Runesage (Wizard Archetype)
Earlier this past year I talked about Thassalonian Sin magic, that methodology of magic that outright forbids certain specific schools in exchange for getting twice as much power out of the school you choose to specialize in, not to mention the risk of falling to temptation.
However, I also mentioned an archetype which endeavors to use the power of sin magic in a safer way, and finally, almost a year later, we’re talking about the Runesage.
Interested in the power sin (or virtue) magic, but also wary of it, these wizards endeavor to plumb its secrets, using a specialized ioun stone-like focus as a buffer to protect themselves, and are typically dedicated researchers into both magic itself and the Thassalonian culture.
Of course, outside of the Golarion setting, they might merely need their focus to direct their power, given their unique abilities.
At their core, runesages are universalist wizards, with all the associated abilities. However, with the help of their runic focus, they gain the strengths and weaknesses of a single sin magic school (though not the non-spell abilities of said school), gaining double the reserve of magic for spells of that school, while being unable to cast the opposition school spells at all. When they wish to change which school they are focused on, they must discard and work on replacing their old focus with a new one, gaining the new school, though they cannot switch to the opposition schools of their previous focus.
What’s more, the runic focus has another benefit, drawing upon mystical power to supplement their own when casting spells that normally have expensive material components. As they grow in power, they learn to use that connection to ignore more and more expensive components, though only with spells of the same school as their current focus.
Simple, but effective, this archetype trades reliance on a specific item for increased spell capacity and reduced cost of casting expensive spells. You could stick with a single type of focus throughout your career, or switch them out periodically if another school of magic would suit your upcoming adventures or downtime better. Also note that since they are stuck with universalist school abilities, certain builds become less viable, such as traditional necromancers, which won’t be gaining undead minions nearly as quickly.
Regardless of some of the limitations, it’s important to remember why these mages have their runic foci. While they may not suffer the temptations normally associated with the sin schools, they should not forget that sin comes from within. The power that this art represents can be temptation enough as it is, and the detachment that protects them might also lead to hubris, thinking themselves beyond reproach for their actions because they are “protected”.
Though mindless, it would be foolish to claim that no will guides the giant vampire jellyfish of the Brightfire Reef, for a powerful locathah mystic uses an enchantment spell to gather them as guardians. She learned the spell by studying sunken ruins, as evidenced by her runic focus.
They say that the runic focus of King Urgratten of the duergar still orbits his dusty skull, sitting on his throne in his abandoned kingdom, and this is true, but only because the ancient royal does not rest easy, though the exact form of his undeath is unknown. However, it is likely related to whatever school the focus is attuned to.
While no explorer, Ivanth is an avid reader, and successfully managed to create her own runic focus purely from books on ancient magical techniques. She chose conjuration as her focus, hoping to utilize the focus to make certain conjuring arts easier. However, the energies of her focus have awoken an ancient guardian in the academy’s museum.
