So my group was pondering the idea of what else could WotC done for flavor instead of giant. Just curious what you guys have come up with, cause we spent a good 30 minutes talking about this and found that there's actually a slue of different flavors that they could've used instead of dragons. Here's some of what we've came up with;

• Dwarven - just the typical runesmiths that most people are familiar with
• Celestial/devil - Can't forget the angellic and demonic kind of runes
• Draconic - Come on, dragon based runes.
• Sylvan - Could focus more on the fey or focus more on the ancient elves 

The runes themselves could easily be reskinned for an ancient culture other than giants, but the "get Large" aspects of the Rune Knight definitely feel more giant-specific. 

I think Dwarf might be the best. They craft really strong magic items and use runes for that, so I think they will be pretty good to fit the rune knight.

Quote from Jacktheawesomewarrior >>

I think Dwarf might be the best. They craft really strong magic items and use runes for that, so I think they will be pretty good to fit the rune knight.

 Going Dwarven might be the easiest alternative for the Giant's Might aspects of the Rune Knight, you could tie it to the Duergar's ability to grow in size.

I find that the growing in size aspect of the rune knight is what really limits it's reflavoring potential... It's what's kept me from using it for character building myself since I don't find the idea of growing large very appealing except for a select few specific types of characters.

It's a lil sad really... with the rune kinght abilities you can make an effective rogue-ish thief character, but I just can't think of a cool sneaky reflavoring of growing large... You can certainly talk to your DM about simply removing the size aspect of giant's might, but so many of the rune knight's later features focus on increasing the size.

Quote from MamasToast >>

I find that the growing in size aspect of the rune knight is what really limits it's reflavoring potential... It's what's kept me from using it for character building myself since I don't find the idea of growing large very appealing except for a select few specific types of characters.

 This. Then again, considering how many large monsters (or even animals) there are you can easily reflavouring the growing into just about anything. How about borrowing a page from the Totem Barbarians? Your Rune Knight now takes on the shape of something akin to a werebear, growing large and furry when they activate their powers. Or how about War forged Rune Knight who basically transofrm into a bigger version of themselves? Lots of ways you can do it. :)

Could tie it to the fey, like a form of whacky wild magic. 

Or tie it to a long dead mythical Wizard like Merlin whose magic was lost to common mages. 

Or make it a wholly alien kind of magic, like it comes from mindflayers (everything but the giant form could be described as a kind of psionics)

Or for a warforged, make it upgrades to their body that there creator gave them. 

Dwarf rune smith is something I flavor a lot. For elves and eastern feeling Humanoid culture, you could do something like caligraphy or Hafuda to impersonate the power of spirits supporting your RK.

Really anything. I'm working on a barbarian that uses magic through an internal wellspring of magic that manifests as runes on their skin. They may not even know what the runes mean, but the magical abilities granted are what matter.

Quote from Heartofjuyomk2 >>

Really anything. I'm working on a barbarian that uses magic through an internal wellspring of magic that manifests as runes on their skin. They may not even know what the runes mean, but the magical abilities granted are what matter.

that flavor reminds me of the crit roll runechild sorcerer subclass

Rune Knight could be turned into a tattooed monk of sorts. I like the idea of using primordial origins. Ancient elementals and beasts with powers rivaling gods. The practice of the tattoo runes to infuse the essence of these great monsters would be an ancient one honed by a school of warrior-monks instead of being species specific. 

I’m playing a Warforged Rune Knight at the moment. He’s fun but confusing, any help would be lovely 

Quote from FallenPhoenixIV >>

So my group was pondering the idea of what else could WotC done for flavor instead of giant. Just curious what you guys have come up with, cause we spent a good 30 minutes talking about this and found that there's actually a slue of different flavors that they could've used instead of dragons. Here's some of what we've came up with;

• Dwarven - just the typical runesmiths that most people are familiar with
• Celestial/devil - Can't forget the angellic and demonic kind of runes
• Draconic - Come on, dragon based runes.
• Sylvan - Could focus more on the fey or focus more on the ancient elves 

I'm playing one right now in a Curse of Strahd campaign. He's a Rune Knight/Aberrant Mind sorcerer MC whose magic comes from within because he's not fully human and is part... something else (it'll probably end up being star spawn or something like that, but I'm still keeping options open)

When he was a kid, his nanny was a hag who was in debt to his father -- she knew his powers could overwhelm him someday, so she taught him runes that didn't give him powers, they acted as a way to harness and control them once they started to emerge

As I've been gaining levels and abilities on the sorcerer side (right now he's fighter 6/sorcerer 2, but I used an ASI on Metamagic Adept), things like his Giant's Might have started to get a little weird, as that non-human side of him becomes more prominent. If/when I get to RK 7 and take that "Hill Giant" rune, things are going to start to get really funky with his skin when he uses it

Quote from Morpharoo >>

I’m playing a Warforged Rune Knight at the moment. He’s fun but confusing, any help would be lovely 

 
What’s confusing you? Maybe I can help.