Truename Magic

[GSHamster]

In my opinion, truename magic is a good literary device, but does not play well in a game.

The question in truename magic is "how do you discover someone's truename?" If it's too easy, then a lot of the fun and uniqueness of that style goes away. If it's too difficult, then it may as well not exist.

As well, giving out your truename seems to be the height of foolishness. Why would you ever give someone a chance to wield powerful magic against you?

I think truename magic would work best if you had a reason or mechanism for passing out truenames to other people. Some ideas:

1. A ritual performed by people who know each other's truenames is far more powerful than one without. So trusting someone with your truename can lead to more power if they are trustworthy.

2. Knowing someone's truename leaves you just as open to an attack by them as they are to you. I.e. If you know Bob's truename, you can turn him into a frog, but Bob can also turn you into a frog.

3. Your truename is embedded in the spells you cast. Another caster must observe your spells or enchantments in order to divine your truename. More powerful spells make it easier to discover the truename. Masking your truename makes your spells even more difficult to cast.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

In my opinion, truename magic is a good literary device, but does not play well in a game.

The question in truename magic is "how do you discover someone's truename?" If it's too easy, then a lot of the fun and uniqueness of that style goes away. If it's too difficult, then it may as well not exist.

As well, giving out your truename seems to be the height of foolishness. Why would you ever give someone a chance to wield powerful magic against you?

I think truename magic would work best if you had a reason or mechanism for passing out truenames to other people. Some ideas:

1. A ritual performed by people who know each other's truenames is far more powerful than one without. So trusting someone with your truename can lead to more power if they are trustworthy.

2. Knowing someone's truename leaves you just as open to an attack by them as they are to you. I.e. If you know Bob's truename, you can turn him into a frog, but Bob can also turn you into a frog.

3. Your truename is embedded in the spells you cast. Another caster must observe your spells or enchantments in order to divine your truename. More powerful spells make it easier to discover the truename. Masking your truename makes your spells even more difficult to cast.

What about adding 'long forgotten knowledge'? As in, when the Lich creates the phylactery, he must inscribe his truename upon it, as such, you can make someone else a lich if you know their truename. Also, with that, you could find the phylactery, read the truename, and then wield it against him/her.

What about truenames of certain monsters? Giving you a bonus to X, such as increasing the save DC or touch attack, but if you have the truename of the creature, like the truename of asmodeous, then he would get a save and/or it would automatically hit.

-Know Pelor's truename
-Cast disentigrate
-ruin everything

 

[GSHamster]

What about adding 'long forgotten knowledge'? As in, when the Lich creates the phylactery, he must inscribe his truename upon it, as such, you can make someone else a lich if you know their truename. Also, with that, you could find the phylactery, read the truename, and then wield it against him/her.

The problem with this is that it is a "win more" kind of situation. If you have the Lich's phylactery, you're already in an amazing position to beat the Lich.

What about truenames of certain monsters? Giving you a bonus to X, such as increasing the save DC or touch attack, but if you have the truename of the creature, like the truename of asmodeous, then he would get a save and/or it would automatically hit.

Yeah, but how are you going to find out those true names? Why in the world would Asmodeous give *anyone* his truename? To me, your process seems to be skipping a step and going right to the end:

1. Dave has a truename.
2. ????
3. Use truename to turn Dave into a frog.

I totally get steps 1 and 3. I just don't see what step 2 is like.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

Step 2 is the adventure.

Asmodeus has a truename, it is your job to find it.

It's a hook.

Did he give it out? Under what circumstances?



Asmodeus once lost a bet to a mortal, against all odds the mortal guessed right during a game of hellish 'go fish' and since the wager was too high for Asmodeus to pay at that time, to ensure he would pay, wrote his truename to this mortal.

OR

The characters break into a vault of the Inevitables, the library of names.

It can fuel adventures, I find that fun.

 

[Owldragon]

Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed (and the revision, Arcana Evolved) includes truenames. There's an old post describing it here.

In that set of rules, knowing your truename can give a spellcaster an advantage over you. In general, knowing a target's truename imposes a -1 penalty to the target's saving throws. Knowing the target's truename can also have additional effects for certain spells, however, and there are even certain spells that only function if you know the target's truename. The catch in this system is that the spells that require the target's truename include raise the dead and similar spells. So it's a balance between making sure your allies can raise you and making yourself vulnerable to enemies.

Of course, if you're adding truenames to an existing game, or want there to be an option to ignore them, then requiring someone's truename for raise dead is probably not a good idea. You can still have certain spells with that require the subjects truename, though. Maybe only very obscure spells need a truename, but those spells are really nasty. Another idea I thought was interesting in that system is the Learn Secret spells, which apply the theory of truenames to objects, giving a bonus to attempts to use or affect an object (swing a weapon, pick a lock, etc.).

On the other hand, as people have been discussing, perhaps knowing someone's truename simply makes them vulnerable to your spells. The target takes a penalty on saves, or the caster can bypass spell resistance. An interesting possibility might be if knowing a spellcaster's truename mean that you automatically succeed on any attempt to counter or dispel their spells.

I do think the tricky part is how powerful you make truenames. You want them to be powerful enough to be important, but don't want truenames circumventing planned adventures. If knowing your enemy's truename means an automatic win against them, then finding that truename is going to be the real adventure.

...and I evidently have more thoughts on this subject than I realized.

 

[Alzrius]

There's a short, self-contained article for 3.5 D&D about truenames and using them in Dragon #317. It's titled "Truenames and Fetishes: The Power and the Peril," by Philip M. Greeley. I think it's a great way of introducing truenames into a game without a huge new set of rules.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed (and the revision, Arcana Evolved) includes truenames. There's an old post describing it here.

I was going to say this.

An example might be the Domination spell. It can be used as a combat spell (I think 1 round/level), but you could Dominate someone for days at a time if you know their true name. At that point, it's more like a ritual than a spell.

There's a spell (ritual) that lets you discover a creature's truename.

 

[SkidAce]

Another casual thought. "If" you could determine a truename from a spell, instead of hard work, research and diligence, perhaps the risk of the "quick spell method" would be if you failed, the thing you were casting it on knows yours instead.

Bad news if you were trying to find out the truename of the Gray Necromancer. And if your were trying to determine the truename of stone...hehe.

 

[jefgorbach]

The other point would be whether its the RIGHT truename for any being sufficiently powerful to realize such exist would surely take steps not only to protect theirs, but obscure it as much as possible so why casters THINK they are summoning/whatever Dark Lord Asmodeus, discover their horrific shame they've called forth a lava bearing a very very very close variation ... as He intended (and likely has a contingency warning in place alerting him to the fact someone's tampering with his "trap").

 

[Greatwyrm]

I'd almost think there would be an ongoing propaganda war of low and mid-level evils spreading their names far and wide while the forces of good try to suppress them. Beetlejuice. Beetlejuice. Beetle...