[3.5->PF] Top Truenamer Changes

[Novawurmson]

Working on a PF Truenamer conversion (like I needed to start another conversion project), and figured I'd ask: If you could change three things about the Truenamer or the Truespeak system, what would you change?

Edit:

Before anyone asks, yes, I've read Zaq's guide (multiple times, over the course of several years).

[ThiagoMartell]

I would change the way DCs scale and I would have all effects ignore SR. Also, they would grant no saving throws. The truenamers saving grace is how hard it is to defend against truenaming - make it even harder to defend against it and we have a winner.

[Cloud]

I did several changes for the Truenamer for one of my players, it seems to be working out so far. I also increased the Truenamers fort save to an 'average' progression, but I took that out from the list below as some people are funny about that. (It's 5/12 a level, instead of 1/2 or 1/3, with a +1 bonus at first level, instead of +2 or +0, for +9 at level 20 instead of +12 or +6).

General Changes
Class Changes
- Add Bluff, Diplomacy, Linguistics, Perception, Profession, and Spellcraft to their list of class skills.
- Truenamers gain Skill Focus: Truespeak as a bonus feat at level 1.
- Truenamers no longer gain bonus Recitation feats. Instead at level 4 and every 4 levels after that they gain a bonus feat that can be any Truename or Recitation feat.
- Truenamers still gain Knowledge Focus at level 2, but then gain another one every 3 levels after. Knowledge Focus is a competence bonus (but will stack with itself if you pick the same skill). The bonus increases to +4 at level 6, increasing by another 1 for every 5 levels after that in truenamer. Knowledge Focus counts as Skill Focus in the skill you select.
- Truenamers gain speak unto the masses at level 3, but with a maximum of 2 targets. This increases to 3 targets at level 5, 4 targets at level 7, 5 targets at level 9, 6 targets at level 11, 7 targets at level 13, becoming unlimited at level 15.
- See the Named counts as a 3rd level utterance (determine the DC as normal for an utterance) and is gained at level 7. You gain an additional use per day every 2 levels after 7. As there is a limited use per day, the Law of Resistance does not apply.
- The DC of Sending is 25 + CR. Sending is gained at level 8 and you gain an additional use per day every 2 levels after that. The Law of Resistance does not apply.
- Truenamers start with 2 utterances from the Lexicon of the Evolving Mind, gaining 1 every level after first.
- Truenamers learn their first Lexicon of the Crafted Tool utterance at level 3 (able to learn 1st level utterances), gaining an addtional utterance every odd level after that (for 9 at level 19).
- Truenamers learn one Lexicon of the Perfected Map utterance at level 8 as normal, but learn an addtional 1 every even level after that (for 7 at level 20).
- Upon reaching 6th level and every level after that, a Truenamer can learn a new utterance in place of one he already knows. The two utterances must be the same level and two levels lower than the highest level utterance in that lexicon he can speak.

Truespeak Mechanic Changes
- The base DC to speak a creature’s truename is 15 + 2 x level of the utterance + CR.
- Similarly for an object the base DC is 15 + 2 x level of the utterance + caster level of the item (if it’s a non-magical object, obviously the caster level is zero.)
- The DC for Lexicon of the Perfected Map is 25 + 5 x level of the utterance.
- The Law of Sequence no longer exists.
- Increasing the effective spell level of an utterance adds 2 to the DC, not 4.
- 'Speaking' defensively uses concentration, instead of giving a penalty to truespeak.
- An utterance's DC is 10 + 1/2 Truenamer level + int mod.
- Saying a personal Truename gives your check a minus 2 penalty. You gain a +4 circumstance bonus to say your own true name.

Researching Personal Truenames:
- Takes 1 day per CR.
- The DC of the Knowledge Checks is 25 + CR.
- The base cost is 500 GP a day.

New Uses of Truespeak ('Cantrips')
- Anyone with a rank in Truespeak can use these, the DC is the same as normal, with the level of the utterance being zero.
- The Law of Resistance applies to these.
Corrosive Whisper: With a few words of Truespeech you cause a target to be corrosively burnt. A creature within 60 ft. takes 1d3 acid damage.

Echo of Magic: With a word of Truespeech you gain insight into the nature of magic. As long as you concentrate, you gain the benefit of Detect Magic, up to 1 minute. This is a personal only effect.

Icy Whisper: With a single word, you cause a target to become suddenly chilled. This deals 1d3 points of cold damage to one creature within 60 feet.

Knight's Whisper: With a few words of encouragement, your allies next attack is more accurate. Target creature within 60 ft. gains a +1 competence bonus to the first attack roll it makes within a minute.

