John – I’m itching to use it, so can you clarify how the Monk ability to Speak with Animals will work? As an ability, I read as that as will. But the description says “The ability to speak with animals as druids do.”
Speak with animals is a 1st level druid spell. Unlike the 2nd level Cleric spell, the druid spell area effect is one animal type in 4″ radius of the druid (one animal within 3″ radius for cleric). Duration is 2 rounds per level.
Here are my questions:
Since this an ability, is the casting time ignored?
How often (frequency) can a Monk use this ability?
At will? As often as a Druid of same level?
Thanks for clarifying. Best to define the parameters now so we can roll along while playing.
Just a little more about point 1. A monk gets a chance to talk to a wolf in a bear trap before he’s released and healed. Can the Monk comprehend any howling that night? Join the conversation?
In that example, I might rule that the monk would know in general terms what the howling was about based on tone (greeting, call-and-response, report of danger, joining the hunt) but definitely not the specific content (“Hey Bob, there’s a pack of pig-men hunters headed towards your pack — keep a low profile”). Depending on the outcome of the earlier conversation, even that general understanding might not be possible.
The underlying rationale of my interpretation is that I don’t see a monk suddenly speaking “wolf” or “mouse” or any other animal language — nor do the animals suddenly speak common; rather, monks attain a level of enlightenment that allows them to understand and be understood by creatures with whom they spend an extended period of time (from the outside, I imagine it doesn’t look or sound much like a conversation at all). All the points I’ve made are extrapolations from that rationale — for example, it takes a turn of interaction with a creature to achieve the connection (but it’s easier to reestablish on future meetings); basic understanding doesn’t guarantee agreement or even friendliness; etc.
Understood, thanks