Using the ancient language of giants, you carve your will into the world. Runic magic heightens your strength, your durability, your very stature. Wield it and wreak havoc on your world’s evils.

That's the magic behind the Rune Knight fighter from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. The subclass is well-suited to players who want to hinder enemies, protect their allies, and dabble in magic. Below, we’ll take a look at the subclass' features, compare them to other fighter subclasses, and then talk about how to build a Rune Knight fighter.

• Rune Knight Fighter Features
• Rune Knight Fighter Compared to Other Fighter Subclasses
• Things to Keep in Mind
• How to Build a Rune Knight Fighter
• Sample Build

Rune Knight Fighter Features

The Rune Knight fighter wields the power of giantkind to defeat their foes and protect their allies.

• Bonus Proficiencies (3rd level): You learn how to speak, read, and write Giant, and you gain proficiency with smith’s tools. A good thing, too—might have been embarrassing to stumble across Giant script without a clue what it meant! 
• Rune Carver (3rd level): You learn how to inscribe magic runes into objects, weapons, and armor. These runes provide constant, passive bonuses as well as abilities that can be triggered once per short rest under certain conditions. Read through them closely to decide whether you want to deal extra damage, charm enemies, redirect successful hits, or something else. Remember, you can’t carve multiple runes onto the same object—the last guy who tried that with Fire and Frost melted his shield. 
• Giant’s Might (3rd level): While active, Giant’s Might increases your size to Large, which allows you to affect a larger area of the battlefield. The feature also grants you advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws and causes your attacks to deal extra damage once per turn. You might be thinking, “Wow, I can reach more of the battlefield and I have advantage on Athletics checks, like the ones I’d use to grapple or shove?” I’m right there with you, so hold that thought.
• Runic Shield (7th level): Wielding your runic magic to defend nearby allies, you can use your reaction to force an opponent to reroll a successful hit on an ally within 60 feet. Between the Runic Shield at 7th level and the Stone and Cloud Runes available via Rune Carver, the Rune Knight is well-suited to being a protector.
• Great Stature (10th level): At 10th level, you grow even bigger and stronger. Your extra damage from Giant's Might increases, and you stand much taller than you did before. Try not to bump into any door frames!
• Master of Runes (15th level): You can now invoke each rune’s magic twice, rather than once, per short or long rest. The dragon’s upset that you used your Cloud rune to redirect its critical hit? Do it again.
• Runic Juggernaut (18th level): Like being big? What if you were bigger? Runic Juggernaut cranks your Giant’s Might size up to Huge, increases the effect’s extra damage, and stretches your reach. Time to look Fire Giants in the eye and tell them how you really feel.

Giant’s Might + Enlarge/Reduce

As soon as they can carve their first rune, your Rune Knight can grow to Large size, which can functionally increase the potency of some of your runes. Take the Cloud or Stone runes, which are triggered by events within 30 feet of you; “within 30 feet of you” covers a greater area if your token takes up 2x2 squares than it does if your token takes up one square. If you aren’t convinced that increasing your size makes a tremendous impact on your battlefield potential, consider that Rune Knights have to wait until 18th level to get Huge. Or do they?

If your party contains a sorcerer, wizard, or artificer, ask your friend if they know the enlarge/reduce spell and are inclined to throw a little help your way. If enlarge/reduce is cast on you after you’ve activated Giant’s Might to grow Large, it will increase your size to Huge. Though it can’t mimic Runic Juggernaut’s bonus to reach, the spell does outpace the feature's bonus to damage. If your party can’t cast this spell, know that potions of growth accomplish the same goal—though they may be tough to find. Keep the order of operations in mind: Because the spell enlarges your current size while Giant’s Might sets you to a predetermined size, be sure to use Giant’s Might first.

Rune Knight Fighter Compared to Other Fighter Subclasses

Fighters are versatile, able to deal massive damage from afar or up close, draw enemy attention, defend allies, and control the battlefield. You could have chosen from nearly a dozen subclasses, so why the Rune Knight? What does your fighter want to do, and is the Rune Knight the best choice to do it? 

Rune Knights can choose from plenty of abilities during combat. You’ll nearly always have a rune or ability you can activate as a bonus action, reaction, or on a hit. If you like subclasses that provide you with many things to do, you might also consider the Battle Master, Eldritch Knight, or Psi Warrior.

