Rune Weaver

All spellcasters have found it quite difficult to have all of the protective spells they need cast at once in a battle. Most use magical items like rings and cloaks to take care of this problem. But a select few have found a better way to cope that doesn’t involve many expensive and sometimes weighty trinkets and garments. The spells they need for protection are burned right on to their skin by their own hand, eliminating all conventional wards. The runes they have inscribed require no maintenance and have been known to cause enemies to run in fear of these indestructible men and women whose skin glows in battle and whose bodies glance away all damage. The most powerful of these rune-wizards have been known in legend to cast any spell by drawing a short series of runes in the air with devastating results for their enemies.

Wizards and sorcerers make exceptional rune weavers, although other magic-users have been known to use rune magic. Those spellcasters with levels as a fighter or ranger work exceptionally well both as a party’s wizard and warrior.

NPCs rarely become rune weavers and only if they act as the generals of large armies.

Hit Dice d6

Requirements

Race:  Humanoid, with usable hands

Intelligence:  14+

Craft (Any involving precise drawing or painting):  6 ranks

Knowledge (Arcana):  8 ranks.

Feats:  Spell Focus (Abjuration), any one Item Creation Feat

Spellcasting:  Any level of access to schools of Abjuration, Divination, and Transmutation and use of Universal spells.

Class Skills

Alchemy (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int).

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies:  No extra proficiencies.

Heart Rune:  A rune weaver must have a heart rune to connect her life force with the magic of the runes. At 1st level, the rune weaver must draw a heart rune on the skin over her heart or no other drawn runes will function. If the heart rune should for any reason be removed, all other runes will stop working and will not work until the heart rune is reformed. To draw the heart rune, the proper rest period (see below) is required for the heart rune to take effect. The heart rune does not count against the limit for chest runes and does not confer any other spell-like abilities in and of itself.

Inscribe Rune:  Starting at 1st level, the rune weaver can inscribe a rune representing a permanent form of a spell that she has prepared. The rune must be inscribed by means of channeling the spell into an arcane mark already drawn on the wizard’s body. The rune then becomes seared permanently onto the rune weaver’s skin. The rune becomes active only after a rest period of at least eight hours. Only one rune may be drawn on the body per day. Any spell that the rune weaver has prepared may be inscribed in this way, granted that the spell in some way protects or aids the spellcaster in her day-to-day life, subject to the DM’s approval (see note below). The spell to be inscribed must have a single target, which is always the rune weaver. In this case, a fireball rune is a poor choice to inscribe on the skin because the spell would instantly detonate on the rune weaver, but a stoneskin rune would greatly aid her throughout a battle. The spell must also have a duration longer than instantaneous to become a rune.

A rune should work in harmony with the location it is drawn on. For example, a leg rune should benefit the legs, like jump or haste. Runes may not cover the palms or face (otherwise any spell cast using those magical interfaces will be countered immediately). Once the skin is fully recovered, no more runes may be drawn. Overwriting runes without correctly erasing others causes all of the runes on the rune weaver’s body to explode instantaneously as per a detonated explosive runes spell (6d6 damage per rune). Proper erasing skills are attained with the Master of Runes ability at 8th level.

Total Number of Runes Toughness:  The use of magical runes to channel magic through the body gives the wearer extra durability after extended use, granting the rune weaver 3 permanent hit points, per the Toughness feat, at 2nd, 6th, and 10th levels.

Temporary Runes:  A rune weaver of 3rd level has the ability to draw runes on items and make them magical according to whatever spell they cast. This takes the casting time of the spell itself and lasts 1 hour per level of the rune weaver. The number of runes that may be drawn per day is equivalent to 1+1 per 2 levels of the rune weaver. The spells that are drawn are counted as cast spells and must be relearned by standard means. These runes are treated as inscribed runes for the purpose, duration, and target. Only mundane items may be enchanted with runes because preexisting enchantments would neutralize runic effects. For example, leather armor enchanted with a stoneskin rune could really help out the party’s thief in battle. Triggered items, such as wands, cannot be created in this way.

Runic Magic:  Upon attaining 5th level, the rune weaver no longer requires the use of verbal and material components to cast spells. Only the drawing of runes is needed to cast spells. Spells that require only verbal components, such as power word, kill, are also affected in this way. Note that the free use of hand movement is required to cast any and all spells from this level forth.

Master of Runes:  At 8th level, the rune weaver has become so innately familiar with the runes on her body that she may erase and redraw the runes covering her. The rune weaver may remove one rune by drawing an arcane mark over the target rune and channeling a dispel magic spell into it. The heart rune can never be erased in this way. It takes a full day to erase a rune and another day to inscribe a new one. But, the rune weaver may draw over a rune with the same spell at a higher caster level without erasing it. For example, an 11th caster level protection from elements rune can be drawn over a 3rd caster level protection from elements rune in only one day, allowing it to prevent up to 132 points of elemental damage instead of up to 36 points.

Rune Weaver Spell List

The rune weaver uses the same spells as a wizard or sorcerer minus the necromantic and illusion schools.

A Note to DMs

The DM should use discretion with each spell drawn as a rune, because normal spells have duration, but runes are permanent. To maintain game balance, the DM may have to alter the spell effect. For example, a bull’s strength spell drawn as a rune might only give the rune weaver 1d3 Strength points versus 1d4+1. The rune weaver prestige class can easily be abused. It is ultimately up to the DM whether or not a spell can be inscribed as a rune and what caster level the runes are drawn at. It is also stressed that similar spell effects do not stack like two spells that both give deflection bonuses to armor class.