Lip Reading: To use this skill, the character must be able to see the lips of the target person or creature and understand the language being spoken. A successful check allows a character to “overhear” the conversation; if the lip reader understands the language being spoken, he can understand the speakers’ words. The distance to the target and the available light should be taken into account—the DM should apply skill roll penalties for difficult situations.
👄 Racial Variants #
| Variant | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Elven | Linguistic Flow | Elven languages involve subtle glottal shifts. An Elf can read lips even when only seeing a profile (side view) of the face, whereas others usually require a direct line of sight to the mouth. |
| Dwarven | Beard-Reading | Dwarves have learned to read the movement of the jaw and the “ripple” of a beard. They ignore penalties for targets with heavy facial hair that would normally obscure the lips of a human or elf. |
| Gnomish | Micro-Expressionist | Gnomes speak rapidly. A Gnomish lip-reader can follow “fast talk” without the usual penalties, and can even pick up on “whispered” lip movements that involve minimal airflow. |
| Halfling | Low-Angle Perspective | Halflings are experts at reading lips from below. They ignore penalties for “unfavorable angles” when looking up at a target from behind a table, bar, or crate. |
🗺️ Regional Variants #
- The High-Court Inquisitor (Metropolitan/Urban)
In the capital, secrets are whispered behind fans and hands.
- Specialty: Partial Obscuration. They have trained to read the muscles of the eyes and cheeks to fill in the blanks when a target’s mouth is partially covered. They take only half the usual penalty for obstructed views.
- The Frontier Scout (Wilderness/Borderlands)
Trained to gather intelligence from across a valley or a river.
- Specialty: Long-Distance Focus. They are masters of reading lips through a spyglass or at extreme distances. They treat “Far” range as “Medium” range for the purpose of distance penalties.
- The Silent-Aisle Monk (Religious/Cloistered)
Hailing from orders that take vows of silence, where lip reading is the primary mode of communication.
- Specialty: Perfect Recall. If they succeed on a check, they can remember the conversation verbatim for 24 hours. They also gain a +4 bonus to read the lips of someone who is “mouthing” words without making any sound at all.
- The Port-Side Informant (Coastal/Maritime)
Trained to read lips amidst the chaos of crashing waves and screaming gulls.
- Specialty: Environment Filtering. They ignore penalties for “Visual Noise” (such as rain, spray, or moving crowds passing between them and the target) as long as they can see the target’s face for at least half of the sentence.
⚖️ The “Language” Constraint #
As per the rules, the character must understand the language being spoken.
- Design Tip: If the character has a Language skill but isn’t fluent (a “skill language”), they must make two rolls: one for the Lip Reading and one for the Language Fluency. If they fail the Fluency roll, they “see” the words but can’t find the meaning.
Game Master Note: You might allow a character with Disguise to use this skill to “spot the fake.” By watching someone’s lips, they can tell if the target’s accent or mouth-movements don’t match the persona they are projecting.
