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RUNES

Most magic weapons and armor gain their enhancements from potent eldritch runes etched into them. These runes allow for in-depth customization of items.

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Property runes add special abilities to armor or a weapon in addition to the item’s fundamental runes. If a suit of armor or a weapon has multiple etchings of the same rune, only the highest-level one applies. You can upgrade a property rune to a higher-level type of that rune in the same way you would upgrade a fundamental rune.

Name Level Price
Shadow 3 55 gp
Slick 3 45 gp
Glamered 5 140 gp
Ready 6 200 gp
Energy-Resistant 8 420 gp
Invisibility 8 500 gp
Sinister Knight 8 500 gp
Slick (Greater) 8 450 gp
Shadow (Greater) 9 650 gp
Invisibility (Greater) 10 1,000 gp
Ready (Greater) 11 1,200 gp
Energy-Resistant (Greater) 12 1,650 gp
Fortification 12 2,000 gp
Rock-Braced 13 3,000 gp
Winged 13 2,500 gp
Antimagic 15 6,500 gp
Slick (Major) 16 9,000 gp
Ethereal 17 13,500 gp
Shadow (Major) 17 14,000 gp
Fortification (Greater) 18 24,000 gp
Winged (Greater) 19 35,000 gp

Four fundamental runes produce the most essential magic of protection and destruction: armor potency and resilient runes for armor, and weapon potency and striking runes for weapons. A potency rune is what makes a weapon a magic weapon (page 599) or armor magic armor (page 556).

An item can have only one fundamental rune of each type, though etching a stronger rune can upgrade an existing rune to the more powerful version (as described in each rune’s entry). As you level up, you typically alternate between increasing an item’s potency rune and its striking or resilient rune when you can afford to.

Name Level Price
Armor Potency (+1) 5 160 gp
Resilient 8 340 gp
Armor Potency (+2) 11 1,060 gp
Resilient (Greater) 14 3,440 gp
Armor Potency (+3) 18 20,560 gp
Resilient (Major) 20 49,440 gp

Property runes add special abilities to armor or a weapon in addition to the item’s fundamental runes. If a suit of armor or a weapon has multiple etchings of the same rune, only the highest-level one applies. You can upgrade a property rune to a higher-level type of that rune in the same way you would upgrade a fundamental rune.

Name Level Price
Kin-Warding 3 52 gp
Returning 3 55 gp
Ghost Touch 4 75 gp
Disrupting 5 150 gp
Fearsome 5 160 gp
Pacifying 5 150 gp
Shifting 6 225 gp
Wounding 7 340 gp
Bloodbane 8 475 gp
Corrosive 8 500 gp
Flaming 8 500 gp
Frost 8 500 gp
Shock 8 500 gp
Thundering 8 500 gp
Grievous 9 700 gp
Serrating 10 1,000 gp
Anarchic 11 1,400 gp
Axiomatic 11 1,400 gp
Holy 11 1,400 gp
Unholy 11 1,400 gp
Fearsome (Greater) 12 2,000 gp
Bloodbane (Greater) 13 2,800 gp
Dancing 13 2,700 gp
Keen 13 3,000 gp
Spell-Storing 13 2,700 gp
Disrupting (Greater) 14 4,300 gp
Ancestral Echoing 15 9,500 gp
Corrosive (Greater) 15 6,500 gp
Flaming (Greater) 15 6,500 gp
Frost (Greater) 15 6,500 gp
Shock (Greater) 15 6,500 gp
Thundering (Greater) 15 6,500 gp
Speed 16 10,000 gp
Vorpal 17 15,000 gp

Four fundamental runes produce the most essential magic of protection and destruction: armor potency and resilient runes for armor, and weapon potency and striking runes for weapons. A potency rune is what makes a weapon a magic weapon (page 599) or armor magic armor (page 556).

An item can have only one fundamental rune of each type, though etching a stronger rune can upgrade an existing rune to the more powerful version (as described in each rune’s entry). As you level up, you typically alternate between increasing an item’s potency rune and its striking or resilient rune when you can afford to.

Name Level Price
Weapon Potency (+1) 2 35 gp
Striking 4 65 gp
Weapon Potency (+2) 10 935 gp
Striking (Greater) 12 1,065 gp
Weapon Potency (+3) 16 8,935 gp
Striking (Major) 19 31,065 gp