Rune Master - New Class in Progress

[BulletMagnet]

Hello everyone,

I am working with my DM to create a class for his world. The objective is to create a new system for spell casting that revolves around runes. The idea being that runes can be used in several ways (like on people, objects, or even in the air as a sigil) to create different effects. We want to achieve the flexibility this enables, but still keep the power curve acceptable. You will likely see a blend of different classes coming through on this one in attempts to find ways to curtail it's strength in flexibility. Please feel free to provide constructive criticism on what/how you think we can make it better and balanced.

---edited---

So the concept has evolved significantly while we have tried to balance it out and make it simple enough for 5th. So the runic feel and flexibility should be there, but hopefully simpler than creating a whole new system

Thanks!
/BulletMagnet

[BulletMagnet]

Rune Priest
You are one of the rare people who have descended from the fabled Rune Masters and have discovered the power of runes inscribed upon age old artifacts. The Rune Masters were the children of the ancients, purposefully created to protect the sacred knowledge of runic power and defend the tremendously powerful runic artifacts that enabled them to ascend. The knowledge of these runes has been lost throughout time, leaving only the rare few that know of their true potential.

Proficiencies: Light Armor, Medium Armor, Shields and Simple Weapons. Choose any 2 skills
Saving throws: Strength, Constitution
Hit Dice: D10




Level
Prof Bonus
Max Runic Power
Features
Runic Tattoos


1
2
-
Ancient Ancestry, Runic Tattoos
1


2
2
1
Rune Magic (Initiate), Runic Order
2


3
2
2
Ancestral Recall
3


4
2
2
Ability Score Improvement (ASI)
3


5
3
3
Runic Magic (Apprentice)
4


6
3
3
Rune Carving
4


7
3
4
Runic Order Feature]
5


8
3
4
ASI
5


9
4
5
Rune Magic (Adept)
6


10
4
5
Ancient Whispers
6


11
4
6
Rune State (+1 use/rest)
7


12
4
6
ASI
7


13
5
7
Rune Magic (Master)
8


14
5
7
Improved Rune Carving
8


15
5
8
Runic Order Feature
9


16
5
8
ASI
9


17
6
9
Rune Magic (Elder)
10


18
6
9
Ancient Presence
10


19
6
10
ASI
11


20
6
10
Runic Order Feature
11




Ancient Ancestry
At 1st level, an ancient runic mark appears underneath your skin, identifying you as a descendant of the Rune Masters. The mark aligns to one of the two Ancients that created the Rune Master in your lineage. The mark gives you the ability to manifest primordial power that aligns to their nature as you gain levels in Rune Priest. Choose one of the following Ancient and gain the associated Rune State Ability. A Rune State is a state of harmony during which you may channel the energy of your Ancient Ancestors and manifest their primordial energy in the reality around you. You may enter a Rune State as a bonus action and it lasts for 1 minute, or until you are knocked unconscious. Once you have used this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you may use it again. Each time you use this feature, you may select a different Rune States associated with your Ancient Aspect:




State of Wrath: All hostile creatures that start their turn within 5 ft of you take 1 damage. This increases to 2 damage at 9th level RunePriest and 3 damage at 17th level Rune Priest.
State of Renewal: You, and all friendly creatures that start their turn within 5 ft of you, regenerate 1 hit point per round. This increases to 2 hit points at 9th level RunePriest and 3 hit points at 17th level Rune Priest.





State of Suppression: You and any friendly creature within 5 ft of you is resistant to one type of damage. You may choose from: bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, fire, cold, force, lightning, thunder, acid, and psychic. You may choose an additional type of damage when you reach 9th level Rune Priest, and a third type upon reaching 17th level Rune Priest.
State of Renewal: You, and all friendly creatures that start their turn within 5 ft of you, regenerate 1 hit point. This increases to 2 hit points at 9th level RunePriest and 3 hit points at 17th level Rune Priest. .





State of Wrath: All hostile creatures that start their turn within 5 ft of you take 1 damage.This increases to 2 damage at 9th level RunePriest and 3 damage at 17th level Rune Priest.
State of Decay: All hostile creatures that start their turn within 5 ft of you have a -1 penalty to 1 of the following areas: Armor Class, All Skill Checks, All Ability Checks (including Initiative), and Saving Throws (Choose 1 from Str, Con, Int, Wis, Cha and Dex). You may choose an additional area to apply the penalty when you reach 9th level Rune Priest, and a third area upon reaching 17th level Rune Priest.