Rune Knights aren’t as suited for ranged combat as the Arcane Archer. Nor are they likely to match the damage output of the crits-15%-of-the-time Champion subclass. But they do excel at controlling the battlefield to protect their allies. Stand in front, take up a lot of space, draw enemy attention, and grapple or shove anything that you don’t want running past you toward your friends. Enemies that make it past you will be charmed by your Stone Rune, stymied by your Cloud Rune, or forced to reroll their hits due to your Runic Shield. And remember, your Hill Rune is designed to keep you alive throughout it all. 

Things to Keep in Mind

While the Rune Knight does provide many options for things to do during battle, too many abilities with the same activation time (action, bonus action, or reaction) might leave you feeling frustrated. If you only pick runes that use bonus actions, and you invoke Giant’s Might on your first round, it might feel like it takes a while for your character to set up for combat. Try to pick runes and feats with a spread of activation times.

Also keep in mind that not all of the Rune Knight’s abilities are designed for combat. Runes can give you advantage on checks from Animal Handling to Arcana, from Deception to Insight. 

How to Build a Rune Knight Fighter

Ability Scores

As with any martial combatant, you’ll want to pick either Strength or Dexterity as your offensive ability score. Usually, this choice has several mechanical implications: Dexterity determines your initiative bonus and can affect the armor you wear and the weapons you wield, but it also improves the oft-used Dexterity saving throw modifier. However, the Giant’s Might feature grants advantage on Strength checks, which can be used in combat to shove or grapple enemies. That said, I recommend prioritizing Strength.

Next, you’ll want to keep your Constitution high, because your Rune Carver feature uses your Constitution modifier to determine your Rune Magic save DC. Your Constitution modifier also increases your maximum hit points, and staying alive is nice, too.

Lastly, you might want to keep your Wisdom score from getting too low, because a dominated Rune Knight could really ruin your party’s day.

Character Creation

Nearly any species would perform well with the Rune Knight subclass. I’ve recommended a few below that I think work synergistically with either Rune Knight features or lore. But if you follow your heart and simply pick your favorite species, I think you’ll have a great time and your runes will serve you well.

• Bugbear: Though not directly related to giants, some might confuse them for distant cousins. The bugbear is proficient in Stealth and deals extra damage during surprise rounds, but I recommend it for its Long-Limbed feature, which gives the bugbear 5 additional feet of reach. Activating Giant’s Might will already makes you Large, increasing the number of squares on the battlefield that are within your melee attack range, and Long-Limbed will only increase that further. Pair it with a weapon such as the halberd and suddenly you can strike any creature within an 8x8 square with you at the center.
• Goliath: Goliaths are distant offspring of giants, giving your character the opportunity for a clear lore-based connection to their history and rune magic. Additionally, the goliath has the Little Giant feature, which counts them as one size larger when determining the weight they can push, drag, or lift. This means that when they use their Giant’s Might feature, a goliath with 18 Strength could lift over 2,000 pounds.
• Leonin: The leonin is a large feline humanoid, much more physically imposing than their tabaxi cousins. Leonin move quickly, allowing your Rune Knight to get into position early in the encounter, and they can naturally acquire proficiency in Athletics to better shove or grapple foes. Abilities that affect a nearby radius, like the leonin’s Daunting Roar, pair well with Giant’s Might, because increasing your creature size also increases the number of squares covered by a 10-foot aura around you.
• Orc: The orc is a great choice for any fighter. Their Adrenaline Rush feature gives them added mobility, Relentless Endurance makes them harder to knock down, and their Powerful Build feature synergizes with Giant’s Might nearly as well as the Goliath’s Little Giant feature.

Feats

Fighters are granted more Ability Score Improvements than any other class, allowing them more opportunities to select and stack various feats. Feats can dramatically impact your character’s combat style or flavor, so choose carefully! 

Most of the feats below are recommended because they make the most of the Giant’s Might feature, which any Rune Knight with any set of runes can use; your specific rune selection might draw you toward different feats.

