Truenamers

[Quirinus_Obsidian]

I do not know if there has been a post on this character class yet, as the search turned up no results. I am trying to locate a decent build and campaign results from a play or DM that has experience with the Truenamer and it's various extremely funny class abilities . I have read the entry in the ToM (the lesser known Tome of Magic) and am very impressed; this appears to be rife with RP and character aspects. It has Gestalt Bard (Orator) written all over it

I was wondering about your experiences with this character class. Before I build a character (or even an NPC) with this, I would like to know how it has impacted your campaign worlds.

[Rigel Cyrosea]

I don't know the full specifics, but I've heard Truenamer is pretty crappy crunch-wise. The DCs get really hard to hit, especially at high levels, due to the odd 15 +2xCR DC scaling thing. I agree that their roleplay value is great though. The thought of sprouting mystic gibberish fills me with glee!

[Tellah]

It depends very much on whether your DM will allow you to commission or craft a custom magic item to improve your Truespeak checks. On the one hand, a custom magic item at the prices listed in the DMG can get really, really overpowered. On the other hand, the DCs increase extremely quickly. I recommend that DMs allow magic items that improve Truespeak checks at double the usual cost.

[Koji]

Truenamers are terrible (they can't even compete with non-optimized core classes) without a few optimizations.

Get an item familiar (in the SRD). If you make it a staff, it fits the "Wizard of Earthsea" feel that they were going for. Item familiars grant you a skill bonus.

Consider playing an Illumian (Races of Destiny), as they have a skill bonus.

Ask your DM about allowing you to buy a masterwork tool (Maybe a lexicon or something) for Truespeak, which would grant a +2 to your checks (look at the equipment section in the PHB, it's in there).

The problem is that the DC you roll against is fairly arbitrary. Some creatures are easy pickings and others are monstrously overpowered. The trick to overcoming these obstacles is to squeeze every skill bonus that you can out of the system. Truenamers aren't horrible if you do it that way. Also try asking your DM about supporting homebrew utterances or prestige classes, as they'll help expand your usefulness.

[Fax Celestis]

Also, might I highly recommend an Exemplar Dip^TM?

[Jimp]

Exemplar Dip^TM?

I found that incredibly funny.

Truenamers can be very fun to play but I'll echo previous posters, you need to boost your skill as high as possible. The Exemplar dip can seriously help with this but realistically you'll need as many bonuses as possible.

[Ichneumon]

I think the idea behind truename magic is cool.

One advise: Take the Universal Aptitude utterenace it gives you a +5 on any one skill check (including TrueName checks!) so you can easily cast 2 maybe 3 more truenames per casting of this utterance.

Also, I never understood why the most powerful magic of truenaming, the Unname spell, isn't available for the Truenamer...

[Starsinger]

Post character creation, you have one stat, Intelligence. If anyone in the party has a higher intelligence than you, (with the exception of racial modifiers) you've failed. Look into buying some Psionic Shards of Truenaming

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/it...ems.htm#shards

They're one time use only, sad to say, but they come in handy for pinches.