Runic Tattoo
At 1st level, your runic mark bestows upon you a runic tattoo imbued with magical power. Choose one runic tattoo from the list of runic tattoos at the end of this class description. As you gain levels in Rune Priest, you gain additional tattoos of your choice, as shown in the Runic Tattoo column of the Rune Priest table. You must meet all the prerequisites of a tattoo before you can choose it. Unless otherwise specified, all level requirements are for levels in Rune Priest and you may only choose a runic tattoo once.

Rune Magic
At 2nd level, your runic mark enables you to tap into the primordial life force of the Ancients called Runic Power. Some of your Rune Priest abilities generate Runic Power, while others expend Runic Power. Therefore, your runic power will ebb and flow as you fight your way through the battlefield. As you gain levels in Rune Priest, your maximum Runic Power will increase as shown in the Max Runic Power column of the Rune Priest table. When you finish a long rest, your Runic Power is reset and equals half of your Max Runic Power (rounded down) to a minimum of 1. Whenever you spend Runic Power invoke a spell, or create a spell-like effect use Constitution as your spellcasting stat and your Constitution modifier to determine all aspects of the spell.

Some of your Runic Tattoos hold a significant amount of power, but require experience to learn how to attune to them and unlock their true potential. When you activate these runes, you may only use their base ability, unless you possess the appropriate level of experience with Rune Magic. As you gain levels in Rune Priest, you will achieve these levels of experience as follows:


Initiate: At level 2 Rune Priest, you may activate Initiate abilities
Apprentice: At level 5 Rune Priest, you may activate Apprentice abilities
Adept: At level 9 Rune Priest, you may activate Adept abilities
Master: At level 13, you may activate Master abilities
Elder: At level 17, you may activate Elder abilities


Runic Order
At 2nd level, your mark grants you entry into an esoteric order that is one of few that understand the true power of runes. There are only three of these orders rumored to be in existence: The Brothers of the Vengeful Hammer, Knights of the Lost Anvil, and Keepers of the Sacred Forge. Your choice grants you features at 2nd level and again at, 7th, 15th, and 20th level.

Ancestral Recall
At 3rd level, you have achieved a stronger level of attunement with your ancestor. While you are in Rune State, you are able to summon the powers of your ascended ancestor and end your Rune State early to achieve a significant benefit. In reaction to a situation while you are in a Rune State, you may expend up to half of your Max Runic Power to end your Rune State early to achieve a special effect based on the Ancient Ancestor you chose at 1st level.


When you or a creature you can see moves, or performs an ability check, you may expend runic power to end your Rune State and give the creature one of the following effects:

A bonus or penalty to the roll equal to the runic power spent
Movement ignores difficult terrain and does not provoke attacks of opportunity for a number of rounds equal to the runic power spent
Movement is reduced by half for a number of rounds equal to the runic power spent.

You may use this feature after the roll, but before any outcomes are resolved.



When you or a friendly creature you can see is the target of an attack, you may expend runic power to end your Rune State and give the creature one of the following effects:

Heal a hit points equal to Constitution Modifier x Runic Power spent
Bonus to AC until the end of their next turn equal to runic power spent

You may use this feature after the roll, but before any outcomes are resolved.



When a creature you can see makes a weapon attack or weapon damage roll, you may expend runic power to end your Rune State and give the creature one of the following effects:

Bonus to Weapon Attack until the end of their next turn equal to the runic power spent
Bonus to Damage roll until the end of their next turn equal to the runic power spent

You may use this feature after the roll, but before any outcomes are resolved.


Rune Carving
At 6th level, you gain the ability to carve runes onto objects and empower them with a piece of your life force. Once per short rest, you may carve a rune on an inanimate object, such as a piece of armor, shield or ring, creating a runic artifact that emanates the primordial power of the Ancients. You may only have one runic artifact at a time. If you carve a rune on a different object, any runes on artifacts you may have carved previously disappear. The runic artifact must be within 60 ft of you for its wielder to benefit from any of its features. Regardless of distance, you always know the whereabouts of your runic artifact and can communicate telepathically with any creature holding the artifact even if you do not share a known language. You may use the runic artifact, or its wielder as the origination of your rune magic.

