The Way Words Work (or, Truenaming that doesn't make me cry myself to sleep at night)

[Kellus]

Now that that's out of the way, how do people feel about the lexeme? I tried to come up with a different way of accessing truenames, and I think I did a decent job. Any suggestions or comments on it?

[Ziegander]

And Ziegander, it's cool, don't worry about it. It's a common phenomenon when homebrew is reviewed by a forum for the forum members to pick nits & focus on a single niggling issue. Sometimes the issue is genuine, sometimes it's not. But it happens more often than you think. It's nothing you did, so please don't take anything that I said personally. We can all get along here.

Don't worry, I'm not angry, I'm not upset or anything, but I am feeling patronized by you continuously marginalizing the issue of Absolute Limit. It's a genuine issue. I happen to think you're a pretty reasonable guy, Zeta, you too Kellus, I have no reason not to get along with either of you. Trust me, I've got a long track record of homebrewing experience, so I know how this all goes.

Now that that's out of the way, how do people feel about the lexeme? I tried to come up with a different way of accessing truenames, and I think I did a decent job. Any suggestions or comments on it?

I think you did a decent job as well. My only concern with it is that I don't understand what a Unique Utterance or a Unique Incantation is. There doesn't seem to be any new mechanics or a new list of vocalizations so I'm just confused by the terminology I think.

[Fako]

I like the Lexeme... reminds me of the alternate Psionic class that I can't remember the name or location of at the moment...

The "Unique" tag means they can use up to that many different ones per day. You don't prep them at the start of the day, you instead choose them as you go, and can only use that many different ones per day. Once you hit the limit, you have to stick with the ones you already have available... or that's my understanding at least...

[Kellus]

No. You prepare a number of unique vocalizations at the beginning of the day from the ones written in your glossary. Then you have access to those vocalizations for the day just like if you were a truenamer who had learned those ones. The next day you can choose to study different vocalizations if you so choose. You trade always having a large variety of effects available for being able to daily select a small variety of effects from an even larger pool.

How should I reword this so that it's clearer?

[streakster]

No. You prepare a number of unique vocalizations at the beginning of the day from the ones written in your glossary. Then you have access to those vocalizations for the day just like if you were a truenamer who had learned those ones. The next day you can choose to study different vocalizations if you so choose. You trade always having a large variety of effects available for being able to daily select a small variety of effects from an even larger pool.

How should I reword this so that it's clearer?

The way you just said it works.

[Athaniar]

I like the Lexeme... reminds me of the alternate Psionic class that I can't remember the name or location of at the moment...

The Erudite?

[Human Paragon 3]

It was already clear, Kellus.

I am thinking about starting work on the Rhyme Witch, but I don't want to step on your toes. I had a couple good ideas, but I have a feeling you have quite a few yourself. Let me know if I should start work or not, or just PM or post my ideas here.

[Kellus]

Go ahead and give it a whirl, Gaurd Juris. I like the idea of a truenamer/arcanist that rhymes power word spells and vocalizations together into poems of death, but whenever I try to write it up I get stuck. I'm hoping that the lexeme might be a better fit for the idea, what with the glossary and all. But I've got other things I'm working on right now, so go nuts.

[Human Paragon 3]

Yeah... I was thinking about the R.W. and my ideas for it, and the flavor of it, and then I thought, "Kellus probably wants to do something with the Power Words... How the hell would that work?" and came up blank. But I'll mull it over. I had 3-4 ideas for the class already, and the PW angle brings it up to 5, which is pushing it for a 10 level prestiege class... Then again, my Fiendbinder was a monster, too.

I'll see what I can do! Maybe you can post or PM me your ideas about how to blend the power words together with truenaming so I can at least see where your mind was.

[Kellus]

Stuff like being able to cast a power word spell as a move action when you use an utterance in the same round. Or being able to swap the hp limit for a power word spell for your absolute limit. Or being able to make a Truespeak check instead of a caster level check to penetrate spell resistance with a power word spell. Stuff like that. But don't worry too much about what I want. Make the class you want to make.

[Kellus]

Psionic fans be merry! A new prestige class, the astral namemaker is now posted to let you have fun with astral constructs and truenames at the same time!

[Human Paragon 3]

Here's my go at the witch!

Rhyme Witch

Spoiler

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Rhyme witches interlace arcane words of power with truenaming to create deadly verses of arcane might.

Requirements: To become a rhyme witch, you must fulfill all of the following requirements.


