A truename is a name of a thing or being that expresses, or is somehow identical with, its true nature and that can give the speaker control over the being. Truenames are notoriously difficult to pronounce.
Deliberately mispronouncing the name will harm a creature, wracking its very essence, making it sick and staggered.
Truenames of creatures
Dragons
Celestials
Fiends
Knowledge of a devil's truename grants significant power over the fiend. In the cast of the spell planar binding, when a devil's truename is used to conjure a specific fiend, the target devil finds it difficult to resist being summoned. Truenames might also be known to have other powers over devils, though most devil summoners keep the discovery of such powers closely guarded secrets.
Discovering Truenames
Research
Interrogation
Truename magic
When you speak a word in the true, original language of the universe, you tap the power of creation itself — for the ability to describe something is the ability to define it. A wielder of truename magic understands a language older and more fundamental than all others — a "mother tongue" whose words and phrases are the building blocks of the universe.
Except perhaps the gods themselves, no one can speak this original tongue. It's possible that no one ever did speak it — truenames might be more a set of instructions encoded into a language, rather than a means of communication. But through careful study, the masters of truename magic can understand a smattering of this fundamental language. When such masters name a thing aloud in the tongue of truenames, they can exert unparalleled control over the creature or object they name. They can command it, alter it, renew it, or destroy it simply by speaking their desire aloud. The cosmos seems to hear a truenamer's instruction and reorders the universe in accordance with the spoken words.
Truenamers engage in ceaseless study of the world around them, learning the truenames of as many creatures and objects as they can. As they advance in their studies, they can uncover the personal truenames of friends or foes, enabling still more powerful magic.
Some traditional spellcasters also dabble in truename magic. By incorporating a bit of truename speech into their spells, they can achieve targeted but powerful effects beyond the reach of traditional arcane or divine magic. The language of truenames is fiendishly difficult to pronounce, however, so such spells press the skill of their casters to the utmost.
If you want to cause the very earth to tremble when you say "thremcheumalach-tura'abachnir!" then truename magic is for you. If you want to force a babau demon to do your will simply because you know its truename is Kyethel-cramuothanpraduvashedeo, then truenames can be your path to power.
A true name was a creature's hidden name that, rather than just acting as a label, metaphysically truly belonged to that creature. All beings had true names, though most of these were unknown, especially to mere mortals. Knowing a creature's true name could grant power over it. There were several different accounts of true names and how they functioned in this sense.
True names were given to all creatures by an agreement between the powers (that is, gods) in an effort to control them. They were supposed to be kept secret, but some were leaked out by one or more powers.[1] True names could be learned from a being known as the Knower of Names in the layer of Cania in the Nine Hells, who knew all of them but was limited in telling them by the gods' demanding a sizable monetary sacrifice from the asker for each name.[2]
The gods themselves apparently did not have true names.[1] The Red Knight, Faerûnian goddess of battle tactics, was formerly mortal and hence had a true name. However, the only entity that knew her true name was Tempus, whom she saw as a father figure. If anyone were to learn her true name, they would be privy to every stratagem and battle plan on Toril.[3]
For some planar beings such as Errtu, it seemed that their true name was the same as their common name.[4]
When a creature's true name was known, a non-chaotic spellcaster could use it to cast spells such as true name, cacofiend, ensnarement, and spirit wrack, which harmed, bound, or controlled the creature. It could also be used to bind a summoned fiend to make a pact it would be compelled to keep.[1]
Each creature had a unique true name among the Words of Creation, a language so primal even speaking a word of it had a powerful effect. A character who had knowledge of this language could learn a creature's true name and use it to weaken the creature's resistance against different effects or to teleport it.[5]
It was even possible that, when an individual's true name was spoken, they fell under the complete control of the speaker, directly compelled to do anything they ordered.[2]
As a creature becomes more powerful, their truename becomes more difficult to pronounce correctly, as if the universe is paying greater attention to their activities. The necessary pronunciation becomes more exacting.
A creature's truename never changes, except through the user of powerful magic or divine intervention. A high level ritual of renaming allows a creature to change their truename. An even more powerful arcane spell, unname, erases a creature's truename, utterly annihilating them from existence.
