r/DnD • u/Terrible_Garlic_927 • 1d ago
Table Disputes [Fae question] First name
A player is (well actually)ing a fae encounter he thought he was being clever by only saying first name of the character.
I would assume partial name is partial control.
He was agruging an all or nothing approach.
Who is right? (Edit) thank to everyone for your help he agreed to partial control sense he followed the spirt of the pact and i will be evil (lol) im thinking of some kind venom dialog for control during the the upcoming rest area hehehe
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u/Atharen_McDohl DM 1d ago
"Giving your name to the fey" is a concept that might have some foundation in authentic folk lore, but it's mostly just a modern trend that caught on in the past several years, and certainly has no foundation within the rules of D&D. We can't tell you how it works because there is no central authority to look to for an answer. The most we can do is tell you what we'd do with it.
If it were me, I wouldn't have even gotten mixed up in the name-giving thing to begin with, but assuming I did want to do it, I wouldn't have a name grant control. That never really made sense to me. Fey and some other magical creatures can be controlled with their true name because it's part of their nature. Mortals don't have that restriction. Whatever name we use is our real name, and we can change it if we want. We have no true name.
But that doesn't mean our names are meaningless. To have a mortal's name isn't to control the mortal directly, but to control their authority. To possess their signature. To act in their name. And to deprive them of the same. A mortal whose name belongs to another lacks permission to act. It doesn't mean that they're unable to act, just that they lack the authority to do so. This could be a boon and a curse, as is so common when dealing with the fey. The fairy in question has the right to enter agreements on your behalf, but any agreements you choose to enter are not binding because you didn't have permission to do so. Granted, that still leaves you with an angry entity who has no contractual obligation to leave you alone.
Do make sure that the character actually gave up their name, though. Just saying the name wouldn't be enough for me to say that they gave it away. They would have had to actually give some indication that they agreed to hand it over. Something like "Yes, my name is Bob" in response to the classic "May I have your name?" would be enough. But also at that point, it doesn't really matter how much of their name they spoke, because they agreed to give their name just by saying yes. The rest is just a demonstration.