What does it take to use Trap the Soul on PCs?

[Ansibelle]

The spell Trap The Soul (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/t/trap-the-soul/) can be cast in a tricksy no-save way via a trigger object with "the creature's name and the trigger word" inscribed on it.

Given that the spell is largely centered around outsiders, my assumption (perhaps wrongly) is that you need the true name of the target to be able to use it on them (Eg. you can't just write "Joe Balor" on it, but you need to know Joe's true name of KEFKLSKLFKLSSFKLJFFSJLFSKLJ or what have you.)

So, do PCs have magical true names that would have to be somehow discovered for the spell to be used against them in this manner? Or is it really just a question of knowing their birth name? Or is their given name good enough?

[Val'bryn2]

It really isn't covered too much by the rules, but based on a lot of literature that includes True Names, it's about Who you are, not just what people call you. To use one example, Hellboy is known as Anung un Rama, the Right Hand of Destruction. That had been his true name, which he rejected. And in that rejection, he changed his true name.

[Meirril]

Mainly it takes a sadistic GM. Trap the Soul is a plot device. This is as difficult or as easy as you want to make it. Spell specifies Name. What that means exactly is up to GM interpretation. True Names don't really exist in Pathfinder or D&D. The GM is free to rule that it works against the intended target only, or even that other people with similar names could be trapped because it is their name! (John Smith, and his followers Jonh Smyth and Jon Smithe who inspect all goods before they get handed over)

[merpius]

On the contrary; true names DO exist in pathfinder, at least for outsiders; you get a bonus for callings if you have the true name, and there's a Wizard Discovery where you "learn the true name of an outsider" and can just call them to do your stuff once a day.

Now, that being said, that doesn't mean that non-outsiders have true names, necessarily.s And, since Trap the Soul doesn't require the true name, only the name, I think RAW would be that any name that sufficiently references them would suffice. Presumably this means that someone with a secret identity, using their public identity would work; it IS their name, just their name while they adopt a particular persona.

[Hendelbolaf]

Like merpius said, no where in Trap the Soul does it mention a "true name", just the "name". So all you need to know is the character's name to gain the benefits of either method of trapping their soul.