Whisper of Fire: With a single word, you cause a bright spark of flame to come into existence. This small burst of fire deals 1 point of fire damage to one creature or object within 60 feet. This fire damage is enough to light extremely flammable substances, such as oil or paper, on fire.

Whisper of Motion: A few words of Truespeech and some concentration are all you need to move a small object around the room. You can only affect unattended, mundane objects weighing a pound or less and the object must be within 60 feet. Each round you concentrate, you can move the object 10 feet. You can concentrate on this effect for up to 5 rounds.

Whisper of Nurturing: With a few words you ease the suffering of your target with a green light. The target regains 1 hit point. The target must be within 60 ft.

Whisper of Radiance: Your words cause an object within 60 feet to glow like a torch, shedding bright light in a 20-foot radius (and dim light for an additional 20 feet). The effect is immobile but can be used on a mobile object. Such light taken into an area of magical darkness does not function. This effect lasts for one minute and does not work on any magical object or any unwilling attended object.

Whisper of Resistance: With a few words you bolster an ally. A target creature within 60 ft. gains a +1 resistance bonus to saves for the next minute.

Written Whisper: As you speak, the words become visible in the air and take the form of a nearby text and lay themselves onto paper. This ability acts like Amanuensis except that it is instantaneous and only copies one page of text (max 500 words).

I also made some changes to utterances, and even added a few new one from sources I liked...but really the most important part of the fix, if nothing else, is changing the DCs for True Speak.

Updated and New Utterances
Utterance Updates
Lexicon of the Evolving Mind
Level 1 Utterances
- Defensive Edge: The bonus/penalty to AC is 2, not 1.
- Knight's Puissance: For every 10 you increase the DC by, increase the bonus/penalty by 1.
- Inertia Surge: For every 10 you increase the DC by, increase the normal duration by 1 round.
- Word of Nurturing, Minor: The damage for concentrating is 1d6+1, not 1d6. For every 10 you increase the DC by, increase the fast healing by one.

Level 2 Utterances
- Archer's Eye: Duration is 1 minute, not 5 rounds. It does not ignore total concealment.
- Hidden Truth: The duration is until discharged (up to 1 minute).
- Perceive the Unseen: Is a level 1 utterance, not level 2.
- Silent Caster: Duration is 3 rounds, not 1 round.
- Speed of the Zephyr: For the normal use the duration is 1 minute, not 5 rounds.
- Strike of Might: For every 10 you increase the DC by, increase the damage dealt/stopped by 1.
- Word of Nurturing, Lesser: the damage for concentrating is 3d6, not 2d6.

Level 3 Utterances
- Accelerated Attack: Duration is 3 rounds, not 1 round.
- Energy Negation: Does 3d6 damage a round, not 2d6.
- Incarnation of Angels: Duration is 1 minute, not 5 rounds.
- Seek the Sky: For normal use the duration is 1 minute, not 5 rounds.
- Vision Sharpened: Is a level 2 utterance, not level 3.
- Word of Nurturing, Moderate: The damage for concentrating is 4d6, not 3d6.

Level 4 Utterances
- Breath of Cleansing: For reverse use the duration is 3 rounds, not 1 round. The normal use is instantaneous and grants +1 to the saving throw.
- Caster Lens: The reverse duration is 5 rounds, not 3 rounds.
- Confounding Resistance: The duration is 1 minute, not 5 rounds.
- Morale Boost: Is a level 3 utterance, not level 4.
- Word of Bolstering: Is a level 3 utterance, not level 4.
- Word of Nurturing, Potent: Grants fast healing 15, not 10. The damage for concentrating is 7d6, not 6d6.

Level 5 Utterances
- Eldritch Attraction: Doesn’t allow a save.
- Energy Negation, Greater: For normal use the duration is1 minute, not 5 rounds. The reverse version does 25 damage, not 20.
- Essence of Lifespark: Is a level 3 utterance, not level 5.
- Preternatural Clarity: Is a level 3 utterance, not level 5. It does not grant a reroll.
- Seek the Sky, Greater: For normal use the duration is 1 minute, not 5 rounds. The reverse duration is 5 rounds and does the same thing as Seek the Sky, but makes them fall instead when used.
- Sensory Focus: Duration for both uses is 5 rounds, not 1 or 3 rounds. The blindsight is out to 120 ft.
- Word of Nurturing, Critical: Grants fast healing 25, not 15. The initial and concentration damage is 9d6, not 8d6.

