Simple HouserulesBefore we begin, I need to make clear a couple of house rules that the system just kind of assumes without ever explicitly calling out. First, nonlethal is a description that can be applied to any type of damage. Thus, there is both lethal and nonlethal fire damage, just as there is lethal and nonlethal bludgeoning damage. I had thought that the existence of a whip's non-lethal slashing damage was proof of this, but the consensus around here seems to be that it is not the case and that the table is simply in error. Also, the (Healing) subschool is part of Necromancy, not Conjuration, because Necromancy ≠ Evil, and all spells within that subschool thus change school (as do any references to "Conjuration (Healing) spells"). No creature type automatically grants immunity to mind-affecting effects - this is kind of a strange rule to include, but it's necessary in order to keep the Dialect of the Transcendent Mind balanced. Mindless creatures, and other creatures that have this immunity as a consequence of some other rule, retain it (even if that secondary rule is a consequence of creature type, as it is for vermin). Finally, Spot and Listen are one skill called Perception, and Hide and Move Silently are one skill called Stealth.
Understanding CreaturesSome rules, such as some utterances within the Dialect of the Manifest Ideal, require that you understand a creature for some purpose. This represents a detailed knowledge gained from study and research of some kind. Understanding a creature in this way takes at least 1 hour, and requires you to exceed the Knowledge check DC to identify a creature by at least 10. You can't understand a specific creature in this way, only its general kind; you understand humans, not High Overlord Saurlox. You must have some kind of reference material, but it can be anything from a brief sentence in an ancient tome to the body of a slain creature of that kind. Generally, you should get a bonus to your check based on the type of reference you have, just as you would for any check. For example, the mention of a creature above wouldn't grant any bonus, but the corpse might provide a +8 bonus if it's in very good condition.
You can't understand a templated creature in this way, but you can understand a template, with a DC equal to 15 + twice the CR increase provided by that template; the knowledge skill varies, but is usually either the knowledge skill associated with whatever type of creature the template changes a creature into, or is Knowledge (arcana) for templates that don't change a creature's type. The exact choice is a matter of DM discretion; for instance, it would probably be more appropriate to use Knowledge (religion) for the Godblooded template. You can only use a template you understand if a rule specifically says so, even if the rules already say you can use a creature you understand.
You can understand up to 3 kinds of creature, plus 1 per point of Intelligence modifier you possess. Once you understand a kind of creature, you retain that understanding until some rule causes you to lose it. You can lose your understanding of a kind of creature at any time.
New Skill: TruespeechTRUESPEECH (INT; TRAINED ONLY)Use this skill to master the tortuous pronunciation of the True Tongue. Every utterance requires a Truespeech check as part of the action to use it. You can also make a Truespeech check as a free action to identify an utterance being spoken, even when it’s not your turn. The DC of this check is equal to the result of the Truespeech check made as part of the utterance you are attempting to identify. You can also make a Truespeech check to represent applying your knowledge of the language's structure to deriving a personal truename from basic knowledge. See
Personal Truenames for details.
Check: You can pronounce the truename of a creature, object, or place by succeeding on a Truespeech check. The DC varies, but see Truespeech Basics for details. You gain a +10 circumstance bonus on Truespeech checks to pronounce your own personal truename.
Because speaking the True Tongue is such an idiosyncratic, exacting task, you can’t take 10 or take 20 on Truespeech checks.
Action: Varies.
Try Again: Yes.
Synergy: If you have 5 ranks in Truespeech, you gain a +2 bonus on any Knowledge checks made to conduct research on a personal truename.
Synergy: If you have the Lorekeeper class feature and 5 ranks in the chosen Knowledge skill, you gain a +2 bonus on Truespeech checks made to affect related creatures, objects, and areas with an utterance.
Truespeaking BasicsTruespeech offers power through the use of utterances. Each utterance is made up of a number of truenames that, taken together, describe the desired outcome. Whenever a character learns a new utterance, they gain access to a pair of tools that redefine the laws of the universe in such a way as to produce the desired effects, each opposing the other. Generally, you can use any utterance you know. You can use your utterances as often as you like, in theory, so long as you can make the necessary Truespeech checks.
UTTERANCESEvery utterance is an extraordinary ability. Unlike most extraordinary abilities, an utterance always requires a verbal component. Because an utterance still requires an essentially magical catalyst to alter the laws that govern the universe when it is spoken, you can counter an utterance as if it were a spell, and an utterance is considered a spell for the purposes of whether or not it can be used within an anti-magic field or similar effect (and, while your target cannot be entirely within such an area when you speak the utterance, entering such an area afterward does not suppress it). An utterance's effective caster level is equal to its user's speaker level, and its effective spell level is equal to ½ its user's speaker level, rounded down, to a minimum of 1 (even if that would produce an utterance with an effective spell level higher than 9). Every utterance has at least one target – even utterances that target an area. Many utterances also have subjects - particular creatures, objects, or places specified in the utterance that aren't actually affected by it. Rather, an utterance's target will interact in a special way with its subject. A target can't also be a subject.
