Runecarving
"It's like writing a poem, only the force and impact of these words are quite literal."
- Morxire, Grandmaster Runecarver
Career
Qualifications
Runecarving is fundamentally pinning the weave to objects in the material plane with the written word. Towards this end, the runecarver must, at the very least, be literate in the language they are attempting to write in. Runecarving is done in ancient languages, often forgotten since the First Age of Corvayn. Learning these dead languages is no small task. The peoples whom know these languages may guard their knowledge jealously, such as the trolls of Liskat, allow novices to learn after a trial of strength, as the goliaths of Grour Smus, or allow them free access as most cultists allow any initiate.
Career Progression
Novice Runecrafting is learned through methods established in their cultures and is unique to those cultures. The ancient languages that descend from giant-kind are those used most often in runecarving; the cultures below are the most common that can be used in runecarving. Higher levels of runecarving are more dogmatic.
Novice - Dwarvish Runecarving
Ever lawful and orderly, dwarves train their novices in classroom settings. They graduate their students as apprentices after four years to meet the high demand for runecarvers dwarvish settlements tend to have. No other culture relies so heavily on their ancient carvings to protect their armor or empower their axes.
Novice - Goliath Runecarving
Goliaths have a mentor/mentee process that passes information from the older goliaths to the next generation.
Novice - Firbolg Runecarving
Teach their apprentices much as a druid learns from their circle. Once the apprentice is accepted into the circle, those better teach him and he in turn teaches those beneath him.
Novice - Tiefling Runecarving
Tiefling runecarving is unique in that it is the only culture that does not draw, in any way, from giant culture. Instead, they draw from their infernal past. The runes used to summon demons are often written in the tiefling traditions. Tieflings learn from a master. These masters are typically unwilling to teach a horde of apprentices so they will accept one cohort every few years or whenever the old ones die. The master then gives them cursory information on runecrafting and waits until all but one or two have given up or have killed themselves while drawing their first runes. Afterwards, the master then accepts the survivors as apprentices and has them do the minor monotonous tasks that people commission from him while he enjoys his own research or simply relaxes.
Novice - Troll Runecarving
Despite their stunningly low intellect, the trolls of Liskat have stumbled upon a crude form of runecarving. A dwarven expedition had uncovered a speaking stone, one that told the story of stone giant dreamer who once saw a mute cloud giant casting spells despite not being able to speak. This speaking stone shows how to cast several basic spells by twisting one's hand into the basic rune shapes. This expedition was waylaid by trolls as it came too close to Liskat. Since speaking stones use icons to translate information, even the dense trolls were able to learn how to fold their hands adequately. The neighboring lands can be thankful that only a few spells were transcribed into the speaking stone.
Trolls who wish to learn this form of runecarving must travel to Liskat and read from the "Mindstone." After these wannabe casters have spent their time learning "fisties," what the discerning runecarver would recognize as basic sigils they create with their hands, they are free to rampage the countryside however they choose. As of yet, the only spells that have been reliably seen to be cast by the trolls of Liskat are invisibility, hex, hunter's mark, bane, expeditious retreat, longstrider, jump, and inflict wounds. It is unknown whether these are the only spells taught by the Mindstone, if these are the only symbols that can be formed by troll hands in the ancient giant alphabet, or if they are the only ones the trolls can comprehend since they are in line with the berserking and hunting lifestyle their god intended for them.
This form of runecarving is rarely seen outside of the troll community because of The Surprise. Sigils are the most dangerous form of symbol to craft, often leading to explosions or other ill effects. This is most often harmless since the symbol is carved into stone or some other inanimate object. These mistakes are only bearable by trolls because of their remarkable regenerative power. If they blow an arm off practicing inflict wounds, they will live to see their new arm practice the same gesture again.
Journeyman Anyone who learns runecarving, except Novice - Troll Runecarving, are considered novices until they craft their first rune and their respective societies says they are in fact a runecrafter, no longer a dilettante. Troll "fisties" are not considered symbols at all and are thus kept from becoming more than a sideshow performance. Almost all runecarvers stay as Journeyman - Runecarving. Simple sigils and runes are all people typically need anyways and it's not hard or dangerous to make low level signs, once the trade is practiced well enough.