Level 6 Utterances
- Breath of Recovery: Is a level 5 utterance, not level 6.
- Ether Reforged: The duration is 5 rounds, not instantaneous
- Knight's Puissance, Greater: Is a level 3 utterance, not level 6.
- Mystic Rampart: The DR is 10/- instead of 5/-. The penalty to AC is -10 instead of -5.
- Singular Mind: The reverse lasts for 3 rounds but isn’t concentration, working like dominate person. The reverse can’t target multiple targets even with speak unto the masses.
- Word of Nurturing, Greater: Grants fasting healing 35, not 20. The initial and concentration damage is 12d6, not 10d6.
Lexicon of the Crafted Tool
Level 1 Utterances
- Fortify Armour: Lasts 1 minute, not 5 rounds.
- Keen Edge: Lasts 1 minute, not 5 rounds.

Level 2 Utterances
- Agitate Metal: Does 3d4 damage in its 4th round, not 2d4.

Level 3 Utterances
- Suppress Weapon: Is a level 2 utterance, not level 3.

Level 4 Utterances
- Suppress Item: Lasts for 1 minute and is not concentration.
- Transmute Weapon: Lasts for 1 minute, not 5 rounds.

Level 5 Utterances
- Metamagic Catalyst: Lasts for 3 rounds, not 1 round.
- Seize Item: Is a level 2 utterance, not level 5.
Lexicon of the Perfected Map
Level 1 Utterances
- Shockwave: Is instantaneous and deals 1d6 non-lethal damage, not 1d4.
- Shield of the Landscape: The area is a 40 ft. spread, not 20 ft.

Level 2 Utterances
- Energy Vortex: Does 3d6 damage, not 2d6.
- Speak Rock to Mud: Uses the area of the spell Transmute: Rock to Mud, not the standard Lexicon of the Perfected Map area.
- Transform the Landscape: Is a level 1 utterance, not level 2.

Level 3 Utterances
- Lore of the World: Is a level 2 utterance, not level 3.
- Master of the Four Winds: Uses the area of the spell Control Winds, not the standard Lexicon of the Perfected Map area.
- Thwart the Traveller: Uses the area of the spell Dimensional Lock, not the standard Lexicon of the Perfected Map area. By adding 5 to the DC you can make this ignore SR as normal. The duration is 5 minutes, not 1 minute.

Level 4 Utterances
- Anger of the Sleeping Earth: Uses the area of the spell Earthquake, not the standard Lexicon of the Perfected Map area.
- Conjunctive Gate: Cannot be used to call creatures. The duration is 5 minutes, not 1 minute.
- Deny Passage: Is a level 2 utterance, not level 4.

New Utterances
Lexicon of the Evolving Mind
Alert
Level: 2
Duration: Instantaneous (Normal), 1 round (Reversed)
Saving Throw: None (Normal), Will negates (Reversed)
Normal: You speak a brief, harsh word of rousing. Your once sleepy subject leaps to his feet, ready for action. The target of this utterance, if sleeping, immediately wakes up and may stand from prone as a free action (even if it's not his turn) without provoking an AoO. This utterance does not affect creatures that are unconscious due to being brought below 0 hit points or from having taken subdual damage equal to their hp.
Reversed: You quietly murmur soothing phrases. As you speak, the eyelids of the subject of your attention begin to flutter, until they close, and he falls to the ground. If the target of this utterance, when reversed, fails a Will save, it falls asleep for the duration of this utterance, regardless of how many HD it has. (This is a magical sleep effect, but not an enchantment or mind-effecting effect.)

Argent Shell
Level: 3
Duration: 3 rounds
Saving Throw: None (Normal) or Fortitude negates (Reverse)
Normal: You speak a forceful phrase of defense, and the scales covering your subject turn to a silvery suit of armor imbued with primal force. Any natural armor bonus the target has to AC is converted to a deflection bonus for the duration of this utterance.
Reverse: You speak harsh syllables, like the cracking of a shell. The once-thick shell covering your foe softens like an eggshell dropped in acid. The target takes a penalty to its natural armor bonus to AC equal to half your truenamer level. This penalty cannot reduce its natural armor bonus below 0.

Demise Delayed
Level: 2
Duration: 3 rounds (Normal), Instantaneous (Reversed)
Saving Throw: None (Normal), Fortitude negates (Reversed)
Normal: You speak words of endurance and persistence, and watch a red haze fill your ally's eyes. The target of this utterance remains conscious and suffers no penalties from being at 0 or lower health. If he reaches his maximun amount of negative hit points he still dies though.
Reverse: You speak a single, short truename, like the prick of a needle. If the target of this utterance, when reversed, is at 0 health or lower and is a living creature that fails the save, it dies.

