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So, the cultural virtue of The Speakers allows for an Elf to talk to "almost everything, from any living being to grass, stone and water."

What about the rain?
Or the wind?
Or fire?

Can anyone think of precedent in the original text for something like this?

I think the answer principle is "yes".
I, however, have the feeling that this virtue is very difficult to handle as a LM in order to not make this virtue a total game breaker.
So, I would recommend a TN of at least 16 (maybe higher) and would further enhance it based on the knowledge of the elf about the region and the shadow value of the region. And an Eye on a roll could be very devastating in a shadow region...

... Next time we get together for TOR, one of the players is thinking of using this Virtue to 'communicate' with a Keening Bog Stone. While in the Long Marshes.

And he does have a habit of rolling Sauron's.

Yep, worried for him. Very worried.

Does an elf with The Speakers carry a boom box?

Stormcrow wrote:Does an elf with The Speakers carry a boom box?

... ... That's... I... ... I mean... ... I... ... No, nevermind.

There was a King Crimson song "I talk to the Wind". "I talk to the wind, the wind does not hear..."

This issue has been with us since the early days of RPGs. Spells for Speak with...animals, plants, stones, etc. required a lot of GM thinking about what would a stone or a tree know and what would be concerned with.

The quote from Legolas seems to capture this well. Also once he remarks of the Orcs carrying the Hobbits across Rohan "the Earth groans beneath their hated feet", perhaps he means this more literally than we imagine.

Consider also Old Man Willow in the Old Forest, speaking to him, or indeed any of the trees in that forest is likely to yield little beyond hatred of all that go on two legs.

Looking at the examples given in the book I don't see any given ability to command or force obedience. You may calm a spooked horse if you succeed in a Persuade or Inspire check, but you are not going to be able to tell a fire to stop burning. Similarly a path or river could tell you who had travelled it, or where it led, but not be able to distinguish one Dwarf from another or even a Dwarf from a Man.

I think this requires a lot of creativity from the LM, but agree that the solution is try to "role play" the wind or the rocks or whatever. "The Earth groans beneath their hated feet" is an excellent example: Legolas doesn't literally have a conversation in Common with the Earth, but he he hears what they are saying. The more players use/abuse the ability, the more abstract/cryptic I would be.

I agree with Elfcrusher, think of Hollin and the memory of stone that speak to Legolas of elves...elves who loves and passions are foreign to Legolas. He hears the stones not de facto because they have a voice (though they must one would imagine...)

Legolas "hears" their speaking insofar as it tells something about a people and their existence, brief or long amidst the land. Or, so it seems to me...

Could an elf with this virtue journeying the Old Forest Road hear the foundation-stones wax at the loss of the dwarves craftsmen under whose hands the stones were so well cared for...? And, in the hearing hear of the ruins of a post-house or watch-tower that stood as a last bastion of defense against the encroaching Shadow...? A place that can provide defensive advantage to a haggard and beleaguered Fellowship...?

Does the wind carry the cry of leaf and trunk hewn from the earth of the West Upper Vales, felled by the biting axes of Northmen settlers centuries ago...? Does that same voice on the wind, speak to the elf-watchman on the journey...? So beguiled by the cry of hewn bough and the memory of burnt sap, this same elf confuses the howl of wolves descending out of Mirkwood as the bitter cry of wood-life cut short...? In this case the virtue becomes the context for roleplaying the Journey hazard that targets the look-out and his subsequent failed Awareness test...? Quite possibly...!

It seems a sensible guideline might be that the virtue speaks of the doings of folk as they interact with the environment around them. Thoughts...?

Regards,
Scott

Eluadin wrote:Does the wind carry the cry of leaf and trunk hewn from the earth of the West Upper Vales, felled by the biting axes of Northmen settlers centuries ago...? Does that same voice on the wind, speak to the elf-watchman on the journey...? So beguiled by the cry of hewn bough and the memory of burnt sap, this same elf confuses the howl of wolves descending out of Mirkwood as the bitter cry of wood-life cut short...? In this case the virtue becomes the context for roleplaying the Journey hazard that targets the look-out and his subsequent failed Awareness test...? Quite possibly...!

Yeah, this is fantastic. Indeed, I already use Speakers in a such a way.
These talks with trees or rocks are barely conversations, as I imagine it, as there's not actually a language that's being used. There's certainly no ability on the part of the Elf to command. At best he gets a sense of what the object is "feeling" or remembering.

But can anyone point to something in Tolkien's text that would suggest an Elf speaking to fire or wind or rain? Earth and stone and trees, sure, the examples are frequent. But what about the others? I can't seem to find any.

None that I can think of. The character most likely to have been able to speak to fire is Gandalf and I don't recall him even hinting at it.