Runelord

Weapons clashing, an elf is beginning to lose ground to the

minotaur she is fighting. As the monster swings its axe
backwards to finish the fight, the elf traces a strange symbol
into the air and in an instant the minotaur is trapped within a
column of ice.
A human soldier battling on the front lines of a war traces
his finger along his greatsword as the blade sparks to life and
crackles with electricity. Without much more thought, he
quickly slaughters the enemy front lines.
In a dark alleyway, a thief has backed a young woman up
into a corner. Suddenly, the woman disappears. Standing in
her place is a dragonborn with daggers at the ready.
Surprised, the thief tries to run, but is quickly taken down by
the dragonborn as the young woman watches from the edge
of the alleyway.
Runelords have found ancient runes that have magical
properties granting them extreme adaptablility. They are
extremely resourceful with the use of their runes, and are
formidible oppenents in battle. Many try to use their abilities
to protect others or pursue power, although some prefer to
serve justice vigilante style, and even use their runes to break
the law.
Pursuit of Discoveries
Runelords are practitioners of ancient arts that incite runes
to cause different effects. Part of their work goes into
discovering such runes. As a result, many are already
accustomed to an adventuring lifestlye. Runelords are always
trying to expand their abilities by discovering more runes to
access. Sometimes this leads to them sticking their noses
into places they shouldn't. Others though it allows them to
find wonders that most would dream of.
In combat runelords use their runes both defensively and
offensively, but must balance the use of runes with use of
thier weapons or risk running out of uses, putting themselves
into a sticky situation.
Keepers of Lore and History
For a runelord, history of countries, civilizations, and the
world is of utmost importance. Those who tamper with
knowledge of the past at the expense of others quickly
become targets of malice from runelords. In addition,
runelords put emphasis on studying rituals and
technology of the past, often hoping to put this
knowledge to use in the future somehow or some way.
Runelords also tend to gravitate towards positions
that put them into locations of history knowledge, and make
excellent archivists and archaologiets. Although you'll find
runelords in those positions, most still opt to go out and
discover history on their own, recording it and bringing it
back to society as they find it, thus growing their sphere of
influence and power.

Image source: Runic Mage by Alexey Yakovlev

1
 The Runelord
Level Proficiency Bonus Features Elemental Runes Transform Runes Charges Per Rune*
1st +2 Rune Usage, Echos of the Ancients 2 1 1
2nd +2 Runelord's Peculiarity, Soft Reset 2 1 1
3rd +2 Expanded Rune 3 1 1
4th +2 Ability Score Improvement 3 1 2
5th +3 Runic Counter 3 1 2
6th +3 Runelord's Peculiarity Feature 3 1 2
7th +3 Multi-Rune Use 4 1 2
8th +3 Ability Score Improvement 4 1 2
9th +4 Runic Resistance 4 1 2
10th +4 Runelord's Peculiarity Feature 4 1 2
11th +4 Runic Counter (2) 4 2 2
12th +4 Ability Score Improvement 5 2 2
13th +5 Multi-Rune Use (2) 5 2 3
14th +5 Runelord's Peculiarity Feature 5 2 3
15th +5 Technological Runes 5 2 3
16th +5 Ability Score Improvement 5 2 3
17th +6 Opponent Breaker 6 2 3
18th +6 Runelord's Peculiarity Feature 6 2 3
19th +6 Ability Score Improvement 6 2 4
20th +6 Rune Bombardment 6 3 4

*If a rune doesn't specify number of charges, use this.