Skills: Truespeak 8 ranks, Knowedge: Arcana 13 ranks, Perform: Oratory 8 ranks
Feats: Improved Counterspelling
Spellcasting: Able to cast at least one Power Word spell
Special: Confident Speaker class ability

Hit Die: d4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Absolute Limit Increase at Each Level: 2 + Cha modifier.

Class Skills: The rhyme witch's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Perform: Oratory, Speak Language (n/a), and Truespeak (Int).


Rhyme Witch
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Truenaming/Spellcasting

1st|

+0

|

+0

|

+0

|

+2

|Arcane verse|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

2nd|

+1

|

+0

|

+0

|

+3

|Counter rhyming|+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class
3rd|

+1

|

+1

|

+1

|

+3

|Honeyed words 1/day|+1 level of existing truenaming class

4th|

+2

|

+1

|

+1

|

+4

|Couplet|+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class

5th|

+2

|

+1

|

+1

|

+4

|+1 vocalizer and caster level|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

6th|

+3

|

+2

|

+2

|

+5

|Honeyed words 2/day|+1 level of existing arcane truenaming class

7th|

+3

|

+2

|

+2

|

+5

|Rhymes of power|+1 level of existing spellcasting class

8th|

+4

|

+2

|

+2

|

+6

|Triplet|+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class

9th|

+4

|

+3

|

+3

|

+6

|Honeyed words 3/day|+1 level of existing truenaming class

10th|

+5

|

+3

|

+3

|

+7

|+1 vocalizer and vaster levels, Absolute power|+1 level of existing arcane spellcasting class/+1 level of existing truenaming class [/table]


The following are all class features of the rhyme witch.

Arcane Verse: A rhyme witch blends arcane words of power with truenaming to unlock the power contained in rhymes. She adds her arcane caster class to her Lexeme levels to determine her vocalizer level, and likewise adds her truenaming class levels to her caster level. Furthermore, if the rhyme witch has the ability to prepare arcane spells, she may combine her glossary and spell book. If this combined book is ever lost or stolen, the rhyme witch may reproduce it exactly as a Lexeme reproduces her glossary.

Counter Rhyme: At 2nd level, the rhyme witch masters the disruptive power of arcane rhymes. When she readies an action to counter another caster's spell, she may substitute a truespeak check for the spellcraft check she would normally make. Unlike counterspelling, speaking a counter rhyme does not require casting a spell, only making a successful truespeak check. She may use this ability a number of times per day equal to her charisma modifier.

Honeyed Words (ex): At 3rd level, the rhyme witch unlocks a further understanding of how the sounds of words affect others. Once per day when she makes a bluff, diplomacy or intimidate check and gets a result she does not like, she can make a truespeak check in its place. She must take the result of the new check, even if it is worse than the original. She may use this ability twice per day at 6th level and three times per day at 9th.

Couplet: As she grows in power, the rhyme witch learns how to couple words of power together with truespeach to weave poems of death. Beginning at 4th level, when she uses her Confident Speaker ability and spends a full round action on a truespeak attempt, she may simultaneously cast any power word spell she has available as a free action.

Truenamer/Caster Level Bonus: At 5th and 10th levels, a rhyme witch gains a +1 bonus to her effective truenamer and arcane caster levels all the time.

Rhymes of Power: At 7th level, the rhyme witch learns a new way to amplify her truespeach through arcane rhyming. A number of times per day equal to her charisma modifier, she may sacrifice a memorized spell to give herself a bonus on a truespeak check equal to the sacrificed spell's level.

Triplet: At 8th level, the blending of arcane power and truespeach becomes even stronger. When the rhyme witch uses her Confident Speaker ability and spends a standard action on a truespeak attempt, she may simultaneously cast any power word spell she has available as a free action.

Absolute Power (ex): At 10th level, the rhyme witch unlocks the ultimate connection between truespeak and words of power. She may add her absolute limit to the hp limit of any power word spell, increasing all hp thresholds accordingly.

Awaiting review.

[Zeta Kai]

Well, Kellus correctly guessed the answer to a riddle that I had going in my Final Fantasy X D20 thread. For a prize, he got a free homebrew from me; he chose for me to make him a Truespeech-related monster. I said that I'd have it in a week, but I was a few days late.

At any rate, here it is, the Echo Wing!

[Zeta Kai]

“Kind words can be short & easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless.”
-Mother Theresa

Echo Wing

Spoiler

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An Echo Wing in flight, displaying a threatening pose just prior to an attack.

