Communication (SofS)

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Serôs and other underwater realms are noisier than expected by most adventurers, and the ability to communicate is often impaired by the very same methods used to survive below the waves. The difficulty is not in making noise, but making coherent noise discernible from the background din of whalesong, swimmers in the distance, the laughter of dolphins, the crashing of the surf on the shore, etc. Sound also travels much farther in water and if one knows what to listen for, one can hear boat oars slapping the water above as well as the tumult of a battle below. In Serôs, this constant background noise is known as the "Hum of the Deep."
For the purposes of this brief rules overview, we'll limit our concerns on communication underwater, rather than all sound detection and identification. More details can be found in Of Ships and the Sea.
===Table 3: Underwater Hearing of Speech===
Unassisted Surface Dweller: Submerged surface dweller with no magical aid for hearing underwater; Assisted Surface Dweller: Submerged surface dweller with magical aid for hearing underwater (airy water, helm of underwater action, iridescent ioun stone);
Serôsian/ Marine Creature: Indigenous aquatic sentient (and semi-sentient) life from fish to cetaceans and folk polymorphed into marine-creature form.
Speech: Maximum range at which intelligent creatures recognize sounds as speech but without comprehension;
Speech-Simple: Maximum yards at which simple ideas and 1- or 2-word phrases ("go up," "danger," "flee," etc.) can be successfully communicated to another person;
Speech-Complex: Maximum yards at which full sentences and standard communication can be effected.
==﻿Underwater Communication==
Most surface-dwellers speak by forcing air out through the vocal chords and shaping the sounds with their lips, teeth, and tongues as it leaves the mouth. This does not work underwater as air either must be retained in the lungs or there is no air in the lungs to expel. While some spells allow for speech (such as airy water or free action, which allows for any activity to function as if in air), their effective communication of ideas may suffer.
Surface dwellers in Seròs can learn Serusan, the Common tongue of the undersea, at Myth Nantar, where they can learn a number of other skills as well (see "Myth Nantar"). They can also be taught a non-verbal mode of undersea communication effective with most sentients within visual range (ID range). Expressing simple ideas do not require a check, though complex messages require the listener (viewer) to make a successful proficiency check in order to understand the message.
The nonweapon proficiency of Underwater Communication costs two General slots, and proficiency checks are made on Intelligence with a -3 modifier. While most surface dwellers need to leam this ability once in Serôs, any surface-world priests of water powers (such as Umberlee, Eldath, Deep Sashelas, and the like) automatically have this ability as a gift for their piety if they spend more than a tenday in the depths.