Expert To become an Expert - Runecarving, journeymen must make their own tools. These tools will make it easier to craft runes at higher levels and are specific to that language and method of inscription. For example, tiefling runecarving is often painted onto the floor (what is used as paint is up to the runecarver, suffice it to say most tieflings' runes are red). Given the infernal heritage of that alphabet, using the hair from a demon or devil as the bristles for the paint brush would make those runes much more powerful. Dwarves often etch their symbols into stone or armor; an adamantine chisel could scratch any rock or metal.
Master Master - Runecarving is not so much a greater understanding of one's alphabet but simply being able to write in more than one language. These runecarvers have traveled to a different culture and become proficient in that language. They begin as Novice - Runecarving in that language until they have created their first rune in that language and then created the appropriate tools to aid in that language's runecarving. Once becoming experts in a second language's runecarving, they can combine the two styles and confer both cultural modifiers to their runes (see each culture's novice runecarving page for cultural modifiers).
Grandmaster There is only one way a runecarver can become a Grandmaster - Runecarving; they must study directly from a stone giant. After finding a stone giant, the runecarver will have to prove that they are skilled enough for the giant to teach. This trial is up to the individual giant besought. One such trial was to create a speaking stone of pure icons so that the giant could understand why runecarving was so important for Ilarin Wisekiller Kulana to learn. After the necessary amount of time has been spent learning all the giant has to teach, the runecarver can return to their people as a Grandmaster. Shorter lived races find it difficult to attain this level of mastery since stone giants have so much to teach. Goliaths are only able to absorb as much as they can from their intrinsic ability to glean more from icons than any other race. Once a grandmaster, runecarvers can combine any of the symbols. Sigils can be mixed with icons so that a creature can be convinced they are ascending to heaven as a sigil launches them into the air.
Payment & Reimbursement
Runecarving is typically a solitary profession. Most use their skills to protect their loved ones or create family heirlooms that their grandchildren can use on their own adventures. Icons are created so that heritage and stories are more easily understood by others. It is rare to find a runecarver in an established shoppe, selling their wares as one would a cooked goose.
Dwarves are the only people that have such an economized outlook on this profession. Their reliance on runes makes this a staple of their economy and a viable career path. It garners as much respect as a cobbler or cooper, performing a basic function of dwarvish society that keeps life moving as it should.
Perception
Purpose
Runecarving can serve any number of purposes, as varied as any written language in fact. To the casual observer all magical carvings, calligraphy, or painting is a rune when in fact there are several flavors of symbols that runecarvers use to serve their purposes: sigils, seals, icons, brands, and runes.
Sigils
Put bluntly, sigils bring something out. These are the most common symbols runecarvers create, leading most to think of these when they think of runecarving. The sigil itself must have two parts written into it: the spell it is holding and the trigger that will cause the spell to be cast. What spell and what trigger are written into the sigil is as varied as the spells Mystra allows the weave to create. Kobolds have been known to use sigils as traps, pulling large crystals from deep below the earth to explode from the sigil once a person trods upon the writing. Warlocks famously use sigils to aid in their summoning, letting them pre-cast multiple spells of binding that will all go off at once when the demon appears. Frightened observers believe the scribbles circling the sigil are what call the demon when in fact summoning a demon is not at all that difficult. Controlling that demon is what the sigils are for. Paladins, fighters, barbarians, and any other manner of adventurer have been known to use sigils to hide powerful weapons and artifacts deep below the earth then draw a quick sigil into the earth before a fight to summon their weapon to them. Indeed, many a foe have fled simply from seeing the flaming edge of a paladins divine weapon erupt from the ground beneath them.
Sigils are not simply summoning circles though. Ilarin Wisekiller Kulana, most advanced Goliath runesmith, explains it through metaphor. "Sigils simply draw a power to it irresistibly. Imagine the weave as the flat ground and spells boulders that lay upon it. Sigils sink the ground, forming mountains that these boulders roll down. However steep that slope is, the larger a stone will fall and the harder it will hit when it lands. This is how we get The Surprise. Small spells can be much harder to draw. How does one draw a small puff of smoke? You must make a steep hill to ensure the smoke comes but shallow enough so that only one candle has been blown out, not one thousand. This is why a fireball is easier to draw for novices and often what gets them killed."
