Names have power.
We recently introduced a new playtest option for the wizard: Onomancy, the magic of names. Learn more about it in this video: – You have a lot of
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Unearthed Arcana coming outand there’s a lot of interesting ones.
One of them is there’s
a new wizard subclass
that feels very
much the stuff of legends, correct?
Tell me about this.
– So this week in Unearthed Arcana,
we unveiled
Onomancy,
a tradition of wizardry
that focuses on the magic of true names.
Now, true names, of course are a big deal
in real-world folklore,
this idea that you can gain
special power over someone
or something by knowing its true name.
This motif appears in many folktales,
in many fantasy stories;
it’s even something
that already is in D&D.
There is some commentary about true names
in the monster manual.
Demons
don’t like their true names being used.
And so we thought, as has been done before
in D&D’s past, we would explore
Onomancy as a form of magic.
And in this case,
specifically for the wizard.
And so what we did is
we created the subclass
that allows the wizard to gain advantages
over particular targets by
knowing their true name.
Now, one of those advantages
is literally having advantage,
I mean, rather them having disadvantage
on some of their roles
because you have uttered their true name.
– Which is already so mean (laughs)
– Oh, yes. Yeah.
– Yeah, it’s very power…
I mean
of course is what you want
and that’s like second level.
– Yeah.
– [Todd] Yeah.
– And we’ve also given this wizard
a suite of different abilities
that they can choose from
to modify the effects of a spell,
again, all relying on the
wizard knowing the true name
of the person they’re targeting.
These are things like
causing it to do more damage.
Again, making it harder for
them to save against the spell.
One of my favorites is
the one where we allow you
to target somebody who
you can’t see and is even
behind total cover as long as
you uttered their true name
and they’re within range of the spell.
Situational, but in particular situations,
that would be horrifying.
Just suddenly magic is happening to you
because somewhere nearby,
your true name was uttered.
– I love that.
That almost makes you the
Archaean archer of wizardry,
in a sense.
But, yeah, because I know your name.
You cannot hide from my magic.
That’s such a primordial
idea of magic,
right?
– And this wizard,
with that primordial power,
is also able to bolster allies
and curse foes by using
the bless and bane spells,
which is unusual for a wizard.
Those spells are typically associated
with a class like the cleric,
but this wizard, thanks again to the power
of knowing someone’s true name,
can utter an ally’s true name
and use that magic
to bless a group of
people or the opposite,
utter a foe’s true name and then cast bane
on a group of foes.
And we were, kind of,
imagining that the creature
whose name is being uttered,
they’re serving as a
conduit for those spells
and this wizard has both of
those spells always prepared.
They’re always ready to bless
people and also to curse them.
– I like it because, and how it’s worded,
the name of someone becomes the component.
– Yes.
And we also, in the subclass,
talk about what, in fact,
is a true name.
It could be your given name.
It could be a name you’ve chosen.
It could be a name you’ve earned.
If you’re worried about people
using your name in magic,
well then you might use a
pseudonym in everyday life.
There are many folktales that
involve people who use names
that are not actually their real name.
But then we even have a note saying
if you use a false name long enough,
it might actually become your
true name if it is the name
that you associate with yourself.
When you think of yourself,
if you have enough
mornings where you wake up
and the name that you
associate with yourself
is your false one,
well then that false name
might become your true name
and then could be used
against you by an necromancer.
– It’s a good example of…
Well, strangely, in my
family for some reason,
all the men go by their middle
name and I have no idea why.
– [Jeremy] Maybe so that a wizard
can’t use your true name against you.
– Hmm.
But also when you think of Batman,
or
Bruce Wayne, who is he really?
– [Jeremy] Right.
– Really feels like he’s Batman,
to make a comic book reference to that.
– Yeah, or
Gandalf has
a whole bunch of names.
– [Todd] Yes, Gandalf
has so many names (laughs).
– And
those names are not the
name that he originally had
in the West when he was a
divine being before being sent
to Middle-earth.
But then you wonder with Gandalf,
has one of those names become
actually his true name?
