Runecasting
The Runic College — Dwarves & Gnomes
Runecasting is the ancient magical tradition of Dwarves and Gnomes. Where other spellcasters
release magic through voice or gesture, a Runecaster carves it into the world —
inscribing glyphs onto floor tiles, doors, furniture, weapons, armor, and walls. These runes
persist in place, waiting to be triggered, and their effects are always local to the rune itself.
Core Rules: Casting a rune spell requires a full action and physical contact or adjacency to the target surface. Most runes persist until triggered, dispelled, destroyed, or the quest ends. Effects are local — typically the current room or a 3–5 square radius around the rune in corridors. Manna costs follow the standard scale: Level 1 = 4 Manna, Level 2 = 8, Level 3 = 12, Level 4 = 16, Level 5 = 20.
The Runecaster is available to Dwarf and Gnome characters only.
Core Rules: Casting a rune spell requires a full action and physical contact or adjacency to the target surface. Most runes persist until triggered, dispelled, destroyed, or the quest ends. Effects are local — typically the current room or a 3–5 square radius around the rune in corridors. Manna costs follow the standard scale: Level 1 = 4 Manna, Level 2 = 8, Level 3 = 12, Level 4 = 16, Level 5 = 20.
The Runecaster is available to Dwarf and Gnome characters only.
Arrow Trap RuneControl
Carve on floor. Any monster stepping on the rune immediately takes 1 Body Point of undefendable damage and their turn ends.
Binding RuneControl
Carve on floor. The next monster stepping on it is immediately held in place and cannot move on its next turn, though it may still attack and defend. The glyph lasts 1D4+1 turns or until triggered.
Detection RuneUtility
Carve on a wall or floor. The rune reveals all traps and secret doors within the current room (or 5-square radius in a corridor). May be cast in rooms with monsters. Persistent until quest end.
Echoing RuneOffensive
Carve on wall. The next monster to make noise or attack in the room takes 1 Body Point of sonic damage. Lasts until triggered.
Flame RuneOffensive
Carve on a floor tile or door. The next monster to enter the square or open the door takes 2 Body Points of undefendable fire damage. Single use, then fades.
Frost RuneControl
Carve on floor. Monsters entering the square have movement reduced by half for their turn. Persistent until triggered 3 times.
Guardian RuneDefensive
Carve on furniture or a floor tile. Any monster ending its turn adjacent to the rune takes 1 Body Point of radiant damage (undefendable). Persistent.
Healing Spring RuneHealing
Carve on floor. Heroes ending their turn on the square regain 1 Body Point (maximum once per turn). The rune lasts until it has healed a total of 10 Body Points.
Light RuneUtility
Carve on a wall or furniture. The rune illuminates the current room brightly, countering all darkness effects. Persistent.
Order RuneBanishment
Carve on floor or door. Undead and Chaos monsters ending their turn adjacent to the rune take 2 Body Points of radiant damage (undefendable). Persistent.
Passage RuneUtility
Carve on one adjacent wall segment. The rune temporarily thins the stone — one Hero may move through that wall as if it were open space on their next move, then the stone solidifies. If a Hero ends their move inside the wall when it closes, they are immediately killed.
Sharpening RuneBuff
Carve on a weapon. Attacks with that weapon deal +1 Body Point of damage on each hit. Lasts until quest end or 10 successful hits, whichever comes first.
Sight RuneUtility
Carve on any adjacent wall or door. Zargon must immediately reveal the contents of the room or corridor on the other side — furniture and monsters are disclosed, but traps, secret doors, and hidden items are not.
Stone WardDefensive
Carve on a floor tile, door, or piece of furniture. Heroes within 3 squares gain +1 Defend Die. Lasts until end of quest or the carved object is destroyed.
Strength RuneBuff
Carve on a Hero's weapon or armor. The bearer gains +1 Attack Die. Lasts for 2 turns.
Sturdy RuneDefensive
Carve on armor or a barricade. The bearer gains +1 Defend Die against melee attacks. The rune lasts until the Hero takes 2 Body Points of damage, at which point it cracks and fades.
Vision RuneUtility
Drawn in the air and cast upon any wall segment or door the caster can see. For the next 3 turns, the caster may see through this rune as a secondary line of sight.
Vitality RuneBuff
Carve on a Hero's armor or skin. The Hero gains +1 Body Point (temporary, may exceed starting total). Lasts until the Hero takes 2 Body Points of damage or the quest ends.
