Runes: Fact But Mostly Fiction
This week on “Runes: Fact But Mostly Fiction” we have the Rune Scribe and Rune Knight of Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition. While the Rune Scribe Prestige Class never made it’s way into proper publication, I feel it worth looking at because it accomplishes something other rune systems don’t. The Rune Knight on the other hand was published in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and so is canon material. Now, in 5e the runes come from Giants. They were the first to master the art, and those who learned of the runes learned them from either the Giants themselves or from others who did. The Runes of 5e are very different, depending on which class you look at.
The Rune Knight’s powers are fairly limited. Each Rune has one passive benefit and one active benefit. A Rune is applied to your equipment and each piece of equipment you have is limited in the number of runes it can have applied. A Rune Knight is also limited in the number of Runes they can know, but they can use their Runes to accomplish different things like shielding their allies and increasing their own size. The Rune Scribe on the other hand treats runes as separate entities from the characters usual equipment. A Rune Scribe must attune to a Master Rune, which allows them to understand the Rune on a deeper level. Without Attunement the Rune cannot be used, but what makes them interesting is that any character can attune to a rune. The Rune has simple properties and complex properties. While any character attuned to a rune can use it’s simple properties, only a properly trained Rune Scribe can utilize it’s complex properties. The Rune Scribe’s powers mostly surround utilizing those complex properties, though they also learn how to utilize the Rune’s connection with the living world to complement their own usual abilities. The things that make the Rune Scribe’s Runes interesting are that: A) They are not considered arcane or divine magic, and can in fact work well with both. Often, runes are assigned to either path depending on the game they work in. The Rune Knight actually gets this right as well. B) Anyone can learn a basic understanding of the Runes. While most wouldn’t necessarily need the Runes, they can still utilize them if they choose to. This also extends to the Rune Scribe’s usage of them, because the Rune Scribe can put Runes onto other character’s equipment. C) They can be drawn into the air or on enemies to cause different effects. The Rune Scribe can draw the fire Rune onto an enemy to cause fire damage, for example.
Personally, I really like the Rune Scribe. I’m not as much of a fan of the Rune Knight. The Giant’s Might and associated features of the Rune Knight ruin the subclass for me. I understand the idea that the Giants first mastered the Runes and so using them makes you more like a Giant. But at the same time, the Runes aren’t inherently linked to the Giants themselves. After all, if the Giants first mastered them, surely they came from somewhere else? What I really like about the Rune Scribe is that they work with spell slots. While a character does need an understanding of Arcana to become a Rune Scribe, the Runes are never expressly stated to be arcane in nature. This means that a Cleric could be a Rune Scribe, or a Wizard could, or even a Fighter can. This makes them very versatile, and perfectly fits the real world origins of the Runes. The Rune Scribe isn’t perfect. It’s Runes can’t be used together, they have the same idea of complexity that I criticized in the Warcraft RPG, and while a Rune Scribe can understand all the Runes they have to attune to them to utilize them, which limits how many they can use at a time. But I still really like the Rune Scribe as a class. In fact, my favorite thing about it is that their Runes were never actually limited. There were suggested Runes that were added to the class, but they were also templates for people to create more. After all, an alphabet needs quite a few letters to cover the different sounds a language uses.
The last thing I want to say is that I completely understand why the Rune Scribe was never implemented into the 5th Edition of Dungeons and Dragons. A Prestige Class flew in the face of the overall idea behind the edition. That being said, I would rather have seen a finalized version of the Rune Scribe than the Rune Knight. I just found the Rune Knight to be underwhelming after I read it. And that’s just my personal opinion.
