Linguistics

Linguistics (minor) by Cardiac

The character has an uncanny ability to rapidly understand and comprehend most forms of verbal or written communication, as well as body language. There is some form of telepathic and empathic influence and this is what allows the character to understand what the other being is trying to get across, and for writing and symbols, some form of object read comes into play. The character's brain centers which deal with hearing and communication are better developed also. The character knows his own language plus 1D4 others at level one. Anytime after that point, the character can pick up new languages at any time. Each time the character comes in contact with a new language, he gets 5% in that skill (10% for body language). Note that this must be a meaningful conversation, not a couple of sentences. For example: For the first few days visiting France, Captain Consonant uses an interpreter to communicate with the locals. After listening to the French people talk multiple times, he has picked up enough of the language to communicate on his own. Another example is Wilderness Guy living around the territory of a pack of wolves. After interacting with them a few times, he can communicate with them on a basic level. Note that in order for this power to work, the character must be able to detect the communication, although even then, he may not be physically able to respond. For example - an alien species communicates by manipulating heat patterns on its body. Normally, the linguistic character would not be able to detect this and even if he could (with sensitive IR optics), he would probably not be able to respond.

One interesting side effect of this power is that provides some resistance to sonic-based forms of mind control and hypnosis. If some form of communication is needed for the mind control to work, the resistance kicks in. The hero's mind shifts into it's translation mode; it studies the medium through which the hypnosis is communicated rather than the actual message. Against these attacks, the character is +4 to save against, and even then, the effects and duration of the power in question is halved (did not have a full effect).

Another interesting ability that the character has the ability to determine the subtle or "true" emotional state of the speaker/ communicator (such as anxiety, happiness, sadness, hostility, etc.). This does not work with writing however. Accuracy is 40% +4% per level. Subtle changes in a person's voice can indicate something about what they are saying. Using this as a lie detector (in conjunction with visual cues) has an accuracy of 30% +3% per level.

See Also: Natural Linguistic Ability by Mr. Twist and Universal Translator by Stone Gargoyle