Seals
Ilarin Wisekiller Kulana teaches, "Our reality is but a tapestry of fabric separating us from what made us. Bards use this to sing their songs and play their tricks, weaving this fabric with song and art. This fabric can be pulled as with sigils or twisted and bunched as with seals. This bunching is simply an area of greater reality and a seal is this to a much greater extent. For reality is not made of just the one sheet played with by bards and sigils. Seals take every weave of reality and concentrate them together."
Lacking the imagery of Wisekiller, seals keep things in. Since seals are all the different weaves of reality bunched together, anything can be held by these symbols. Physical passage may be barred, transfer of energy, spells negated, or even thoughts nullified. These come with some dangers. If the runecarver pulls too hard or too quickly, the fabric may tear and any number of reality altering changes may happen, ranging from the relatively minor (nearby trees have purple leaves) to the cataclysmic (portals to the Abyss have now been created). Pull too softly, these weaves of realities are bunched but not held in place, mixing realities if the seal is created at all. These mixes can be relatively insignificant (nearby by creatures experience mild synesthesia) to catastrophic (the terrain dissolves back to elements with open conflict between water, earth, air, and fire elementals or creatures can now make thoughts manifest). If the seal does indeed get created, the effects of pulling too hard or too soft on the weaves of reality persist as long as the seal does. What may be worse is that these effects are not always made manifest immediately after the seal has been created. As the weaves react to this new seal, ripples may only interact with each other decades after the seal was created.
Icons
"No, I will not teach icons. They are evil. No other form of magic kills so cowardly. Think Wisekiller lies? Look to your human battlefields, to your people lunging into spears and swords and axes to protect the king's standard. Do you think they do this out of love? Out of duty? No, it is an icon cleverly placed on the flag that inspire men with a sense of honor and duty and service. They gaze upon their symbol and believe death will be cheated so long as their intention is pure. The ax is always a surprise. No, I will not teach you how churches make their congregation believe they are in the presence of the divine when they are in the presence of an icon. I will not show you how cultists carve their foreheads to inspire fear in those they would sacrifice."
Icons are used to relate information. This information does not need to be intelligible as Wisekiller protests in her teachings above. Emotions can be drawn out or memories transmuted into those who would look into a skillfully drawn icon. It is not always used to ill effects, most of the time it is not. A mother may give an adventuring daughter an icon so that the adventurer will picture their family while out making their name. Temples are typically filled with icons to give a sense of peace and stability to those who need refuge. The most skillful examples are the speaking stones of stone giants. The scrolls of symbols that begin and end exactly at either ends of the pillar are icons, relating masterfully crafted images and memories.
Icons are unique in that they can be built into any visible work of art. Even a simple line may act as an icon as long as the runecarver can siphon enough of their experience into the line. It is also the safest and easiest form of symbol to carve. The runecarver can activate the icon after they've completed it to see if they've created what they intended and simply scratch it out if it isn't correct. Issues of errant thought, daydreams, and nightmares are the only plagues on this talent. It is wise for those who house more than one spirit within them, warlocks or mindflayer thralls for example, to refrain from creating icons. The duality of spirit may lead to a confusing, and in some cases maddening, experience.
Brands
A favorite of the Abyss and Avernus, brands show ownership and a bond that cannot be broken. Just as this bond mars the soul, it now mars the body. Devils use brands to seal a contract, forcing allegiance to that devil for eternity, no matter how hard the creature repents. Demons aren't as shy with their marks. Whereas a devil's brand will always take since both parties are complicit in the exchange, demons with claw, burn, or tattoo brands into unwilling victims to force the allegiance. It may not work all the time since the severity of the wound inflicted dictates the success of the brand, but demons have never had any issue with inflicting pain. Warlocks use brands in their last moments alive when a summoned creature has slipped its bonds to try and regain control. Cultists often use brands at the culmination of their torture to create a new member in their rituals.
Each brand is unique to its owner. Yeenoghu's brand is well known since he marks his followers many times over. If one can discover a brand on a creature, that creature's master can be discovered as well. Not many runcecarvers are willing to teach the very few novices who would like to learn this symbol. It is often in the bowels of the nine hells that one must go to learn this infernal art of power.
