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Alright, this has to do with the diabolist in my Savage Tide game. He wants to make sure that in the campaign he'll have time for researching at least one or two true names, so he can use the capstone of his prestige class. I do not know if there is enough time for him to research some true names (it takes at least one month in a library), and I was curious if there were any other ways you guys could think to take it taken care of? Back in 3.5 wizards could do stuff like go to other planes where time passes more slowly or not at all in relation to the prime, and that would have made it possible to do the research. I'm not sure in pathfinder, any advice?
Anyone that's run the adventure all the way through (charlie bell i'm looking at you) do you know if this PC will have enough down time to do this during the campaign?
The next reasonable spot for a down time occurs in the two months (or more, at your discretion) the party has to prepare Farshore for the invasion by the Crimson Fleet. After the victory at Farshore, that is another spot for down time. After completing Into the Lightless Depths, the PCs should be able to rest for a while, although several months would be stretching the credibility of the storyline a bit.
Completing the City of Broken Idols should tie into Serpents of Scuttlecove rather quickly, unless you rework the kidnapping of Lavinia to occur at an ideal time (during the night perhaps, when everyone is asleep or absent from Farshore).
Into The Maw occurs pratically right after Serpents of Scuttlecove so no down time is feasible there. However, the PCs can take some down time after Into The Maw before starting Wells of Darkness. Likewise, before embarking completely into Enemies of My Enemy, the PCs can take time off for downtime or to digest what Shami-Amourae and Charon has revealed to them. However, extended period of down time would again stretch the suspense of disbelief since the players are supposed to feel that the Savage Tide can occur in a relatively short time frame (maybe six to eight months of game time from the end of Into The Maw?).
Finally, although it is stated that the players can take as long as they need to prepare for The Prince of Demons, I recommend taking no longer than maybe a month of game time (otherwise, realistically, Demogorgon should be better prepared then).
I would say that depending on how your players intends to research for true names, the amount of time spent would vary. Obviously having access to the Demonomicon in Wells of Darkness would greatly help the character. He could spend his time summoning/binding demons/devils to barter for access to a true name (or if he is doing things like contact other planes, he could be using that as a means to narrow down possibilities of a true name found in the tomes he is researching).
Alternatively, you could run a solo adventure for him where he delves a low-level area (he gains no experience points) in which he has to run against a clock to steal the books/"artifact" (read: item, like a scroll, that reveals the true name he was looking for) before the lower level npcs steal his prize from him.
Another possibility is that he could receive some "gifts" from powerful patrons like Iggwilv or even Red Shroud in the form of true names in the process of having that player character owe them unnamed favours in the future.
I hope I have helped you in your endeavour here to assure your player that there are ample down time (if taken properly and he uses his time wisely) to obtain true names for his purposes.
Oh, and you could sprinkle a true name or two in obscure places in the areas of The Lightless Depths, City of Broken Idols, Serpents of Scuttlecove (there is a diabolist in town!), Into The Maw, Wells of Darkness, Enemies of My Enemy, and The Prince of Demons.
CB out.