So in our group, we have a power word wizard who wants to be your typical power hungry, eventually end boss mage. One of our allies, a suli, has stopped his character a few times from killing people who our mage felt 'deserved it'.
Using the rules in the UC, it states that somewhere on every outsiders body is written their True Name. He wants to find the suli's true name, but it was brought up that most native outsiders are partly human, whose true names are not as easy to learn. He, as you've no doubt deduced by now, wants to take control of the suli and force him to do the wizard's will. No where have I seen anything in the true names area about native outsiders, so how would it work, if it can work?
Okay, let's open the question up a bit. What if the target is an Aasimar or Tiefling?
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Since I'm currently playing a Tiefling, I suppose the question is relevant...
True Names
There is one method of outsider coercion that helps guarantee that a binder can bargain from a position of relative security. Many spellcasters believe that a true name is inscribed on the essence of every creature, a secret word that describes it so perfectly and utterly that to speak the name is to define the being. For mortals, this name is buried in the soul, hidden away from prying and dangerous eyes. Outsiders' true names take the form of sigils carved upon their very essence. In Hell, these sigils change as the devil changes in stature, and some that may once have held power over certain devils have become outdated. It is said that some outsiders have assumed names and that they use the aliases to lure foolish mortals into using for summoning; the outsider pretends to be under the control of the binder, but merely bides its time before it strikes.
To discover a single outsider's true name, a spellcaster must spend at least a month in a library or on a quest of discovery to uncover occult mysteries and riddles hidden in the pages of books, scrolls, and glyphs written millennia ago, buried in ancient temples or found among the ravings of madmen's spellbooks. At the end of this month, the GM makes a Knowledge (planes) check for the character. The DC is 10 + the creature's Hit Dice. The GM can increase the DC by +2, +5, or even +10, based on the power of the outsider or the circumstances of the true name search. A failure by 5 or more turns up false information that may expose researchers to unexpected dangers.
For most outer-planar outsiders, knowledge of the creature's true name is a powerful weapon. In summoning, if the name is spoken correctly (requiring knowledge of at least one of the outsider's languages, or a Linguistics skill check with a DC equal to 10 + the creature's Hit Dice), the target takes a –5 penalty on the Will save to resist being conjured, and if its name is inscribed in the protective magic circle, the outsider takes a –5 penalty on all checks to escape or breach that circle.
Not all outsiders have true names. The chaotic and primeval nature of proteans defies the strange logic of true names, as does the writhing chaotic nature of the qlippoth. It is unclear whether aeons have true names. There are those sages who believe each aeon has two true names, and only by finding out both names can a creature gain some control over the aeon, but such matters are purely conjecture.
So it is an assumption that all creatures have true names, followed by a final paragraph outright stating that the assumption is wrong, because some creatures just don't have them.
Whether tieflings/aasimar have them remains undecided, but they probably do, since both mortals and celestials/fiends have them.
What it means for something to be carved on your "essence" is a bit vague; this might be physical body, or something else. Vague.
The game system for discovering true names is way easy though; DC = 10+HD. Although it strikes me as dubious that the thousand-year old books you consult actually mention your party members.
Note that a true name doesn't allow you to do everything; it just helps on magic circles and planar binding spells. Using planar binding on a native outsider takes some extra work, since the spell lures a creature from another plane to this one. The TN doesn't do anything else, according to these strict rules.
Final verdict: true names are a rather rough-around-the-edges rule; pretty low research DC that a well-built wizard/bard could auto-succeed on.
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You might also ponder just how sportsmanlike the wizard's player is, and if he's really thought this through. It takes considerably less research for the suli to cut the wizard's throat in his sleep before he discovers the true name.
True Names, for what you are asking, are for those with racial HD, not ones that work by class levels.
That is why the specific outsiders that are binded are mentioned, such as Devils, Demons, Daemons, and so on.
Many spellcasters believe that a true name is inscribed on the essence of every creature, a secret word that describes it so perfectly and utterly that to speak the name is to define the being. For mortals, this name is buried in the soul, hidden away from prying and dangerous eyes. Outsiders’ true names take the form of sigils carved upon their very essence
Tieflings are mortals with outsider lineage, but they are not true outsiders in the sense that devils and demons are, as an example, so their true names would be hidden in their souls.
For normal outsiders the body and soul are one unit so it is on their bodies as stated above.
I agree with wraithstrike, native outsiders like tieflings, aasimar, or others are affected by their true names in the same way that humans and other mortals are. That is to say, not at all. Only true outsiders whose body and soul are one would be affected by their true name. Native outsiders have body soul duality, as evidenced by their ability to be resurrected normally, and as such are unaffected. Your wizard cannot succeed at using the suli's truename against him. And he would not be able to find it in a book either.
Using standard magic to try and turn the suli to his side like charm monster (note, that he is still an outsider and spells like charm person don't work), quest, etc will still be effective. But he doesn't get an "I win" button like he thinks he does. Personally, I hate PVP and wouldn't allow this at my table. I would tell the wizard player he needs to start working with the group or else his character is gone.
Thanks all. Yeah, the guy is a real d-bag, but the GM keeps him around cause we're short on people. Luckily, when he's shown evidence like this, he backs down from such topics. Though, his character will probably just try to get rid of the suli, meaning the rest of the party will have to do something about it.