Runes
The profession's namesake, runes are the most difficult symbol to learn and create. They are a combination of three symbols, a reverse sigil, a seal, and finally a sigil. This reverse sigil draws energy into whatever object has been carved. The seal keeps the energy for a time until a sigil is triggered that can then expel the drawn energy. This reverse sigil is the trickiest and hardest to master of the symbols. It draws energy from a specific weave of realty, or in some cases multiple weaves at once. It can do this passively, taking small bits of energy from that weave over time to harmlessly recharge the seal or it can draw it all at once, creating a vacuum of that school of magic within the immediate area. This may in fact be the reason a rune is created, to temporarily stop any spell from that school of magic to be cast. The specificity of the weaves it draws from can also be it's downfall. If that school of magic has been nullified in the surrounding area, the seal cannot recharge. If that form of magic no longer exists, that rune is also inert. There are magic weapons who lay dormant simply because they haven't been able to draw the energy needed to charge their respective seals.
Demographics
The vast majority of runes are dwarvish, given that culture's mass education of students and the economic demand for symbols. The other races, and thus languages runes are carved in, are represented roughly equally except for Tiefling. Their infernal script is used in ways found repugnant to most and is thus harder to find. The breakdown is roughly:
80% Dwarvish
10% Goliath
5% Firbolg
4% Troll
1% Tiefling
History
Runecarving was seen as a cheap form of spell casting during its infancy. It was viewed as a way for the magically inept to be able to manipulate the weave in the most base way. This is true to some effect even today. Cultists who cannot cast spells are trained in runes so that they can provide some magical boon to their benefactor. These cultists have marred the image of runecarving as well, using sigils to summon their masters or terrible demons and spirits to wreak havoc upon the populations as their masters command. This image is slowly changing as dwarvish runes become more commonplace. Dwarvish runes are carved onto armor to bring the wearer better luck, icons are scratched into hearths to bring a sense of family and love to a household. But the history of the occult and assassinations is hard to shake.
People tend to forget about the more common use of runecarving. Keeping criminals sealed within their cages, negating their spellcasting abilities. Keeping the large stones outside of Stoneheart moving and protecting the people within from orcish invasion. The runes that light sidwalks and pathways at night after the sun has gone down. Many modern comforts are afforded by the less attention seeking trials of the runecarver.
Operations
Dangers & Hazards
Hazards of the profession range depending on the purpose of the symbol.
Sigils
The Surprise is the affectation given to the unsavory result of a poor sigil. If the runecarver has botched their symbol badly enough, they can inadvertently draw too much of a spell or draw the wrong spell to the sigil. The trigger itself may be botched as well, causing the sigil to activate immediately rather than when the carver is a safe distance away. It could activate well after it was intended, harming the townsperson who is returning home after a siege rather than the orc whom had besieged the town. Of course, not all spells are physically harmful. Too much of an enchantment can be called, so that a sigil drawn to charm a person for an hour may charm them for life or charm them to the point of idiocy.
In practice, these inadequacies are quite quantifiable. Three rolls of a d20 are made. The first roll represents how close to the correct spell they wrote is to the spell they want, the second is for how close to the desired power of the spell they wrote, and the third is how accurately they triggered the sigil. The player is trying to get as close to 10 as possible. If the first roll is 3 or more off of 10, a spell of the same school is cast. If the first roll is 6 or more off, a random spell is cast when the sigil is triggered. The DM decides which spell is cast instead in either circumstance, preferably by a dice roll so that it is random. As the player gets further away from 10 on the second roll, the more or less powerful the spell is, depending if they rolled high or low. Rolling a 5 on a fireball spell would result in a mild scorch when the sigil is triggered; rolling a 15 would create a fireball much larger in diameter and magnitude than the spell they wanted. Non-damaging spells become more or less powerful, however that means for each spell. Triggers are behave as intended as long as the roll is between 5 and 15. This is if the trigger can be said in simple terms, such as "on sight" or "stepped on." If the trigger is more complicated, this window narrows by one for each additional word. "Around corner" would require a roll between 6 and 14 for example, and "when Henry steps on or sees" would be 9 and 11. If the trigger is over-rolled, the sigil is triggered too soon with a roll 5 greater than this window resulting in an immediate detonation. Under-rolling creates a lag in the detonation with rolling 5 outside of the window resulting in the sigil detonating with a random trigger with a random lag, at the DM's discretion.