Class Features
Creating a Runelord As a runelord you gain the following class features.
When creating a runelord it is paramount to consider how Hit Points
your character first came into contact with the runes that Hit Dice: 1d8 per runelord level
they use. Was your discovery an accident, or did you go on a Hit Points at first level: 8 + your constitution modifier
quest to find these powers? Do you seek more power even at Hit Points at higher levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your constitution
the expense of others? Or do you use their powers for justice, modifier
whatever that may mean to you? Are you searching for the
reason behind a specific event in the past?
Perhaps you were tasked with finding runes of the ancients Proficiencies
by a noble or royal. Or maybe your explorations one day led Armor: Medium and light armor
you to finding a lead on these strage artifacts. Do you use Weapons: Simple weapons, shortswords, longswords, and
these runes for others or for yourself? Do they make you shortbows
want to fight more? Or do they provoke you to seek out more Tools:
lore surrounding them? Your runes are unique to you, so you Saving Throws: Dexterity, Intelligence
must keep them close and never let them fall into the wrong Skills: Choose two from Arcana, History, Acrobatics,
hands. Investigation, Insight, Survival, or Perception
Equipment
Quick Build You start with the following equipment, in addition to the
You can make a runelord quickly by following these equipment granted to you by your background:
suggestions. First, make Intelligence your highest ability
score, or Strength if you plan on making a Runeblade. (a) a shortsword (b) a longsword or (c) a light crossbow
Dexterity should be your next highest, or Intelligence if and 20 bolts
Strength is your highest ability score. Second, choose the (a) scalemail or (b) leather armor and a shortbow with 10
archaeologist background. arrows

2
Equipment (Continued) Soft Reset
(a) an explorer's pack or (b) a scholar's pack Starting at 2nd level, once every short rest if an enemy
a rune pouch succeeds on the rune save against one of your runes, that
rune doesn't loose a charge.
Rune Usage Expanded Rune
Runes are one of your main sources of power. Your ability to Beginning at 3rd level, up to three times between long rests
use them comes from finding, studying, and finally attuning to you may choose to give an elemental rune an area of effect
them. Rune attunement is seperate from other kinds of with a radius of 10 feet and an extra d8 of damage. All
attunement. These must be kept on your person to be used. creatures within the area of effect must make a rune save.
Runes Ability Score Improvement
These are small artifacts engraved with unique glowing When you reach 4th Level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and
symbols. They usually are made out of stone or metal, but 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice
wooden ones aren't unheard of. When attuned to a rune, you by 2, or you can increase two Ability Scores of your choice by
may trace it's symbol into the air to cause a magical effect to 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20
happen. All runes have a casting range of 30 feet unless using this feature.
otherwise stated and can be cast on a single 5ft square within
range.
Using a rune takes one action and causes that rune to lose Runic Counter
a charge unless otherwise specified by an ability. There is a Beginning at 5th level, twice per long rest if you're being
limit to how many times you may use a rune before letting it attacked by someone within melee range, as a reaction you
recharge that correlates with your level. Runes are recharged may counter attack with an elemental rune without using a
during long rests. charge.
Starting at 11th level the rune you use to counter with also
Rune Saves deals an additional d4 of damage when used in this way.
When a rune is used on its own, the target must make a
Dexterity saving throw. The DC for this throw, unless Multi-Rune Use
otherwise stated, is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your
intelligence modifier. The target takes full damage on a failed Starting at 7th level, up to three times between long rests
save, or half that on a successful one. when you use your action to cast a rune, you may cast a
second rune immediately afterwards. The number of runes
Rune Types you may cast using this ability increases to three at 13th level.
There are two major types of runes:
Image source: Fantasy by Svetlin Velinov
Elemental Runes: These runes cause a specified elemental
damage against their targets. For damage, roll a number of
d6's equal to your proficiency bonus for damage. When
contested by counterspell, these count as 3rd level spells.
These runes are the more common of the two types.
Transform Runes: Transform runes don't cause specific
damage, but tend to have effects that either change
locations of things, or cause disruptions. When contested
by counterspell, these count as 5th level spells. They are
more powerful, but are also more rare.
Echos of the Ancients
Starting at 1st level, your runes give you special insight into
places of historical significance, such as ruins or large cities.
When you make a history check such locations, it
automatically succeeds, and your runes give you details that
you may not be able to find in other places such as libraries
and archives.
Runelord's Peculiarity
At 2nd level you select a trait that distinguishes you from
other runelords: runeblade, runemaster, runesniper, or
runejumper. Your choice grants you features at 2nd level and
again at 6th level, 10th level, 14th level, and 18th level.

