Type: General
Source: Dragon #317
You acquire a truename, a secret magic name that affords you power - at a price.
Prerequisite: Spellcraft 12 ranks, fetish object.
Benefit: At any time after taking this feat, you may perform a ritual that establishes your truename, a unique word of power intrinsically linked to your being. You must have 8 hours of uninterrupted time to prepare and perform the ritual, which requires rare material components including expensive incense, inks, gems, parchments and spices worth a total of 5,000 gp. You must possess the item that is your designated fetish. You must also pay 200 XP per Hit Die you possess. The benefits and risks of having a truename are detailed in the Truenames and Fetishes article, Dragon #317.
In the event of an interruption of the ritual, the materials are all lost and must be reacquired - including the fetish. No experience points are lost until completion of the ritual. You need not wait until a new feat is gained to attempt a new ritual.
Special: You may have only one truename at any given time, but you may change your truename or rid yourself of any truename. To replace your truename with a new one (or rid yourself of your truename), you pay all the same costs as noted above for acquiring a truename, except as follows: You may use the same fetish or change it to a new one, and the XP cost is 200 XP per HD between your current HD and the HD at which you last acquired a truename. If you don't have your old fetish, or if your old fetish was destroyed, you must take the Truename feat again before you can complete the ritual that changes your truename or rids yourself of a truename.
For example, Falanor the human sorcerer acquires a truename at 12th level and pays 5,000 gp and 2,400 XP. He changes his truename at 15th level by selecting the feat again; he pays another 5,000 gp but pays only 600 XP.
There are three major benefits of changing your truename. First, if anyone has learned your truename, or some part of it, that knowledge is now irrelevant. Second, you can choose a new fetish object, which might have been compromised or stolen. Third, the Spellcraft check to identify your truename increases by +5 for each time you take the Truename feat after the first.
There is a potential disadvantage as well. Items you created with the old truename are no longer as powerful for you, as they lose the power they had that was associated with the old truename. Of course, they continue to function as normal magic items. You may alter these items to utilize your new truename, but you must spend 1,000 gp and 100 XP per item you wish to affect, and you must do so during the rite you perform to establish your new truename. Furthermore, each item adds 1 hour to the time required to complete the ritual.