Languages For Curse Of Strahd

Getting Your Players to Actually Read Things in Barovia

Most groups treat languages as a background stat. They pick Common and forget about it. Then they hit a module like Curse of Strahd where almost every clue is written in something else and suddenly there is a wall. I have run this adventure three times now and the pattern is always the same. Someone spends two sessions staring at a scroll they cannot read because they assumed "they would just find someone who knows the language." That does not happen in Barovia. The core languages your players will encounter are Common, Infernal, Elvish, Draconic, Sylvan, and Vistani Sign Language. That is the short list. Each one appears in different contexts and each one has its own little trap that catches people who have not run this before. I will walk through what shows up where and why it matters. Common is everywhere but it is not useless. Most of the village black-market signs, the inn menus, and the basic notices on a door are in Common. The problem is that when something important is written in Common, it is usually in a cipher or a dead dialect that requires a check to parse. The Whispering Gallery notes, for example, look like a normal letter at first glance but reading them properly requires an Intelligence (History) or Intelligence (Investigation) check depending on how you approach the text. I used to tell my players they could just read it. I learned not to do that after one table rolled a total of seven across four checks and spent forty minutes arguing with me about whether the dungeon master was lying.

Infernal

This is the big one. Strahd himself leaves Infernal notes, the Ravenloft domain has ties to Fiendish scripting, and almost every arcane document that matters is written in Infernal or uses Infernal lettering as decoration. Players who do not know Infernal hit a brick wall inside twenty minutes of leaving the Windmill. Comprehend Languages works here but it only lasts one hour and it does not solve the problem for groups who plan to move slowly through the adventure. One thing nobody tells you about Infernal in this module is that it is not just a language switch. The actual texts are written in a style that reflects Barovian gothic script mixed with Infernal runework. When a player character reads a document fluently, describe it as if the words are bleeding slightly or the ink looks wet even though the paper is brittle and yellow. It costs nothing extra and it makes the language feel like part of the setting instead of a checklist item.

Elvish and Sylvan

These show up mostly around the Abbey of St. Andraste and the areas connected to the elven ruins beneath. Elvish documents are scattered through the abbey library and the surrounding forests. Sylvan appears on signs near the Feywild-adjacent zones, particularly around the Krynnswood and the area leading toward the old elven strongholds. Neither of these is required to finish the adventure, but skipping them means missing a lot of optional lore and a few useful magic items. The Sylvan texts are tricky because they are written in a version of the language that has been corrupted by exposure to the mists. A character with Sylvan proficiency can read them but may misinterpret certain words. I once had a player translate a message that said "beware the beast" as "follow the beast" because the corrupted form of the word was ambiguous. The party walked right into a wereboar encounter that the original text was warning them about. This is one of those cases where telling the player exactly what the text says undermines the whole point of giving them a language skill. Let them read it. Let them make the mistake.

Vistani Sign Language

This is the most overlooked language in the entire module. The Vistani use it extensively and several key NPCs will communicate through it when they think no one is listening. If a player does not know it, they see three people making strange hand gestures and move on. If they know it, they overhear a conversation that changes how they approach the Vistani caravan entirely. I created a small reference sheet for this before every session. Not a full grammar guide. Just ten to fifteen common signs and phrases. The Vistani sign language is designed to be quick and readable from a distance, so the signs themselves are simple. A raised palm means stop. A flicked wrist means danger. A tapping of fingers against the thigh means wait. I keep these on a slip of paper at the table and I only reference it when a character actually has the proficiency. This saves time and keeps the table from spending five minutes decoding hand signals.

How to Handle This Without Losing Your Mind

The practical approach is simpler than most people think. Give your players access to a language reference document before the session starts. Not the full module. Just the languages that appear in it and where to find them. I send a one-page PDF with the language names, the locations where they appear, and one example phrase for each. This takes about ten minutes to make and it prevents the "I don't know what language this is" questions that pop up during play. For the players who want to learn a language, the rules are straightforward. A character gains a language proficiency through the multilingual feat or through their class or race. The cost is one proficiency slot. The benefit is that they can speak, read, and write the language. In Curse of Strahd, this means a single proficiency choice can unlock half the hidden content in the adventure. It is worth more than most people expect. If a player does not have a language proficiency, Comprehend Languages is the fallback. It allows understanding of spoken and written language for one hour. It does not help with curses, scripts that are purely decorative, or languages that have no spoken equivalent. It also does not work on Vistani sign language because that is a gesture-based system and the spell specifically covers vocal and written language only. I learned this the hard way when a character cast Comprehend Languages while watching a Vistani elder sign a warning to another character and then asked why it did not work. I had to explain that sign language is not covered by the spell. The player was not happy. I was not going to make an exception.

Where This Breaks Down

The biggest issue with Languages For Curse Of Strahd is that it assumes a baseline of language investment that many new groups do not have. If every player in the party skipped language proficiencies, you will have a group that spends most of its time unable to read anything written down. This is not a flaw in the module. It is a feature. The module is designed to reward preparation. But if you are running this for a group that treats skills as optional, you will need to adjust your expectations. Another problem is the Vistani sign language section. It is easy to skip or summarize because the signs are simple. But the sign language appears in nearly every Vistani encounter and it is the primary way that information is shared by the Vistani characters. If you gloss over it, the Vistani scenes lose their texture. I recommend writing out three or four common signs and having the players practice them at the table. Even five minutes of actual sign usage makes the Vistani feel more alive than a dozen pages of description.

What I Actually Do at the Table

I prepare a language tracker. It is just a small box on my notes page with columns for each language and rows for each player character. I mark which characters know which languages and I update it whenever someone learns a new one. This takes maybe thirty seconds at the start of session one and it prevents the "does my character know this" questions that interrupt the flow. I also keep a separate box for in-world language references, like a phrasebook or a dictionary that a character might carry. If a player says their character has a language tool, I give them the relevant excerpt. This is faster than looking it up mid-session and it keeps the game moving. The biggest lesson I have learned is that languages in Curse of Strahd are not decoration. They are the primary mechanic for accessing secret information. The difference between a party that reads the hidden diary in Castle Ravenloft and a party that does not is often a single proficiency choice made at character creation. Plan for it. Prepare for it. Do not assume your players will figure it out on their own.