Naming (Action)

Heroic Action Role-Play

This is a Method for using Powers in Action. Methods are a part of Traditions and define how Powers are used in each campaign.

Naming

Everything has a True Name, a key to its essence. Knowing this true name gives you power over the thing. Great power is given to those who know the true names of many things. If you know the true name of your enemy, you have him in your power.

Learning a true name is a difficult, often mystic experience. Visions and spirit quests play an important role, and an accomplished sorcerer can sometimes guess a true name through sheer intuition. Only intelligent creatures have individual true names; animals and objects share names with others of their type. You can learn the true names of your friends with their cooperation, becoming able to focus power on them but also giving you a potentially devastating weapon against them.

Each named creature has an individual true name, but faceless dimensional hordes do not. Unnamed creatures have one True Name per type of creature; all unnamed imps share the same true Name. Essentially one true name equals one set of creature abilities.

True names are also used in Binding powers. These are the same true names used for this method, but you can use Binding powers without the True Name method and vice versa.

The Naming and Power Secret methods are related; naming magicians often have their own true name as their secret.

Limitation

You cannot target someone directly unless you know his true name. This problem is lessened by the fact that there are many "generic" true names for phenomena such as elements and objects, so a great range of magical effects can be accomplished without knowing the targets true name. But mind control, transmutation and other effects which directly and dramatically changes a person require that you know the target's true name.

Focus Condition

Trigger Action (Focus)

Whenever you know someone's individual True Name, you can focus, but that focus is only good if people whose true names you know are among those affected by your Limit break.