School of Runes

Amongst mortal-kind, there were many those who reached for power beyond that with which they were conceived. And amongst those, there were those had not the will or the strength of soul of the Theurge, to shape the Working by their existence. And yet, despite this, still they reached. Still they sought. Still they looked. Still they grasped and hungered for the power and truth.

And from their great collective avarice was arisen the Architect, ascendant, who was the art and the artist, the maker and the made. The weaver and the writer and the speaker of the arcane. And the Architect gifted them the Paths of the Wizard, in triad, as all things are.

And of the Paths, of the weavers and the writers and the speakers, there were those who took into them the understanding of the rules by which the great Work was governed, and rewrote them by their own hand. With pen and paper, and chisel and stone, and blade and flesh, they wrote their spells. In symbol and scrawl in ink and blood and dust. And as they etched the channels of creation did it flow through them and was it shaped by them. 

 

Children of the Elder Things

The School of Runes is part of the homebrew collection written by myself, titled as above. Unfortunately, I can't include links here, but entering "docs.google" followed by ".com/document/d/1QJ2tjzMrvFLmISBs0vlGwhNJF5KBNRer0VTkzzAFhpM/edit?tab=t.0" in the url bar will bring you to the compendium.

Runic Casting

The rules and laws that govern the Working, written out, so as to command it. Your magic takes the form of arcane sigils and symbols, your spells inscribed in physical material. Perhaps specially prepared stones, or slips of paper. 

For each leveled spell you know, you learn a corresponding rune, and inscribe it in a lasting, difficult-to-replicate way. Because of your method of casting, your spells require no verbal or somatic components, but, all leveled spells and cantrips instead require material components in the form of spell-specific individual runes, which are not consumed on use. These are treated as your spellbook for all features that refference it. You must possess the rune corresponding to a spell in order to cast that spell.

Additionally, you have a collection of smaller, less permanent mediums upon which you can freely work your inscriptions. At level 2, you possess 5 of these mediums, increasing by five at levels 6, 10 and 14, to a maximum of 20. Should some of your store be lost or consumed, they can be replaced for a cost of 20 minutes per five medium, representing the small amount of effort needed to prepare them, as long as you have reasonable access to whatever common material they are made from.

Inscribe

Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, you gain the ability to inscribe runes on your specialized mediums. At level 2, as an action, you may inscribe one word of your choice on a medium you possess, also specifying a trigger event which will activate the rune. You may also choose to inscribe any spell you know as long as it is in your spellbook, or a spell you have witnessed in the last hour which is of a level you can cast. Inscribing a rune is a process which requires three minutes of concentration to enact. A creature that can read Primordial is able to understand the meaning of an inscribed rune.

When the trigger event occurs, the rune creates an effect originating from itself, in accordance with the word or spell inscribed. A trigger event will not activate an inscribed rune from a distance of more than 100 feet, nor can a rune activate in a space such as an Antimagic Field or similar effects. Additionally, a rune may be activated as an action at a range of touch by any creature which is not null to magic. The duration of a rune's effect is typically no more than a minute, unless otherwise specified. The effect of a runic word should be interpreted as literally as possible by the DM, and should usually either effect the medium itself, or emanate from it, unless otherwise specified. Upon activation, the medium is consumed. The power of a one-word phrase is roughly equivalent to that of a cantrip. 

Increased Mastery

At 6th level, you have become more proficient in the use of your runes. You may now inscribe runic phrases of up to 5 words on one medium. The power of a five-word phrase is roughly equivalent to a spell of 3rd level. Additionally, your speed is increased. You may now inscribe at a rate of one word per two minutes.

Further, as an action, you may choose to inscribe a single word phrase in the timespan of one turn. Runes inscribed in this way are unstable, activating immediately. This activation can be delayed by holding concentration as long as you are within 10 plus your Intelligence modifier (minimum +1) feet of the medium, to a maximum of (Intelligence modifier) minutes.

Enduring Runes

At 10th level, you are far more proficient than when your journey began. You may now instill in your runes multiple charges. When inscribing a rune, you can choose to increase its number of uses up to your intelligence modifier. For each use you add, each word in the phrase costs one more than it would normally. Such that at 3 uses, each word would count as three for the purpose of how many may be inscribed. Additionally, runic phrases may now contain up to 10 words.

Freed Inscriptions

Starting at 14th level, you are no longer bound by constraints of stone or parchment to imbue with your will. Once per long rest, you may inscribe your symbols with no more than the force of your own mind. In the space of one action, write out a runic phrase, consuming your mediums at a rate of one per five words, up to a maximum of twenty five words. This inscription is triggered immediately, and can have no more than one activation. A full-length phrase has a power equivalent roughly to that of a spell of 7th level. 

Additionally, you may now normally inscribe runes on other materials, besides your mediums, functioning identically. If the surface or object on which the runes are inscribed is damaged in such a way as to break the inscription, or moved more than 30 feet from their location at the moment of inscription, the runes are destroyed.