I know I played a Helmite cleric for a couple of years so IC I should not have had a clue about guild talk etc but.. how did I not know there was actually a Thieves' Cant language in ALFA?
And .... how is it that my halfling rogue doesn't have it in his language list? A DM had tried to "grant language" ....we'll see if it stick.
DMFI's code has "Cant" as a selectable language. As far as I know, there is no Forgotten Realms canon source for some universal secret language shared by anyone with rogue levels, so it was not included in the list of selectable or automatic languages for PCs.
I believe when this came up before, the consensus was that a waterdeep thief might not be able to understand a calishite's secret gestures, etc. So, like l33tsp34k, it is an option DMs can see, but otherwise does not enter the ingame experience for players.
think cockney rhyming slang, that is a "cant". In order to use it your character has to already share a language with the other character. People without cant will probably figure out your not talking about what you seem to be, but won't really have any idea what you are talking about.
Not sure how its implemented, but I do seem to remember it working in NWN1
PC: Liasola Dark Arrow
Ex PC: Arzit'el Tlabbar
Blindhamsterman : "I think Sand may have just won the internet"
Unless DMFI has removed functionality, it should still work. Test by finding another PC you know you share a language with and cant with (any rogue) and see if it works...if it doesnt its something within the ACR thats causing it, the code is there in the base DMFI language system.
PC: Liasola Dark Arrow
Ex PC: Arzit'el Tlabbar
Blindhamsterman : "I think Sand may have just won the internet"
The "language" is implemented in the DMFI and works just fine under the ACR, it's just not given automatically to rogue players, nor does it show up in lists to be selected by players.
Logistically speaking, a DM could grant it to a player via the DMFI tools, but my understanding was that we had chosen not to use it for ALFA-Live, due to lack of canon support and the rationalization that it ought to be regionalized and not one universal common language known by anyone with one or more rogue levels.
If there is a change or clarification in policy that says otherwise, it's easy enough to add back in to the player lists; but given the wealth of canon data on FR languages and regions, we've thus far opted to use that as our guide.
It's not supposed to be a language in say, 3.0 or 3.5, it's a coded message type system involving Bluff to deliver and Sense Motive to eavesdrop on in a meaningful way.
It has been a language in past editions, back when rogues were THIEVES, damnit.
An "encoded" by DMFI way to deliver secure communications is kind of uncool for this pseudo-language made up for normal words and phrases given "extra" meanings. Walk up next to a guard, two dudes hit their language-switching mojo and talk about murder and robbery, LOL no one can understand me!
Using it as a simple flavour thing in the right underworld milieu is much more on the cool side, and eavesdroppers without some hint of underworld background at least putting on some show of noncomprehension (except as exposure to the language and putting 2+2 together in terms of events, grows), would be one's normal RP expectation.
I guess if one wanted to dice the hell out of an "observable" situation like, in a tavern, more power to them. Thieves bluffing like crazy and observers sensing motive in return. Or hell, just ask to speak to someone in private or whisper, and put your dicebag away. That's what hide outs are for.
ALFA NWN2 PCs: Rhaggot of the Bruised-Eye, and Bamshogbo
ALFA NWN1 PC: Jacobim Foxmantle
ALFA NWN1 Dead PC: Jon Shieldjack
There is? Isn't "cant" a use of the Bluff skill: "Delivering a Secret Message"?
