Linguist
Innate, Linguistic, Selection
Cost: 1 XP/tier
Prerequisites: Charisma, Intelligence, or Wisdom.
Cannot have the Xenophobic trait or a racial penalty to Intelligence.
Benefit: You start with three languages and can learn uncommon languages through a high Intelligence modifier instead of needing ranks in Linguistics.
Rank 2: You learn two languages per rank in Linguistics instead of one.
Rank 3: When you hear a language you do not know, you may spend an action concentrating and make a Linguistics check: DC 10 for casual conversation, DC 15 for complex conversation, or DC 20 for tactical or subtle conversation. Increase the DC by 5 for uncommon languages or by 10 for rare languages. Increase the DC by 5 if you lack the anatomy to speak the language. On success you understand the general meaning. If you exceed the DC by 10 or more, you understand it as if fluent.
Rank 4: You gain comprehend languages as a spell-like ability.
Rank 5: You gain tongues as a spell-like ability.