Ancient Whispers
At 10th level, your connection with your ascended ancestor is so strong that they can warn you when danger is near. When you roll initiative, you gain your Constitution modifier to the roll and you can never be surprised.

Improved Rune Carving
Upon reaching 14th level, you have become more adept at carving powerful runic artifacts. When you enter your rune state, any runic artifact you have created begins to glow and emanate the same effects as your rune state. The artifact, or the creature wearing/wielding it, counts as additional origin for the effects of your rune state. Furthermore, when you use the ancestral recall ability, one creature of your choosing within 30 ft of the runic artifact also benefits from the ancestral recall.

Ancient Presence
Upon reaching 18th level, your skin becomes engulfed in the runic markings of your ancestor, allowing you to be used as a vessel should the Ancients ever want to return to this reality. These runes further disrupt aspects of this reality and strengthen your magical defenses and rune state abilities. The range of your rune state effects expands to 10ft and you have advantage on saving throws vs. spells.

[BulletMagnet]

The Rune Masters created three secret orders, each one entrusted to guard of different set of Ancient runes. While the three orders know of each other, communication between them is limited, only occurs when there is a new member, or threat to their mission. Centuries have passed in between inter-order communications. Each order has developed their own way of protecting their sacred runes. The orders are as follows:


Bonus Proficiency
Upon being inducted into this order at 2nd level, you gain the Martial Weapon proficiency

Runic Bond
At 2nd level, you learn a ritual that creates a magical bond between you and one weapon with which you are proficient. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, drawing runic markings all across your chosen weapon. This can be done during a short rest. The weapon must be within your reach throughout the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch your runic mark to the weapon and forge the bond. Once you have bonded a weapon to yourself, you can't be disarmed of the weapon unless you are incapacitated. If it is on the same plane of existence, you can summon the weapon as a bonus action on your turn, causing it to teleport instantly to your hand. You can only have one runic bond at a time. If you attempt to bond with a second weapon, you must break the bond with the first one.

You may use your runic bond as a spell focus for your rune magic.

In addition, when you hit with your runic bond, you may do one of the following as part of the attack

Spend 1 runic power to deal an additional 1d8 of force damage
Gain 1 runic power


Coordinated Assault
At 6th level, when a friendly creature within 5 ft of you makes an attack, you may use your reaction to make a single attack against the same target

Rune of Lethality:
Upon reaching level 15, your brothers have marked you with the rune of lethality. Your runic bond now crits on a 18-20.

Ascended Avenger
You gain a Fly speed equal to your current speed. And once on each of your turns, you can add your constitution bonus to the damage roll of an attack you make with your runic weapon.



Bonus Proficiency
Upon being inducted into this order at 2nd level, you gain the Heavy Armor proficiency

Runic Bond
At 2nd level, you learn a ritual that creates a magical bond between you and one piece of armor, or a shield. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, drawing runic markings all across your chosen item. This can be done during a short rest. The item must be within your reach throughout the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch your runic mark to the item and forge the bond. Once you have bonded an item to yourself, you can't be disarmed of the item unless you are incapacitated. If it is on the same plane of existence, you can summon the item as a bonus action on your turn, causing it to teleport instantly to you (and worn by you if you choose). You can only have one runic bond at a time. If you attempt to bond with a second piece of armor, or shield, you must break the bond with the first one.

You may use your runic bond as a spell focus for your rune magic.

In addition, when an enemy misses you while you are wearing your runic armor, you may do one of the following:

Use your reaction to expend 1 runic power and perform a weapon attack against the attacking creature
Gain 1 runic power


Brother in Arms
At 6th level, when a creature within 5 ft of you makes an attack that does not include you as the target, you may interpose yourself between the attacker and target, forcing the attacker to target you instead. You must choose to do this before any dice are rolled.

Relentless Rune
Upon reaching level 15, your brother knights have marked you with the rune of relentlessness. When you are reduced to 0 hit points and are not killed outright, you may choose to be reduced to 1 hit point instead. Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.

Ascended Protector
You gain a bonus to your AC and Saving Throws equal to your Constitution modifier.




Bonus Cantrips
Upon being inducted into this order, you are taught 3 Cantrips from Cleric, Ranger, Druid, Paladin, or Wizard. At least one must require a spell attack.

