Truenamer help

[Nameless Void]

Can anyone supply a good 10th level Truenamer build?

Restrictions are:
Core books plus Sandstorm and ToM only

Ability scores:
17, 18, 15, 14, 12, 12

Races:
Any in the above books

Any suggestions on how to prove to my gaming group the Truenamers don't "suck"?

[Sinfire Titan]

Is it Core as in DMG/PHB/MM, or Core as in SRD?


Because one of those means the Truenamer is nigh unplayable, and the other means you're set.

[Solo]

Any suggestions on how to prove to my gaming group the Truenamers don't "suck"?

Reality is often the hardest thing to disprove.

[Sinfire Titan]

Reality is often the hardest thing to disprove.

Disbelieving it is rather easy though.

[Nameless Void]

Core books, I.e. PHB, DMG, MM

Lol. So you're saying Truenamer is useless with just core books

[Sinfire Titan]

Core books, I.e. PHB, DMG, MM

Lol. So you're saying Truenamer is useless with just core books

Well, either you use Item Familiar from UA or you have to abuse Custom Magic Item Creation rules in the DMG. There aren't any other alternatives: Without one of those options, the class' primary ability is utterly worthless. You'd be better off playing an Expert with UMD focus than trying to play a Truenamer.

[Shiki]

Random rhoughts: Do Truenamer actually become playable with those skill check boosters? I never really bothered looking at the class aside from a one-time-skimming, avoiding it like the plague since I trust most of what the people are saying here.

[CantripN]

Oh, yes. With those things, it is very much playable, to the point of almost mage-like power.

Dispel with no check, 2/round, almost at-will.
Slow with no check, almost at-will.
Fly, almost at-will.
Daze (save or daze), 2/round, almost at-will.
Repair Magic Items, almost at-will (use this with Magic Tiles or other "used and destroyed" magic items)
Restore Dispelled Magic, almost at-will...

Done right, it's more than useful. A full caster may well be stronger, but it's far from a Monk. Well made, I'd put it above a Warmage or a Warlock.

For a DM, it's easier to manage than a spellcaster without throwing things specifically built to counter you.
 
That said, without a LOT of boosting for your Truenaming, it simply fails to work reliably, and as such, fails.

A level 10 Truenamer should be around this value:
Truespeak: 50 + INT (13 Ranks + 13 Item Familiar + 10 Amulet + 10 Affiliation + 2 Racial (Illumian) + 2 Tool + INT)

[Emo_Duck]

A level 10 Truenamer should be around this value:
Truespeak: 50 + INT (13 Ranks + 13 Item Familiar + 10 Amulet + 10 Affiliation + 2 Racial (Illumian) + 2 Tool + INT)

Suppose you could also have a swarm of tiny helpers using Aid Another, if the DM will go for that. If you don't fancy letting various forms of intelligent bugs, crystals or pixies crawl all over you via Leadership or the like, you could look into the symbionts in the Fiend Folio and the Eberron Campaign Setting - while they do attach themselves to you, they're still creatures and should get their own set of actions to perform, if I'm not mistaken. Getting your minions a +9 Truespeak modifier to consistently make their Aid Another checks is then the next challenge.

[ILM]

Can anyone supply a good 10th level Truenamer build?

No. Nobody can.

[lans]

A masterwork tool of truespeak, and the greater amulet from ToM, and skill focus leaves you 28+intelligence. Meaning you need to roll 7-Intelligence to affect things. So its not unplayable at this level, just very tier 5, with solid fog, which would require the same roll, but will go down as you level, so its a bit more useful.
With Aid another action your party should be able to manage out of combat healing and stuff.

I think their is a couple other skill boosts available, your gonna need them at higher levels.

Edit-Solid Fog is your friend here.

[Nameless Void]

Ouch.. Maybe let this thread die a slow painful death then.

Back to the drawing board. Thanks all!

[lans]

If your not using the errata, then the DCs for solid fog drop by 5, so it would be 2-Int, dropping by1 per level. It is workable, because solid fog is awesome, but its like 1 good trick that your not good enough at. At level 12 you get another one from that secton, and can take a feat to grab the other good 1st level one, so if you can handle it for two levels you should decent.

If their is a druid or paladin in the party their pet has a CR of -, so you can buff them ridiculously easy. Not sure if cohorts have their own CR, so leadership might be a good choice on somebody. Remember if your not your own person, the chicken your about to eat has a bigger place in the universe. Also applies to summons.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

As someone who often goes against the prevailing opinions on truenamer; NO.

Due to their messed up DC scaling to use their abilities you need either Item Familiar or custom item abuse, period end of story. That's just to be able to use a reasonable number of abilities per day. If you can get just Item Familiar approved I'll help you with a build.

[Zaxter]

I have to agree with Hand_of_Vecna. They're weak compared to a standard spellcaster, sure, but they're not BAD. I played a Truenamer once shortly after the book came out, and I didn't even know about Item Familiar. I don't remember what level we were playing at (probably 5 or 6), but I remember being able to get my Truespeak check high enough to use each ability at least 1/day without rolling, at least on creatures of my CR. I acted mostly as a support character by giving our tank extra attacks, freeing people from grapples, and of course, out-of-combat healing. The Identify utterance also came up a couple of times.

[X-Codes]

I have to agree with Hand_of_Vecna. They're weak compared to a standard spellcaster, sure, but they're not BAD. I played a Truenamer once shortly after the book came out, and I didn't even know about Item Familiar. I don't remember what level we were playing at (probably 5 or 6), but I remember being able to get my Truespeak check high enough to use each ability at least 1/day without rolling, at least on creatures of my CR. I acted mostly as a support character by giving our tank extra attacks, freeing people from grapples, and of course, out-of-combat healing. The Identify utterance also came up a couple of times.

Well sure, at 5 or 6 that's not too hard, but being able to consistently boost your Truespeak checks by +2 each level, not counting any penalties for meta-utterances or using them multiple times each day, is almost impossible past this point without Item Familiar or custom magic items.

[Gavinfoxx]

Why not use one of the house rule based Truenamer fixes floating around the web? There are at least two or three out there!

[lans]

I have to agree with Hand_of_Vecna. They're weak compared to a standard spellcaster, sure, but they're not BAD. I played a Truenamer once shortly after the book came out, and I didn't even know about Item Familiar. I don't remember what level we were playing at (probably 5 or 6), but I remember being able to get my Truespeak check high enough to use each ability at least 1/day without rolling, at least on creatures of my CR. I acted mostly as a support character by giving our tank extra attacks, freeing people from grapples, and of course, out-of-combat healing. The Identify utterance also came up a couple of times.

Well sure, at 5 or 6 that's not too hard, but being able to consistently boost your Truespeak checks by +2 each level, not counting any penalties for meta-utterances or using them multiple times each day, is almost impossible past this point without Item Familiar or cunstom magic items.

Till level 10, the Truespeak item covers you pretty well, after that you have abilities from the other lexicons, and the other abilities get regulated to out of combat and pet use. Healing, flying short distances, making the AC out do the fighter even more

[Solo]

There is no special advantage inherent in the Truenamer class that allows him to have sex with the party meatshield better than anyone else.

[doneasy]

There is no special advantage inherent in the Truenamer class that allows him to have sex with the party meatshield better than anyone else.

Well, they do have the eldritch attraction utterance.