Illus. by W. Reynolds
EQUIPMENT AND MAGIC
CHAPTER 7
INCLUDING RUNE CIRCLES IN A CAMPAIGN An active rune circle can change the mechanics of a combat encounter or the feel of a roleplaying encounter. Heroes might fight their way through an abandoned dwarf citadel filled with monsters to gain access to an ancient and powerful rune circle, or they might quest for rare components needed to build a rune circle in their new fortress. In a war-torn campaign setting, the loss of another gnome village becomes a more telling blow against the side of good because of the powerful chanting circle in the village’s center. In a decadent city, cultists cover a rune circle of terrible evil with the stalls and trappings of a market place, slowly warping the minds and bodies of all who frequent the bazaar. However you decide to use them, rune circles have the potential to affect campaigns in a way that few other magic items can. Because rune circles are stationary, the creatures in your campaign world must move around or to them, unlike with other magic items. Rune circles can be used for many purposes. They can be part of a character’s fortress, a flavorful addition to a dwarf stronghold or a goliath village, the goal of a quest, a nearly invisible tool, or merely an interesting addition to an encounter. Knowing what part a rune circle is going to play in the campaign can make working it into an adventure much easier. Regardless of whether the circle is part of a passing encounter or a permanent fi xture in one of the central locations of the campaign, there are some concerns involving the placement and use of rune circles that every Dungeon Master should keep in mind. Rune Circles as Treasure: Deciding whether or not rune circles count as party treasure can be tricky. On one hand, if the PCs clear the monsters out of a stronghold that contains a rune circle and set up a permanent base of operations, they undoubtedly gain some benefit from the circle’s presence, and they should pay an appropriate amount for that benefit. On the other hand, if the PCs simply pass through an area that contains a rune circle, use its powers once, and then note its existence for later use, it’s probably not worth it to them to “buy” the rune circle or fair for the DM to count its value against the treasure gained from the adventure. The simplest way to adjudicate this is to pay attention to the price of a rune circle only when a character wants to include one in a permanent base; otherwise, ignore the rune circle’s value when calculating treasure. Flavor: Because rune circles are tied to the location where they are created, they can be tremendous tools for changing the flavor and atmosphere of a special location. As the Dungeon Master, you should play this up by placing flavor-based restrictions or boons on the use of the circle. For example, restricting a rune circle to members of a single race limits the power of the rune circle, but
makes it a more integral and flavorful part of the community that created it. Unless the circle in question is in a location crucial to the campaign, it’s unlikely that such a restriction significantly alters the PCs’ ability to make use of its powers. One alternate approach is to limit the creation of rune circles to a specific race. If goliath shamans are the only spellcasters capable of creating rune circles, both the circles and the spellcasters themselves seem a little more mysterious. This level of exclusion is not right for every campaign, but it is one way that a DM can make the magic of one race feel significantly different from that of another. Rune Circles and Crafting Items: Making other magic items inside rune circles is interesting from a flavor standpoint, but DMs should be careful of allowing players to manufacture items for less than the normal cost for game balance reasons. For example, a character creating a wand of fireballs inside a rune circle that increases his caster level would get the increased level. This use of the circle is fine, as long as the wand’s price is calculated using the adjusted caster level. If the wizard in the above example is 5th level and creates the wand in a rune circle that adds three to his caster level, he must pay the XP and raw materials cost for making an 8th-level wand. This rule is consistent with the flavor of the rune circle: A spellcaster is capable of casting more potent versions of his spells and can imbue that potency into items that he creates. However, imbuing an item with the more powerful version of the spell still requires the character to put more of his essence (XP) into the creation process. Damaging Rune Circles: Rune circles are not objects themselves. Rather, they are symbols magically etched on the floor. Rune circles have hardness and hit points equal to a 3-inch-thick piece of the material on which they are inscribed. As magic items, they can be suppressed by dispel magic and similar effects but not destroyed by them. Multiple Rune Circles: You cannot create a rune circle in any location where another already exists. Rune Circles and Encounter Level: Rune circles with the right powers can affect the difficulty of an encounter. For example, overcoming a group of trolls fighting within the confines of a rune circle that grants them immunity to fire is a tougher challenge than fighting the trolls under normal conditions. If you design an encounter that includes a rune circle, Chapter 3 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide provides some advice on how conditional modifiers such as location and terrain can make encounters more or less difficult. Beyond that, it’s only in extreme cases when the monster clearly benefits (the trolls in the above example lose one of their two vulnerabilities) from the rune circle and the PCs have no chance to benefit (none of the trolls attack with fire) that the DM needs to adjust the CR of the foes because of a rune circle’s presence.
170
620_96567_RacesOfStone.indd 170
6/14/04, 8:42:24 AM