Seals
Mixing the fabrics of reality has its consequences. Done correctly, the type of force being prevented is the only thing stopped. Poorly done, the runecarver can find themselves locked in the room with the seal, have their thoughts stupefied, or prevent air from moving at all, even into and out of their lungs. Worse, this bunching and pulling of fabrics may tear them, creating wild anomalies. These anomalies depend on the fabric that is torn and the fabric that takes its place. If time is torn and replaced with thought, any creature that comes too close to the seal may be filled with one singular thought, perhaps dread or mortal terror. If space is torn and another fold of space takes its place, a portal may appear, letting anyone or anything out into the material plane. Bunching too much of the fabrics will create a seal much too large, preventing anything from moving within miles of the seal. Too little and fabrics will simply touch and not prevent movement. These effects can range from synesthesia to the Fey Wild and Material Plane being swapped permanently in that location. It all depends on how much fabric is bunched and how hard it is bunched.
Seals require two rolls of a d20. The first roll represents how much fabric is bunched or how large an area is sealed. The player is trying to roll as close to a 10 as possible, with under-rolls creating a seal much smaller than desired and over-rolls creating impacting the surrounding area, much larger than anticipated. The second represents how firmly these realities are bound to stop what the seal is intended to fix in place. The player needs to roll between a 5 and 15 if only one fabric of the weave is bunched with the window narrowing by one for each additional plane bound with the seal. Under-rolls result in mixing, where the fabrics are touching when they shouldn't, blending together as much or as little as the roll was under-rolled. Over-rolls results in a tear of the fabrics, with random effects occuring depending on which fabric fills in the nearly formed hole in reality. This random effect is up to the DM's discretion.
Icons
Icons are relatively harmless when compared to seals and sigils. The only issue that can occur here is when a stray thought manages to worm its way into the author's head while they are creating the icon. Typically, this is caught early as the author can experience the icon for themselves and recreate it to correct any mistakes. When the author has another spirit or is under subjugation by another creature, these icons can contain mixed expressions which result in confusing and possibly terrifying images that flood the minds of those who observe the icon.
Icons don't typically require an ability check. If there are multiple voices within a player character, the DM may ask for a roll to see if they interject any imagery into the icon. How the DM decides this is up to their discretion, depending on how many voices are within that player, the strength of those voices, and the intent of those other thoughts.
Brands
Brands can easily fail if both parties are not complicit in the branding. Demons overcome this by inflicting great pain with their brands. Their victims can no longer resist the brand for worry over the pain. If this brand is resisted though, the brand is reversed. The one who gave the brand has now branded themselves and is an eternally loyal subject of the one they sought to enslave.
Brands are a contest between the player and creature they are branding or being branded by. The stat used to play out these contests depends on the method of branding. If a demon has forced a player to drink a poison, a constitution check may be necessary. Physical lacerations may require a strength check. A warlock may use their charisma to have their patron inflict the brand for them. It's a simple roll with whomever has the highest roll assumes control of the loser.
Runes
The mistakes of sigils and seals are both possible with a rune as well. In addition to mixing and The Surprise, reverse sigils bring their own flavor of danger to the runecarving process. Pulling too much or too fast of any one fabric may create a dead zone for that school of magic. An amusing fable runecarvers often share is the novice runecarver who became a pirate lord. He ravaged the seas with runes carved into large cannons strapped to his ship. These cannon devastated vessels and brought coastal city walls to the ground by shooting torrential wind. In his greed for ever larger cannons, the runecarver created a cannon so large, it could absorb a hurricane and focus its fury onto an unfortunate target. The runecarver did just that, but misjudged his rune. The sigil didn't shoot all of the tempest out but also down so that the cannon tore a hole in the side of the deck. The reverse rune took so much of the wind, the ship was becalmed. The vile runecarver could only look to the shore not a league away as his ship and crew sank to the bottom of the sea.
Runes have three components each necessitating rolls for each. The first component, the reverse sigil, is rolled similarly as a sigil would be. The first roll determines which plane or fabric of the weave they are drawing energy from and if that was the intended plane. Anything above 3 or more away from 10 forces the reverse sigil to draw from a random school of magic, possibly the school that was intended. The DM randomly rolls to see which school is drawn from. Anything 5 or more from 10 draws from multiple schools of magic, with another school added for every number past 5 the roll was from 10 (17 creates a sigil that draws from three schools of magic e.g.). The next component of the rune, a seal, is rolled as a seal normally would, as is the third component, the sigil. Depending on how these each roll, the DM decides how the run truly behaves.
Alternative Names
Runecrafting, Runesmithing
Type
Artisan
Famous in the Field
Related Locations
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