Rune Based Magic System

[sjshack]

Has anyone seen or made a rune based magic system, sort of a build your own spell with a set of runes, that could duplicate some/most d20 style spells?

[Scorpina]

There's Rune Magic in FR, but I doubt it's really what you're looking for (or anything like it, really).

[Calver]

Maybe I haven't been gaming long enough to have heard of/seen a rune system before, however I think I might have a some ideas where to start if you're interested in making your own. Once again, can't recall how one would work, but I'm going to attempt to help (:elan: <- Yeah, may only end up being equivalent to a bard song, but I think it will still help :smallbiggrin:).

Spellstitched Undead (Complete Arcane): Recieve spells-per-day according to the runes inscribed on them. May be a way to start building and a good idea on how to measure the power and "level cost" of a rune.

Weapons of Legacy: At the end of the book, under the "Make your own Legacy item" it has options for abilities that only activate when gems, sticks, whatever are in the proper order. Sounds like the "building spells from different runes: that you mentioned. Unless you already have the book, however, I wouldn't suggest going out to get it until another 1 or 2 people here agrees.

If I think up any other leads, I'll give a holler, but that's the best I can come up with for right now :smallfrown:

[Balesirion]

There's the runesmith prestige class from Races of Stone, which allows dwarf wizards to prepare spells with a rune component instead of a somatic component, meaning they can cast spells in armor. In fact, I'm planning on making one fairly soon.

[BDO]

In an old variant pro edition of a german roleplaying game, there was actually a rune-based system which allowed, no, demanded, that you had to cast runestones for the effect of a spell.

The game was called DSA professional and is now available as free content. It's in german, after all...

[Marius]

There's a rune system in the Warcraft rpg, in the book "More Magic & Mayhem" I don't remember how the system works but I'll post it if I have a little time.

[Tormsskull]

I made a Runemaster PrC once. It allowed an arcane caster to enchant a rune with one of their spells, permanently removing it from their 'spells per day'. They could then use the rune on a piece of their own equipment or someone elses. The Runemaster could instantly destroy a rune in their own possession, freeing up the spell slot (but it comes back to the Runemaster empty), but if it was not in their possession they were out of luck.

[mikeejimbo]

There's the runesmith prestige class from Races of Stone, which allows dwarf wizards to prepare spells with a rune component instead of a somatic component, meaning they can cast spells in armor. In fact, I'm planning on making one fairly soon.

Nice, I would love that. I should buy Races of Stone just for it.

[Zeal]

The system you're looking for is, from what I can gather and my rather vague knowledge, similar to the spell seed system of the Epic levels. You might have to do quite a bit of work, but it could fit what you're going for.

[Gralamin]

Please consider what your doing.
A Rune based magic system in the DS game Lost magic resulted in this:

http://db.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/lostmagic_spells.png

And thats with the ability to use 3 runes at once and a total of 18 runes.

[Ultimatum479]

........ROFLMDGMFAO.

Gralamin wins this round.

[sjshack]

Please consider what your doing.
A Rune based magic system in the DS game Lost magic resulted in this:

http://db.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/lostmagic_spells.png

And thats with the ability to use 3 runes at once and a total of 18 runes.

Wow. Hmmm...
Well what I have been working on is more like: One rune for the school, one rune to denote duration, target(self, touch, ranged touch, sight or point in space, unseen or named target), range (self, touch, close, medium, far, unseen), area(self, target, ray, line, cone, sphere, etc.). Then one for each element, energy type, etc. Then some for some types like compulsion, mind-effecting, language, good, evil, etc.
Like...

Magic Missile
Duration: Instantaneous
School: Evocation
Range: Medium
Target: Sight
Area: Target
Other Runes: Force

Fire Ball
Duration: Instantaneous
School: Evocation
Range: Medium
Target: Sight
Area: Sphere
Other Runes: Fire

Hold Person
Duration: Rounds
School: Enchantment
Range: Close
Target: Sight
Area: Target
Other Runes: Humanoid, Compulsion, Mind-Affecting, ???

But then you have more other spells that might not work for, like fly or disintegrate.

Rune Spell casters would basically trade spells per day for runes but I haven't really started exploring that yet.
?

[Calver]

Ok, I think I'm starting to understand, but would these runes have a number of uses per day, or could you activate a rune in general a number of times per day? Or is the fact that you need so many runes to do these things the justification for not giving them a limit?

[sjshack]

I was thinking of using the sorcerer spells known/spells perday for runes known/spells per day. The rune spell level would depend on the highest level rune. What I am having the hardest time with is what runes would I need to replicate most of the spells. If there ends up being too many runes it would become very cumbersome.