Well, unfortunately my Truenamer didn't get to do a whole lot at last week's session, but rather than simply let another week go by without commenting, I thought I'd turn my thoughts to a little theorycraft. Specifically, Truespeak-based prestige classes. I repeat, this is not based on empirical experience.
(Here's a question for the masses: Should the material presented here be in the main three posts?)
Truenamer prestige classes are... weird, to say the least. As I've mentioned, none of them actually advance Utterances, which is kind of lame and stupid. Still, I know that it's fairly easy to run out of good Utterances to take, so let's take a look at the other options your high-level 'Namer can have.
Acolyte of the Ego
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Entry: Easy. You'll probably speak four languages just from your starting INT, if you're a Truenamer.
The Acolyte of the Ego is a good example of WotC just not having any idea what they wanted to do. The skeleton is weird (full BAB and good Fort why, exactly?) and you lose UMD, but it has a few interesting things. The meat and potatoes here are the Morphic Cadences, which are basically Utterances that you get every other level. (Yeah, already a step down.) Sadly, they're not called Utterances, so you can't Quicken them. Still, they do have a few options that normal Truenamers don't get. I think it's pretty clear that the Acolyte was intended to be a gish, with all of the self-buffing Cadences and the full BAB, but the self-buffing Cadences tend to be pretty lackluster, or easily replicated with low-level Utterances. (The one that grants Fast Healing is empirically inferior to your vanilla Word of Nurturing, for example). The interesting Cadences are the one that mimics Dimension Door (self only, but hey, the Truenamer could use a little mobility) and the one that grants a luck bonus on saves (just because that's relatively rare). You do eventually get the ability to use multiple Cadences at once, but there just aren't enough good Cadences to make it worthwhile. I say, if you want this class, dip two levels for Dim Door and move on.
Bereft
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Entry: Medium. You don't have to go out of your way for the skills, but it still takes a whopping 13 ranks. Finding someone willing and able to cast the Ritual of Renaming might be hard, since what arcanist uses the Truespeak spells? Most people don't even realize they exist.
The Bereft has the closest thing to Utterances that you get in a prestige class. It's a short class, five levels, but at least you get something new at every level. You lose UMD, but you get Listen, Sense Motive, and Intimidate. You learn a new "Syllable of Unmaking" at every level, which is just a pre-chosen Utterance that can't be quickened. Most of them are pretty decent. The first one, which gives penalties to most checks, is my favorite, because it's just pretty generally useful. The second one, which removes a sense, is cool, but useless because it involves a save at a terrible DC (10 + class level + CHA. Remember that this is a 5 level class). The third one, a gimped Maze spell, is pretty lame, since they a) are only Mazed for one round and b) can try to get out as a swift action, rather than a full-round. The fourth one does straight up damage. Given that you're a minimum of 14th level by now, 8d6 isn't that impressive, but it could be worse I guess. The final one, which gives two negative levels, is very nice. Enervation is still better (and has been around for eight levels at this point), but I don't think anyone's going to say that negative levels are a waste of time. The capstone is cool fluff-wise, but I can hardly ever see it coming up.
Brimstone Speaker
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Entry: Hard. You have to be able to cast a 4th level Cleric (or 3rd level Paladin) spell to get in. You pretty much can't be a normal 'Namer to qualify... which means that you had to be a Cleric and burn a feat (Truename Training) and ten skill points to get in here, as well as having a small deity restriction.
This class kind of sucks. As I said, it's pretty clearly a Cleric class, but you lose four caster levels in it. What do you get in return? Well, you get a lame breath weapon that requires a Truespeak check and has a mediocre save. You also get the ability to make Truespeak checks to summon a bralani eladrin, a word archon, or an astral deva a certain number of times per day. And... well, that's about it. Word archons are pretty sweet, but really, rather than losing four caster levels, wouldn't you rather just cast Planar Ally?
Disciple of the Word
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Entry: Easy, I guess? Just take some Truespeak ranks as a Monk and you're in... but it's not like monks can really afford to lose too many skills.
Oh boy, a Monk class based off of Truespeak! I see absolutely no downside to making the Monk need YET ANOTHER ability score (in this case, INT, one of their two semi-dump stats) to function normally! Anyway, the Disciple gets a lot of abilities that key off of "spend a use of Stunning Fist as a swift action and make a Truespeak check to do X." They can replace certain rolls with Truespeak rolls (replacing another skill? Meh to lame. Replacing a STR check to avoid a bull rush? Situational but useful. Replacing a Reflex save? Not a bad choice. Replace your AC? Pretty decent, except that it doesn't stop spells making touch attacks.) Some of the abilities are passable (I do like that they can ignore DR/epic with a DC 45 skill check, and the capstone is awesome), but it seems like you'll run out of Stunning Fist uses really quickly, particularly if you actually want to, you know, stun people. The ability to dispel a target you hit is nice, but since you have to hit them first, it won't exactly stop a Contingency or even a Mirror Image. Still, you're way better off as this class than you are as a straight Monk, and they do get a couple unique abilities. I'd just recommend investing in Extra Stunning if you plan on heavily using these abilities. Oh, and I hope you have really, really generous point-buy.
Fiendbinder
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Entry: Hard, for the same reasons as the Brimstone Speaker. You have to have at least seven levels in a real casting class, as well as ten ranks in Truespeak (which means the Truespeak Training feat at least).
The most interesting Truespeak class, of course, doesn't involve being a Truenamer. (Of course, very few of the Truespeak-based prestige classes are best entered as a Truenamer, but that's hardly the point.) Three lost caster levels is really hard to swallow... that means no ninth level spells, after all. What do you get in exchange, though? Well, you get fiends. A lot of fiends. If you save your gold, you can get a small army of hellspawn (okay, okay, and abyssspawn) at your beck and call. A Wizard is probably the best entry class for this PrC due to the INT synergy... though it would be really interesting (both fluffwise and crunchwise) to see an Archivist enter this class. Until you get Double Command at level 9, you're best off giving all of your fiends the "Defend Me" command, because that gives you the best action economy (assuming you have multiple fiends).
As for the fiends themselves, I really don't have the desire to go through one by one and point out their strengths and weaknesses (after all, this is theorycraft, and the farther away I get from empirical experience, the less comfortable I am presenting my thoughts to you), but none of them seem particularly underpowered. Having minions is always a powerful strategy in D&D just for the action economy, even if you can't really command them as smoothly as a Druid or a Malconvoker.
The third level ability Call Forth Fiend seems particularly useful, because (by my reading) you don't have to order the fiend around as a standard action. Yes, it's once per day, but it's interesting at least. Bind Tormented Soul doesn't seem extraordinarily useful, but at the same time, it's basically free. Gift of the Archfiend is thematically interesting, but lackluster at the level you get it. Double Command gives you better action economy, which is good. Archfiend's Favor would be good if it could make Planar Binding checks easier, but the way it's worded, it's more or less useless. Summon Fiends is interesting, and may even be worth investing in Maximize Spell-Like Ability for if you plan on using it heavily. I find it odd that this ability doesn't require a Truespeak check, but go figure.
Re: My Experiences as a Truenamer
Originally Posted by Doc Roc