Runic Bond
At 2nd level, you learn a ritual that creates a magical bond between you and one wearable item, such as armor, belt, ring, or amulet. You perform the ritual over the course of 1 hour, drawing runic markings all across your chosen item. This can be done during a short rest. The item must be within your reach throughout the ritual, at the conclusion of which you touch your runic mark to the item and forge the bond. Once you have bonded an item to yourself, you can't be disarmed of the item unless you are incapacitated. If it is on the same plane of existence, you can summon the item as a bonus action on your turn, causing it to teleport instantly to you (and worn by you if you choose). You can only have one runic bond at a time. If you attempt to bond with a second piece of armor, or shield, you must break the bond with the first one.

You may use your runic bond as a spell focus for your rune magic.

In addition, when you hit with a spell that requires a spell attack roll, you may do one of the following:

Spend 1 runic power to deal additional damage equal to your Constitution modifier
Gain 1 runic power


Rune of Mobility
At 7th level, your fellow keepers have marked you with the rune of mobility. You can take the Dash and Disengage actions as a bonus action on your turn.

Rune Splitting
Beginning at level 15, when you cast a spell targeting yourself, you can also apply the effects to the wielder of your runic artifact as long as they are within 60 ft of you when you cast the spell.

Ascended Rune Caster
You may select two of your apprentice level runic tattoos and cast them once every short without expending runic power.

[BulletMagnet]

Reserving this for the runic tattoos

[BulletMagnet]

Reserving this for rune descriptions

[Final Hyena]

I'm reminded of words of power from PF where you learnt words that you could combine for specific affects.

So you would have a word for the basic affect e.g. fire and then could combo it with single target or aoe etc and then could combo it with metamagic.

Is that the kind of thing you would be interested in?

[BulletMagnet]

I'm reminded of words of power from PF where you learnt words that you could combine for specific affects.

So you would have a word for the basic affect e.g. fire and then could combo it with single target or aoe etc and then could combo it with metamagic.

Is that the kind of thing you would be interested in?

Sort of similar, yes. Going for a feel like that, but having the powers all contained within the rune descriptions themselves (no metamagic) and having the ability to use them in all various different ways. So for example, casting a storm rune on a weapon may cause an additional 1d6 lightning damage, whereas using it in conjunction with a resistance rune may do lightning resistance. You would just have to spend the right amount of runic power to achieve the job - and ideally we limit the runic power so you can't go crazy.

We haven't worked all the way through the rune descriptions yet, but we love the flavor of the class. It will take some time, but it should be a lot of fun to create this for the world

[Final Hyena]

Ah I see, you're going for "runes" that have multiple different ways of being used dependant on what you cast them on.

One thing to consider is if say you had that shock rune you could cast it on a person, sword, wall trap etc or each type of casting has to be unlocked.

[BulletMagnet]

Ah I see, you're going for "runes" that have multiple different ways of being used dependant on what you cast them on.

One thing to consider is if say you had that shock rune you could cast it on a person, sword, wall trap etc or each type of casting has to be unlocked.

We are kinda going with that in terms of assigning a power requirement to be able to cast it in that way and tying that requirement to an equivalent spell level.

So for example, shock rune to cast it in the air and affect multiple people (like lightning bolt) would cost 3 runic power (level 3 spell). You can't cast it that way until you reach a level where your max runic power per spell is 3 or greater, which is level 9. This is also when other half-casters get the ability to cast that level of spell.

[JBPuffin]

5e Unearthed Arcana has released a class called the Rune Master - perhaps something more like the Enscriber or Runesmith or something for this first one. The idea is certainly interesting, though.

[BulletMagnet]

5e Unearthed Arcana has released a class called the Rune Master - perhaps something more like the Enscriber or Runesmith or something for this first one. The idea is certainly interesting, though.

I thought the unearthed arcana one was rune scribe?

[BulletMagnet]

So what do you guys think?

Should the rune master's secondary stat be Int or Cha? We want to keep Con in there to demonstrate the fact that the magic has to be fed by a life-force. Trying to figure out the nuances. We don't want to make it two primary saves (like con & wis). I was thinking Con + Str don't make sense because one should probably be some sort of mental stat.

