Summary

The Words of Creation are fragments of a lost language thought to be the precursor of the Celestial tongue. Very few celestials remember some of these words, and even fewer mortals have access to one or two of them as well. So great is their power that no mortal mind can comprehend more than three or four words, and no evil tongue can speak them or bear their sound. A character must take the Words of Creation feat to be able to use these words in any way. It is possible, though difficult, to communicate entirely using the Words of Creation. It has no words for evil concepts such as misery, despair, hate, and betrayal, while the subtlety of its terminology for beauty, kindness, and mercy is astonishing. It has no written form, and if transliterated into writing it loses all power and meaning. Besides communication, there are four essential ways to use the Words of Creation.

Celestial Choir

The Words of Creation can be woven into song, forming music that surpasses any earthly melody and echoes the grandeur of the music of the heavens. A bard who has the Words of Creation feat can use these powerful words to enhance his bardic music ability as detailed below. When a bard uses the Words of Creation in this manner, it is extremely draining, and the bard takes 1d4 points of nonlethal damage for each rank in Perform required to produce the bardic music effect he is enhancing. For example, if Devis uses the Words of Creation to double an inspire courage effect (minimum 3 ranks in Perform), he takes 3d4 points of nonlethal damage. If he uses the words to enhance an inspire heroics effect (minimum 18 ranks in Perform), he takes 18d4 points of nonlethal damage.

The Words of Creation doubles the effect of several bardic music abilities:

• Inspire Courage: Double the morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear and the morale bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls (+2 at 1st level, +4 at 8th level, +6 at 14th level, +8 at 20th level).

• Inspire Competence: +4 competence bonus on skill checks.

• Inspire Greatness: Gain 4 bonus Hit Dice (d10s), the commensurate number of temporary hit points (apply the target’s Constitution modifier to these bonus Hit Dice), +4 competence bonus on attacks, and +2 competence bonus on Fortitude saves.

• Inspire Heroics: +8 morale bonus on saving throws, +8 dodge bonus to AC. For bardic music abilities that require a Perform check (countersong, fascinate), the Words of Creation grant the bard a +4 sacred bonus on the check. The Words of Creation also increase the saving throw DC for the suggestion and dominate abilities by +2. The Words of Creation increase the bard’s effective caster level for the song of freedom by +2.

Creation

In accordance with their original purpose, the Words of Creation can greatly enhance any process of creation. If they are spoken as part of the casting of a Conjuration (Creation) spell, the duration of the spell is doubled (as if the Extend Spell feat had been applied to it, but without increasing the spell’s level). Spells with an instantaneous duration are not affected. If they are spoken while using any Craft skill, they grant the crafter a +4 sacred bonus on the Craft check. These uses of the Words of Creation do not deal nonlethal damage to the speaker.

Exalted Power

The Words of Creation help energize good magic items and spells. If used in conjunction with a good spell that has a verbal component, the Words of Creation increase the spell’s effective caster level by +1. If used when creating a good magic item, the Words of Creation increase the item’s caster level by +1 without increasing the cost. Both caster level increases are considered sacred bonuses.

Using the Words of Creation to enhance a good spell deals 1d4 points of nonlethal damage to the caster per 2 spell levels (none for a 0- or 1st-level spell, up to 4d4 for a 9th-level spell). Using them to enhance a magic item deals no nonlethal damage, since their use is measured out over a long period of time.

True Name

Each creature has a unique true name among the Words of Creation. No mortal is familiar with the countless true names of every creature in the world, no matter how extensively she has studied the Words of Creation. Nevertheless, a character familiar with the Words of Creation can research a specific creature’s true name if she has access to legend lore and either contact other plane or commune. Researching a true name is similar to researching a new spell. It requires one week per 2 HD of the creature and an expenditure of 1,000 gp per week. The character must cast (or have cast on her behalf ) legend lore once each week, but the material component cost is included in the research cost. At the end of the research time, the character must cast commune or contact other plane, paying the XP cost for commune if applicable. Then she makes a Knowledge check, using the specialty appropriate to the target creature’s type (arcana for a construct or dragon, religion for an undead, and so on). The DC for this check is 10 + the creature’s Hit Dice. If the check succeeds, the character has discovered the creature’s true name. If it fails, the character must go through the research process again if she wants to keep trying. Once a character has discovered a creature’s true name, she can exercise her power over that creature in a number of different ways.

• She can impose a –4 penalty on the creature’s saving throws to resist a specific compulsion spell or effect.

• She can reduce the creature’s spell resistance by 4 or reduce the amount of its damage reduction by 5. This reduction lasts for 1 minute.

• She can cast teleport or greater teleport on the creature without including herself as a target of the spell.

• She can gain a +6 bonus on her opposed Charisma check to compel service from the creature after she summons it with a planar binding spell.

Each of these actions requires a full-round action, which includes speaking the creature’s true name and a binding incantation in the Words of Creation. Uttering the incantation deals 5d4 points of nonlethal damage to the speaker. The character and the creature do not have to be in the same area or even the same plane—it is possible, for example, to reduce a creature’s spell resistance before using planar binding to summon it to the Material Plane. The one exception is the teleportation function, which requires the character to touch the creature after speaking its true name and the incantation.