I have the same problem with my warwolf. Fortunately i have roar, howl, and I use crouch as well. Not a whole lot else for non speaker or animal types.
My experience with this was not strictly being non-speaking. My character in question is a magically anthropomorphed cockroach named Chrrp because that's the sound he makes. The only sound. *heh*
I thought it might be annoying but it turns out that most people he comes in contact with think it's hilarious. I'm not sure why, exactly. 
In any case, it means that he can "talk" on supergroup chat and team chat without actually talking. For emphasis he can say "Chrrp Chrrp!" or something similar when he needs to.
If you're willing to loosen up your concept from "doesn't speak" to "doesn't speak intelligibly" then you can at least give yourself some options beyond the limited number of emotes, especially in chat channels where emotes become useless.
Thanks for the replies, folks!
And I've had fun with a "speaks broken English" type character, but in this case, he doesn't have a mouth. I don't have a screenshot to show right now, as I just made him last night, but I'm using a full mask (Bonehead, I think).
And I think that a cockroach-themed hero that chirps is equally excellent and hilarious.
I'm thinking I'll have to focus on body language. "Shambling Mounds narrows his eyes at $target.", "Shambling Mounds stares blankly.", etc.
I've got two silent characters, one is a psychic, and one is just a housecat. I use a bind key for each with the /beginchat function to add an emote to the beginning of each of their chat items. Using the bind key instead of Enter lets you type your message in ght format you want.
For the psychic, I have a bind for /beginchat "/e mentally intones: "
Which comes out as:
Baduro mentally intones: (conversation)
For the cat, I have the bind: /beginchat "/e thinks that "
Which comes out as:
a cat thinks that (conversation)
((Yes, I was able to get the name "a cat"))
All that is planned fails. All that is born dies.
All that is built crumbles. This will always be true.
But memories remain, And that is beautiful.
you can also use rock sounds. make it sound like a bunch of rocks is tumbling down a hill when hes speaking, or a mountain is creaking and groaning.
grumble groan rumble things like that
So you mean you'll put down your rock, and I'll put down my sword; and we'll try and kill each other like civilized people?
Dubbed first knight of pep-istan by her majesty Queen Pepcat. first catmonaut to walk onna moon.
PENGUIN!!!...(^)>
...............C(...)D
.................m.m
I recently had the idea to make an earth elemental-type character (WP/Stone Tank), and I'm having a difficult time playing him with just emotes. Has anyone here ever played a non-speaking character before? And if so, can you give me some advice?
Things like "/e appears (emotion)" are about all I've got so far. Thanks!