- Con + Int - Gives an idea of how one would learn new runes through research, etc
- Con + Cha - Demonstrates a force of personality for someone who taps into the ancients so frequently

What do you guys think fits better with fluff and mechanics? I can see runebook and wizard like spell prep = Int, but spontaneous point based casting = Cha.

So I am torn :/

Another idea is to have it be either Int/Cha based casting and have the points per level be driven by Con modifier. The problem I have with that is that it could drastically vary the strength of the class.

[Final Hyena]

It's hard to discuss as we don't have the runes too look at, my thought is that the class gets D10 HP the best armour, shields, weapons and is gets constitution based casting. It sounds strong, but again depends on what the runes do.

[BulletMagnet]

It's hard to discuss as we don't have the runes too look at, my thought is that the class gets D10 HP the best armour, shields, weapons and is gets constitution based casting. It sounds strong, but again depends on what the runes do.

The idea with runes that we are working out is basically combining 2 or 3 spells into one, but with some minor tweaks/limitations.

For example:

Shock Rune
2 Runic Power - Cast on a Weapon: As 1st Level Magic Weapon spell (+1attack, +1 lightning damage)
3 Runic Power - Cast in air: As Lightning Bolt spell (additional spell slot options cost 1 additional runic power each)
4 Runic Power - Cast on a Armor: As Fire Shield spell (but with no options, just provides lightning protection)


As for your comment about best/armor shields proficiencies - I may be able to weave that more into the Ancient Aspects. For example, Anvil gets all armors, Hammer gets weapons. Something like that to tailor it a bit more and give them each a vast difference in feel?

I know it's tough with a short-rest based character to tune it, but we are targeting like 1-2 short rests per given day. Our DM tends to be very freely giving of long rests, which kind of nerfs characters like Warlocks, etc.

[JBPuffin]

I thought the unearthed arcana one was rune scribe?

You're correct - I didn't find it to double check at the time :smallbiggrin: - but they're still a bit close, and some might think you're taking that class and expanding it or something. I also may have misunderstood when you said you were going to use a blend of classes and thought you intended to make multiple classes using the system...yeah. :smallsigh: It'll probably be fine.

[BulletMagnet]

You're correct - I didn't find it to double check at the time :smallbiggrin: - but they're still a bit close, and some might think you're taking that class and expanding it or something. I also may have misunderstood when you said you were going to use a blend of classes and thought you intended to make multiple classes using the system...yeah. :smallsigh: It'll probably be fine.

Ah, gotchya. I'm not really hel bent on the name, so it may change. As for the blend, I am trying to get like 4 very different playstyles in one class as archetypes rather than creating a Rune_related archetype for existing classes. This way I can keep the rules semi contained.

[Goran]

Rune Magic is an amazing concept! I wish you guys make something useable by lots ;)

[BulletMagnet]

Thanks, that is the aim. Though the class has gone through like 15 iterations between the DM and I.

Currently trying to iron out the spell casting. The idea behind 5e is to try and keep things as simple as possible. We are trying to figure out the best method to add the aspect of runes to current spell casting.

Several thoughts:

1. Rune casting as described about (much more complicated than it needs to be and also may not have sufficient support from existing spells to create a good list of runes that are fluffy enough

2. Runes are something like a meta magic is to sorcerers (stillcrafting that one out).

3. Rune casting is more like warlock casting, but divine.

4. Health-based - sacrifice hit points to empower the magic (since it is Con based). This gives a very tactical aspect to casting.


We are looking for options that are simple, but offer very different game play. Currently all casters can basically enter a fight and blow their load of spells. We are looking for something that may start off somewhat, slower, but snowball over the combat and through several short rests.

[BulletMagnet]

SO I think we ironed down the spell casting side of things.

We are going to make it part of the class's runic tattoos. You can select runic tattoos that will give them groups of spells like a domain list. This will let players be as much, or as little caster as they want.

[JBPuffin]

I believe CareTaker has a copy-paste error for its third ability; beyond that, your class is coming along nicely. It feels like a 5e Runepriest from 4e, except this actually is receiving love from its creators :P. Keep up the good work.

[BulletMagnet]

You were correct - I made the correction. Thank you for the kind words! We are aiming to make this a class everyone can use!

[BulletMagnet]

Okay - so I made another series of updates.

Sorry for the transparent sausage making! I just think it is helpful to get folk's perspective as this starts to form