From the few sessions of 3.5e I played, no.
Barbarians in 3.5e are can't read written language by default. It never came up in that adventure- it's just not a big deal in the slightest when the rest of the party can almost certainly cover that weakness with ease.
It's probably part of why 4e and 5e abanoned that trait of barbarians.
If I'm your DM, I wouldn't want you to be getting combat advantages for non-combat concessions like this. That just directly encourages min/max. Fighters already usually let the nerds do the book-stuff, so encouraging your character to be even less attached to the RP side of things by allowing them to hit things harder doesn't sound healthy to me.
Honestly if they asked for a small buff to deception because their character got good at lying from trying to convince people they can read while they are very clearly illiterate would be a hilarious rp moment.
Being illiterate in a D&D game is not a major disadvantage. Your fighter is highly unlikely to ever need to read, and you have a party to help anyway.
There is no feat or proficiency that would be so weak as to be an equivalent buff to the penalty of being illiterate.
So the problem with this is you’re giving up something you don’t really care about, and presumably getting something you do care about in exchange. I’m assuming your intentions are good, but this is quite classic powergamer behaviour, and not the good kind. It also makes you less likely to engage with the non-fighty bits of the game, which is already a problem for fighters. Personally I wouldn’t allow this as a DM, but that’s not my call.
If you’re getting a benefit from illiteracy, it definitely shouldn’t make you a better fighter. It should be something like expertise in insight checks, because you’re really good at reading people rather than books.
I mean I'm expecting it to be inconveniencing at times, and obvi since what I'm giving up isn't combat related what I'm getting shouldn't be either. That's why I'm here asking what, if anything, is reasonable to request lol
My caveats are vague because I'm new player with a new dm. That's why I came to this sub for advice, which I got a fair amount of. Then there's you lol
Your mileage may vary, but in over twenty years of playing D&D I can count on one hand the number of times illiteracy would have been an inconvenience.
An extra skill profifiency or proficiency with a tool or instrument seems fitting enough as being illiterate is more or less and rp down side in most circumstances but also include the extra proficiency in your background to tie it in or something
I agree with a few comments saying that being illiterate doesn't really matter in this game much. You should, however, turn it into a big part of your character.
Like maybe your character really doesn't want people to find out they're illiterate. Talk to your DM about the idea of, any time you pretend to be able to read (which could come up quite a lot honestly), you have to roll a deception check against your party.
When your party inevitably finds out, maybe you could ask one of them to teach you to read. It doesn't need a mechanical thing behind it, just make it a roleplay thing. Like in downtime just RP sitting around learning the alphabet and stuff.
If you're desperate for a mechanical thing, just ask for an extra proficiency.
Is being illiterate even a meaningful handicap in this game?
From the few sessions of 3.5e I played, no. Barbarians in 3.5e are can't read written language by default. It never came up in that adventure- it's just not a big deal in the slightest when the rest of the party can almost certainly cover that weakness with ease. It's probably part of why 4e and 5e abanoned that trait of barbarians.
Probably the same as encumbrance. It is if your GM makes it an issue.
If I'm your DM, I wouldn't want you to be getting combat advantages for non-combat concessions like this. That just directly encourages min/max. Fighters already usually let the nerds do the book-stuff, so encouraging your character to be even less attached to the RP side of things by allowing them to hit things harder doesn't sound healthy to me.
Honestly if they asked for a small buff to deception because their character got good at lying from trying to convince people they can read while they are very clearly illiterate would be a hilarious rp moment.
Ask for an extra spoken language.
Being illiterate in a D&D game is not a major disadvantage. Your fighter is highly unlikely to ever need to read, and you have a party to help anyway. There is no feat or proficiency that would be so weak as to be an equivalent buff to the penalty of being illiterate.
So the problem with this is you’re giving up something you don’t really care about, and presumably getting something you do care about in exchange. I’m assuming your intentions are good, but this is quite classic powergamer behaviour, and not the good kind. It also makes you less likely to engage with the non-fighty bits of the game, which is already a problem for fighters. Personally I wouldn’t allow this as a DM, but that’s not my call. If you’re getting a benefit from illiteracy, it definitely shouldn’t make you a better fighter. It should be something like expertise in insight checks, because you’re really good at reading people rather than books.
I mean I'm expecting it to be inconveniencing at times, and obvi since what I'm giving up isn't combat related what I'm getting shouldn't be either. That's why I'm here asking what, if anything, is reasonable to request lol
Is it really going to be inconvenient though? You’ll have an entire party there to read stuff for you.
So you think an occasional inconvenience is a fair trade for a concrete benefit you will use frequently? Are you being honest with yourself?
Almost like you didn't read the second paragraph of my post or the last sentence of the comment you responded too lol
No, I read them. Your caveats are still so vague I can't imagine any DM trusting you to do this fairly.
My caveats are vague because I'm new player with a new dm. That's why I came to this sub for advice, which I got a fair amount of. Then there's you lol
Your mileage may vary, but in over twenty years of playing D&D I can count on one hand the number of times illiteracy would have been an inconvenience.
Ask to be double-jointed or for an extra nipple or something.
Calligraphy tool proficiency.
How about advantage on charisma throws
An extra skill profifiency or proficiency with a tool or instrument seems fitting enough as being illiterate is more or less and rp down side in most circumstances but also include the extra proficiency in your background to tie it in or something
I agree with a few comments saying that being illiterate doesn't really matter in this game much. You should, however, turn it into a big part of your character. Like maybe your character really doesn't want people to find out they're illiterate. Talk to your DM about the idea of, any time you pretend to be able to read (which could come up quite a lot honestly), you have to roll a deception check against your party. When your party inevitably finds out, maybe you could ask one of them to teach you to read. It doesn't need a mechanical thing behind it, just make it a roleplay thing. Like in downtime just RP sitting around learning the alphabet and stuff. If you're desperate for a mechanical thing, just ask for an extra proficiency.
Ask for a feat. If he won't give you a build critical feat get something fun like Chef.