Truenamer in play?

[kilamanjaro]

After talking it over with the DM I'm going to give the Truenamer a try. I love the idea of a Illumian Truenamer, lots of language based magic going on, but I think I'll try human. We're going to use the rules as written and if it ends up being too weak we'll adjust them as we go. Taking 10 outside of combat is a good idea, but most Utterances have a duration measured in rounds so it's not a great solution for buffs but it makes the healing Utterances easier to use.
Thanks for the good thoughts!

 

[Hussar]

Actually, outside of combat, there is no reason not to Take 20. Since failure doesn't increase the DC, outside of combat, you just Take 20 all day long until you can no longer pass with a Take 20. As you say, as an after combat healer, you cannot beat a Truenamer. Particularly with the extend duration feat. Fast healing 10 for 10 rounds is pretty darn close to a Heal spell. Since it's only good outside of combat, you can burn through these.

 

[Razz]

After talking it over with the DM I'm going to give the Truenamer a try. I love the idea of a Illumian Truenamer, lots of language based magic going on, but I think I'll try human. We're going to use the rules as written and if it ends up being too weak we'll adjust them as we go. Taking 10 outside of combat is a good idea, but most Utterances have a duration measured in rounds so it's not a great solution for buffs but it makes the healing Utterances easier to use.
Thanks for the good thoughts!

As much as Illumian truenamer would sound good, it really isn't.

The problem is with their power sigils. For some strange reason, almost all of their power sigils relies on you using spell slots or using one of your uses of turn undead. I am not sure exactly how to translate it into Truename magic instead of Vancian magic, but I've been trying because I didn't want my player's Illumian truenamer to have useless power sigils.

 

[kilamanjaro]

I haven't looked at RoD in awhile but I remember most of the sigils being better for multiclass characters.

 

[airwalkrr]

Actually, outside of combat, there is no reason not to Take 20. Since failure doesn't increase the DC, outside of combat, you just Take 20 all day long until you can no longer pass with a Take 20. As you say, as an after combat healer, you cannot beat a Truenamer. Particularly with the extend duration feat. Fast healing 10 for 10 rounds is pretty darn close to a Heal spell. Since it's only good outside of combat, you can burn through these.

True that. Of course, why take 2 minutes when you can take 6 seconds? But I concede when time is not of the essence, taking 20 works better.

 

[Razz]

I haven't looked at RoD in awhile but I remember most of the sigils being better for multiclass characters.

Close.

Rephrase that to "being better for multiclass spellcasting characters" and you're there.

Most of the abilities involved using turn undead and spell slots. I think there was only one combination that didn't rely on either. Which is silly. They should've given ideas on how to create more power sigils, but then they go to say in a sidebar that it is a bad idea because you're making the race too powerful. Because each new power sigil adds new combinations. Adding one adds 6 new combos, adding a second adds 7, and so on.

But then, it's a double-edged blade. Because now there's not enough customization for the race's power sigils to warrant multiclassing (which is the race's specialty) with anything other than a Cleric, Paladin, or spell-slot using spellcaster.

Granted, I understand the book was written before the Warlock made it big and before Truenamers were ever mentioned, and before we realized how crappy the CW Samurai is...but I believe a WE on more power sigils for the race would've made it more appealing to a wider audience.

The illumians had potential. A great race but they used the wrong mechanic to handle its racial abilities.

 

[ohGr]

True that. Of course, why take 2 minutes when you can take 6 seconds? But I concede when time is not of the essence, taking 20 works better.

Unfortunately, you can't Take 10 or 20 with Truespeach checks; last sentence of the Check part of the skill description mentions that.

Not letting you Take 10 i can understand, but no Take 20 either? Given what Take 20 is supposed to represent, using the skill over and over again until you succeed, that just doesn't make any sense to me. There's no real drawback to failing a Truespeach check, other than the wasted action. :\

 

[Hussar]

Unfortunately, you can't Take 10 or 20 with Truespeach checks; last sentence of the Check part of the skill description mentions that.

Not letting you Take 10 i can understand, but no Take 20 either? Given what Take 20 is supposed to represent, using the skill over and over again until you succeed, that just doesn't make any sense to me. There's no real drawback to failing a Truespeach check, other than the wasted action. :\

Dammit, another rule I missed out on. Good thing this guy is an NPC. Sigh.

Yeah, I'll be chucking that rule out thanks. Since you can't take 10 when you're under pressure, not doing it in combat makes sense. But, outside of combat, meh, I think that's completely unnecessary. Rule chucked.

 

[Amitiel]

My current game has a multiclassed Truenamer but as he's only 3rd level in that class I'm not sure how well he's doing. Partially because he's a non-core race (Darfallen from the stormwrack book.) He seems to use the 'buff' effects of utterances more often. He hasn't failed an utterance yet.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

*Smacks self on head repeatedly*

I can't believe I forgot to add the base 15 to the DC. ROTFLMAO. Well, now I know why the cohort was so bloody effective.

So that means that your experience is that the truenamer is balanced when he has an inherent +15 to his Truenaming checks? Because that's a pretty major condemnation of the class as written if it's true.