Detect Shared Name
Level: 1
Duration: Instantaneous (normal) or 5 rounds (reverse)
Saving Throw: None.
Normal: As the words of uncovering leave your mouth the target glows and you know whether or not they share their soul. If the target of this utterance is harbouring a vestige it is immediately revealed in the form of an aura, this aura's strength depends on the host's effective binder level, refer to the chart to determine the strength of the aura.
Binder Level / Aura Strength
1st-4th / Faint
5th-9th / Moderate
10th-14th / Strong
15th of higher / Overwhelming
Reverse: As the words of disguise leave your mouth you watch as the signs of the accompanying soul in your target vanish. If the target is displaying the sign of a vestige they have bound those signs immediately vanish upon use of this utterance, any abilities the vestige granted work as if he were showing the sign, you can not suppress epic vestiges. If the binder is harbouring more than one vestige, the lowest-level vestiges are affected first. Several vestiges may be affected with a single use of this utterance, however their combined level may not exceed half your truespeaker level.

Empower Name
Level: 4
Duration: 5 rounds
Saving Throw: None
Normal: You describe your target in truespeech, using the grandest and most powerful of names to label him. The DC of any Truespeak check made to use an utterance against the target of this utterance is increased by 10.
Reverse: You describe your target in truespeech, dubbing him with the lowliest and most insiginificant titles. The DC of any Truespeak check made to use an utterance against the target of this utterance, when reversed, is decreased by 10.

Entangling Demise
Level: 5
Duration: 5 rounds (Normal), Instantaneous (Reversed)
Saving Throw: Fortitude partial and reflex negates; see text (Normal)
Normal: The creature targeted by this utterance suddenly ruptures violently through the skin, blood vessels shoot from their skin and anchor him to the wall and floor. This utterance acts as the spell Avascular Mass except as noted here.
Reverse:The subject's wounds close and it appears healthier upon your command. You heal the target, the target gaining 1/2 its maximum hit points in healing. Also remove one condition Heal could remove from the target.

Focusing Mantra
Level: 1
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None (Normal), Will negates (Reversed)
Normal: You intone a few leaden syllables. As you do, a faint blue light shines in the eyes of your ally. The target of this utterance, if psionic, immediately gains psionic focus. If he is already psionically focused, this utterance has no effect.
Reverse: You babble raucously in truespeech. As you do, you see the focused gaze on your enemy's face melt away like butter dropped in a fireplace. If the target of this utterance, when reversed, fails a save and is psionically focused, he loses his psionic focus.

Intuit Enchantment
Level: 1
Duration: Instantaneous (Normal), 1 minute (Reversed)
Normal: You ask your friend a few simple questions in truespeech. He does not answer, but the faint glow revealed in his eyes is all you need to see. You learn if any magical or psionic compulsions are affecting the target, though you learn no specific details about them.
Reverse: You utter commands of forgetting and concealment to your pawn. His eyes glow faintly, and then their light is extinguished. Any magical or psionic compulsions affecting the target become impossible to detect through the Sense Motive skill or spells, powers, or utterances of 1st level or below for the duration of this utterance.

Pinnacle of Triumph
Level: 6
Duration: 1 round or until discharged
Saving Throw: None (normal) or Will negates (reverse)
Normal: The target of this utterance treats his next roll as though the result was a natural 20.
Reverse: The target of the reversed form of this utterance treats his next roll as a natural 1 unless he succeeds on a Will save.

Transcendent Message
Level: 1
Duration: 1 minute
Saving Throw: None (normal) or Will negates
(reverse)
Normal: The target can understand speech and words as if under the effects of the Comprehend Languages spell.
Reverse: You speak the opposite of words, syllables so void of meaning that they strip intelligibility from your victim's speech. For the duration of the utterance, your target cannot be understood by any who hear him or read his writing. His words still sound correct to his own ears and to the universe, so spells with verbal components and truenaming are unaffected, but his ability to communicate is restricted to gesture.

Unname
Level: 6
Descriptors: Death (normal version only)
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Fortitude negates (normal) or none (reverse)
Normal: The target creature must succeed on its saving throw or immediately die.
Reverse: Your words remind the universe of a creature and its place among the living. This utterance instantly restores a dead creature to life. You do not need any remains, but must use this utterance within 3 rounds of the subject dying. If you do not use remains from the creature, you must have witnessed the death, and must be within 60 ft. of where it died. The creature does not lose a level. You creature's soul must be free and willing to return. The subject is restored to life with no loss of spells. The revived creature has a number of hit points equal to its Hit Dice, but its body is made otherwise whole. Normal poisons and normal diseases are cured in the process of raising the subject, but supernatural diseases and magical curses are not undone. This utterance can restore creatures killed by death effects or that have been turned into an undead creature and then destroyed. It can restore outsiders and elementals to life, but it cannot restore anyone who died of old age. Each use of this utterance costs 5000 GP.

