Tequila Sunrise said:
The real problems with truespeakers is that they're completely dependant on the DM's play style. If the DM runs a 'magic shoppe on every corner' campaign, the checks are easy to make and highly munchkinizable. In the opposite play style, the checks are nigh-impossible to make at high levels. The fact that the skill is boosted by a magic item that jumps from +5 to +10 doesn't help either.
That certainly is not the main problem as I understand it. From my perspective, the truenamer is hindered by the fact that the Truespeak checks at any level with any level of magic is never reliable and often much too difficult. The truespeak skill is hardly "munchinizable." There are two ways. One involves playing in such a high-magic campaign that you somehow come across a +10 amulet of truespeak before 5th level, in which case your Truespeak DCs become very easy until you reach about 10th. The other way is to have a marshal cohort with Motivate Intelligence, which breaks the system at every level. But is this really a problem with the truenamer? I contend the problem is with the marshal, but I digress.
The problem is that the system assumes you have access to a +5 amulet around 6th level and a +10 one by around 12th level and that you are crippled without it. This does not make the system, as you put it, "completely dependent on the DM's play style," although I would agree it makes the system sensitive to campaign variation. The bard or the warmage is far more dependent on a DM's playstyle (combat-heavy and role-playing-heavy DMs more or less crippling the respective classes). The truenamer is simply dependent on a single magic item, which is a pretty bad idea since it makes the class a bit sensitive to campaign variation (although not as sensitive as you suggest).
The difference can be evaluated by comparing a truenamer's "must have" amulet with a wizard's "must have" headband. Both are seen as essential tools to the class in question as soon as they are acquirable, but each in a much different way quantitatively. A wizard benefits from a +6 headband of intellect, but he will never be crippled without one, simply a bit less effective. However, a 15th level truenamer without a +10 amulet might as well pack his bags and leave adventuring because even assuming a base 18 Intelligence, max ranks, Skill Focus (Truespeak), a +6 headband of intellect, and ability boosts into Intelligence, he maxes out at +29, which is barely enough to make the DC 45 Truespeak checks he is likely to be encountering with any level of regularity. In fact, against CR 15 opponents, there is a maximum of 3 uses of each of his utterances with a 25%, 15%, and 5% chance of success. Such an unreliable character is unlikely to contribute much to his party.
Even if you allow him the +10 amulet, this is hardly a munchkin build. With +39 to make a DC 45 check, he has a 75% chance to use his utterances. That is not very impressive considering the utterances available to him. A 15th level truenamer likely has two 5th level utterances known, meaning he can do two of the following with a 75% chance of success the first time he tries such a thing (with successive chances of success decreasing by 10% with each success):
-move a creature 40 feet closer or farther
-grant a creature one energy immunity for 5 rounds or give a creature a shield that deals 20 points of energy damage whenever the creature is struck for 5 rounds
-remove or deal one negative level
-grant a creature +5 to one attack, save or check in the next 5 rounds or confuse an enemy for 5 rounds
-grant a creature 120 ft. fly speed (perfect) for 5 rounds or make a flying creature fall
-grant a creature blindsight and true seeing for 5 rounds or blind and deafen a creature for 5 rounds
-grant a creature immunity to direct attacks (but not area effects) for 5 rounds or banish a creature for 5 rounds
-grant a creature fast healing 15 for 5 rounds or deal 8d6 damage to one creature for two rounds
Few of these effects are quite as powerful as an 8th level spell, which other 15th level spellcasters like wizards, clerics, and druids could be doing. Additionally, they have very limited durations. On top of that, they have a 25% chance of failure? That is the problem with truenamers. They are already hindered by the mechanics of the Truespeak skill and if you take the mandatory item away from them, they are less than underpowered.
A lesser problem is that "meta-truename-magic" is practically worthless because the truename DCs are already so difficult. Extend Utterance might be useful every once in a while for a character like the one described above who has maxed out everything. But Quicken Utterance is worthless for all utterances but those from the Lexicon of the Craft Tool (affecting non-magical items) and those from the Lexicon of the Perfected Map, and even then, they do not become reasonably useful until well after 10th level.
Tequila Sunrise said:
The solution that will work in every campaign is for every DM to modify the DC progression based on their playstyle.
Any DM who deviates from the core rules of the game (which suppose a regular rate of advancement and a specified level of treasure) should do this anyway. The rules presented should work for DMs who strive to run their campaigns mostly according to the core rules. Acquiring a 10,000 gp item should not be an insurmountablel task for a 10th level character in most 3rd edition campaigns unless that campaign deviates heavily from the core rules. The problem is that the rules do not work very well for such campaigns (unless you have a marshal in the party).
Tequila Sunrise said:
It also wouldn't hurt to forget about Lesser and Greater truespeak amulets and instead rate them from +1 to +10.
I agree with you. This is quite simple to do since the prices are taken straight from the DMG recommendations for such an item. However, you don't necessarily "forget" the lesser and greater versions so much as expand them to cover a variety of bonuses.
