Verification on Spell

[Dross Swordra]

I know that there was recently a discussion on the spell ' Gate ' but I wanted a quick clarification. My Wizard came into contact (by this I mean that he ran from) a Pit Fiend (standard Monster Manual Pit Fiend). He later found out the name of this particular Devil and now wants to Gate him. According to the SRD all I have to do is name the Pit Fiend as I cast Gate:

From SRD: "By naming a particular being or kind of being as you cast the spell, you cause the gate to open in the immediate vicinity of the desired creature and pull the subject through, willing or unwilling."

The next line in the text seems to contradict itself, however. It states that "Deities and unique beings are under no compulsion to come through the gate". I guess the issue is with the definition of 'Unique Being'. I think that there should be no problem gating a particular stock Pit Fiend, but what if that particular pit fiend that I named had class levels? Does that make him a 'Unique Being' ? As a player who doesn't like power gaming, I would never try the munchkin trick of gating "an advanced pit fiend" but I could see myself wanting to gate an individual pit fiend (with class levels, or advancement) who's name was known to me.

So, long story short, can my wizard gate a pit fiend (who's name is known to me) who has class levels or advancement HD ?

 

[wedgeski]

So, long story short, can my wizard gate a pit fiend (who's name is known to me) who has class levels or advancement HD ?

Yes. There's nothing unique about *A* pit fiend, whether it has a name, or class levels, or a veruka on its left claw. Otherwise, you could claim any number of attributes on individual monsters which make them unique compared to other members of the same race.

 

[FEADIN]

Unique being is a definition made by your DM in his campaign, as a general rule I would limit this "unicity" to son/daughter of deities/demon lords/archdevils and plane rulers/chambelans.

 

[Dross Swordra]

Unique being is a definition made by your DM in his campaign, as a general rule I would limit this "unicity" to son/daughter of deities/demon lords/archdevils and plane rulers/chambelans.

Yeah, thats sort of how I thought about it, too. The terms are fairly ambiguous though. Another concern I have is the name itself. Are we talking about true names? I remember some really old school material (1E IIRC) that states that a Devil's true name is an extremely closely guarded secret and that the Devils had common names that everybody used instead. The thought behind this was that a true name had power invested in it, and could be used to exert control over that particular Devil. Much more recently, however, Rule books have stopped using the term "True Name" and instead have been simply using 'name' (as the SRD does for use in the Gate spell). Does this mean that the concept of a Devil having two names (one common but powerless, and the other being the 'True Name') has been phased out? or does this simply mean that a Devil's common name can be used for spell like Gate?

This naming convention has nothing to do with a devil cultivating an Alias, or some-such. But rather is akin to Cassius Clay being the common name and Muhammed Ali being the true name. or reversed if you prefer. Thats the closest real world equivelent I can think of. Anyways, the Common Name / True Name conventions have always screwed me up and I don't know if a character needs to do something special in order to obtain a true name of a Devil even after he already knows the Devils common name.

 

[FEADIN]

You're right, to "control" someone you must know his "True name", the name that he was given by "the creation" the concept is back in "The book of exalted deeds" with a language, the world of creation.
It's important to say that people don't know their true name themselves, it's a secret which must be unearthed but I think that powerful rulers/archdevils/demon lords and such know more about that.
In "Return to the tomb of horror" Acererak is controlling his father, a powerful demon because he knows his true name (we are playing in a 3.5 converted version of this adventure).

 

[Dross Swordra]

Cool. For further clarification lets use Acerak as an example.

I'm assuming that Acerak is his common name and not his 'True Name' (which is probably some unpronouncable string of consonants with lots of superfluous X's Z's and Q's thrown in). With that assumption made, could the gate spell be used using the Name 'Acerak' ?
If so, I would guess that if one possessed his true name, there are other forms of control that can be wielded. Is there any written material governing this sort of thing? You mentioned the Book of Exalted Deads, is that the source book I should pick up?