So yesterday’s deliberation on language got me thinking: for adventures that take place along the Triboar Trail, what’s the optimal language choice to suggest to a player at character creation? Let’s delve through Lost Mine of Phandelver, Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk, and Dragon of Icespire Peak to see what we discover.

*WARNING: SPOILERS*

Lost Mine of Phandelver. Because this adventure was written with new players in mind, the game design doesn’t get into the weeds with language. It rarely comes into play. That being said, proficiency in Dwarvish appears to be the optimal choice.

• The Wizard’s Workshop in the Redbrand Hideout contains a tome written in Dwarvish, which contains a historic account of Wave Echo Cave and the Forge of Spells. It also reveals the existence of Lightbringer, a magical weapon created at the Forge of Spells.
• At the Dragon’s Tower in Thundertree, a rusty old battleaxe lays among Venomfang’s treasure, the axe head inscribed with Dwarvish runes that read “Hew.” Proficiency in Dwarvish might spark the interest of a character that can read the runes, prompting a closer look at what turns out to be a magic axe.
• In the Assayer’s office at Wave Echo Cave, there are dusty old ledgers that record weigh-ins and disbursements of payment for the yield of the miners once employed at the cave. This flavor adds no substance to the plot of the adventure. That is, unless you’re like me and find a way to run into the weeds with how to fill in the blanks by divining what mineral riches were mined from the cavern all those years ago (and are likely still veined throughout the caverns). Definitely fodder for another article.

Other than the potential for overhearing a conversation among the Thundertree cultists in Draconic (should the dungeon master provide one), there are no other instances of the use of language in Lost Mine of Phandelver. So, at character creation, Dwarvish appears to have the most utility.

Phandelver And Below: The Shattered Obelisk. As with Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dwarvish is the optimal language choice at character creation, only it’s even more so for this adventure. It contains all of the discoveries listed above for Lost Mine of Phandelver, and then accelerates from there in Chapters 5 & 6 of the adventure.

• At Zorzula’s Rest, Dwarvish runes are utilized for access to a couple of different rooms. For one of the doors, proficiency in Dwarvish confers advantage on the check to open the door.
• At Talhundereth, the library’s books are written in Dwarvish. One of the books contains instructions in Dwarvish for how to access Talhundereth’s crypt.
• In one of Talhund’s crypts, one of the haunts speaks in Dwarvish, revealing the fate that befell his people.
• Guardians throughout Talhund only speak Dwarvish.
• Several inscriptions carved in Dwarvish reveal clues about different locations throughout Talhund.

Elvish, to a lesser degree, also comes in handy. In Talhund, for instance, proficiency in Elvish helps characters communicate with drow elves they’ll encounter, some of which do not speak Common. There are also a couple of History checks that proficiency in Elvish helps with.

Proficiency in Undercommon allows facilitation of a parlay with a Xorn at the Azfadiel Shrine in Gibbet’s Crossing. Undercommon is also instrumental in discovering a command word to activate a magical tower.

The aforementioned Xorn can also communicate in Gnomish, meaning the Xorn speaks more languages than me. Ooooh…Mr. Fancypants.

As with Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dwarvish is the optimal language choice for Phandelver and Below: The Shattered Obelisk. But Elvish, Gnomish, and Undercommon have utility as well, though few races outside of uncommon heritages such as Drow, Duergar, and Svirfneblin would have the access to make Undercommon a sensible language choice, narratively.

Dragon of Icespire Peak. As with Lost Mine of Phandelver, Dragon of Icespire Peak also treads lightly upon the use of languages, but proficiency in Gnomish appears to be the optimal choice, though only if you intend to lead the party to Gnomengarde:

• There’s an argument in Gnomish to be overheard between two rock gnome recluses in the Inventors’ Workshop, which provides information on King Korboz’s mental state.
• There’s a spellbook in the Inventors’ Workshop titled Magick of Gnomengarde, the title written on the cover in both Gnomish and Common. I’d forego the latter to give the party’s gnome or Gnomish-speaking character a moment in the spotlight.
• At the Gnome Guard Post, the guards call out a challenge (“Who goes there”) in Gnomish, though one of the guards also calls out the challenge in Common. As with the aforementioned spellbook, I’d forego the latter to reward the player’s investment in Gnomish at character creation.

There’s some utility in Dwarvish proficiency, but nowhere on the level of the other two adventures. Basically, the miners at Mountain’s Toe Gold Mine and the archeologists at the Dwarven Excavation site both speak Dwarvish and Common. There’s also a holy symbol with “Greed Is Good” inscribed in Dwarvish upon it among the slim pickings of treasure at the excavation site. But the only significance the holy symbol carries is it’s worth in a loot drop: 50 gp.

The library at the Woodland Manse is the only instance where Elvish comes into play for Dragon of Icespire Peak. All of the tomes in the library are written in Elvish, and an Elvish-speaking bookworm might finger their way through the library just long enough to discover a treasure hidden in a hollowed-out tome of Elvish idioms contained within the collection.

Nearly a thousand words on language choices in Dungeons & Dragons. Definitely did not see that coming when I sat down to write this.

Hallelujah. Holy shit. Where’s the Tylenol.

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