3
 Runic Resistance Rune Blades
Starting at 9th level up to twice between long rests as an When you take path of the runeblade, starting at 2nd level, as
action you may choose to use a charge on an elemental rune a bonus action you may expend a charge on an elemental
to gain resistance to the correlated element for 3 turns. rune to cast it onto a sword or dagger that you're holding. For
You may not have more than one resistance at a time using 2 turns, on a hit that weapon does 2d6 damage of the type of
this ability. the rune that was cast in addition to normal weapon damage.
If you cast another rune onto your weapon, the current effect
ends. If someone else tries to use the weapon, it loses all
Technological Runes magical effects that it had.
At 15th level, select two runes that you have found. With a
little more effort, you realize that they are not magical, but are Rune Transformation
actually ancient technology. These runes have all of the same Beginning at 6th level, you may use your action to form the
effects as normal, but are no longer considered "magical". essence of a rune a weapon. At the cost of all charges of an
These runes ignore resistance to magic and anti-magic fields. elemental rune, you may turn it into a sword. The sword is a a
+1 magic sword with finnese that on a hit deals 2d6 slashing
Opponent Breaker or piercing damage plus 2d8 damage of the element of the
rune. You have proficiency with this sword and cannot use
Beginning at 17th level, you have increased the power of your the rune blades ability on this sword. The sword remains
runes to the point at which it breaks those who face you. Up manifested for 3 turns x the number of charges the rune had.
to two times between long rests when making an attack with
an elemental rune, you may roll a d20. On an 18, 19, or 20, Surpassing Runes
your rune cannot be dodged and acts as a critical hit. In Starting at 10th level, when you cast a rune onto your
addition, the target is stunned until the end of their next turn. weapon, the extra damage done ignores elemental
The opponent breaker feature may not be used in resistances.
conjunction with any other featurse on your turn, including
multi rune use and features that use the bonus action. Runeblade Burst
Beginning at 14th level, twice per long rest you, as a bonus
Rune Bombardment action, may cast two elemental runes on your blade. You may
At 20th level your runes become a force to be reckoned with. then attack twice on your turn. On a hit, the weapon deals
Once per day you may invoke a rune bombardment against a 2d8 damage of both element types to the opponent in
target. The target must make a rune save at disadvantage. On addition to the weapon's damage. Both runes lose a charge
a failed save they take 3d6 damage of each of the following when this ability is used.
types: fire, cold, lightning, thunder, poison, acid, force,
necrotic and radiant. On a successful save, they take half Chromatic Blade
damage. Starting at 18th level, once per day as a bonus action you may
cast all damage types onto a blade of your choice. When you
do this, your blade shimmers with many colors. On a hit with
Runelord's Peculiarity the weapon, in addition to normal damage, the blade deals
Runelords have many commonalities, but none use thier 2d6 of each of the following damage types (total 16d6): fire,
runes in quite the same way. The peculiarity you choose cold, lightning, acid, poison, force, radiant, and necrotic. After
reflects both your disposition on how runes should be used, the weapon hits, or after two rounds, the effect fades.
and what you can do with them.
Runemaster
Runeblade Those that choose to spend time studying to make their
A runelord who takes up the ways of the sword is a sight to runes more powerful tend to become highly skilled
behold. Many runelords practice the blade as a way to offset runemasters. A runemaster uses primarily runes to fight, and
the handicaps of their runes. Those who master the thus learn the intricacies of what makes the runes unlock
technique of applying their runes to weapons however higher levels of output. A runemaster depending on
become formiddable forces in battle. Runeblades, although disposition may want to work alone doing this, or may choose
extremely rare, are sought after for armies, militias, and to find a close friend or two to help test their runes.
virtually any group that needs either protection or a skilled
warrior to fight by their side. Potent Runes
When you select the path of the runemaster, starting at 2nd
level up to 3 times before you complete a long rest you may
have an elemental rune do an extra 1d8 of damage. At 10th
level this increases to 2d8