A rare few individuals possess a truename such that its utterance causes a terrible backlash.
Speaking the same name multiple times in short succession is difficult, as if the universe resents such meddling. Truename researchers understand this as the Law of Resistance, one of a set of logical rules which govern the use of truenames.
Tome of Magic introduced the notion that truenames extended beyond individuals as part of an ancient magical language of creation, which includes verbs and common nouns. Previous books describing this concept include College of Wizardry (1998), which described the Language Primeval or Aleph, a true original syntax of magic, the research of which led to the invention of metamagic; and the Words of Creation detailed in Book of Exalted Deeds (2003), which Tome of Magic author Matt Sernett describes as part of the same source as Truenames.[1]
Onomancy, or naming magic, is a method of spellcasting
that uses a creature’s true name to enhance a spell’s effects. A true name is the name by which a self-aware creature identifies itself. This name might be the name a person was given at birth, or one a person chose or earned later in life. Whatever a name’s origin, the simplest way for you to know your true name is to think truthfully about yourself and then think, “My name is …” Your true name is how you finish that sentence.
You can try to hide your true name by using a pseudonym, but you must be wary not to inhabit that false name too deeply. If a false name comes to be the best expression of who you are, it becomes your true name. Changing one’s true name is never a quick choice; it’s something that happens over time as a name becomes the creature’s truth.
As a quick guide, a creature has a true name if it understands at least one language or it has an alignment.
Like magic itself, how important names are varies from setting to setting. In worlds where they're important, like Dresden Files or the Eragon series, they're big. In those two, if you can use a person's true name as part of a spell, they have essentially no defense whatsoever. The times I've seen rules introduced in various versions of D&D, it's usually as some penalty to saving throws.
How hard they are to discover varies as well. In the Dresden Files, Harry has four names and is very careful to never say them all together. There, you have to know the name and know exactly how the target says it. With Eragon, true names are a mystic word. Most people never know theirs and discovering it by accident is almost traumatic. They can even change over time if a person radically changes who they are, such as a major good/evil shift.
In game terms, it can be as powerful as the DM wants. You just need to consider how powerful it is compared to how easy they are to discover. If they're powerful and easy to come by, you're giving your spellcasters the equivalent of a +5 Holy Avenger with no strings attached.
Truenames encompass reality in its entirety. Everything
in the world, everything that ever was, and presumably
everything that ever will be has a truename. Even the most
wizened truename sage doesn’t know every word in the
language of truenames—or even most of them. While the
grimoires of truename masters have thousands of truenames
within them, truenames undoubtedly exist beyond their
knowledge, truenames that await rediscovery through magical
exploration and experimentation.
Truenames are an entirely oral language. Merely writing
down a truename has no particular power. Only speaking
a truename aloud can reorder the universe—assuming the
speaker says the name properly. The language of Truespeech
is composed of hundreds of consonant sounds and thousands
of delicately infl ected vowels. The rhythm of the speech is
likewise essential. A book might require several pages just
to describe a single truename, because the speaker needs so
much guidance in pronunciation.
The language of truenames is more than just a list of
names. Most of the language consists of the truename equivalent
of nouns. In terms of game effect, there’s a truename for
“orc,” for “door,” and for “sword.” But from the truenamer’s
point of view, it’s much more complex. There’s a word for
“orc berserker charging toward me,” a word for “ironbound,
locked wooden door with something unknown on the other
side,” and a word for “fl ame tongue longsword wielded by an
ally.” Even an apprentice in the magic of truenames knows
hundreds of these truenames.
Truenames can also name actions, such as “vanish,”
“sharpen,” or “destroy.” When these actions are combined
with the truenames that describe nouns, a truenamer can
remake the universe in accordance with his wishes. Combining
the truename for “destroy” with the truename for
“orc” can cause harm to the orc charging toward you, for
example. Combining “sharpen” (yichtho’pratanuul-khadaash)
with “sword” (gremeneth’hradoshikell) can make the weapon
more potent against your foes. “Vanish” (bratranajaeleithal)
and “human” (hrudokkelenthé) can make an ally invisible.