Lexicon of the Crafted Tool
Weapon of Energy
Level: 2
Descriptors: Acid, Cold, Electricity, or Fire; see
text.
Target: One weapon
Duration: 1 minute
The targeted weapon becomes engulfed in some form of energy: acid, cold, electricity, or fire. This energy does not harm the wielder, but attacks made with the weapon deal an additional 1d6 points of energy damage. This utterance's descriptor is the same as the type of energy chosen.

And some feat changes to actually make those bonus feats useful...

Updated and New Feats
Feat Updates
- Empower Utterance increases the DC by 5, not 10.
- Enlarge Utterance increases the DC by 2, not 5.
- Extend Utterance increases the DC by 2, not 5.
- Quicken Utterance increases the DC by 10, not 20.
- Remove the feat Personal Truename Backlash.

Obscure Personal Truename
Benefit: The DC to speak and research your personal truename is 4 higher than normal. At 6th level and 11th level this increases by another 4. At 16th level any creature that attempts to say your personal truename and fails takes 1d8 for every level you have. This damaged is halved if they say the name correctly. References to levels for monsters should be replaced with CR.

Truename Research
Prerequisites: Truespeak 9 ranks.
Benefit: You gain a +4 competence bonus on Knowledge checks made to discover a creature's personal truename. This increases to +8 at level 11 and +12 at level 16. Additionally the cost to research a personal truename is reduced by half.

Recitations
- DC is 25 + your level (remembering that you’re saying your personal truename, with the bonuses and penalties that come with it).
- Subject to the Law of Resistance.
- Take a move action to use.
- Do not provoke.
- Otherwise count as a supernatural ability.

Recitation of the Fortified State:
- The natural armour granted is equal to 1/2 your truenamer level, not 1/3.
- Lasts until you the start of your next turn. You may spend another move action to continue the recitation without it ending and thereby not triggering the law of resistance. After a minute, or if you miss a round, the recitation ends regardless.

Recitation of the Mediative Mind:
- You may use this Recitation while Frightened.

Recitation of the Mindful State:
- The bonus is equal to your truenamer level.

Recitation of the Vital Body:
- Using this purges/cures you of all diseases and poisons, regardless of their origin. If the disease/poison caused ability damage, you are healed 1 point of ability damage caused by one of the effects. You may reuse this recitation as needed to cure a further 1 ability damage caused by and only by a disease/poison cured by this recitation, but each use is subject to the Law of Resistance as normal.

New Feats
Maximize Utterance
You speak utterances to the maximun effect.
Prerequisites: Truespeak 9 ranks, ability to speak utterances.
Benefit: If the utterance is successful all variable, numeric effects of the utterance are maximized. Saving throws and opposed rolls are not affected, nor are utterances without random variables. A maximized utterance has a Truespeak DC 8 higher than normal. An empowered, maximized utterance gains the separate benefits of each feat: the maximum result plus one-half the normally rolled result.

Twin Utterance
You can rapidly recite an utternace to use it twice against the same target.
Prerequisite: Truespeak 12 ranks, ability to speak utterances, any 'utterance' feat.
Benefit: If the utterance is successful a twinned utterance causes the utterance to take effect twice in the same area or on the same target simultaneously. Any variable characteristics (including attack rolls) or decisions you would make about the spell (including target and area), are applied to both utterances, with affected creatures receiving all the effects of each utterance individually (including getting two saving throws if applicable). An utterance whose effects wouldn’t stack if it was spoke twice under normal circumstances will create redundant effects if successfully twinned. A twinned utterance has a Truespeak DC 10 higher than normal.

Widen Utterance
You increase the area of your utterances.
Prerequisites: Truespeak 9 ranks, ability to speak utterances.
Benefit: If the utterance is successful and has a burst, emanation, line, or spread shape you can increase its area. Any numeric measurements of the utterances area increase by 100%. A widened utterance has a Truespeak DC 8 higher than normal.


EDIT: If only three things...
- The base DC to speak a creature’s truename is 15 + 2 x level of the utterance + CR.
- The Law of Sequence no longer exists.
- An utterance's DC is 10 + 1/2 Truenamer level + int mod.

[Novawurmson]

The truenamers saving grace is how hard it is to defend against truenaming - make it even harder to defend against it and we have a winner.

I don't want to just get rid of the saves, but I could see an Utterance feat that allows you to increase the Truespeak DC by a large amount (+5? +10?) to remove the DC. I'll need to think about it.

I definitely want a way to increase save DCs, even if a complete removal of the DC might be too difficult.


I did several changes for the Truenamer for one of my players, it seems to be working out so far.

Almost 90% of what you've said I've either written on planned on writing. Great minds think alike, eh? Do you mind if I steal the difference from this list and put a thank-you in the foreward?