While you need to incorporate a verbal component, you need not be heard by your target for an utterance to take effect. Even in the area of a
silence spell or similar effect (or while deafened, for that matter), the only penalty you suffer is a -4 to your Truespeech skill due to the difficulty of sounding out the words without being able to check your own voice. Unless noted otherwise, an utterance has a range of 50 feet, plus 10 feet per speaker level. Several utterances, however, contain exceptions to this rule. An utterance's subject must be within the same range as its target.
Utterances are primarily made up of truenames. You don't need to learn individual truenames – each utterance you learn represents a veritable library of truenames and rules for correctly figuring out new ones that allows you to produce the appropriate effects in nearly any situation. However, these are general truenames – personal truenames are another matter. Only creatures and objects with an Intelligence score higher than 3 have a personal truename, unless otherwise noted. The details of personal truenames are detailed
elsewhere.
LEXICALexica are groups of utterances. You don't exactly learn utterances individually. Rather, you learn utterances in pairs - the standard utterance, and its reversed utterance. Generally, you can learn any utterance available to you, subject to the rules described here, but sources will sometimes have additional rules for determining how you are allowed to learn utterances. For instance, the Seithren class requires that several of the first utterances it teaches you be from the same lexicon. You can't learn an utterance without knowing every utterance from the same lexicon that is shorter than the one you want to learn, because learning utterances from a lexicon represents continuous training and practice, building on past research and rehearsal. Syllables and Phonema are considered to be of the same length, so you can learn one without knowing the other, but you must know both in order to learn a Word. When a source grants you access to utterances, you also can't learn an utterance of a length different from what that source allows you, even if you could learn longer or otherwise different utterances from a source you already have. Each lexicon contains a single utterance of each length, and the reversed utterance associated with it.
The reversed utterance creates effects in opposition to the standard version. The direction of speech (reversed or standard) is an utterance's polarity. Other than this thematic grouping, there's little distinction between a reversed utterance and a standard utterance. Characters in the game may even debate which utterance of a given standard-reversed pair is which - there's no objective standard for them to use, since we're just using an arbitrary one for convenience' sake. Broken speech, and similar rules that cause you to move from one length to another when you use an utterance, don't allow you to change whether or not the utterance you actually speak is reversed or not. You use the polarity for the utterance you attempted to speak.
The possible lengths of an utterance are as follows:
*A Phonema is a reflexive vocalization, more instinct than thought, that can be used as an immediate action.
*A Syllable is a brief utterance that can be used as a swift action.
*A Word takes a little more time, using a standard action.
*A Sentence takes even more time, requiring one round to complete. Like a spell with a casting time of 1 round, you spend a full round action in the turn you begin speaking, and you finish at the start of your next turn. You need only choose the Sentence you wish to speak when you begin – all other decisions, such as the target, may be chosen when you finish speaking at the beginning of your next turn.
BROKEN SPEECHWhenever you fail a Truespeech check, your speech is considered broken. You may still generate an effect, but the unformed syllables you had devised in your mind create a backlash against you, and they do not contribute to the effect you intended to generate. When this happens, you instead speak the utterance one step lower than you intended, except you still use the action required to speak the utterance you intended. If it was a Phonema or Syllable, it fails entirely. Thus, the utterance you speak interacts with Laws of Truespeech (such as the Law of Sequence) differently from your intended utterance, among other things. You never reverse an utterance's polarity as a consequence of misspeaking it. Furthermore, you take a point of ability burn. Which ability score is subject to this burn is dependent on the source of the utterance that failed. For instance, drakespeakers take Wisdom burn when they fail to make the check to speak an utterance.
USING AN UTTERANCEEach utterance requires making a Truespeech check. This is part of the action of using the utterance, and its DC is dependent on the target. The check is made at the end of the action to use the utterance, so (for instance) you don't make it until your next turn when you speak a Sentence. In any calculations of the DC of the check, round up before proceeding to the next step. If you fail this check, your speech is broken, as described above. You make all the decisions about how to use an utterance, such as choosing targets, after you make your check, but you can't choose to abort speaking at this point - you must actually follow through with the entire utterance, even if you can no longer choose the target you wanted. If your utterance has multiple targets, use the highest DC among them, after applying any modifications (such as from the Law of Resistance).
