Runemaster

The Runemaster is a monk-like arcane spellcaster and melee fighter who empowers himself with magical energies by inscribing runes onto his body. The runemaster is a free spirit, more at home in the wild than in the city. The runemaster is a mystic who sees the power of ley lines. Moreover, those who study runes understand that these are not simply symbols of power - they are the power.

Races that can become Runemaster

• Runemasters are not exactly limited to a race, but these are the most common.

Alliance » Dwarf Night Elf Human Draenei

Horde » Tauren Orc Troll Forsaken

Information on Runemasters

Across the face of the world there flows lines of power -- patterns of magical energy that carry the vitality of the lands of Azeroth through them, like blood vessels in a creature. These lines of power are recognized subtlety in every culture; the races of Azeroth identify them as those places sacred to the Light, the chosen locations of moonwells, haunted locations where the power of Death has tainted the flow of energy, natural sites overflowing with elemental power that are sacred to shamans. Most cultures, however, only really focus on those places where the lines converge to meet, seeking to tap the most power from them.

Those who seek to understand and master runic power understand that the convergences are not the only important part of this power -- the patterns formed by the lines themselves are important as well. These patterns, which resemble letters in a strange alphabet, are called runes. Each rune is a reflection of a pattern of energy lines somewhere in the world. Each such pattern creates a certain magical effect when energy flows in that specific formation, though in its natural occurrence, this effect is much too broad and scattered to have a meaningful impact.

Those who master runes, then, seek to duplicate those patterns in smaller forms, their runes manifest magical power that is arcane in nature, but purely benign and non-corrupting. They are manifestations of Azeroth's own unique flows of power, nothing more. These secrets represent recent understandings of rune magic -- until recently, it was believed that runes were simply symbols of power from ancient days. With the discovery of the ties between the form of runes and the patterns of natural power in the world, it is only a matter of time before more rune families are uncovered, extrapolated from other natural power sites.

Runes are organized into rune patterns, which are not actually separate runes. Instead, each rune pattern is a grand, complex rune that encompasses the individual designs of each rune with that pattern. Essentially, each rune pattern is a larger and larger pattern, which is added to in greater degrees of complexity the higher up in the tree on goes.

Empowering a rune means flooding it with arcane power, and the process is nearly identical to casting a spell. Runes are inert before their creator empowers them. Thus, rune magic is a two-part process: First the character caster creates the rune, then, immediately or some time later, he empowers it. Two base character classes have the ability to perform this process: Inscribers and Runemasters.

Note that the character empowering a rune does not have to be the same character who created the rune, but she does have to be aware of the rune's existence and know the rune pattern. Where a normal arcane caster channels arcane power and shapes it through the use of gesture, word and material components; the runecaster simply shunts the energy into the pattern formed by the rune, serving as the channel between the energy and the rune.

This process defines the difference between runecasting and arcane spellcasting, and is the reason that the use of runes does not cause arcane corruption. The patterns of traditional arcane spellcasting are not natural---the energy of the world, which emanates from the Well of Eternity, does not flow into those patterns without the dominating will of the arcane caster to bend and spindle it into those shapes. This is an act of supreme hubris; the forcing of the world's essential power to submit to the desires of the caster is the reason that other kinds of arcane casting cause corruption.

Rune-casting uses patterns that already exist in the world. Since these are naturally occurring patterns created by manifestations of the Well of Eternity's power in the world, the rune-caster need not force the energy to obey him. It flows willingly into the patterns -- these are the patterns that the energy itself created, duplicated on a smaller scale.

There are three kinds of runes: marks, glyphs, and sigils. A mark is inscribed upon a creature, and each mark targets a single creature. A glyph is cast upon an object, and each glyph targets a single object. A sigil is placed upon an object or creature in order to create an effect in an area, with that object or creature at the center. Each sigil has an area that it effects."

Note: A simple "detect magic" spell shows the rune, however it does not tell what kind of effect is in play. So one could see it, but they'd not know what it was until they saw it.

A Runemaster commonly wears nothing more than cloth armor, though most definitely bears no weapons, their fists are enough.

Runemaster Specialization Trees

Note: These are not official or canonical spells, but only examples of what a Runemaster could possibly use.

Striking

Application of Runes to enhance close combat abilities

Abilities

Enruned Fists: An unlimited duration buff, always active unless otherwise removed. Runemasters do as much damage with their fists and feet as if they were wielding weapons.

Rune Slam: Concentrating arcane energies into the runes on his knuckles, the Runemaster can deal out a particularly powerful slam, doing additional arcane damage.

Thunder Struck: The Runemaster throws a runic stone at a distant enemy, contact with which causes lightning to strike, dealing nature damage.

Mark of the Bear: Active either on himself or by placing the rune on another, increases the target's physical strength.

Mark of the Badger: Activating a rune, the Runemaster flies into a rage, increasing the force of his physical attacks and increasing his attack speed.

Specialised Abilities

Mark of the Dragon: The Runemaster releases a breath of searing flame, doing fire damage to all enemies in a cone in front of himself.

Dread Strike: The Runemaster's fists imprint a rune on the target, weakening their stamina and reducing their overall health and healing received.

Protection

Application of Runes to bolster defensive abilities

Abilities

Runic Resilience: The Runemaster's skin hardens like stone, providing them with the protection equivalent to mail armor. Like Enruned Fists, this is a constant effect unless turned off.

Stone Grip: Masters of unarmed combat, few can match a Runemaster in a grapple. The Runemaster pins his opponent down, forcing the enemy to target him and preventing his movement.

Mark of Evasion: The Runemaster increases his awareness of his surroundings, or that of an ally, greatly increasing his dodge chance for a short duration.

Mark of Awareness: Amplifying his senses, the Runemaster temporarily gains increased stealth detection and the ability to detect invisible creatures.

Mark of Shielding: A rune projects a magical shield around the Runemaster or a target ally, protecting them against all non-physical forms of damage until the shield is broken.

Specialised Abilities

Mark of the Megalith: While active, the Runemaster's defences increase further as his skin turns to stone, to the equivalent of plate armor, he gains more health, and he is protected from critical hits.

Rune of Reflection: Conjures up a shield of runic energy around himself or his target, reflecting the next offensive spell used against the target back at the caster.

Healing

Application of Runes to heal ones self or another

Abilities

Runic Mending: Concentrates arcane energy into an ally, healing them.

Mark of Purification: Places a rune on the target (possibly including the caster himself), removing any poison effects from him and protecting him from future effects for a short duration.

Healing Burst: Throwing a runic rock at a location, the stone explodes in a burst of healing energy, restoring the health of all allies around the target location.

Mark of Restoration: Using this rune on himself, or a marked target, purges the target of stun, fear, and charm effects. Can be used while crowd controlled.

Rune of Resurrection: Places a rune on target friendly corpse, restoring the target back to life (though still following the usual resurrection rules of the server.)

Specialised Abilities

Mark of Regeneration: Causes the target to heal more quickly by the power of runic magic, rapidly healing damage over time for a duration.

Sigil of Dispelling: The caster releases a burst of runic energy around himself, dispelling hostile magic effects off of himself and nearby allies, while also dispelling positive magic effects off of nearby enemies.