[Cloud]

Not a problem at all; use whatever you like. In all honesty that was just a distillation of a week of procrastination, reading Zaq's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=214115) guide over several times, as well as various ideas from Kellus's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=90961) work and PlzBreakMyCampaign's (http://blacktowerclan.com/forums/index.php?topic=198.0) work, which was then bounced off said player the fixes are for after he played a Truenamer from level 3 to 13 in another game. …I also remember another 2 threads, one which was just a list a new utterances, and another which was another fix on about the same level of Kellus’s, but I can’t find either at the moment. Or in other words, plenty of this is probably stolen from other sources anyway so spread the awesome of great minds, XD *is shot*.

Also might be worth mentioning that the lowering of DC’s on both the core speaking mechanic and the ‘metamagic’ feats are because I didn’t allow item familiars, masterwork tools, or custom items. If you allowed some of those, it might not be necessary to lower the DC on the utterance feats perhaps.

Edit: And found those other two threads;
- Scorpions's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139466) list of new utterances.
- Kyeudo's (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217713) truenamer fix.

To be honest, the absolute limit mechanic from Kellus's felt annoying though, many of utterances from Scorpion's and Kyeudo's felt...off, I suppose. But between them there are many ideas worth looking at. For example, the 'cantrips' is straight from Kyeudo's more or less.

Also I realised I have a few more artefacts from house rules that don't make sense in 3.5. Perception would be just spot and listen, arguable just listen for the Truenamer but it doesn't make that much difference. Linguistics is Speak Language and Decipher Script. It might also be worth mentioning that Skill Focus was changed to a competence bonus that increases to +4 at level 6, +5 at level 11 and +6 at level 16 when comparing it to Knowledge Focus and Truename Research

[Alienist]

Everything that is wrong about Truenamers revolves around the Truenaming skill.

There is NO class whose mechanics are skill based that isn't broken (broken good or broken bad, it doesn't matter, it's still broken).

Look at the enormous mess that is the Artificer class. If you look at it and think 'that's not so bad' then try playing one. Bring a spreadsheet. I'll wait. Now think about how much easier (and better) it would be to play if you took out all the rubbish about UMD.

You can still even have your two 'laws' (though there's not really any reason not to ditch them too).

Law of not doing things too many times to the same target:
restricted to N invocations per day on each target (where N is your class level)

Law of not doing the same thing multiple times to the same target at the same time:
restricted to not doing the same thing multiple times to the same target at the same time.

(see how easy that was?)

[ThiagoMartell]

Why so caustic, Alienist?

[Cloud]

Oh, minor thing, Unname should probably have a 1000 XP cost in most games, just the game this fix was for had no XP costs so it was changed to 5x the XP cost in GP. Also the change to Conjunctive Gate was made as spellcasters had the same thing done to Gate in this game.

And I agree that skill checks is a terrible way to try and balance a class...but changing it away for an invocation mechanic or something like that was too much effort, XD. That I wasn't sure it would still be the Truenamer afterwards.

[Spuddles]

Everything that is wrong about Truenamers revolves around the Truenaming skill.

There is NO class whose mechanics are skill based that isn't broken (broken good or broken bad, it doesn't matter, it's still broken).

Yep, pretty much this. I don't know how to keep the feel for Truenaming, though. Maybe a special level check.

[Novawurmson]

I feel like the skill check system works because utterances are generally weaker than their related spells, so even if you optimize your truespeak check to the extreme, you're still just getting decent abilities, not world-altering incantations.

[TuggyNE]

I feel like the skill check system works because utterances are generally weaker than their related spells, so even if you optimize your truespeak check to the extreme, you're still just getting decent abilities, not world-altering incantations.

It works to cap the optimization ceiling certainly, but Truenamers are almost never accused of being overpowered. Rather, they tend to vary between "almost decent" and "horribly painful" depending on the amount of op effort put in; that is, they have a very low optimization floor, which can also be linked to the use of a skill as their basis for "casting".

A better system would neither require extreme optimization to function*, like a CW Samurai, nor overwhelmingly benefit from it, like a Wizard.

* It's a matter of some contention exactly how much optimization Truenamers require to function; however, it's somewhere between "all the options available in Core + Tome of Magic" and "all the options available anywhere", so it's safe to say it's at least a moderately high level.

[Rubik]

First, make the utterances level-appropriate and interesting, and make them scale with level.

Second, if you're keeping Truenaming at all, make it based on your truenamer level (or truenamer + character level, a la ToB initiator level) rather than a skill. Make it stack with bard levels, and make things that affect bardic music have a similar effect on Truenaming. Have the class auto-optimized for it, so anyone playing a truenamer doesn't have to jump through tons of hoops to do anything decent.