*The DC to target a creature is equal to 10 + its CR + its Charisma modifier. A creature's force of personality and self-perception contributes to the precision necessary to affect it with truespeech, as does its potential impact on the universe. Generally, a PC or other creature whose CR might not be immediately handy can be assumed to have a CR equal to its ECL.
*The DC to target an object is 15, but subject to a number of modifiers, listed in the table below. If an object occupies a larger space than a 10 foot cube, it is a large object, and is therefore considered an area. If an object is considered attended, you use the higher of its DC or the DC required to target the attending creature.
*The DC to target an area is 20. Remember, utterances always have a target – even an utterance that targets an area is not an area effect like a
fireball. While described as an area, every one of these is more accurately a volume, and presented accordingly. Like an object, the DC to target an area is subject to a variety of modifiers. A large object is subject to all the modifiers a normal object might be, and may be subject to those for any other area as well.
Object ModifiersQuality | Modifier |
Artifact | +20 |
Damaged | -2 |
Intelligent | Add the Item's Charisma Modifier |
Magic Item* | +1 per caster level |
Masterwork | +2 |
Special Material | +4 |
Willing Owner** | -4 |
You Touch The Item | -2 |
*An item affected by a temporary magic effect falls into this category while that effect continues. Use only the highest caster level of all the effects affecting an item.
**Both the owner and the object must be within range, and the owner must be aware of your attempt to speak the utterance in addition to being considered willing. The item's owner is, in order of decreasing priority, whoever it is bonded to (in the case of items that require such a bond in order to function, such as a
ring of master artifice or a Weapon of Legacy), the last person to activate or benefit from its magical powers, or the last person to carry it.
Area ModifiersQuality | Modifier |
Extraplanar* | -4 |
No Line of Sight | +4 |
No Line of Effect | +6 |
Magical Area** | +1 per caster level |
Mobile*** | +2 |
You Are Within The Area | -2 |
*Anywhere the speaker has the extraplanar subtype.
**Any magical effect that affects or targets an area, including temporary spell effects and utterances. Planar traits do not fall into this category, but supernatural weather and other similar effects do. Use a caster level of 10 for such effects if none of their rules involve a caster level.
***Any area which moves in reference to the world of the campaign setting, such as the surface of a moving vehicle. The area must be part of a location or other large object that is moving - you fix the area's position in reference to this, rather than the world of the campaign setting. For instance, you can't say your
word of haze will move each round if you're in an ordinary forest, but you could use this option to say that it would stay put on the surface of the airship you're riding, rather than getting left behind as the ship flies on. You can also use this option to center the area on a creature or object.
LAWS OF TRUESPEECHTruespeech allows a speaker to alter the universe at a fundamental level, but such power is not unlimited. There are rules governing all truespeech, and these are observable laws of the universe. The Law of Resistance is the most widely known of these, but of equal inevitability are the Law of Inviolability and the Law of Sequence. Finally, the Law of Uncertainty is an oddity that remains unexplained to this day, but is no less true for it.
The Law of Resistance becomes obvious to all truepeakers early in their careers. When you use an utterance, the universe takes note, and somehow repetition becomes more difficult. The words you need to speak remain unchanged, but somehow they must be more exacting, more precise, in order to carry the weight you need. Each time you use an utterance from a particular lexicon against a particular target, the DC to use an utterance from the same lexicon against that same target increases by 2 until you rest for 8 hours; something about relaxing your mind seems to take the universal pressure off, allowing the difficulty to disappear. Areas are considered the same target as long as they overlap or are contiguous areas of the same type of terrain (as defined by the Dialect of the Undrawn Map).
The Law of Inviolability is the next most obvious, because most who learn the True Tongue find themselves doing all that they can to enhance their talents and, thereby, the effectiveness of their utterances. Unfortunately, Truespeech seems to ignore the intervention of lesser magics in the speaking of an utterance, seeing through to the truth of your ability. Unless specifically stated to do so, no effect or ability can improve your Truespeech skill modifier. The reverse is also true; no effect or ability can reduce it unless it specifically says so. Similarly, unless an effect specifically says so, it cannot use an utterance (even if it can speak perfectly in the voice of a truespeaker or replicate the sound of an utterance). Naturally, your Intelligence modifier (which can be modified normally), and your ranks in the Truespeech skill do modify your Truespeech checks.
