The Campaign Builder's Guild

THE RUNESIGN

There are many runes of power - some lesser, and some greater - which make up the repertoire of the Runesign. Some are whistled, or spoken, others are signed with fingers or writing - but all have their uses. There is a runesign for fire, for goblins, and for five - combining the three will burn the five goblins you indicate. Combining their known marks in this way, a Runesign can become powerful in his own areas of expertise.

Adventures: Many Runesigns see adventures as a way to learn new Runes - and thus grant them more power. Others see it as a way to use their powers to help - or harm - others. It all depends on what the Runesign's focus in life is.

Characteristics: A Runesign has power, but not that of a fighter - the ability to put strength behind a blow - nor that of a wizard - powerful evocations to shake the world. A Runesign can keep on casting runes long after a wizard runs out of energy, but throwing fireballs or bolts of lighting is, for the most part, beyond him. Only greater runes such as the Rune of Fire and Rune of Destruction can accomplish that - Runes which a wary Runesign fears to speak or mark.

Religion: Most Runesigns follow Boccob, God of Magic, or Wee Jas. After all, these deities of magic, something which the Runesign manipulates. Other deities include Vecna - the god of secrets and writings - for he can grant them access to the deeper consciousness of magic, secrets that have never been told to any before.

Background: Many Runesigns are found to have magical talent when young, but don't manifest the magical powers of a sorceror and cannot master the subtle arts of a wizard's spells. Many are left powerless - until, one day, they form their first rune.
Parts of runes are often found in the childhood drawings and sand writings of possible runesigns, but it's not until, usually, around fifteen that a Runesign first draws a rune. It might be whilst sleepwalking, or a doodle on paper - but then, power flows into it. From then on, a Runesign's mind becomes changed - for the worse, or for the better - and their life changes with it.

Races: Out of all the races, elves and halflings seem to have the best ability to become Runesigns - their free spirit and, in the elves' case, natural affinity for magic - showing through. A surprising amount of dwarves also become runesigns, and a few humans (although they are the minority race). Few gnomes or orcs ever become Runesigns.

Other Classes: Runesigns are most comfortable around other magic-using classes - many famous Runesigns have discovered more Runes by binding the power of other mages, and still others are attempting to discover more. Still, weapon-using classes are also welcome - something to depend upon, something easily described by the Runes.

Role: Runesigns are, in a way, more versatile than a wizard and more spontaneous than a sorceror. They can use their runes an infinite number of times per day (providing they can keep speaking them and don't suffer any ill effects) and can learn an infinite amount. However, even the Greater Runes will never match the effect of a Wish spell, or open a Gate to another realm - neither will they raise the dead or kill with a word. A lesser power lies in the hand of a Runesign, but a great one nonetheless.

 Game Rule Information
Runesigns have the following game statistics:

Abilities: Charisma is important to a Runesign. It dictates what level of Runes he can learn, affects Rune DCs and is the Key Ability for the skill that is used when signing runes - Runecraft (see below). Dexterity and constitution help the Runesign stay alive on the battlefield, and intelligence allows him to gain more ranks in other skills than just Runecraft. Wisdom can grant the Runesign more resistance to mental effects. Strength is generally unimportant to a Runesign.

Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: D6.

 Class Skills
The Runesign's Class Skills (and the key ability for each skill) are: Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Religion), Profession (Wis), Runecraft (Cha), Speak Language (Int or None, depending on whether you use my system or not).
Skill Points at First Level: 2 + Int Modifier x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int Modifier.

[class=The Runesign][bab=wizard][will=good][special][1]Magesight[/1][5]Rune of Power[/5][10]Rune of Power[/10][15]Rune of Power[/15][20]Rune of Power[/20][/special][/class]

Class Features

Weapon and Armour Proficiency: A Runesign gains proficiency with the quarterstaff, shortbow, light crossbow, heavy crossbow, dagger and shortsword. He also gains proficiency with light armour.

Runecasting: The primary class feature of the Runesign is his ability to cast Runes - small characters of power in a long-forgotten alphabet. Some are spoken, some are written, some whistled, some sung, some performed in sign language - however, all runes share some base qualities. For more information on runes, see the Runecasting section later on in this chapter.

A Runecaster can use his runes unlimited times per day, and does not need to prepare them. The DC for a Runecaster's rune is equal to 10 + rune level + his charisma modifier. He learns three new runes every level, and can learn them from certain magical texts and other Runecasters. Doing either requires a spellcraft check of DC 15 + spell level, just as if he were a wizard learning a new spell. However, unlike a wizard, if he fails he can attempt to learn the same rune again as soon as he's either rested for eight hours or gained a rank in spellcraft, whichever comes first.

Magesight: At 1st level, the Runecaster gains Detect Magic as a constant supernatural ability, suppressable at will. It has a caster level equal to his Runecaster level.

Greater Rune: At 5th level, and every five levels afterward, a Runecaster learns a greater rune. These runes are more powerful - capable of destroying enemies with a word or moving vast distances - but are also dangerous to the Runecaster.

Runes and their Uses - How to use Rune Magic

Rune Magic can be as simple as you want it to be, or as complex. Here are listed the fundamentals of Rune Magic. First of all, some basic terms used here.

