Rune Staffs in LoA

Per the entry for rune staff, either both divine and psionic should be able to use it or neither. It simply limits it by Arcanum skill (not by ASC/DSC or tradition).

Seems reasonably to me. I had thought divine needed a holy symbol to use like a wand, but you’re right that it seems a rune staff should work as well.

Another question is what kind of rune could help character’s “casting” using bloodline talents like “hands of the mother” since it is casting, but not specified as a tradition. (so right now I would assume none)

Who can use wands and rune staffs? At first reading, I had thought the answer was simply stated in Forged in Magic vol.I (2011), but on further consideration, it’s not quite so clear.

FiM v.I says (p.13): “Not all practitioners of magic make use of wands; only those who practice elder, eldritch, or primal magic make use of such items.” I infer that Sarishan sorcerer-priests may as well because they conform to most rules for eldritch magic.

Questions:

[1] Can a rune (e.g., Sorcery) placed on a wand be used with an arcanum other than elder, eldritch, or primal? On one hand, only practitioners of those three sources can wield wands. On the other hand, the rune itself doesn’t mention any limit. This matters specifically for Psionics (except for the rare Pantheonistic Priest who casts as a Sorcerer-Priest and standard Theurgy Cants). For example, could an eldritch caster who is also psionic put a Sorcery (Psionics) rune on a wand to gain its wand benefit for psionic spells? Can a primal caster who is also psionic use an Avalanche rune on a wand to cause extra damage with a psionic spell?

[2] There are some blessed runes (e.g., Illiir, Larissa, Yarris) that are useful on wands only when casting a Deity spell or using Arcanum (Cants). Since casters of Divine Cants cannot normally use a wand, the only circumstance I can see wherein someone can cast both Divine Cants and use a wand is the rare situation of a Pantheonistic Priest who worships Sarish and one of the other deities. Or maybe it’s usable only on a rune staff (see below). What is the intention with those blessed runes?

[3] Rune staffs are presented in FiM vol.II, pp.20+. On one hand, the facts that (1) “Anyone trained in Arcanum may craft a basic, common Rune Staff” and (2) no limitation is given on what casters can bond to a staff may imply that anyone trained in Arcanum can use a Rune Staff. On the other hand, since a rune staff “provides the full normal wand benefit,” one may infer that only someone who can use a wand can use the wand aspect of a rune staff (but other casters could still use the weapon benefits). Who can use a rune staff as a wand? (This question has already been brought up but not answered in this forum thread.)

[4] Did campaign staff ever decide whether players are allowed to buy/craft basic rune staffs as per the rules in FiM v.II? The answer should go in an update of the campaign guide, please.

I hope I answer al thequestions brought up here. If I miss something, please let me know…

1)Can wands and /or runestaffs be crafted? A: not in the LoA campaign. Players spoke out vehemenently against an in-game economy (which would include crafting).

2) Can wands/runestaffs be generally purchased? A: No. There are no “Ye Olde Magic Shops” in Arcanis. Runecrafters make runes, not magical items (whiuch is what wands and runestaffs really are).

(Could you just imagine someone asking a merchant…maybe via black market….”you got any runestaffs?” “Sure, my friend! But that stuff is pricey, we keep it downstairs for security”….purchaser goes to basement….”Hey! What are all these guys with long arms?” “Why can’t I move?” “What do you mean you hope I don’t get seasick?”)

All that being said, wands and runestaffs will be deseminated as mod rewards when appropriate to the story.

I agree with Steve. Given that there is no market to buy and sell wands, the rules for crafting a wand for self-use would not be any sort of crafting economy but just a way to use established rules for creating items for personal use. Since Forged in Magic does not mention any sort of sales price for buying wands or rune-staffs, I had inferred that the only way to get one was to craft it (though a couple mods have wands available).

An alternative to ruling that the only way to get a wand or rune-staff is by obtaining one from a fallen foe is to rule that the only way to obtain one is for the spellcaster to craft it for himself.

If you are going to rule that those wand and rune-staff rules in Forged in Magic are not allowed, I encourage campaign staff to read through the Blessed Lands rules before they go public so that all players & GMs right away know whether anything in the published book is not allowed. Based on experience in the Living Arcanis campaign, an important concept for the new Arcanis rules was that the shared campaign rules and the game rules were as close to 100% the same as possible.

So, are permanent and amalgamated runes restricted, and if so, why?

Yes, they are restricted. I have no idea why (other than the campaign staff (or was it Henry?) said so).

It may be a version control issue on the campaign docs. The current versions have bits and pieces missing from old versions (this may be one of them).

I think everyone agrees that an update to the campaign documentation is needed and as Matt has said is already in the works. In terms of the runes, I’m really curious how people are buying them.

For the amalgamated and permanent runes we don’t have pricing. While I can see an argument for a permanent rune being the same price as a standard rune as the lack of ability to transfer offsets the increased benefit, that’s not a safe assumption. Also, there’s no pricing available for amalgamated. You’re combining 2 different runes into a single rune / slot. Logically speaking that should be more expensive than each rune individually. If people are buying them I’m curious what price they’re paying and what they’re using to justify the price.

At a guess, I would put pricing at a minimum at cost of each individual rune + an additional rune of the highest tier combined. I could see a premium on top of that given the rarity, but don’t have a basis for estimating it.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

The biggest issue with purchasing runes staves (or amalgamated/permanent runes) as I see it, is that the stuff is supposed to be “special.” Not every spell caster or adventurer runs around with such things…mostly because Arcanis is a lower magic level world. We have regular access to runes which is more than we had in tier 1. I expect PCs will continue to increase their access to nifty items as the campaign progresses.

I too would like for Tukufu to have a rune staff (psions don’t use wands …) but I understand why the campaign might not want every PC caster to have one.