In addition to truenames that describe nouns and those
that describe actions, there exists a third category: personal
truenames. These are the equivalent of proper names,
uniquely identifying a single creature. If hrudokkelenthé is
human, for example, then Thandralkru-plennevichthuul might
be Bartellus the Necromancer. Most people don’t know their
own personal truenames, and even dedicated students of
truename magic don’t know more than a few personal truenames.
(All truenamer students learn their own personal
truenames, however.) Expert spellcasters and powerful
monsters might know their own personal truenames, and
they certainly try to keep others from learning their personal
truenames. Knowing someone else’s personal truename lets
you describe that individual perfectly to the universe. When
you can describe someone perfectly, you gain a better ability
to affect him or her with the language of Truespeech.
Figure out your own personal truename. As a truenamer,
you need to know this name, if for no other reason
than to know if someone else has discovered it. All truenamers
learn their own personal truenames as part of their fi nal
stage of apprenticeship. For other truename-using characters,
it’s an interesting bit of character background. Your personal
truename is nothing less than the secret name the universe
knows you by, so take a moment to come up with something
mysterious and cool-sounding once you discover your own
truename.
The magic of names has been a theme in fantasy literature for as
long as the genre has existed. Several attempts have been made
to bring this theme into the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS game, but Tome
of Magic represents a major effort to implement a thorough rules
set. When work on the truename magic system began, the goal
was to allow players to create characters who use and master the
power of truenames. Characters would learn the names of specific
things, slowly build their repertoire of names, and through
those names, expand their control over the world. Staying true to
the literary roots of truename magic, however, would not have
meshed well with the game aspect of roleplaying.
For example, a truenamer who knows the name for goblin
might have a great deal of power in encounters with goblins, but
that same truenamer might be powerless against other kinds
of creatures and therefore wouldn’t have much fun outside a
goblin lair.
The truename magic system needed to move away from the
tropes of fantasy. Instead of making the nouns of truenaming
be the rare words of power (a noun might be the truename for
goblin), the rules system presented here instead makes the
verbs the rare and powerful parts of truenames. That means
that whether the encounter is with a goblin or a troglodyte, the
truenamer has a chance to participate, but like other classes is
not sure of the success or magnitude of an attack or ability.
Basic Truenames: Studying entire categories of truenames
is largely the province of characters with the truenamer class.
Throughout their career, they learn utterances, which they
can use to describe everything in the world. Utterances thus
allow truenamers to affect creatures, objects, and even locations
with their words. The choice is theirs which utterances
they study from each of the three lexicons. Utterances are also
unique because most—specifi cally, those from the Lexicon of
the Evolving Mind—can be spoken in reverse, making each
two words in one. One truenamer might learn the utterance
dealing with healing and destruction, which would allow him
to heal and harm creatures. A truenamer can also learn from
the Lexicon of the Perfected Map, which allows her to name
and affect places. She might be able to shake the earth beneath
her enemies’ feet or make the terrain in an area easier for her
allies to traverse. Learning new utterances from a particular
lexicon is a class feature of the truenamer class. It’s automatic,
but it’s not comprehensive. Even a 20th-level truenamer won’t
know all the utterances in all the lexicons.
Spellcasters with ranks in the Truespeak skill automatically
know the truenames that are part of the truename
spells they cast; it’s a normal part of the spell-learning
process. But because the truenames are woven into the spell
itself, spellcasters can’t extract the truenames and use them
outside the context of the spell. That’s the province of the
truenamer.
The basic truenames that form utterances are described in
countless grimoires found in the libraries of truenamers. The
Analects of Vondellak, The Spotted Libram, and Hadrakk’s Tome,
for example, are three multivolume collections of truenames
devoted to the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind, the Lexicon
of the Crafted Tool, and the Lexicon of the Perfected Map,
respectively. (Lexicons are described in greater detail on
page 234.)
Personal Truenames: The personal truename that
uniquely describes an individual creature is much harder
to learn, because most creatures powerful enough to be
aware of their personal truenames are smart enough to
know that a personal truename should be kept secret.
