School of Runes and Rites (5e Subclass)
School of Runes and Rites
Wizard Arcane Tradition
The School of Runes and Rites specialize in the power of the written arcane runes and sigils. Often thought a slow bunch by those who favor more explosive solutions, Rune masters tend to plan ahead and be bound by traditions. The scripts, combinations and patterns are handed from master to student, and each student is expected to be able to copy them exactly. Rune masters are called to perform magical rites, write magical contracts or create magical constructions. Of all the schools the practitioners of runes and rites might be the best at monetizing their abilities, and often work for hire on projects big and small.
Rune Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy any runic spell into your spell book is halved. Runic spells are all ritual spells on the wizard spell list as well as all wizard spells with a casting time of 10 minutes or more1.
Sigil Crafter
At 2nd level you become proficient with your choice of Calligrapher’s supplies, woodcarver’s tools or Scrimshawing Tools. Whichever you choose, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any check you make that uses this tool proficiency.
Personal Rune Stone
At 2nd level your character learns to create personal rune stones. They are usually created from soft or porous stone, bone, clay or wood. The Rune Master casts a runic spell, and stores it in a Personal Rune Stone created by the casting. The creation of the stone requires materials worth at least 1 gp per level of the spell stored, and the Rune Master can only have one Personal Rune Stone at a time. No matter the material used, the magic hardens the rune stone to mimic the material qualities of granite. The casting of the spell stored requires the normal expenditure of material components and spell slots as if the Rune Master cast the spell. If it is a ritual spell, the Rune Master can cast it using the Ritual Casting class feature.
At any time, the Rune Master can spend an Action to say a few incantations and crush the Personal Rune Stone to dust, in effect casting the spell with a verbal and somatic component as an action. Any attempt to identify the spell as it is being cast by crushing the Personal Rune Stone has disadvantage.
Master of Rites
At 6th level the Rune masters proficiency with rituals is such that he can always channel as much energy into the spell as he is capable of wielding. When using the Ritual Casting class feature the rune master can chose to cast the spell at a spell level up to his highest-level spell slot. As normal with Ritual Casting no spell slot is expended.
The weight of Symbols
At 6th level the Rune masters rituals are powerful enough that they have a more lasting effect than normal. When using the Ritual Casting class feature to cast a spell, any duration that isn’t instantaneous is doubled to a maximum duration of 1 day. In addition, when casting a spell that would be permanent if cast once per day for a period of time the Rune Master can use up to his intelligence modifier spell slots of an appropriate level to cast the spell. Each spell slots used counts as an additional day of casting. If it would be permanent if cast once per week or once month or longer period of time, he cannot spend more than one extra spell slot.
Added Complexities
At 10th level the Rune Master chooses a wizard spell with a casting time of 1 minute or more and of a level he can cast that isn’t a ritual spell. He adds this spell to his spell book and it is now a runic spell. Once per day he can cast this spell as if it was a ritual spell. He chooses a second spell on 14th level.
Embedded Will
At 14th level the Rune Master has mastered the art of binding the concentration of spells to runic stones. As long as he has a Personal Rune Stone he has advantage on all concentration checks. In addition, he can spend an action when concentrating on a spell to draw a magic rune on another stone, piece of bone, wood or similar. He can no longer loose concentration on that spell as long as the stone remains whole, and can cast an additional spell with concentration. When the Rune Master has used this ability, he cannot do so again until he has finished a short rest, at which point he also loses concentration on all spells but one.
Runic Spells
1 Alarm(1), Antipathy/Sympathy(8), Astral Projection(9), Clairvoyance(3), Clone(8), Comprehend Languages(1), Contact Other Plane(5), Contingency(6), Control Weather(8), Create Homunculus(6), Detect Magic(1), Drawmij’s Instant Summons(6), Fabricate(4), Feign Death(3), Find Familiar(1), Gentle Repose(2), Glyph of Warding(3), Guards and Wards(6), Hallucinatory Terrain(4), Identify(1), Illusory Script(1), Legend Lore(5), Leomund’s Tiny Hut(3), Magic Mouth(2), Mirage Arcane(7), Mordenkainen’s Private Sanctum(4), Phantom Steed(3), Planar Binding(5), Rary’s Telepathic Bond(5), Scrying(5), Simulacrum(7), Skywrite(2), Tenser’s Floating Disk(1), Unseen Servant(1), Water Breathing(3). If using more supplements, like with all the schools, the range of spells widens.
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