Tiny Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 2d10+4 (15HP)
Initiative: +6
Speed: 10’ (2 squares), Fly 60’ (12 squares, average maneuverability)
Armor Class: 18 (+2 size, +6 Dex); touch 18; flat-footed 12
Base Attack/Grapple: +2/-9
Attack: Talon +1 melee (1d3-3)
Full Attack: 2 Talons +1 melee (1d3-3)
Space/Reach: 2½’/0’
Special Attacks: Screech of Silence
Special Qualities: Echo, Magical Beast traits, Skills
Saves: Fort +5, Ref +9, Will +1
Abilities: Str 4 (-3), Dex 22 (+6), Con 15 (+2), Int 4 (-3), Wis 12 (+1), Cha 7 (-2)
Skills: Hide +9, Listen +6, Truespeak +4
Feats: Alertness
Environment: warm forests
Organization: solitary, pair, or flock (3-12)
Challenge Rating: 2
Treasure: N/A
Alignment: always Neutral
Advancement: 3HD (Tiny), 4-5HD (Small)
Level Adjustment: N/A

Seemingly from out of nowhere, a majestic bird appears, spreading its wings wide, as if in warding. Its plumage is an electric blue, with thick tail & a tall feathered crest. The avian creature takes a deep breath, as if to speak.

Dwelling deep in the wild jungles of the world, there is an avian creature that hunts with magical power. Waiting patiently for its prey, it perches silently. When its quarry is finally spotted (or more likely, heard), the bird lets out a piercing screech. The victim is deafened by the scream, & so it cannot hear the rush of wings closing in…

The bird in question is known as an Echo Wing, & it is said to possess some interesting properties. Stories tell of its ability to repeat vocalizations of Truespeech, reflecting their effects back at the speaker. No one knows for sure where such a bird came from or how it got its peculiar abilities, but scholars & researchers the world over are willing to pay dearly for a live specimen for their research into the nature & properties of Truespeech.

Echo Wings are usually about 1½’ long, with a wingspan of approximately 5’, & weigh around 4-7 pounds. They understand some Common, but they cannot speak a word unless trained to do so. They cannot understand Truespeech, despite their ability to repeat it.

Combat
Echo Wings are very territorial, & will defend its domain quite fiercely. While it will not often fight to the death (except to protect its young), Echo Wings are not shy of combat. They will often begin a battle by employing its Screech of Silence to deafen its foes, & then use its Initiative advantage to either attack with its talons or flee. They will also echo any Truespeech that it hears back at the speaker.

Screech of Silence (Su): Once per hour, an Echo Wing can emit an ear-splitting shriek; all creatures within 30’ must make a successful Fortitude save (DC13) or be deafened & rendered mute for 1 hour; the save DC is Constitution-based; creatures that are rendered mute are unable to speak; an Echo Wing is immune to Screech of Silence, whether from itself or other Echo Wings

Echo (Su): An Echo Wing can repeat any Truespeech uttered nearby, turning it back on the speaker; anytime an Echo Wing makes a successful Listen check to hear a vocalization of Truespeech, it can repeat the vocalization, targeting the original speaker; since an Echo Wing does not usually know the original speaker’s Truename or Given Name, it will use a Nickname instead, & thus any Truespeak check for an echoed utterance takes a -2 penalty; an Echo Wing will not echo any Truespeech from another Echo Wing.

Skills: An Echo Wing has a +4 racial bonus on Listen checks & Truespeak checks.

Monster Lore
Characters that have ranks in Knowledge (Arcana) can learn more about Echo Wings. When a character makes a successful skill check, the following lore is revealed, including the information from lower DC’s.

• DC11: “There exists a rare bird that can stun its prey with a deafening scream.” A character making this check recalls all Magical Beast traits.
• DC16: “This bird is called an Echo Wing, & it is so named because of its ability to repeat back anything that is spoken near it.” A character making this check knows the workings of the Screech of Silence ability.
• DC21: “It’s echoing talents are especially troublesome to those who use Truespeech, as the bird can echo vocalizations, turning them back on the speaker.” A character making this check remembers the mechanics of the Echo ability.
• DC26: “They often hunt by hiding in wait for victims, then ambushing them with its shriek, but they can be goaded into coming out into the open if its territory is invaded.”A character making this check is familiar with where to find living specimens in the wild.

[Human Paragon 3]

Nice work, Zeta. Good to see some monsters on this thread, finally. The Echo Wing looks pretty solid. My only critique would be that making an Echo Wing encounter stretches believability a bit. It's hard to picture it going mano e mano with adventurers for very long unless it had backup. I would add a section on how they can be tamed and trained to assist hunting parties or something like that, and also write up an advanced echo wing that's been trained for battle by sentient masters. Maybe even give that one an utterance it can use as a standard.