• Great Weapon Master: A classic for a reason, Great Weapon Master allows you to deal significantly more damage on a hit in exchange for a penalty to accuracy.
• Martial Adept: This feat allows you to select two maneuvers normally only available to the Battle Master subclass. Most of your runes grant abilities that you can activate as a bonus action or reaction (only the Fire rune activates on a hit). In contrast, many Battle Master maneuvers can be used as part of your Attack action. Selecting this feat will give you more options for your turn without overlapping too much with your existing features.
• Polearm Master: Use this one weird trick to nearly triple your melee reach! As a Medium creature wielding, say, a longsword, you can swing at everything within 5 feet. On a grid, this is represented by the 8 squares surrounding your 1 square. Use Giant’s Might to increase your token’s size to Large (2x2 squares) and suddenly there are 12 squares within 5 feet of you. Pick up a polearm with 10 feet of reach, and now you can strike any creature in the 32 squares surrounding you. What’s more, with Polearm Master you can take an opportunity attack when they step into this range, and it gives you a bonus action attack to use on your turn.
• Sentinel: Heighten your Rune Knight’s ability to control the battlefield. Opportunity attacks are triggered when an opponent leaves your reach; as discussed above, Giant’s Might extends your reach over a much greater area of the battlefield. Sentinel allows you to make an opportunity attack even if the enemy disengages, and it reduces an opponent’s movement to 0 for the rest of their turn.
• Shield Master: Shove your opponents as a bonus action! If you have multiple attacks per turn, you can make one attack as part of your Attack action, then use your bonus action to shove a creature prone, then make any remaining attacks with advantage.
• Skill Expert: Add +1 to your Strength or Constitution and then grant yourself expertise in Athletics if you want to all but guarantee success on checks made to shove or grapple an opponent.
• Tavern Brawler: Ever wanted to use your stool in a bar fight? Or grab a nearby rock and hurl it at an opponent? With the Tavern Brawler feat, you are proficient in improvised weapons, which includes any object you can wield with one or two hands. And because Giant’s Might doubles your lifting capacity, your threshold for what can be picked up and thrown is much higher than most people’s. Tavern Brawler also allows you to attempt to grapple a target as a bonus action, and Giant’s Might will give you advantage on that Athletics check.

More Feat Options in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants

Offered in Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants, the Strike of the Giants feat is offered by the giant foundling background (a flavorful selection for the Rune Knight fighter), but it can also be picked up if you have martial weapon proficiency. It allows you to emulate the power of a type of giant by imbuing a small number of weapon attacks with a special effect. If you're looking to control the battlefield, choose the Frost Strike option, which can reduce a target's speed to 0. Alternatively, Hill Strike can knock an enemy prone and Storm Strike can impose disadvantage on attacks for a round.

Once you have Strike of the Giants, you qualify for a number of other feats. In addition to other benefits, Ember of the Fire Giant allows you to replace an attack with a burst of flame, harming and potentially blinding enemies around you. Keenness of the Stone Giant, meanwhile, allows you to hinder enemies from afar. Use your bonus action to grab a rock and throw it at an enemy to potentially damage and knock them prone, making it less likely they can reach your allies on their turn.

Rune Knight Fighter Sample Build

For today’s sample build, I decided to make the most of the Rune Knight’s increased reach. This fighter is a bugbear wielding a glaive and sporting the Sentinel and Polearm Master feats. I gave them Skill Expert for the expertise in Athletics, and tried to avoid selecting too many runes with the same trigger.

In battle, this fighter is not designed to deal massive damage, but to hinder enemies and create a zone on the battlefield that enemies will find difficult to navigate. They can grapple creatures with ease, and enemies who manage to make it past them will trigger an opportunity attack (from the Sentinel feat) that can reduce their movement speed to 0. Enemies who escape melee to attack party members will be forced to contend with the fighter’s Cloud Rune or Runic Shield. If the fighter meets a creature too big to physically grapple, they will use the Fire Rune to bind the creature in flame.

Click the link below to see what “You shall not pass” might look like if it were a person.

Making Your Own Rune Knight Fighter

The Rune Knight demonstrates that fighters are more than a couple of sword swings. With the power of runic magic, a fighter can channel ancient power, protect allies, control the battlefield, and stand as tall as giants. So pick up a weapon, carve a rune into it, and head over to D&D Beyond’s character builder to create your Rune Knight!

Damen Cook (@damen_joseph) is a lifelong fantasy reader, writer, and gamer. If he woke up tomorrow in Faerûn, he would bolt through the nearest fey crossing and drink from every stream and eat fruit from every tree in the Feywild until he found that sweet, sweet wild magic.