But magical research—everything from poring over
dusty tomes to asking the gods for divine guidance—can
sometimes uncover a personal truename. The process is
uncertain and time-consuming. But the payoff is often
worth it; when you know a creature’s personal truename,
it is easier to affect it with your utterances than if you
were using a normal truename. The method of discerning
creatures’ personal truenames is described in Truename
Research on page 196.
Lots of powerful truenamers keep lists of personal truenames
they have learned, and some of these have survived
through the ages to inform future generations of truenamers.
The Merciless Catalog of Fiends and Splendor beyond the
Veil are two encyclopedias of personal truenames that cover
important fi ends and powerful undead, respectively. Copies
are kept under lock and key in many a master truenamer’s
library.
Your Own Personal Truename: Most people don’t know
their own personal truename. Indeed, you would get a blank
stare if you asked the local blacksmith what his truename
was. But it’s often useful to know what your truename is. Your
personal truename can be a conduit for powerful benefi cial
spells. A truenamer gains access to recitations through bonus
feats, and can take more recitation feats as he attains more
levels. Recitations can restore the truenamer to his original
condition, wiping away poison, disease, or ongoing magical
effects in the process. Members of prestige classes such as
the acolyte of the ego and the disciple of the word rely on
an intimate knowledge of their own personal truenames as
a path to inner power.
You can learn your own truename through magical
divination (described in Truename Research on page
196). Truenamers automatically learn their own personal
truenames at 1st level; doing so marks the end of their
apprenticeship.
When you learn your own truename, take a moment to
write it out. Anything of eight or more syllables will do.
You can match the sound of your personal truename to
your personality. If you have an aggressive character, make
up a personal truename with a lot of explosive consonants
and guttural sounds. If your character has a more serene
countenance, use a lot of vowel blends and softer-sounding
consonants. Thakrasch-Voor-Grakat’tranqi is a good personal
truename for a bold, often angry character, while the personal
truename of Aurash-Hrietuli-Oursselleam hints at a more
contemplative character.
Master truenamers and grand spellcasters with the Truespeak
skill have noticed an intriguing phenomenon: Some people’s
truenames get harder to pronounce as they get older. The
phenomenon isn’t widespread, but nearly every truenamer
mentor can tell the tale of an apprentice who goes out to
explore the world. When the apprentice returns years later,
his truename hasn’t changed. But it has become harder to
pronounce, less tolerant of slight quavers and minuscule
disparities in timing.
Truename scholars note that many who exhibit this phenomenon
eventually become important leaders, great heroes,
or sinister villains. They speculate that the universe is taking
a greater interest in them as they achieve more. As their truenames
become more important to the universe, they become
harder to say.
(Mechanically, what is happening is that the young truenamers
are gaining Hit Dice as they attain more levels, and thus
the DC to speak their truename increases as well. Because Hit
Dice are an abstraction that doesn’t exist in the game world, the
NPCs have only a vague sense of what’s going on.)
Only creatures with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher
have personal truenames. This excludes most animals,
vermin, and oozes, for example. Some undead and constructs
likewise have no Intelligence and thus no personal
truenames. If the Intelligence of a creature with a personal
truename drops below 3, it does not lose its personal truename.
Likewise, if the Intelligence of a creature with an
Intelligence of less than 3 increases above 3 through some
temporary magical effect (even that generated from an item
such as a headband of intellect), it does not temporarily gain
a personal truename. If a creature’s Intelligence is permanently
improved above 3 (such as an animal being the subject
of an awaken spell), the universe acknowledges the creature’s
new state of awareness and it gains a personal truename.
You can fi nd out someone’s personal truename using a combination
of mundane and magical research techniques. But the
search can be an expensive, time-consuming process. Even
access to the Merciless Catalog or Splendors beyond the Veil isn’t
suffi cient, because those encyclopedias are neither complete
nor completely accurate. (Shortly after the Merciless Catalog
of Fiends was disseminated, for example, many clever devils
intentionally spread fake copies with their own names badly
garbled but the personal truenames of their rivals intact.)
Shorter-lived characters, such as humans, probably don’t
have their personal truenames recorded in any important
text, so discovering such an individual’s truename becomes
an exercise in detective work using genealogies, magical
divinations, and other esoteric techniques.