Third, make Truenaming determine how well you affect the world around you, rather than pass/fail.

I'm sure more will come to me eventually, but I'm sick, so my brainmeat sucks right now.

[Boci]

Everything that is wrong about Truenamers revolves around the Truenaming skill.

There is NO class whose mechanics are skill based that isn't broken (broken good or broken bad, it doesn't matter, it's still broken).

Look at the enormous mess that is the Artificer class. If you look at it and think 'that's not so bad' then try playing one. Bring a spreadsheet. I'll wait. Now think about how much easier (and better) it would be to play if you took out all the rubbish about UMD.

I have. I used a formula to determine how much gp worth of items I could make with my craft reserve because I had the artisan feats to lower the gp and XP cost by 25%, but that was hardly any effort. As for the UMD skill? I rolled the dice, added my modfiiers and compared it to the result I needed. Should it have been more complex?

[Menteith]

1) Change the Truespeak DC to be based on the level of the utterance, rather than the CR of the target.

Reasoning
I believe that the Law of Resistance is an interesting, unique way of limiting Utterances per day (as compared to Vancian Casting), and is not inherently bad. The crux of the Truenamer problem is that the difficulty in making checks scales faster than a Truenaming check naturally will. By setting the check's DC on the level of the utterance, one knows exactly how difficult a check is going to be for any given utterance when it's learned. Based on how many times you want the Truenamer to reasonably make a check per day, one can just set a static DC. This also will make low level utterances usable more times per day naturally, giving them a purpose at higher levels (just as lower spell slots have a purpose at higher levels).

2) Remove the Law of Sequence OR Allow for the reversed version of an utterance to function at the same time as the normal version (the Reversed Utterance doesn't trip the Law of Sequence).

Reasoning
In a system where the Utterances/day is already limited by the Law of Resistance, I fail to see a valid reason to prevent them from "going nova" and maxing out the Truenaming DC in a single encounter if that's needed. It (debatably) made sense in a situation where a Truenamer could hit every DC all day - in these situations, the LoS could force a Truenamer to use lower level Utterances, keeping them semi-relevant, but I believe that can already be accomplished by altering the base Truenaming DC and the Law of Resistance. If you really like the flavor of it, at least consider allowing the reversed version of an utterance to function, for similar reasons.

3) Increase the number of utterances, and improve existing utterances. There are far too many high level utterances which, even if they could be spammed At Will, would be terrible at the level that they are learned. This is a much more difficult fix, but I believe that it's the most essential.

Reasoning
This should speak for itself. I could go into specifics if you'd like, but I'm sure you're aware of the issues with regard to power of utterances.

Tentative 4th rule? - Grant Speak Unto the Masses much earlier (level 8 or so).

[Zaq]

1) More and better utterances. As written, the Truenamer is practically on rails. There are so few good choices at each level that 'Namer A and 'Namer B almost always end up looking extremely similar, at least if they're both optimizing. Furthermore, no small part of my frustration with the class at higher levels stems from the fact that high-level utterances just don't keep pace with the abilities that most T3/T4 classes get at similar levels, to say nothing of T2+ casters. Every level should have awesome choices like you get at the very beginning (Inertia Surge, Universal Aptitude, and Hidden Truth are all legitimately awesome and useful) . . . and ideally, there should be enough awesome choices that you actually have to choose.

2) Make Truespeak less binary. Flip to pp. 255-56 and read Beckon Person. See how the Truespeak component is a nice and easy flat DC, and you get small bonuses (in this case, duration) for exceeding it? I think that's a much better system than the current one that the actual Truenamer uses. A Truenamer who puts even a modicum of effort into Truespeak should be able to successfully utter pretty much all the time. I like the idea of how much you succeed determining how much of an effect you have. Now, you'll have to be very careful with this, since it's possible to turbocharge Truespeak (and optimizers certainly will), so I wouldn't make it directly make the utterance's raw numbers (damage, bonuses, save DCs, etc.) bigger. I'd keep it to things like duration and number of targets. That way, low-mid levels of optimization matter, but high levels don't break anything (bumping something from 2 rounds to 5 rounds means the difference between having to recast it in most fights or not, but bumping it up to 15 rounds isn't likely to be that overwhelming; likewise, going from 1 target to 3 or 4 targets makes a big difference, but going from 4 targets to 11 targets is less likely to matter, and it wouldn't be that bad even if you had 11 targets to affect).