Character and creature are usually used synonymously.
Effects are what actually occurs, the product of the Rune String.
Rune Strings are 'sentences' of runes that are used to create effects.
Rune Level is the level of the Rune used - ranging from one to six.
Descriptor Runes are numbers and locations (among other things) to target your runecasting.
Greater Runes are the more powerful runes used to create devastating effects.
Rune DCs are the difficulty classes for characters to attempt to meet whilst using the Runecraft skill to cast a rune.

Casting Runes

There are three simple steps to casting Runes: Deciding which runes to use, readying the Rune String, and casting it.

Decisions: First of all, you have to decide what you want to do and work out whether you have the runes for it. Let's say we want to make steam to bungle our enemies. We choose the rune for steam and the rune for enemies - but how many enemies? To make the DC manageable, we decide to cast it on three of the four, so we choose the 'Three' descriptor rune. Now we have our very own Rune String!

Readying the Rune String: A Rune String takes a standard action to ready, fixing it in the Runecaster's mind. Rune Strings can be cast freely without being prepared again for (2D6 + Int Modifier) rounds after being readied, after which they must be readied again.
A Runecaster can increase the save DC of his runes by also raising his Runecraft DC (see below) - one for one. For instance, a level 4 Runesign with 16 charisma casting a level 1 rune would have a base save DC of 14, which he could increase to 16 by also adding +2 to the Runecraft DC to cast the rune.

Casting the Rune String: A Rune String can, once readied, be cast (unsurprisingly). Casting a Rune is a standard action, meaning that you can't ready a rune and then cast it in the same round. To cast the Rune String, you have to make the DC on a skill check. The DC for a Rune String is equal to that of its highest-level Rune (see the Runecraft description for details) +1/level of each additional rune. For instance, a Runespell using one 2nd-level rune and two first-level runes would use the base DC of the most powerful rune, the 2nd-level one (DC 14) plus 1 per level of each additional rune (2). Therefore, the DC would be 16.


Rune List

Rune Magic Monsters

Rune Magic Prestige Classes

 Runecraft (Int)

Runecraft is a skill used to cast Runes - magical letters that each have their own way of pronunciation and/or signing. You use this skill to meet Rune DCs. The base Rune DCs are stated on the table below:

[th]Level[/th][th]Base DC[/th]

1	12
2	14
3	16
4	18
5	20
6	22

Greater runes' DCs vary depending on the Rune.

I have to say I like the opening pharagraph and the way you worded it. The class actually reminds me of a combination of two classes I'm brewing up for Vilydunn (a spellcaster based on numbers and a rune caster). Interested in seeing your crunch. :)

;) up and coming.

In essentia, the Runesign is a 'skillbased' caster, who can use his powers nigh-on infinitely per day. However, unlike the truenamer, the DCs of his 'spells' remain fixed - they're based on Rune level, not opponent level.

Interesting idea.  It has potential.

Do you mean you could use a fire rune, a three rune, and a goblin rune to light 3 goblins on fire?

*nod*

But it's not quite as simple as that. Stringing runes together can require caster checks or skill checks - and plus, Fire is a Greater Rune, which can have adverse effects on the caster.

Wow! This looks wicked. I like skill based magic, i like language based magic, i like math based magic and i really like easily morphic magic (like golem's system. It was golem, right?). Your system has all of these and the fluff looks really cool so far. I look forward to the crunch.

*nod* it was my system, if you mean the weaves.

I really need to get them talents finished. :P

Some updates!

I like the flavor of it, to be sure.

Question, is it up to the Runesign how to interpret the runes? For instance, if I used 'water' 'three' and 'human', I could be trying to give three humans a magical shower, or drown them, or simply make glasses of water appear.

Also, do individuals have their own unique runes? For instance, each runesign having a unique 'me' rune. Additionally, would using these unique runes allow greater power over the subject? For instance, it being better to identify the subject as 'bob' rather than 'half-orc'.

Doesn't making the DC go up with Cha mean your Cha mod automatically cancels out? So, a high Cha Runesign can't cast his runes any better than a low Cha one? I'm assuming they increase Save DC or other effects in writing this, or else it would be entirely pointless.


Anyway, looks like a neat idea. From you description of Greater Runes you're counting on balancing the class by making all it's runes either no more powerful than a melee attack or risky to the caster. Just make sure you're careful with any buff or out of combat type runes that could be spammed.

Quote from: Fatal ErrorDoesn't making the DC go up with Cha mean your Cha mod automatically cancels out? So, a high Cha Runesign can't cast his runes any better than a low Cha one? I'm assuming they increase Save DC or other effects in writing this, or else it would be entirely pointless.

Anyway, looks like a neat idea. From you description of Greater Runes you're counting on balancing the class by making all it's runes either no more powerful than a melee attack or risky to the caster. Just make sure you're careful with any buff or out of combat type runes that could be spammed.
[/quote]

*nod* Pretty much. A Runesign's almost like a magical fighter - he can go on with his weak attacks all day. However, a Runesign has more powerful spells too, only they're harder to say...

Updates.

if you're interested, i have a .jpg with a few phrases written in the RW runic language....

Color me intrigued... I'm a big fan of rune magic in general (Monte Cook's Runethane is pretty awesome), and even once tried to come up with a system pretty similar to yours (but alas, I failed :( ).  I lok forward to seeing more.