Runeblaster: A Handbook for the D&D 3.5 Runecaster

[Skrobo]

Can I link Monty python's cheese shop sketch?

I can't see the reason why you take Mad Faith. Care to elaborate?

[Saintheart]

Can I link Monty python's cheese shop sketch?

I can't see the reason why you take Mad Faith. Care to elaborate?

You'd only mechanically take it if you wanted to qualify for Runecaster very, very early, mainly because with sufficient depravity it allows you to cast 3rd level divine spells, which are prerequisites for Runecaster. In an Ur-Caster build the only reason I'd keep it is because I rather like the concept -- a complete nutcase starting to worship nameless evils and eventually rejecting all the gods to pursue the path of the Ur-Priest.

[Saintheart]

Few bits, pieces, and random thoughts and whatnot...

- Amanuensis from the Spell Compendium in a rune could function like a cheaper Scholar's Touch given it explicitly triggers "writing-based magic traps" in the text of a book it's "reading". This is an intriguing concept since at the most generous reading that might suggest you don't even need a "read" trigger on the runes inside the book, which means the cost of the runes inside the book are also halved.

- Yo dawg, I heard you like runes, so I made you a Permanent rune of Explosive Runes, not that I know how one might exploit them.

- Illithid Savant is already a semi-broken PrC, but it gets you a biiiiig shortcut on Runecaster. Basically, Cleric 7/Illithid Savant 3. The first level in Illithid Savant nets you the Craft skill from Acquire Skill if you didn't already have it; the second level nets you the Inscribe Rune feat from Acquire Feat (you are a 3rd level spellcaster from the levels in cleric); the third level, assuming you get your hands on a Runecaster 8, nets you Improved Runecasting via Acquire Class Feature without having to spend 8 levels on it. This does save you about four levels or so.

[LentilNinja]

A rune contains the spell cast into a rune.

Spoiler

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It's important to understand this. Unlike a scroll, you are casting the full spell into the rune when you create it. This is why the spell's effects are available instantly when you touch the rune. But another beneficial result of that -- which is why this is a purple feature -- is that unlike normal magic items, metamagic cost reducers or Divine Metamagic lower the spell level and caster level of an item for the purposes of calculating the rune's price.

Normally a single-use rune containing a level one spell with a Persistent Spell metamagic feat in it would have a price of 5 [level +4] x 9 (Minimum CL to cast a fifth level spell) x 50 = 2,250 gp. Divine Metamagic (Persistent Spell) removes all those additional spell levels, spending Turn Undead uses instead. So the DMM (Persistent Spell) version of the same rune costs 1 [spell level] x 1 [CL] x 50 = 50 gp. That is, it's literally 28 to 32 times cheaper. No other form of magic item has this benefit available to it, and it's a big reason again why runecasters have so much potential to them.

I'm not entirely sure how this works mechanically. Can this be explained? :)

[Saintheart]

I'm not entirely sure how this works mechanically. Can this be explained? :)

Per FRCS, a spell can be cast into the rune at the point of creating the rune. The rune is, explicitly by FRCS, a spell cast as a rune. The process of casting a spell as a rune is complete at the very moment you create the rune. Runes take 10 minutes + the casting time of the spell in question to create. That means, for any spell which has a casting time of more than a standard action, you save on the casting time because runes fire, i.e. cause the spell's effect to happen, instantaneously upon triggering. The example I used was Summon Monster -- normally that spell takes 1 full round to cast, absent feats like Quicken Spell or Rapid Spell. The same Summon Monster spell cast as a rune, however, fires instantaneously when you trigger the rune. You don't wait for 1 round before the monster appears. At worst you wait a standard action if your DM agrees that you deliberately triggered the rune.

This fact also has significant implications for the cost of the rune. When you're creating virtually any other magic item, be it a +1 longsword or potion of X or whatever, the item's cost is determined by the level of the spell that goes into it and the caster level.

If you're making a Potion of Divine Power (say) which is Persisted, the level of the spell is +4 on what it would normally be because you Persisted it, and your minimum caster level is accordingly higher because for every additional spell level you need to have 2 caster levels. A Potion of X, Persisted, is 28 to 32 times more expensive than a Potion of X because the cost is multiplied by 32 -- 4 x 8 -- 4 for the increased spell level and 8 for the increased caster level required to cast the increased spell level. Divine Metamagic allows you to remove the increased spell level bu burning turn undead attempts, but DMM is commonly acknowledged not to reduce the price of normal magic items in this way.

Runes get around this cost increase because of their wording: a rune per the FRCS's explicit wording is simply "a spell cast as a rune". That spell is fully cast when you create the rune, unlike any other magic item you can think of. Consequently, Divine Metamagic does apply to it, and thus lessens the spell level. This brings down the price, because the cost of a rune is determined by spell level and caster level. A Divine Metamagic (Persist) spell can be cast out of its normal slot if you burn 4 turn undead attempts. The spell's level, and caster level, are not heightened. Thus: 32 times less expensive runes.

Make sense?