I mean, we don’t know, but–
– And that transition
from Gandalf the Grey
to Gandalf the White,
but Mithrandir’s the Elvin name for him.
– But even that’s not
his original name.
– [Todd] That’s not
his real name.
– Yeah.
– I feel terrible, but I
forget his real name right now;
it’s driving me nuts.
– [Jeremy] You have to go
to the Silmarillion for that.
– [Todd] Yeah, I know, I know.
I have the Silmarillion (laughs).
– I don’t wanna utter it because if I did,
he might appear and–
– [Todd] Please utter it–
– and be very…
– Cause if Ian McKellen just pops in,
that’s fantastic.
– It wouldn’t be Ian McKellen,
it would be Gandalf.
(laughing)
– [Todd] I think Ian
McKellen is his true name
(laughing)
– No, if it would summon Ian McKellen,
I would say it.
I would say it as many times as necessary.
– [Todd] Until he got very cross with you.
– Yes.
(laughing)
He would say, “Please,
sir, stop summoning me.”
– What is the story that you’re
telling with this subclass?
– So
it’s not only tapping into
folklore about true names,
but it’s also tapping into this
story of the wizard itself.
The wizard is all about knowledge, texts,
and a big part of text
is the name of things.
So this is a natural fit for the wizard.
We, of course , could
have explored Onomancy
in maybe another spell-casting class,
perhaps the bard.
But
the wizard as
the spell-caster of texts,
I mean, this is the only
spell-caster we have
where so much of their
identity is about a book,
and libraries, and things
being written down;
These are the spell-casters,
I think, that would most
master the power of the name.
– It adds another dimension to
magic, in D&D as well for me.
Like you said,
demons not wanting their true names known
and that’s a touch of paranoia.
– Yeah, yeah.
And
if Onomancy was turned into,
not only something for the
wizard in a particular campaign,
but a bigger deal in
the campaign at large.
You could imagine entire cultures
where people have multiple names
and
it just would become in practice,
that any of us might
have three, four names.
And in fact, I our
world, there are actually
a number of cultures
where that is the case.
I mean, even many of us,
I have a middle name;
I never go by it,
but it’s kind of a
fascinating cultural relic.
Why do I have multiple names?
And, again, there are a
number of answers for why,
but even in our world,
there are actually many
well-established traditions
that we don’t even think about
’cause we’re so used to it,
of one person having multiple names.
– That’s very interesting.
– [Jeremy] Yeah.
– Yeah, I love this brand of magic
and being able to change out and swap out
the effect that you can
place on any spell is…
If you wanna be the most wizardy wizard,
right now that’s what
it feels like for me.
– [Jeremy] Right.
– I can really attune my
magic very specifically
for that great effect,
but I have to think
about it ahead of time.
I needed to decide what
kind of wizard I’m gonna be
using these names.
– And if you are meeting
somebody for the first time,
you could try to get their
true name out of them
using your extract name feature.
If that fails, it will never
work on that person again,
but that doesn’t mean you
can’t get their true name;
it just means,
basically, you’re shortcut got blocked,
but you can now still try
to get it out of them,
either by being persuasive,
by reading their mind,
by doing some research.
– [Todd] Talking to their
friends, their family, yeah.
– Yep, talking to people
who know them well.
You could imagine a campaign,
actually becoming a lot about this,
this hunt for people’s real names.
– Yeah, I love it.
And I would totally play in that campaign.
(laughing)
When a name becomes more
important than a artifact,
or a powerful spell,
or
feeding this great creature,
when you can make an entire campaign
about finding certain names.
That lends itself to a
whole new kind of campaign
and I think that’s very exciting.
– And I would love
to see this triggered in
a group of characters,
suddenly this awareness of,
“Really, what is my true name?”
– [Todd] Yeah.
– I mean, even us as players
in DMs could ponder this
in the real world.
(laughing)
Yeah, when we hear our name,
do we really associate ourselves with it?
https://t.co/d6qJ2oqV2S via @YouTube #DnD @ToddKenreck @Wizards_DnD @Dan_Dillon_1
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) October 7, 2019