefit that people can hear you talking.

Good point Bashman, and it would model Starfire's ability to absorb languages as well with the limitation: Must Touch first.

AslanC wrote:Good point Bashman, and it would model Starfire's ability to absorb languages as well with the limitation: Must Touch first.

I also agree that Omni-Linguist fits best as a power. The idea of reducing the cost with limitations is a great idea and generally anb excellent way of customizing the ability.

BASHMAN wrote:Note that it also lets you speak Kree, Ancient Egyptian, Klingon, Unknown languages spoken by cavemen living at the center of the earth, etc. The cost is comparable to Telepathy, but has the benefit that people can hear you talking.

I see your point, but Telepathy has the added bonus of ferreting out peoples' secrets by delving into their very thoughts, and also allowing secret communication between teammates.

Omni-Linguist lets you, well, talk. A useful power, but not really comparable.

Brian

For instance, you could have Omni-linguist 2 [Limit: Only for Earth Languages] 1pt. That's 1 point to speak every language on earth. Sure, you cannot read them all... but that's a great time for a power stunt, if you really need to read sanscrit.