Barrier RuneDefensive
Carve on a doorway or corridor tile. Creates a temporary magical wall that monsters cannot pass through; Heroes may cross freely. Lasts 3 turns or until dispelled.
Confusion RuneControl
Carve on floor. The first monster to move onto the square becomes deeply confused. Zargon rolls 1D4 to determine its direction (1=North, 2=East, 3=South, 4=West) and it moves as far as its normal movement allows in that direction, stopping at a wall or figure. It may still attack any Hero it ends up adjacent to. The glyph lasts 1D4+1 turns or until triggered.
Dispel RuneUtility
Carve on any active magical effect or enchanted item. Attempts to remove one active spell or enchantment in the room. If the effect is opposed, resolve with a dice contest between the Runecaster's Mind Points and the effect's level.
Earthbind RuneControl
Carve on floor. All monsters in the room have movement halved and cannot fly or levitate. Lasts for 3 turns.
Explosive RuneOffensive
Carve on floor. The next monster to step on that spot triggers the rune and takes 4 Body Points of undefendable fire damage.
Falling Rock Trap RuneUtility
Carve on floor. Creates a Falling Block Trap that can only be triggered by monsters. All standard Falling Block Trap rules apply once triggered, and it then affects all characters normally.
Pit Trap RuneUtility
Carve on floor. Creates a pit trap that can only be triggered by monsters. All standard pit trap rules apply once triggered, and it then affects all characters normally — including monsters.
Reflection RuneDefensive
Carve on armor or shield. Once per turn, reflect 1 incoming physical attack back at the attacker — the attacker defends normally. The rune reflects up to 4 attacks before fading.
Regenerative RuneHealing
Carve on armor. The Hero wearing the armor regenerates 2 Body Points at the start of each of their turns (maximum once per turn). Lasts for 1D4+1 turns.
Resilience RuneSupport
The caster inscribes a rune of deep endurance directly onto one Hero's skin (including themselves). The Hero immediately restores 3 lost Body Points (cannot exceed starting total). Additionally, the next time that Hero would be reduced to 0 Body Points, they instead remain at 1 Body Point. The rune then fades.
Shadow Ward RuneDefensive
Carve on a doorway or adjacent wall. The rune cloaks the entrance in shadow — any monster attempting to pass through must roll 1D6 per Mind Point; failing to roll any 6 means they cannot perceive the opening on this turn and lose their movement. Lasts 3 turns.
Silence RuneControl
Carve on floor or wall. All monsters within 3 squares of the rune cannot cast spells or use special abilities that require speech or sound. Heroes are unaffected. Lasts 1D4+1 turns.
Cage RuneControl
The caster inscribes a cage of interconnected runes on the floor around one monster they can see. The monster is completely enclosed and cannot move for 1D4+1 turns. It may still attack adjacent Heroes and defend normally. The monster attempts to break free at the start of each turn by rolling 1D6 per Body Point — two 6s in a single roll shatters the cage. Cannot be inscribed on flying or incorporeal creatures.
Chain Lightning RuneOffensive
Carve on wall. The next monster to approach within 3 squares triggers a chain: the primary monster takes 3 Body Points of lightning damage, and up to 2 adjacent monsters each take 2 Body Points.
Devastation RuneOffensive
Carve on any one floor square you can see. When a monster steps on the trap, it explodes in a 2-space radius dealing 4 Body Points of damage to every monster within. Each affected monster defends by rolling 3D6 — each 5 or 6 reduces the damage by 1. One Body Point is undefendable. Heroes within the radius take 2 Body Points of undefendable damage. The glyph lasts 1D4 turns or until triggered.
Forgefire RuneBuff
Carve on a weapon. Attacks deal +3 fire damage and can ignite flammable objects or furniture. Any flammable object struck by the runed weapon is set alight, dealing 1 Body Point of undefendable fire damage per turn to any character ending their turn adjacent to it. The fire burns for 1D4 turns or until extinguished.
Fortitude RuneDefensive
Carve on the armor of two different Heroes. Each immediately gains 1 Body Point of healing and +2 Defend Dice. The rune fades after 2D4 turns, or immediately if a Hero bearing the rune takes 3 or more Body Points of damage.
Greater Regeneration RuneHealing
Carve on floor or armor. Heroes within 3 squares regenerate 1 Body Point per turn. The rune lasts until it has restored a total of 9 Body Points of healing.
Purity RuneBanishment
Carve on floor. All Undead and Chaos monsters in the room take 4 Body Points of radiant damage. Monsters defend by rolling 3D6 — each 6 reduces the damage by 1 Body Point.
