Rune Hammer

The dwarves have never contended that Rune magic was discovered and first used by Storm Giants but they would remind you that it was they who perfected the practice. The Rune Hammer guilds under Murgoth Nor are very particular about who they pick to apprentice and those chosen few must endure a strict regimen of arcane education and martial training in order to someday wield Rune Magic on the field of battle.

Restriction: Dwarves Only

The Rune Hammer guilds under Murgoth Nor are very particular about which dwarves they pick to apprentice and those chosen few must endure a strict regimen of arcane education and martial training in order to someday wield Rune Magic on the field of battle.

Your DM can lift this restriction to better suit the campaign. The restriction reflects the story of rune casters in Naranthir, but it might not apply to your DM’s setting or your DM’s version of the Realms.

Martial Training

When you adopt this tradition at 2nd level, you gain proficiency with light and medium armor.

You also gain proficiency in the Athletics skill if you don’t already have it.

Rune Hammer

Starting at 2nd level, you gain proficiency with the Dwarven Rune Hammer, a heavy two-handed maul made from stone. In addition to wielding the Rune Hammer as a normal weapon, a Rune Caster may activate a rune on the hammer as a bonus action prior to an attack on their turn. 

You may choose two runes to carve and maintain on your hammer, this number increases to three at level 6, four at level 10, and at level 14 you may have up to 5 different runes carved into your hammer.

Air

Your hammer becomes lighter in your hand. Until an attack hits with the hammer, you have advantage on your attack rolls with it. The next time you hit a creature with your rune hammer, you deal an additional 1d6 bludgeoning damage.

Fire

The next time you hit a creature with your rune hammer, you deal an additional 1d6 fire damage. At the start of each of its turns until the effect ends, the target must make a Constitution saving throw against your spell save dc. On a failed save, it takes 1d6 fire damage. On a successful save, the effect ends. You may also choose to end the effect by absorbing the flame with the rune on your hammer.

Ice

The next time you hit a creature with your rune hammer, you deal an additional 1d6 cold damage and the target must make a constitution saving throw against your spell save dc. On a failure, the creature is overcome by the incredible cold and has disadvantage on attacks until the end of it’s next turn.

Lightning

The next time you hit a creature with your rune hammer, you deal an additional 1d6 lightning damage and the target must make a constitution saving throw against your spell save dc. On a failure, the creature collapses and becomes prone

Stone

The next time you hit a creature with your rune hammer, you deal an additional 2d6 bludgeoning damage.

Runic Armor

Starting at 6th level, you may spend a long rest crafting a set of Stone Armor from basic materials (see the “Stone Armor” sidebar below). Crafting a second set of stone armor causes the first to lose it's effect and the armor loses any value it may have had as a set of Stone Armor.

While you are wearing Stone armor you may use a bonus action to activate it by sharply tapping the control stone with a metal object. Once activated, stone armor remains active for the next 10 minutes.

 

Stone Armor Stone Armor is a rare type of medium armor made by dwarves. It consists of leather robes studded with rune carved stones and copper wire sewn between them. Creatures with the “Runic Armor” feature may activate the armor which causes the rune stones to slow fast moving objects that come near them, increasing the effectiveness of the armor. Cost: 2000 gp AC: (inactive): 13 + Dexterity modifier (max 2) AC: (active): 13 + Intelligence modifier Weight: 45 lb.

Runic Mastery

Starting at 10th level, your mastery of your rune hammer allows you to activate 2 runes using the same bonus action.

Perfect Runes

Starting at 14th level, you’ve perfected and customized the runes carved into your hammer so that they deal even more damage. You may now add your Intelligence modifier (minimum of +1) to the damage of your melee weapon attacks while your hammer has an activated rune.