It takes a successful Knowledge check in the relevant
subskill to discover a personal truename (although 5 ranks
of Truespeak grant a synergy bonus to any such checks, and
the Truename Research feat grants additional benefi ts). The
DC uses a familiar formula: 15 + (2 × creature’s CR), or 15 +
(2 × HD) for creatures such as PCs that don’t have Challenge
Ratings. If you have the bardic knowledge class feature, you
can substitute bardic knowledge checks for the Knowledge
check.
Just one success is rarely enough to discover a truename.
You need a number of successes equal to 1/2 the creature’s
Hit Dice (minimum 1).
Each Knowledge check to discover a personal truename
takes one week and costs 1,000 gp (for meditative incense,
access to private libraries, and so on). Cut the weekly cost
in half if you have unfettered access to a major library, such
as one owned by a wizards college, a scribes guild, or the
archives in a major temple to a knowledge god. Someone
with the Truename Research feat also cuts these costs in
half (see the feat description on page 229), or by threequarters
if he also has access to a library or other source of
truename lore.
The research process is interruptible at any time. If you
need to go on an adventure, just keep track of how many
successful checks you’ve made thus far, then resume your
research when your schedule allows.
Obscure Creatures: Ironically, it can be somewhat easier
to research the personal truename of a powerful dragon
than a lowly gnoll hunter. Historical annals will periodically
mention a great wyrm’s deeds, and previous truename
researchers might have made progress on the truename
(and recorded that progress). But it’s likely that no one has
ever cared about the gnoll hunter’s personal truename, so
mundane texts won’t be much help. Creatures with less than
10 HD are considered obscure unless they have historical or
political importance. Unless you’re using magical divinations
to aid your research, you can’t even attempt the Knowledge
checks
Utterances fall into three distinct categories, called lexicons.
Each lexicon consists of a collection of words that deals with
creatures, items, or places.
The Lexicon of the Evolving Mind, the cornerstone of a
truenamer’s power, allows him to alter creatures he encounters
in substantial ways. The Lexicon of the Crafted Tool does
the same for items, and the Lexicon of the Perfected Map
allows a truenamer to impact places he encounters.
The latter two lexicons are more diffi cult to learn, so
a truenamer never learns as many utterances from those
lexicons as he does from the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind.
Truenamers aren’t entirely sure why this is, but one theory
holds that Truespeech takes more naturally to creatures
because they have more of an impact on the universe. Items
and places are more static, and therefore require more precise
language. More information on each lexicon can be found
later in this section.
The level entry for each utterance describes the level of the
utterance (not the level that the truenamer gains access to
the utterance). See Table 3–2: The Truenamer and Table 3–3:
Maximum Utterance Level Known for details on the levels at
which a truenamer gains access to higher-level utterances.
In theory, a truenamer's focus is pretty cool: more or less, when the universe was created, it involved the use of a hidden language, supposedly only known to the gods. This language, now called "truespeak," included the "true" names of everything that ever would and will exist. Only snippets of it still survive, and these snippets are what truenamers use. They identify the true name of a target and then modify it using the words of the cosmos. (Mechanically, this is shown by the existence of a Truespeak skill, which the player rolls against a DC to determine whether it works or not.) It has the same origins as spells like the Power Word spells, Holy Word and its variants, and Command, but truenamers focus on it full-time.
Utterances, their equivalents to spells, are divided into three Lexicons: the Evolving Mind, which make up the majority of options, affects creatures, the Crafted Tool, which comes somewhat later, affects items, and the Perfected Map, which kicks in at high levels, affects the environment. Additionally, Evolving Mind utterances can be said in reverse, meaning they create the opposite effect: an utterance that normally heals can be reversed into one that deals damage, for instance. This slots them into the role of a kind of pseudo-caster, focused mostly on buffs and debuffs and occasional utility, with enough tricks to give them a lot of things to work with. All in all, barring the unintentionally hilarious quotes of what truespeak sounds like ("shake the earth" apparently translates to "thremcheumalach-tura’abachnir"), a solid foundation, especially if you're a fan of The Earthsea Cycle. Unfortunately, once you get into the mechanics, things start going downhill fast.
true name language based on alignment? Evil is infernal and good is celestial, neutral is draconic?