Image source: Golden Arcane Circle by Udine

4
Bestow Rune
Beginning at 6th level, you may use your action to use a
charge of one of your runes to give an ally that rune to use
temporarily. As a bonus action on their turn, they may cast
the rune on a target within 30 feet of them. The rune save is 8
+ your proficiency bonus + your ally's Intelligence modifier.
Prolonged Runes
At 10th level you unlock the potential within a rune to make it
strike for a longer period of time. Up to two times between
long rests, if you cast an elemental rune as your action, you
may have that rune strike the same target a second time one
turn later without losing a charge.
Runic Curse
Starting at 14th level, once per long rest as a bonus action
you may bestow a curse on a target. For 30 seconds, the
target automatically fails saves against your runes, and takes
an extra 2d4 damage from runes that you cast on them.
Signature Rune Source: Ancient Runes by Chris Knight
At 18th level, you have honed knowledge of one of your runes
to a deadly amount. Select one elemental rune from your list Flying Rune
of found runes. It deals 2d6 extra damage, ignores elemental At 14th level you discover a rune that gives you the ability to
resistance, and has an unlimited number of charges. fly. This rune does not count against your number of runes
found, and only has one charge before it must recharge.
Runesniper When you cast this rune, it gives you a flying speed of 30 feet
Whether applying runes to a bow or not, a runesniper will try for five minutes. At the end of the duration if you are still in
to push the range of their abilities to the max. A runesniper the air, you fall as if you have feather falling.
makes excellent long range support, but beomces weaker as Clairvoyance
the distance between them and their opponents becomes Starting at 18th level you have supreme acuracy with your
smaller. As a result, they must be careful to keep proper runes. When you use a rune arrow, you may ignore partial
distance between themselves and others. Runesnipers tend and 3/4 cover, and have advantage on the attack roll. In
to be wary of ambush, and are on their guard in case of addition, once per combat as a bonus action you may mark a
attack, and are therefore sought after as wall guards in cities, target. If the target is within 120 feet of you, you know where
or scouts. they are and can target them with runes even if they have full
cover, or are invisible.
Long Distance Runes
Taking the path of a runesniper gives you range like no other. Runejumper
Beginning at 2nd level, your runes have a casting range of
120 feet. At 10th level this increases to 160 feet and Every group has it's oddball, and runejumpers fit the bill
increases again at 18th level to 200 feet. perfectly. They tend not to focus on expanding the power of
their runes, but what gimmicks the runes can create when
Rune Arrows manipulated properly. A rune jumper is often tricky to pin
Starting at 6th level, as a bonus action you may cast an down, as they're good at figuring out escape options and
elemental rune onto an arrow. On a hit, the arrow does 3d6 never seem to stick in the same place for too long.
damage in the type of the rune's element in addition to the
damage of the arrow. Rune Jump
A runelord who becomes a runjumper first delves into their
Detonate chaotic nature by learning how to teleport. Starting at 2nd
Beginning at 10th level, up to one time between short rests as level, up to three times between long rests, after using an
an action you may select a 15x15 foot square within your elemental rune you may teleport 30 feet in any direction as a
rune's range. You cast the rune on that area, but it does not bonus action.
immediatly take effect. On any of the next three turns, as a
bonus action you may detonate the rune. All creatures within Reverse Stance
the specified area must make a rune save. They take 5d8 Beginning at 6th level, you learn to reverse your casting
damage in the type of the rune on a failed save, or half of that stance to become more dificult to trace. Up to three times
on a successful one. Only one rune may be activated in this between long rests, you may give the target of one of your
way at a time. "Soft Reset" cannot be used in conjunction runes disadvantage on the rune save they must make.
with this ability.

