[ToM] Truespeak...thoughts?

[Lord Ravinous]

Ok, so we're starting up a new campaign in my group, and I've been out of the running for a while. In my brainstorming search of google, I've come across Truespeak and the Fiendbinder. Now, I'm in no way asking for any crunchies whatsoever, what I would like to know is....

1) Is Truespeak as skill? or some other mechanic I'm not familiar with.
2) If you''ve used it, what are your thoughts on this?
3) Mechanics aside, what can this skill accomplish outside of the Prc's that it is linked to?
4) Does it have any "requirements" for "learning"

My current problem is that, when the muse is upon me, I've found it best to run with my ideas and put notes on paper, and while my DM has a hardcopy of the Tome of Magic, he's at work, and by the time he gets off, I will be at work.

So what are your experiances with this "skill?" Because I'm heavily interested, beings that I had planned to make me a Conjurer anyway.

 

[krupintupple]

Truespeak is a skill, based on intelligence. Most of the truespeak abilities - such as blasting foes, and helping allies - are based upon the successful use of this skill. Unfortunately, the DC's get exponentially more difficult as you level and use them. I've heard of a few fixes, but they might've been on the old boards.

 

[kenmarable]

Not sure how much you saw already in Googling, so sorry if I explain things you already know, but it's from the book "Tome of Magic" which is divided into 3 sections, each with it's own new magic system. One of them is Truenaming magic, which casts spells (called "utterances") by Truespeaking skill checks. The Truenamer base class is the one who uses this form of magic. (And is also the source a lot of internet threads on whether the math of the class is balanced or not.)

However, also in each section of ToM is a group of prestige classes (of course). With the truenaming section, the prestige classes actually have pretty much nothing at all to do with the truenamer base class which I found odd. Just some thematic similarities.

But as long as you know that truespeak is an Int based skill, and give it to your conjurer as a class skill* and the rest of the Fiendbinder class handles everything. Or talk to your DM, and you can probably get away with using a different skill like Knowledge(arcana) instead.

But outside of the specific prestige class abilities, and the truenamers "spells", the skill doesn't really do much of anything. It just exists to support those. Oh, and flavor-wise, the skill is supposed to reflect your ability to speak the truename of a creature or area.

Personally, if this sounds interesting at all, I'd go for the book. It was one of my favorites from WotC ever. One of the other sections in there (Pact Magic) was even so awesome that another company published a whole book on just that form of magic (Secrets of Pact Magic by Radiance House).

Does that roundabout answer your questions?


* Technically, it's only a class skill for Truenamers and you need to take the Truename Training feat to make it a class skill (and all cross-class ranks, become full ranks). But especially if you are not using the Truenamer and truename magic, there's nothing unbalancing letting your PC have it as a class skill if that's their main focus.

 

[Runestar]

Truenaming is problematic as is. Because your rank improves by just +1 every lv, while the DC increases by 2, you will really need to go out of your way to optimize your truename check if you want it to be effective at all. This means being able to access all sorts of magic gear which boost skills, which not every DM may be so forthcoming in providing.

It is also quite weak mechanically. Early on, it is still somewhat on par with a sorc, but later on, the disparity shows. You can have a truename check of +100 and still find it lackluster. It is that weak.