[Zeta Kai]

I was think of something like that, & i agree, but I'd like to see Kellus's reaction to it first.

[Kellus]

Okay, that looks very very cool. I'll take a closer look at it and the rhyme witch later tonight and add them to the front page. Thanks a ton, both of you!

[Human Paragon 3]

I made a couple changes to the Fiendbinder on page 5 of this thread.

I know you're a busy guy, Zeta, but any chance of seeing an updated Echo Wing? I'd also like to see a Word Archon or Logicron Devil eventually... homebrewing 3.5 monsters isn't really my forte, or I'd attempt it myself.

[Aldgar]

Bump.

Furthermore, while I am awed by this impressive work, I'd love to see some more utterances/incantations/recitations.

Finally, while the Word warrior has several nice class features (Verbose Strike, Battle Cadence, Martial Truenamer) the requirements force a non-gestalt character to be level 7 before he even qualifies for it(4 Truenamer levels, +3 levels of a full-BaB class)...

Perhaps you could remove some requirements, or alter them that a 5th level character can qualify?

[Ziegander]

I for one am pretty darned intrigued by this "Alias" class you speak of.

[Human Paragon 3]

Made some changes to the rhyme witch, specifically the entry requirements and spellcasting levels it provides. Now you can actually cast some of those power words that the class is built around, eventually gaining access to 8th level spells if you begin the class as an 8th level arcane caster and take all 10 levels. The down side is your truenaming suffers, but most of the class features don't require you to be a high level truenamer to work.

[Darth Stabber]

Love this entire work. Also it fixes a problem I had with tome of magic (only one class per power source). Truenaming was my favorite class in ToM with regard to fluff, but it was so wonky as to be unplayable. Love the flavor of a character who can hack reality. Brings truespeak into the usable arena. If you get tired of truespeak, I'm sure shadow caster could use a little love. Great fix!!!

[MageSparrowhawk]

Wow...this looks awesome...I can't say I looked very thoroughly at the original rules, but I can just feel that this works better. *thumbs up*

out of curiosity, would anyone be willing to try and give this class a "Wizard of Earthsea" bent? Maybe a PrC?

[Kellus]

Uh. Hi everybody. I've, uh, been kind of busy. Sorry.

New material starting tomorrow. I haven't forgotten about this, but I'm in flight school and that comes first. Sorry for the HUGE wait.

But yeah. I've got a third base class coming quick, and some more PrCs. I'm also finally gonna start doing some monsters.

[Human Paragon 3]

Holy Crap, Kellus is back! Kept the thread warm for you. Looking forward to the new content!

[Kellus]

I live! (sort of)

The Fiendbinder has been created and is on page 1! I'm also almost done a shorter prestige class that should be up shortly. The alias is giving me a suprisingly tough time, but I've almost got it cracked.

[Kellus]

The Harmonic Shrieker is a prestige class available to the enterprising and slightly insane planewalking truenamer. Enjoy!

Next: a couple monsters, I think. The Echo Wing looks lonely.

[Kellus]

The Word Archon is now alive! It's aliiive! More to come, probably tomorrow when I'm not so tired.

Also, as a note to Gaurd Juris: the Rhyme Witch looks awesome, and I'll try to review it and get it on the front page pretty quick. I wanted to focus the fiendbinder more on planar binding, but the witch pretty much nailed what I had in mind. Great job!

[Human Paragon 3]

Gar! Fantastic work. I'm not entirely sold on the shrieker. Until you hit level 5, the abilities don't seem to give you much of an advantage for your missing caster level. The d10 damage with no save is nice, but it affects you too, until level 5 of course.

Fiendbinder looks great, even though I'm sad all my work on it was for naught. If you could salvage one idea from that mess, I hope it would be the power of your own name--if your summoned outsiders learn it, they can use that knowledge to escape their bonds. Consider it, perhaps instead of the opposed truespeak check.

[Kellus]

Hm. That's actually a really good idea that I missed in your version. I'll put that in!

For the harmonic shrieker, I think I'll move the lost level to level 5. Since like you said, it's a fairly weak class. I was actually originally thinking of not losing a level at all, but I'm always loathe to give something for nothing.

More to come soon! (for reals this time!)

EDIT: And it's done! I think the next thing to go up, actually, will be a few (read: 6) more incantations. The paucity of those annoys me. I really noticed it when I was picking 'em for the word archon.