So, if you put even token effort in (max ranks, INT focus), you should succeed most of the time, though your targeting or duration might be limited. If you put the obvious effort in (Skill Focus, masterwork tool, Amulet of the Silver Tongue), you should get your success rate up to 100%, and you should pretty reliably get at least a small to moderate bonus on your duration and targeting. If you put in the kind of effort that a lot of Truenamers put in under the current system (Paragnostic Assembly, Universal Aptitude burning an action in combat, maybe an item familiar), you should reliably get a pretty hefty bonus to duration and targeting, but there's a practical limit to how much that matters. Thus, the amount of effort you put into Truespeak actually becomes a choice, and not a choice that only stupid people make. You can pump your Truespeak check like a RAW 'Namer and get all the nice bonuses, or you can spend your build resources elsewhere, put in just some low-grade effort, and still hit baseline competence. Truespeak still matters, and there will still be a noticeable difference between (using totally made-up numbers) a 'Namer rolling at +35 and a 'Namer rolling at +50, but that difference won't be "the one with +35 will often fail and will probably never Quicken, while the one at +50 is competent."

I will mention that duration and targeting aren't the only possible ways you can let bigger Truespeak checks matter, but they're a good baseline, because they're noticeable while still being self-limiting. Stay away from the fundamental combat numbers being affected, though, because then you just end up with a 'Namer using an OVER NINE THOUSAND check to do OVER NINE THOUSAND damage with a DC of OVER NINE THOUSAND while giving his allies a bonus of OVER NINE THOUSAND, and we don't want that.

3) Get rid of the Law of Sequence. The Law of Resistance isn't terrible game design (annoying for bookkeeping, but understandable), but the Law of Sequence is just unnecessary. I don't think there are any times when it actually makes the game better. I could theoretically see a case in which it would matter if the 'Namer had long-duration (i.e., all-day) utterances, but even if that were the case, it wouldn't automatically be a good thing. As it stands? It's a roadblock for the sake of being a roadblock, and it doesn't make things better.

I could go on, but you wanted three things, so I gave you three things. To be very brief about other things I might consider, I have mixed feelings about how Quicken and similar "meta-utterances" work, and whether it would be important to give the 'Namer long-lasting buffs and/or multi-target abilities at low levels depends on just how much better the "more and better utterances" I'm suggesting end up being. The lack of long-lasting buffs is a weakness of the class, but I could forgive it as a stylistic choice if they got something good in return (that is, if their buffs were actually good enough to be WORTH always taking an action in combat).

[Novawurmson]

1) More and better utterances.

This is probably my biggest complaint with the Truenamer. It has so few options that it looks like an unfinished class. Unfortunately, it's probably also the hardest to fix without just slapdash stealing from other classes.


2) Make Truespeak less binary.

YES. I want to rewrite utterances to all have an augmentation system a-la psionics, only by increasing the DC (i.e. Increase truespeak check by 2, increase the save DC by 1. Increase the truespeak check by another 2, you do +1d6 damage, etc., to a max of a number equal to your truespeak ranks).


3) Get rid of the Law of Sequence.

Done.


The lack of long-lasting buffs is a weakness of the class, but I could forgive it as a stylistic choice if they got something good in return (that is, if their buffs were actually good enough to be WORTH always taking an action in combat).

I actually like the fact that truenamers don't get long-duration abilities, and I feel like long-duration buffs are one of the primary reasons for tier discrepancies. When casters actually have to take actions in combat to get all their buffs going, it forces choices and limits power.

[willpell]

For a completely different perspective, I offer my preferred change, which is to the fluff. I don't like the idea that Truespeak is this goofy-sounding alien language where every word takes thirty seconds to say and fails if you misspell it with an "ieii" instead of an "iiiei. So instead, in my game, the "Truespeaker" is simply someone who has learned how to speak Common, the universal language, with such precision and such force of character that the very universe obeys him. Essentially, something like the Bene Gesserit Voice, only it works on "the spirits of the land" rather than on people.

On the mechanics side, I came up with a neat and goofy idea, not sure if it can actually work - take a creature with a high Level Adjustment but no Racial Hit Dice, give him 1 Truenamer level and some method of spending XP, and never let him level. He sticks to some completely noncombat role, knowing he has no Hit Points, but his Truespeak checks never go up, he spends his XP as fast as he earns it, and he lives entirely off of an ever-increasing amount of wealth powered largely by Universal Aptitude. Item creation feats would be great if you can actually get them somehow without being a spellcaster (UMD perhaps?). Don't remember for sure why exactly I wanted the Level Adjustment, possibly just for the extra WBL. Again, I don't know if it's actually possible, I just thought it was a cute idea.

[Novawurmson]

So instead, in my game, the "Truespeaker" is simply someone who has learned how to speak Common, the universal language, with such precision and such force of character that the very universe obeys him.

I don't think the crunch is viable for a base class, but the fluff is basically Jesse Custer (http://www.panelsonpages.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/jesse.jpg) from Preacher, and I deeply approve.