Rune Knight, a arcane gish PrC for when you realize not being a caster was a bad idea

[Jervis]

Rune Knight

https://i.redd.it/mdxm26ckymyz.png

Rune Knights are elite and advanced spellcasters who harness magic and steel in equal measure. Instead of learning magic or preparing spells like most, they learn the art of imbuing magical formulae into weaponry and activating it with their raw magical power. Most commonly practiced by Dwarves and Humans this type of magical martial art combines allows those with lesser understanding of magical theory or practice to cast powerful magic through.

Requirements

Skills: Craft(weaponsmithing) +8, Craft(armorsmithing) +8, Knowledge(arcana) +4, Spellcraft +8

Spellcasting: Able to cast 1st level Arcane spells

Base Attack Bonus: +4

Feats: Combat Casting, Scribe Scroll, Craft Magic Arms and Armor, and your choice of Skill Focus (use magic device), Skill Focus (weaponsmithing), or Skill Focus (armorsmithing)

Special: Must have created a Masterwork weapon without the aid of another person

Class Features

Hit Dice: d8

Skill Points: 4 + Int

Class Skills: Concentration, Craft, Knowledge (all), Profession, Ride, Spellcraft, Use Magic Device




Saves

Spells Per Day


Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
0th
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th


1st
+1
+2
+0
+2
Spellcasting, Runeblade Creation
4
2
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


2nd
+2
+3
+0
+3
Magecrafter
5
3
0
-
-
-
-
-
-
-


3rd
+3
+3
+1
+3
Bonus Feat
5
3
1
0
-
-
-
-
-
-


4th
+4
+4
+1
+4
Rune Armor Creation
6
3
2
1
0
-
-
-
-
-


5th
+5
+4
+1
+4
Bonus Feat
6
3
3
2
1
0
-
-
-
-


6th
+6/+1
+5
+2
+5
Etch Rune Scroll
6
3
3
3
2
1
0
-
-
-


7th
+7/+2
+5
+2
+5
Bonus Feat
6
4
3
3
3
2
1
0
-
-


8th
+8/+3
+6
+2
+6
Improved Mage Crafter
6
4
4
3
3
3
2
1
0
-


9th
+9/+4
+6
+3
+6
Bonus Feat
6
5
4
4
4
4
3
2
1
0


10th
+10/+5
+7
+3
+7
Mystic Runeblade
6
5
5
4
4
4
4
3
2
1



Proficiencies:
A Runeknight is proficient with all armor and all shields except tower shields, as well as any runeblade they have created personally.

Spellcasting:
At 1st level a Rune Knight gains the ability to cast a number of Arcane spells. To cast a spell a Rune Knight must have a Charisma or Intelligence at least equal to 10 + the spells level. A Rune Knight's bonus spells are based on their Charisma. A Rune Knight's spell save DCs are based on Intelligence, your spell save DC is equal to 10 + spell level + your Int mod. Your caster level for this class is equal to your ranks in Craft(weaponsmithing) - 3.

A Rune Knight casts spells spontaneously as a sorcerer but does not have spells known. Instead to cast a spell a Rune Knight must hold a runeblade with the spell transcribed onto it. A rune knight counts as knowing any spell inscribed onto a runeblade he is carrying but must be wielding the weapon to cast the spell. A rune knight can perform somatic components with a hand holding a runeblade. A runeknight can also ignore any material components that cost less than 5GP when casting a spell.

Runeblade Creation:
At 1st level a Rune Knight gains the ability to create a runeblade. A runeblade can be created with a ritual that requires 24 hours during which time any weapon of masterwork quality can be converted into a runeblade. Once a runeblade has been created, a Rune Knight can etch any arcane spell into the blade. To etch a spell formula into a runeblade a Rune Knight must have the help of a arcane caster who knows the spell or be able to see the spell in written form, such as a wizard's spellbook or a arcane spell scroll.

A runeblade can hold a maximum number of spell levels determined by it's size, cantrips count as half a spell level. Light weapons can hold 5 spell levels, one handed weapons can hold 10 spell levels, two handed weapons can hold 20 spell levels. Being made of special materials such as Mithril doubles the maximum number of spell levels a weapon can hold. The maximum number of spell levels a weapon can hold also doubles for every size category a weapon is above medium. Etching a spell's formulae into a blade requires 2 hours of work and 50 GP per spell level.

