The True Name Nemesis wields the most powerful magic. It is said that once one knows another's true name, they have power over that person. This power can protect the one who knows it, or kill the one who it belongs to. True names are distinct from common names, even unique and complete ones like "King Lord Phineas Daxall, ruler of the nine kingdoms." A true name is written on the very essence to the person whom it belongs to, and is not common knowledge, even to that person.
Once a true name nemesis knows your name, your best bet is to get your friend to kill him, assuming he hasn't learned their name too.
True Name Magic in D&D wrote:The idea of gaining power over someone through knowing their true name is a very, very old one. It probably goes all the way back man's very earliest stories about giving things names in the first place. Because it's such an old idea, it has of course shown up in D&D generally shittily. Tome of Magic True Name magic is convoluted and not particularly satisfying. Dragon magazine went a couple rounds with the idea-- one was crazed dragons who'd tried to remove all information about themselves from the world, and eventually forgotten their names, in an effort to avoid being found. The other was gaining a true name of your own to boost your magic when you weave the name into your incantation with the possibility of people learning it and thus gaining power over you.
This one draws on a Magic card. The card just gains Protection from a chosen player when it hits the field. But the idea behind it is intriguing enough, and has a lot of design space.
Requirements
Special: Knowing a true name and killing the being to which it belongs automatically qualifies you for this class. Otherwise, the following requirements must be met:
Skills: Decipher Script or Gather Information or Spot 11 ranks
Feats: Words of Creation* or Blueprints of the Multiverse (see below) or Dark Speech*
Hit Die: d8
BAB: 3/4
Saves: Good Ref, Will
Skills: Appraise, Bluff, Concentration, Decipher Script, Forgery, Gather Information, Knowledge (any), Listen, Search, Use Magic Device
6+Int/Lv
| Level | Special |
| 1 | Learn the True Name, Know the True Name, (Forge/Hew/Glean) the True Name |
| 2 | Pursue the True Name, Ward Against the True Name |
| 3 | Seek the True Name |
| 4 | Resist the True Name |
| 5 | Erase the True Name |
Learn the True Name (ex) The defining trait of a True Name Nemesis is the ability to learn a target's true name. Through careful observation or study, a True Name Nemesis can discover true names. This requires one hour of combined observation/study and meditation per hit die of the target. The more powerful a creature, the more engrained in their essence their true name is, and the harder it is to decode from without. At the end of this time, the True Name Nemesis makes a Spot, Knowledge (as per target's type), or Decipher Script check with a DC of 20+Target's HD. This functions similarly to scrying, and a True Name Nemesis needs some form of connection to their target:
| Knowledge | Check Modifier | Connection | Check Modifier |
| None (need connection) | -20 | Likeness, Picture | +1 |
| Passing (heard of subject) | -10 | Possession, garment | +2 |
| Secondhand (seen subject) | -5 | Prized possession (cherished heirloom, favourite sword) | +4 |
| Firsthand (met subject) | +0 | Piece of subject (hair, nail, skin, etc) | +6 |
| Familiar (know subject well) | +5 | Conduit with subject (child of TNN and subject, mingled blood, etc) | +10 |
Any effect which would interfere with scrying interferes with this process as well.
While a True Name Nemesis can know any number of true names at once, they can only exert a small amount of this power at any given time. A True Name Nemesis may only gain the benefits of knowing a true name against a number of enemies equal to their class level at once. For simplicity sake, this is referred to as an Active True Name.
Know the True Name (ex) The first benefit of knowing a true name is knowing the owner. A True Name Nemesis gains benefits of a ranger's 1st Favoured Enemy against one Active True Name. At second level, the True Name Nemesis can gain the benefits of 1st and 2nd Favoured Enemy against two Active True Names, at third 3rd, 2nd and 1st, etc.
(Forge/Hew/Attract) the True Name (ex.) Sometimes a True Name Nemesis needs to kill someone right then and doesn't have time to study them and their history for hours. In this case they can fake a true name for the subject and impress it upon the universe, carve it out of their skin, or pull it from them through sympathetic magic. The True Name Nemesis chooses at 2nd level whether it can forge, hew or attract true names.
- True Name Nemeses who forge true names make a Forgery check opposed by the target's Will save, if the True Name Nemesis is successful, the target's true name is temporarily considered to be the forgery. While it would be hilarious to trick the universe into thinking your target's name is "Dick" for a few hours, the fact is that something reasonably unique is better, as there is less interference.
- True Name Nemeses who hew true names make a special attack. If the attack hits and deals damage, it deals minimum damage, but releases a small piece of the subject's true name in a splash of blood and flash of magic.
- True Name Nemeses who glean true names need a piece of their subject--blood from the claws of a companion or familiar suffices. With this sympathetic connection, they may expend a spell slot. If the subject is within close range, the True Name Nemesis forges a connection to their target through which they manage to learn a small portion of the target's true name.
Pursue the True Name (ex) At second level, a True Name Nemesis gains the ability to track those whose names they know, as the Track feat, except that they use Gather Information or an appropriate Knowledge skill, and the modifiers differ as follows:
[insert track modifier table here]
Unlike other benefits, a True Name Nemesis may track any number of true names at once--of course it is very difficult to simultaneously track six characters all going different directions.
Ward Against the True Name (ex) A second level True Name Nemesis is very difficult to damage if he knows your true name. Active True Names receive a circumstance penalty to attacks, damage and save DCs equal to 1/2 their HD.
Seek the True Name (ex) By locking themselves away for 8 hours per HD of an creature whose name the True Name Nemesis knows, they may inscribe the name on a weapon they own. This weapon is now enchanted through sympathetic magic to seek out the owner of the true name, as well as acting as a connection to the being whose true name is inscribed upon it. In combat, the weapon (and only that weapon) receives a bonus to strike the being whose true name it bears equal to twice the True Name Nemesis' class level. The weapon may also be targeted with magic in place of the subject, but doing so gives the target a +5 bonus to saves made to resist the magic.
Resist the True Name (ex) More than just being able to better hurt those whose true name you know, knowledge of a thing's true name also allows you to better resist it's attempts to hurt you. A fourth level True Name Nemesis gains Spell Resistance against Active True Names equal to 20+1/2 Active True Name's HD. They also gain a very limited form of Regeneration--any damage dealt to them by an Active True Name is converted to non-lethal damage. True Name Nemeses regenerate 5 non-lethal damage per turn.
Enscribe/Erase the True Name (ex) When a weapon created as described in Seek the True Name is wielded against the creature whose name is inscribed upon it, any successful hit is treated as the disintegrate spell, save that the target may choose to resist with Fortitude or Will.
Blueprints of the Multiverse (Word)
[feat along the lines of Dark Speech and Words of Creation]
*These feats shouldn't really be inherently aligned, just incentivized for good and evil characters.
Work in Progress. It needs at least one more ability. I'm thinking about "Regeneration 5, take normal damage from creatures whose true name you don't know/aren't using."
However, it's pretty near completion, at least of the first draft. How does it look? Ungodly powerful? Poorly worded? About right? Too weak at early levels? It's very much a roguish class, I think, but at the same time, technically any class could take it. I think it could use a "deal more damage with a true name" ability, and possibly a sidebar that gives you more things you can do with a true name, both referring back to other things, and giving new stuff.
It occurs to me that I also haven't yet given the class a "your magic is harder to resist if you know a target's true name" ability.
