Runic Magic + Teleportation Concepts

[Sam]

Base rune rules: (I'm not sure where in the rules text you would actually put this, but oh well)

1. runes can only be placed within 1sp of caster (range 1sp)

2. runes are visible and are destroyed after taking damage or being manually disturbed (can be done by anyone with a hand or foot etc., or by throwing something at them)

3. runes are also destroyed when triggered and are triggered when destroyed

4. runes are permanent until destroyed

5. runes armed after 1fr (much more elegant than previous solution, which is that they don’t activate for creatures who were in the zone of effect at the time of casting)

6. runes instantly trigger if placed within range of another rune, so don’t do this (anti-stack-every-rune-you-know-on-top-of-each-other rule)

7. runes can be triggered automatically by their caster at any time once armed (2 effort?)

8. runes can be placed on any relatively flat surface, including on walls, ceilings, objects, etc. (unless stated otherwise)

A bunch of random rune concepts, some of which are probably not balanced:

Runic Eye: no trigger. gives caster vision within the eye's line of sight until destroyed. (this is the coolest idea on the list by far tbh, which is why I put it first)

Rune of Blasting: 10 -1/sp physical explosion with full Impact, triggered automatically when any character is within 3sp (centered on the rune).

Rune of Slowing: upon entering 3sp, triggered: stops current move, and further movement this turn is halved (minimum of 1). Until the beginning of the triggering character's next turn, additional characters passing through the 3sp Slowing zone are also subject to its effect.

Rune of Ignition: upon entering 3sp, triggered: deal 2d10+2 fire damage to all creatures within 5sp. Flammable objects within 5sp begin burning.

Rune of Invisibility: no trigger. placed on object smaller than a loaf of bread. object becomes invisible except when being touched. rune is invisible while object is.

Rune of The-Villain-Will-Use-This-To-Release-Poison-Gas: upon entering 3sp, triggered: burns a hole into the surface it was drawn on. (I guess this could also be useful for destroying locks or something IDK)

Rune of Teleportation: Entrance: upon entering 3sp, triggered: instantly teleports Large or smaller creature to RoT:Exit (if it exists). If RoT:Exit does not exist, RoT:Entrance is destroyed without effect.

Rune of Teleportation: Exit: place a rune which designates a space within 100sp (note: distance should be greatly amplifiable through ritual casting by circle of mages for VIP transportation purposes, not by pc under normal conditions though) as the target destination for a RoT:Entrance. Must be placed on level ground, and must target area with enough space to contain a Large creature.

bonus teleportation concept: IP-Friendly Portal Gun (could be a spell or some future tech, doesn’t actually matter)
place a 2sp by 1sp portal A on any vertical surface, then toggle (now summons portal B, this wording needs to be worked on tbh). Can see through portal. 1h duration, portal is not destroyed when taken. Second portal must be within 100sp of first.

^no direct combat utility due to vertical clause (even if you place the would-be exit high up on a wall, enemies can just look through it and choose not to go in, and you can't surprise-place the would-be entrance under enemies' feet), and mostly only useful indoors (I guess you could put it on a tree or something though). Unlike the rune of teleportation, can be used multiple times + is visible to enemies (rune also visible but is hideable/placeable in strange places), therefore making it more of a terrain change vs. a one-time trick.

[TerraFrame]

Pretty cool ideas here. I think this could be easily introduced as a new Spell Trait (like amplify, channeled, ritual, rune magic, etc) and then put each rune "spell" into its corresponding Realm. I already had some trap like spell ideas that I was playing around with a while ago that this concept fits really well with.

Could possibly have a Rune mage Talent that lets someone give whatever spell in the spell list the Rune Magic Trait, just so someone could specialize solely in this style of magic without having to dip in every Realm.