Magecrafter:
At 2nd level any armor a Runeknight crafts has its ASF reduced by 20%

Bonus Feat:
At 3rd level and again at 5th, 7th, and 9th level, a Rune Knight gains a bonus feat. This must be a item crafting feat. spell focus feat, or fighter bonus feat for which you qualify. If you have levels in fighter you may add one half your Rune Knight level to your fighter level for determining what fighter feats you qualify for.

Rune Armor Creation:
At 4th level a Runeknight gains the ability to inscribe a limited number of spells onto armor. A Runeknight can transcribe a number of spell levels equal to their class level onto any armor of masterwork quality they create.

Etch Runescroll:
At 6th level a runeknight can etch a temporary spell onto a runeblade. These temporary inscriptions act as a spell scroll and take up a number of spell levels on a runeblade equal to the spells level. The XP cost for inscribing a scroll this way is halved.

Improved Magecrafter:
At 8th level the armor a Runeknight creates has it's ASF reduced by a further 10%

Mystic Runeblade:
At 10th level any Runeblade a Runeknight creates has a Enhancment bonus to attack and damage rolls equal to half the level of the highest level spell etched onto the blade when wielded by a Runeknight.

[Jervis]

reserved for future

[Jervis]

Reserved 2 electric boogaloo.

Also challenge for the viewers. For the sake of optimization discussion, id like to pose a challenge. Try to get into this class as early as possible, before the "intended" level 7 entry with fighter 4-5, wizard 1 with practiced spellcaster. I created the blasted thing and even i can't think of a entry sub 6, and thats with some rules bending. Yes i know polymorph into a giant and psychic reformation but i still want to see what people come up with.

[Maat Mons]

Lesser Duergar Duskblade? Lesser Duergar hits caster level 6 at ECL 3, so you can nab Craft Magic Arms and Armor. Duskblade gets you 1st-level arcane spellcasting, Combat Casting as a bonus feat, and full base attack bonus. It has the right skills too. If you don't have access to flaws, you'd need to dip something for another bonus feat though. That might require losing a point of base attack bonus.

Alternately, Marshal can be used to tweak feat timing. You could use that to pick up Craft Magic Arms an Armor right at 5th, when non-Duergar first qualify.

Or, come to think of it, there's Human Paragon too. Hmm... Human Duskblade 3 / Human Paragon 2 isn't a bad entry. Free Combat Casting from Duskblade, not to mention Arcane Channeling. Craft Magic Arms and Armor at level 5 from Human Paragon... if you already took Practiced Spellcaster. Add on the need for Scribe Scroll and Skill Focus (Use Magic Device), and you can just barely cover it with the feats a Human has at that level.

[Jervis]

Or, come to think of it, there's Human Paragon too. Hmm... Human Duskblade 3 / Human Paragon 2 isn't a bad entry. Free Combat Casting from Duskblade, not to mention Arcane Channeling. Craft Magic Arms and Armor at level 5 from Human Paragon... if you already took Practiced Spellcaster. Add on the need for Scribe Scroll and Skill Focus (Use Magic Device), and you can just barely cover it with the feats a Human has at that level.

Actually that works really well. Sub out human for Krau Illumian and you don’t need practiced spellcaster. The +2 CL barely gets it in time. Yeah you’re basically trading a feat for a feat but Krau opens up the possibility of making your bonus spells strength or dexterity based, which lets you ignore charisma entirely. And Illumians qualify for human paragon too by virtue of being a human subrace. Progression would be something like

Illumian

Duskblade 1 (Level 1 feat skill focus)

Duskblade 2 (Duskblade feat combat casting)

Duskblade 3 (Level 3 feat scribe scroll)

Human paragon 1 (adaptive learning craft weaponsmithing?)

Human Paragon 2 (Craft magic arms and armor)

Rune Knight X

That’s pretty good actually. You get in exactly at 6 and before that you’re basically just a Duskblade with questionable feat choices. You can probably dip back into HP for a level to advance Rune Knight and grab +2 Int. You’ve also qualified for ab champ but i’m not sure what the best dip out point would be since this would pay off its feat tax eventually.