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Any D&D/D20

Shadowrun

World of Darkness

Palladium

Other (feel free to post about it)

[Jimmy]

Or there's the reverse-centaur.

[pikachu17]

Or there's the reverse-centaur.

Wouldn't a reverse centaur have hooves for hands?

[Jimmy]

My apologies, this thread obviously needs more hooves for hands.

Let me fix that.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Rolan7]

Oh wow, I'm not the only one who remembers that image

I'm pretty sure it predates the MLP reboot, too...  One of my favorite WTF reaction images, though I tend to avoid using it since others probably appreciate it less.

[Iduno]

Wouldn't a reverse centaur have hooves for hands?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[pikachu17]

What happens if you Speak With Dead a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?
Does it still understand your words, but you can't understand their response?
Do they simply not answer?
Do they give the answer to what the closest thing in their language to your question?

Sidenote, the main reason I asked the prior question, their is nothing saying you can't use this spell on a nonsentient animal that has a mouth.
Presumably, you can cast Speak With Animals at the same time to speak with dead animals.
Actually its not just animals, its any non-undead with a mouth. So you can ask broken Modrons questions just as easily, assuming Modrons don't just disappear when dead.

[Iduno]

What happens if you Speak With Dead a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?

What happens if you speak with animals a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?


Edit: Because I would assume it's the same answer.

[scriver]

Is it an animal? Because then it still understands you. Is it not an animal? Then the spell doesn't make you communicable with it.

[pikachu17]

What happens if you Speak With Dead a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?

What happens if you speak with animals a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?
Edit: Because I would assume it's the same answer.

Speak with Animals allows you to speak with creatures that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages if they are an animal. That's what the spell does explicitly. Nothing in Speak With Dead suggests it allows you to understand you, but it doesn't suggest they don't either.

[Iduno]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBtnLznwZW4

What happens if you Speak With Dead a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?

What happens if you speak with animals a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?
Edit: Because I would assume it's the same answer.

Speak with Animals allows you to speak with creatures that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages if they are an animal. That's what the spell does explicitly. Nothing in Speak With Dead suggests it allows you to understand you, but it doesn't suggest they don't either.

Well, if the rules are unclear, try comparing it to a similar spell.

[pikachu17]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBtnLznwZW4

What happens if you Speak With Dead a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?

What happens if you speak with animals a creature that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages?
Edit: Because I would assume it's the same answer.

Speak with Animals allows you to speak with creatures that doesn't understand or speak any of your languages if they are an animal. That's what the spell does explicitly. Nothing in Speak With Dead suggests it allows you to understand you, but it doesn't suggest they don't either.

Well, if the rules are unclear, try comparing it to a similar spell.

Is there a similar spell to Speak with Dead, though?

[Rolan7]

3.5 is slightly more clear about this, saying "The corpse’s knowledge is limited to what the creature knew during life, including the languages it spoke (if any)".  5e says basically the same thing about languages, just without that final hint.  The spell doesn't help you communicate with a target which didn't share a language with you in life.

On the other hand...  in 3.5 it's cryptic (and gets a will save, despite the soul not being involved), in 5e it can outright lie if it doesn't like your face.  Basically, I'd expect a dead dwarf to answer in Dwarven, even if it knew Common in life.  Even in 3.5 it's only compelled to answer, not to answer in a way you'll comprehend.

[GiglameshDespair]

The text for speak with dead in 5e:

You grant the semblance of life and Intelligence to a corpse of your choice within range, allowing it to answer the questions you pose. The corpse must still have a mouth and can't be Undead. The spell fails if the corpse was the target of this spell within the last 10 days.

Until the spell ends, you can ask the corpse up to five questions. The corpse knows only what it knew in life, including the Languages it knew. Answers are usually brief, cryptic, or repetitive, and the corpse is under no Compulsion to offer a truthful answer if you are Hostile to it or it recognizes you as an enemy. This spell doesn't return the creature's soul to its body, only its animating spirit. Thus, the corpse can't learn new information, doesn't comprehend anything that has happened since it died, and can't speculate about future events.

It's explicitly mentioned it only knows what languages it knew in life, so if you don't share a language, it wouldn't be able to understand you. It doesn't gain any new methods of understanding like new languages.

RAW I don't think you'd be able to combo the two speak with spells to talk to dead animals because SWA allows you to communicate with Beasts, and a corpse is no longer a creature but an Object.
I'd probably allow it anyway, but technically I don't think it works.

[scriver]

But death knows all

[Grim Portent]

The Speak with Dead spell specifies that the creature only knows things it knew in life, including languages. So I'd assume that it is intended that you can only speak to corpses that share a common spoken language with you.

In 3.5 it had the Language Dependent tag, but in 5e spells don't have tags so it's less specific.