Hello everyone, and welcome to another in a series of articles focusing on the Cleric Domains in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. The goal for each of these is to provide you with a quick overview of your domain powers, spells, and introduce you to a god or goddess from real-Earth mythology who could be a deity using this particular domain.
All that said, welcome to this week’s article on the domain of: Runes.
The Rune domain is described as “In strange and eldritch runes you find potent magic.” – So presumably you’re literate, and you might find that the old adage, “the pen is mightier than the sword” to be literally true.
The powers granted are “Blast Rune” – this allows you to create a dangerous rune in an adjacent square, in effect, securing your flank with a landmine, so that you’re more dangerous to sneak up on. It’s quite hard to find and disable, and since it does 1d6+1 energy damage per 2 cleric levels, then it is something to be aware of, especially as the rune is invisible, and since you choose the energy type when setting the rune.
The second power is “Spell Rune” – this is where it gets interesting. You can link your spell rune to one of your spells, a bit like a contingency spell, but with no limit in the spell types, as long as it’s one level lower than your highest level spell. Harm could be extremely dangerous for example, if set like this.
Spells:
The spells you get with the Runes domain are as follows:
Erase
Erase is a slightly strange spell in that it only removes any written text, but that is not its main strength. Its strength is in the fact that it can remove the symbol spells (I’ve mentioned them in previous articles) without the need for dispel magic. (You still need a caster level check, but this is against a lower DC than it would be to sort the situation with dispel magic). This makes erase very useful in specific circumstances, but for the wizard who likes to be prepared (or who wants to REALLY mess with an enemy spellcaster – especially a recurring villain, as this could potentially render their arsenal useless), this is a good spell to bring along.
Secret Page
Secret Page allows you to hide the contents of a page, with something that appears entirely different, and also allows you to hide spells like explosive runes or sepia snake sigil, making for a dangerous reading experience. Normally though it would hide the contents behind something innocuous, which you cannot penetrate unless you either dispel the secret page or find out what the secret passcode is. Even true seeing can only reveal that there is something else underneath it, NOT what the actual hidden writing is.
Glyph of Warding
This allows you to seal off an area, a bit like your own blast rune or spell rune, with the same benefits and problems. It simply deals more damage on the blast glyph version and can only store 3rd level spells as the spell glyph version.
Explosive Runes
Every RPG geek forums’ personal spoiler breaker, the explosive runes spell. Simply put, it allows you to hide a 6d6 fireball spell within the pages of any book, surface or text, as long as the rune is visible. It’s worth bearing in mind that the spell centers on the object used for the runes, and the object is not automatically protected from that damage, in fact, it receives no saving throw.
Lesser Planar Binding
This is almost a classic “this can only go wrong” spell. This allows you to summon an Outsider, and force it to perform a service for you. You’ll want to set up a magic circle and dimensional anchor as well though, so they cannot escape; otherwise, you could be in for a world of hurt.
Greater Glyph of Warding
As the normal glyph of warding, except it allows for more damage (10d8) and higher level spells (6th).
Instant Summons
This allows you to summon a single item that you’ve previously marked with arcane mark, across any distance, even from other planes (as long as the item hasn’t changed ownership), though it does require the sacrifice of an expensive sapphire. I will say that if you can get the arcane mark onto a bag of holding, then you could instantly summon an entire armory from anywhere, in a situation where it might be needed, which would be cool.
Symbol of Death
All symbol spells automatically trigger when a creature interacts with it (looks at the rune; reads the rune; touches the rune; passes over the rune; or passes through a portal bearing the rune), and while various symbols have different effects, they all have that in common. That makes their usability for a PC somewhat limited, as they, by their very nature, make for trap spells. They’re also very hard to detect since ONLY rogues can find them. While that is the literal wording from the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, there are now more classes available, so I would extend that to include all classes that have the Trapfinding class ability. That still makes the spell incredibly hard to detect, but it allows for more heroic moments on behalf of certain player characters.
As it triggers upon those certain conditions, it pays off to be devious about it. Place it on the upper edge of a door frame and have fun as people walk through. 😉
Teleportation Circle
With this spell, you’re able to teleport anyone within a 5-feet radius, to a location of your choice. No range limit, and no chance to be off target. Importantly though, you CAN use this as both an offensive spell (as it doesn’t have to be marked, so can function as a trap) or a mere utility spell. After all, being able to teleport someone, as a trap, into the den of a Red Dragon or something similar could be quite interesting.
New Deity
Odin
All-Father, One-Eye, The Wise One, Rune-Master
Alignment LN
Worshipers Rulers, patriarchs, wizards, spellcaster, craftsmen, the elderly, philosophers
Cleric Alignments LG, LN, LE, N
Domains: Charm, Glory, Knowledge, Law, Magic, Rune
Sub-domains: Arcane, Heroism, Judgement, Lust, Thought, Wards
Favored Weapon: spear
Symbol: an empty throne with 2 ravens on the back and 2 wolves lying at the front, or a featureless face with one eye missing.
Odin is the Lord of the Gods, and in many ways, their father (sometimes physically, sometimes only in a manner-of-speaking), but all of them bow to him, or at least acknowledge his power. While he, especially in his younger days, can be a restless and reckless deity, often seducing mortals, with time he has settled down, and with the sacrifice of his eye to Mimir and the subsequent assistance of that demi-power, he has perfected the art of rune magic, and become the all-seeing and all-knowing god (or at least, that is what he likes to tell his children and worshipers).
His clergy are similarly known for their wisdom, and are often sought out when someone has questions or doubts. They are wise sages in many ways, with a surprising amount of them having had wild youths, but having since settled down, to dedicate their lives to the pursuit of knowledge, wisdom or magical power. His clergy accepts both men and women, but only rarely are these mortals considered young by any means. Most would be middle-aged or older, often having found an interest in their perspective fields while they were young.
All clergy live solitary lives. They may have a single spouse, or a single apprentice, but there is never more than 2 priests (a master and a novice) within any community, as they believe that this could only spark dangerous rivalries, especially if the two of them should be evenly matched in the arcane arts.
Many of Odin’s priests are also arcane spellcasters, and not simply clerics, with a large number of them attempting to master both arcane and divine magic (essentially picking up the Prestige Classes of Loremaster and Mystic Theurge, especially the latter) and gaining enormous amounts of magical power in that process. They will only take on the most dedicated of students, though they are willing to accept anyone as an apprentice, whether they worship Odin or not, as the furtherance of the knowledge of magic and runes perpetuates his power.
A typical day for a priest of Odin is not a day. They are nocturnal most of the time (especially those who are not wed), spending their waking hours gazing at stars, looking for omens and conducting research that many mortals would find “unnatural.” As such, beyond working at night, they usually have no set routines, though all of them sacrifice small animals and hold celebrations on the summer and winter solstices as well as the equinoxes of spring and autumn.
Kim Frandsen
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