[3.5] Animal Companion - Speak Language

[Bronk]

That is not quite how cross-class skills are described in the PHB or the SRD. Here is the description of what happens when you spend one skill point on a cross- class skill:

Hmm, I think playing Neverwinter so much affected my memories of that!

Looking into it more, this might be what you're looking for: the section in the Monster Manual concerning 'Natural Tendencies'. A shortened version can be found in the SRD here, although there are more examples in the MM:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/intro.htm

Basically, if an animal aren't suited to a physical activity, they either take a big penalty or can't do it at all. Examples from the MM include horses not being able to walk tightropes and dolphins not being able to climb. I would say being able to talk is a physical activity no animal is able to do, either because of their tiny brains or because they can't make the noises. You'd think parrots would be an exception because they can mimic those noises, but they're called out as not being able to talk even after getting an intelligence boost after becoming a familiar.

Another reason would be that the only way to teach animals anything is by training them to do tricks, and there's no 'speaking' trick.

A third reason would be that animals, even animal companions, are NPCs, and are completely controlled by the DM, not the player, and that includes leveling. The DM could nix taking the speak language skill easily.

So, my friends brought up a good point. A forest gnome knows a language spoken by forest animals and allows them to communicate on a "very basic level". I'm thinking that the animal companion putting two skill points into Speak Language to be able to have a "very basic" understanding of human speech might be ok. It depends on what a DM rules to be a "very basic" understanding.

As far as I can tell, forest gnomes speak with animals using the spell as an at will SLA, not as a regular language.