5
 Bouncing Rune Extra Notes
Starting at 10th level, up to two times between long rests if a
rune hits, you may select another target within 30 feet of the Multiclassing
first target. The rune is also cast on them without using a If you would like to use the runelord as a secondary class, you
charge. must have an Intellegince score of at least 13. Additionally
you should have an in game reason for encountering artifacts
Runic Disapearance such as runes.
Beginning at 14th level, you have discovered a way to make Combining the Runelord with PHB Classes
yourself temporarily invisible using your runes. Once per day,
you may turn yourself invisible as if by the spell invisibility for The Runelord's rune system works well as a supplement to
up to ten minutes. other classes that already exist. It works similarly to martial
subclasses that give the user spells. For an example, see
Chaos Rune Primal Path: Path of the Runekeeper.
At 18th level you find a rune with true chaotic potential. It has
one charge per day and does not count against your number
of found runes.When you cast this rune on a creature, it must
make a rune save. On a failed save it does 4d8 damage,
where the damage types are correlated with the following
table:
d8 Damage Type d8 Damage Type
1 Acid 5 Necrotic
2 Cold 6 Poison
3 Fire 7 Lightning
4 Force 8 Radiant

If you roll two or more of the same number, the bouncing

rune ability triggers immediately for free. You may not use
bouncing rune in conjunction with chaos rune otherwise.
Chaos rune may bounce up to five times. On a successful
save, chaos rune does half as much damage and does not
bounce.

6
Runes
This is a list of elemental and transform runes. All runes have a range of 30 feet, target a single 5 foot square when cast and take
an action, unless otherwise stated by the rune or an ability. When attacking with a damage dealing rune, the target of the attack
must make a rune save. On a failed save they take Xd6 damage in the type of the rune where X is your proficiency bonus. On a
successful save, they take half damage. If contested by counterspell, elemental runes count as 3rd level, and transform runes count
as 5th level.
If the number of charges on a rune is not specified in the description, it is determined by your runelord level. Runes recharge
after a short or long rest.
Elemental Runes Transform Runes
Fire Rune Transfer Rune
A bright red-orange symbol that deals fire damage to the A gray and extremely complex symbol. This rune allows you
target. to switch spots with a target within range. If the target does
not willingly wish to move, they must make a rune save. On a
Ice Rune failure, they are transported instantly to your spot, and you
A chilling light blue symbol that deals cold damage to the are transported instantly to theirs. This rune may be used as
target. a reaction.
The transfer rune has a maximum of 2 charges, or less if
Acid Rune your runelord level specifies a lower number.
A deep green symbol that deals acid damage to the target.
Shield Rune
Poison Rune A silvery symbol. This rune when used, gives you or a target
A bright violet symbol that deals poison damage to the target. of your choice a +X (maximum +3) bonus to AC until the end
of your or the target's next turn, where X is your proficiency
Lightning Rune -1. This may be used as a reaction.
A yellow symbol that deals lightning damage to the target. The shield rune has a maximum of 3 charges, or less if
your runelord level specifies a lower number.
Thunder Rune
A light brown symbol that deals thunder damage to the Healing Rune
target. A golden symbol that glitters. This rune when cast gives Xd6
hit points back to the target where X is your proficiency
Wind Rune bonus.
A light green symbol that deals force damage to the target.
Transport Rune
Light Rune A shimmering royal blue symbol. When you cast this rune,
A pure white symbol that deals radiant damage to the target. you are teleported to a spot you can see up to 60 feet in any
direction. You may only cast this rune on yourself.
Dark Rune
A pure black symbol that deals necrotic damage to the target. Stasis Rune
An orange symbol that forces a target within range to make a
Rock Rune rune save. If the target fails, they are stunned for a turn. If
A light gray circlular symbol that drops rocks on the target to they succeed, nothing happens. The stasis rune has only 1
deal bludgeoning damage. charge.
Metal Rune Augmentation Rune
A copper hued symbol that causes metal shards to be thrown A lilac symbol that instead of targeting a space, targets a
at the target, dealing piercing damage. weapon within 30 ft of you. When a charge is expelled on this
rune, it gives a weapon 5 ft of extra range for 30 seconds.

Created by u/MechaPenguin404
Version 2.1