The Law of Sequence may be the most subtle. Reordering the laws by which the universe functions is a binary thing; you can't rewrite them once, and then rewrite them to a greater extreme again a moment later. Since repeating an utterance at a target is essentially attempting to do this, it doesn't necessarily work out like a layperson, or a person familiar with traditional spellcasting, might expect. A particular target can be affected only by a single use of a particular utterance at one time; an utterance never stacks with another use of the same utterance. Using an utterance on a target immediately ends any other uses of the same utterance on that same target. Remember, two instantaneous effects cannot occur at the same time, so this only applies to utterances with a longer duration. Remember, too, that utterances of different lengths within the same lexicon are not the same utterance.
The Law of Uncertainty is less hard and fast with respect to the rules of the game, but becomes apparent to every truespeaker and is worth addressing here. Truespeech, at its most basic level, deals with three fundamental concepts: Life, Thought, and Substance. While these three concepts freely blend in observed reality, utterances are more limited, and have trouble encompassing complete descriptions of all of these. Many religious truespeakers believe reality to be spoken into existence by beings of power exceeding even that of deities, who can overcome this limitation, but it has practical meaning for a truespeaker. Three dialects deal almost entirely with one of these, and as a consequence cannot function on targets that lack the required concept in their existence. They are particularly effective, however, against targets that lack the opposing concept that interferes with describing the concept in question, because you can express your thought in more approximately perfect terms. For reasons that are not understood, Life is opposed by Thought, Thought by Substance, and Substance by Life. Dialects not so heavily steeped in a single concept's terms are not subject to the same limitations, but lack the precision of more finely tuned dialects and, as a consequence, do not measure up to the standards of those who seek the Speech That Birthed Creation.
SPEAKER LEVELAs you grow in your skill with the True Tongue, you become able to speak your utterances with greater precision and force. As a consequence, many use your speaker level to determine their effects. Similarly, you use your speaker level to resist effects that would negate your utterances (such as a dispel magic spell), and so on. Your speaker level is equal to your ranks in the Truespeech skill, but it can't exceed your character level.
You can speak an utterance at a lower speaker level than you actually possess. If you do so, all effects of that utterance are based on the lowered speaker level. In the event that some class feature, ability, or effect provides an adjustment to your speaker level, this similarly applies to all qualities of your utterances. However, such adjustments are only considered when you determine the effects of your utterances – they do not alter your actual speaker level for the purposes of meeting prerequisites or similar purposes.
CONCENTRATIONTo use an utterance, you need to concentrate on speaking it precisely and without ambiguity. Thus, effects like a barbarian's rage that prevent you from concentrating prevent you from using utterances. Additionally, much like a spellcaster, distractions make it harder for you to use utterances effectively. Distractions increase the DC of the Truespeech check that is a component of every utterance.
Damage: If you are damaged while using an utterance, you take a penalty on the Truespeech check equal to ½ the damage you took. Just as for a spellcaster, damage occurs while you use an utterance if it is dealt during the speaking time, or if it is dealt in response to the use of the utterance. Similarly, if you are taking continuous damage, such as from a word of fire, half of that damage during each round is considered to have happened while you were using the utterance.
Grappling or Pinned: Because truespeech requires only the ability to speak, you can use utterances while grappling or pinned (unless, in the latter case, your opponent chooses to prevent you from speaking). Similarly, you can use utterances while tied or otherwise physically restrained, unless you are effectively gagged (preventing you from speaking in the same fashion as a pin). However the distraction still makes it more difficult to focus, so you take a -4 penalty on your Truespeech check.
Vigorous Motion: If you're in an environment that is moving unpredictably and quickly (enough to merit at least a DC 15 Balance check to avoid falling prone), you're distracted enough by the effort of remaining upright that you take a -2 penalty on Truespeech checks. Increase the penalty by -1 for every 5 by which the Balance DC increases.
Spells and Other Effects: For other effects that interfere with the ability to use utterances, the increase to the truespeech check is equal to the effect's saving throw (if any), minus 10. Effects that don't allow a saving throw and aren't listed in this section do not increase the DC of a truespeech check unless otherwise noted.
COUNTERSPEECHIt is possible to use an utterance to disrupt another speaker's own. Essentially, you speak in such a way as to cancel out the effects of your opponent's speech. Counterspeech requires you to ready the same action, or a longer one, as the utterance you wish to counter. You don't have to specify which utterance you will counter, just the action you choose to reserve. If you successfully make a truespeech check before your next turn to identify the utterance of another creature, you can then take this readied action to negate that utterance. You can attempt to counterspeak against an utterance requiring a shorter action than the one you reserved. Doing so requires you to speak the reversed form of that utterance, so you must know it and be able to speak it. If you fail the check, you fail to counterspeak entirely, and still take the normal penalties for failing a Truespeech check made as part of an utterance.
Modus Feats: When counterspeaking, you need not account for a modus feat modifying an utterance. You need only speak the base utterance in reverse.