Seismic RuneOffensive
Carve on floor. Choose 1–4 connected squares you can see (adjacent or diagonal). The ceiling collapses over those squares. Each monster on an affected square rolls 3 Combat Dice — each skull removes 1 Body Point — then must move to the nearest open square at Zargon's discretion. If no open square is within movement range, they suffer 1 additional undefendable Body Point and cannot move their next turn. Affected squares become Falling Block Trap tiles and are impassable for the remainder of the quest. Cannot be centered on a square occupied by a Hero.
Shared Burden RuneSupport
Carve on two Heroes. Whenever either Hero takes damage, the damage is divided equally between both (rounded down, minimum 1 to the original target). If the split would reduce the secondary Hero to 0 Body Points, they instead remain at 1 and the rune immediately fades on both Heroes. Lasts 1D4+1 turns.
Stone Sentinel RuneDefensive
Carve on a statue or large piece of furniture. Summons a temporary stone guardian that attacks any adjacent monsters with 3 Combat Dice for 3 turns. The guardian uses the same stats as a Chaos Warrior.
Adamantine RuneDefensive
Carve on armor. The bearer gains +4 Defend Dice and immunity to one damage type (declared at casting) for 1D4+2 turns.
Cataclysm RuneOffensive
Carve on floor. Single-use massive explosion: all monsters in the room take 7 Body Points of fire and radiant damage. Undead and Chaos monsters take the full damage undefendable. All other monsters may defend by rolling 4D6 — each 6 reduces the damage by 1 Body Point.
Dominion RuneControl
Carve on door or throne. Declare one monster type (Undead, Reptile, Greenskin, etc.) before activating. Monsters of that type in the room must use their movement to move away from Heroes and cannot attack or cast spells for 3 turns, though they may still defend. Monsters with more than 2 Mind Points may resist by rolling 1D6 per Mind Point — a 6 lets them ignore the effect.
Eternal WardDefensive
Carve on a central piece of furniture. All Heroes in the room gain +2 Defend Dice and reduce all incoming damage by 1 (minimum 1). Lasts for 1D4+1 turns.
Master Regeneration RuneHealing
Carve on floor. All Heroes in the room immediately heal 4 Body Points (cannot exceed starting total).
Momentum RuneBuff
Carve on one weapon. The bearer may attack twice with that weapon per turn for 3 turns. They do not have to attack the same target. Any attack buffs on the Hero apply to both attacks.
Ancestors' RunesSupport
Carve on floor. All Heroes anywhere on the dungeon level gain +2 Attack Dice and +2 Defend Dice for 1D4+1 turns.
Apocalypse RuneDefensive
Carve on armor. For the next 3 turns, the Hero reflects 3 Body Points of damage back at any attacker per attack — this reflected damage is undefendable. Additionally, any monster that attacks the Hero in melee, or ends their turn within 1 space, takes 2 additional Body Points of undefendable fire damage.
Eternal Flame RuneOffensive
Carve on floor. All monsters take 5 Body Points of fire and radiant damage per turn they remain in the room. Two points are undefendable. The remaining 3 points may be defended by rolling 3D6 — each 6 reduces the damage by 1. Lasts 1D4 turns.
Labyrinth RuneControl
The caster rapidly inscribes a network of directional runes across the floor of the entire current room (or a 4-space radius in a corridor). For 1D4+1 turns, any monster that attempts to move must roll 1D6 per Mind Point — failing to roll any 6 halves its movement (rounded down, minimum 1 square) and prevents it from moving directly toward any Hero. Heroes are unaffected. The runes glow faintly on the floor but cannot be removed by monsters.
Unmaking RuneOffensive
The caster inscribes a rune of absolute runic dissolution into the air and casts it at one monster they can see. The monster suffers 5 Body Points of damage, 3 of which are undefendable. The monster defends the remaining 2 points by rolling 3D6 — each 5 or 6 reduces the damage by 1 Body Point. If the monster survives, it permanently loses 2 Combat Dice from both attack and defense (minimum 1 on each) for the remainder of the quest. This weakening cannot be dispelled.
Worldshaper RuneUtility
Carve on wall. Permanently alters the dungeon layout in one room. The caster proposes one structural change to the current room — adding or removing a barrier, creating a new passage, or repositioning a door. Zargon may modify the proposal for quest integrity (e.g., a change that would make a quest objective unreachable is adjusted, not refused) but cannot refuse the spell entirely.
✦ The Worldshaper Rune is subject to Zargon's narrative discretion. It is intended as a creative tool, not a loophole.