The most notable difference between a typical arcane, divine, or psychic spell and a runic script is the runic charge system.
Each rune must be given shape before it can create any effects, for without form, it has no power. When a scribe casts a script, he speaks forth words of power that activate the rune, causing it to glow and spark with magic. Once the casting is complete, it flashes with energy, finally bringing forth the power of the script. However, at this point, the rune is not quite finished.
Generating Runic Charge[]
| Level | Major
Scribes |
Intermediate
Scribes |
Lesser
Scribes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1 | 1 | - |
| 2nd | 1 | 1 | - |
| 3rd | 1 | 1 | - |
| 4th | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 5th | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 6th | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 7th | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| 8th | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 9th | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 10th | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 11th | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 12th | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| 13th | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 14th | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 15th | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 16th | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 17th | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 18th | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 19th | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 20th | 4 | 4 | 4 |
Once a scribe successfully casts a script, the rune he just cast remains aglow, even after the script’s effects end, still lingering with a small amount of magic power. This is known as gaining a runic charge. The charge corresponds to the design of the script that was cast. For example, if the scribe casts see the unwritten, a revelation script, the scribe gains a single revelation runic charge. The scribe can only have a limited number of charges at once based on his scribe level, as shown on Table: Maximum Runic Charge. If the scribe casts another script while at this maximum, the scribe must choose to either forgo the charge he would have gained from casting that script or replace one of his old runic charges with the new one. The level of a script does not affect what kind or how many charges are gained.
If an item that a runic charge is on leaves the scribe’s possession, the charge can no longer be used, but still counts against his maximum allowed charges. After 1 hour of being out of the scribe’s possession, the runic charge dissipates to no effect. Runic charges in the scribe’s possession dissipate normally at the start of each day when he normally regains his daily castings of his scripts (even if didn’t get a full night’s rest).
Scripts that have been overloaded (see below) do not generate runic charges. Fundamentals (0-level scripts) never generate runic charge, whether overloaded or not.
Runic charges on an object can be identified with a Spellcraft check. The DC of this check is equal to the Spellcraft DC to identify the script that created it, but only reveals what design of script that runic charge belongs to. Effects that can be used to detect a spell or script, such as detect magic and seek magic, detect the runic charge as giving off a faint magic aura corresponding to that script’s design.
Overloading a Script[]
Once a scribe gains runic charges, he can then add the residual energies of his runic charges into his next script to enhance it. Doing this is known as “overloading”.
When a scribe overloads a script, all runic charges he currently has are consumed, increasing the power of the script for each runic charge used. The scribe must have at least one runic charge in order to overload a script; he cannot do so while he has no charges available. The scribe must use all of his current runic charges when overloading; he cannot choose to keep some for later.
Overloading a script is done as part of the action required to cast the script and does not change its casting time. The runic charges are consumed as part of the action to cast the script; if the scribe loses the script, such as failing to concentrate or having his script countered, he loses the runic charges as well.
Overloading a script lets it exceed its normal limits. For example, a striking script normally can create a maximum of ten darts of force energy. Each runic charge overloaded into it creates an additional dart, allowing a scribe to make more than the normal maximum of ten.
Each script in the rune magic system has a specific overload associated with it. Most overloads can make use of any kind of runic charge to increase the effectiveness of the scripts, but some scripts require specific types of runic charge to get the most out of its effects.
Engraving[]
Some scribes may find it not worth using their current runic charges to improve the power of a more utility-based script like traverse, but still wish to tap into the extra power that overloading provides. In such a case, the scribe can engrave the script.
Engraving a script takes 10 minutes, as opposed to the script’s normal casting time, during which the scribe cannot take any other action. You cannot engrave a script that has a normal casting time longer than 1 round.
When the engraving is finished, the scribe overloads the script with the maximum number of runic charges possible based on his level. These charges always match the design of the overloaded script. Engraving a script does not consume the scribe’s normal runic charges, if any. While nearly all overload effects apply when engraving, any overload that affects casting time (such as for disenchant*) does not apply when engraving a script.
Engraving a script uses a daily casting of that script, just as if it were cast normally. Engraving a script does not generate runic charge. You can apply metascript feats to an engraved script, except for Quicken Script.