Warhammer Quest

Dwarf Runesmith

By Thecustodian

Dwarf Runesmith

Dwarfen Runes have long been seen as more than decoration; they are enchantments in metal. Every Dwarf-made weapon, whether crudely and swiftly forged to combat the foe, or carefully shaped as a gift to an ally, receives the attentions of a Runesmith. These individuals are really without parallel in Human of Elf society. They are warriors, and they are wizards, for only through the Runesmith's art can a Dwarf make use of the Winds of Magic, without turning to the corrupting essence of Chaos. And yet the Runesmith is something more, he is a symbol. Despite much effort and magic, neither Man nor Elf has ever truly achieved the level of application the Runesmith has when inscribing the sigils, glyphs and runes upon the tools of life and death. Above all else, a greater mix of Warriors seeks out the Runesmith, rather than the Elven Oracles or the Human Mage-lords. A weapon with Dwarf-Runes will be trusted, where others might crack or fail.

Many settlements, especially those with large Dwarfen populations, will have their own Runesmith, working constantly to produce tools, armour and weaponry for the Dwarfen populace. But as well as his own people, the Runesmith will sometimes scribe his secret art for the service of Men or even Elves, for a price. While in ages past the Dwarves kept their secrets close and chary, the demand for the unique enchantments of Dwarf-Runes have brought wealth to the Dwarfs, and such agreements are accepted. The Runesmith is thus busy, forging for his people and for others, as well as instructing the many young dwarfs who come in the hope that they have the necessary skills to become a Runesmith's apprentice.

In Warhammer Quest, the Runesmith is available to the Dwarf when he visits the Dwarf Guildmasters. For each visit he has the chance to have a rune carved into one of his weapons. The additional rules and alterations to rules here are designed to expand this system into one accessible by other warriors.
Warriors of every race may attempt to see the Runesmith. Although he charges a little more, the runes available can be a real asset. The Runesmith special location is accessible on a roll of 7+. There, a warrior may pay for a rune to be inscribed. Master Runes may also be offered, but are less likely to be than at the Dwarf Guildmasters. A warrior may NOT have a rune inscribed at both the Guildmasters and at the Runesmith special location.

The cost of a rune at the Guildmasters is, as before, 1D6+2*100 gold. However, a rune from the Runesmith special location costs 1D6+4*100 gold.

When you buy a rune roll on the relevant table. The first time you get each result you will have the first rune for that entry engraved. If you roll a rune a second or subsequent time you may re-roll, have the rune upgraded to the next one for that entry (if available), or have another rune of the first type for the entry engraved.

Runes: Weapon, Armour, Master Runes
All of these runes are available to be engraved on any weapon or piece of armour bought from the traders in a settlement or from the Dwarf Guildmaster or Elf Quarter. Whether or not treasure such as magical swords should be given runes is up to the individual GM, however I would suggest that if you are using the Treasure Conversion System you shouldn't allow runes to be placed on Weapons and Armour Treasure.

Only a limited number of runes may be placed on any one weapon or piece of armour. In addition, a Runesmith will never agree to place a rune which increases the number of runes on a single weapon or piece of armour over twice your battle level. This means that the total number of runes a weapon can hold is somewhat limited. Below is a list of the limits for runes. Note that some weapons can hold more than 20 runes as you can add runes using runestones even if a runesmith will not engrave them.

Dagger 1
Knife 1
Sword 6
Longsword 8
Greatsword 12
Broadsword 8
Axe 15
Great Axe 22
Battle Axe 20
Rune Axe 25
Throwing Axe 5
Spear 4
Mace 4
Warhammer 20
Dwarf Warhammer 22
Flail 4
Halberd 6
Rapier 2
Staff 3
Wizard's Staff 6
Pick Axe 10
      
Short Bow 3
Longbow 4
Crossbow 3
Pistol Crossbow 1
Pistol 1
Musket 3
Bow (Elf's starting bow) 3
Elf Bow 5
Chainmail 3
Dwarf Mail 4
Light Armour 5
Heavy Armour 6
Plate Armour 7
Elven Armour 5
Shield 8
Great Shield 10
Elf Shield 6
Dwarf Shield 6
Open Helm 3
Warhelm 5
Elf Helm 4

Weapon Runes

Roll 2d6 on the relevant table.

Melee

This table is for melee weapons (hand-to-hand). If it is inscribed on a weapon that can be thrown (i.e. a spear or dagger, not throwing stars, etc.) modifications regarding the damage are retained, while Ballistic Rolls are as normal, even if there is a bonus to 'To Hit'. Throwable (recoverable) weapons also qualify for Ballistic Weapon Runes.
Roll Name of Rune Effect of Rune
2 Rune of Magic Makes the weapon magical for the purposes of fighting Ethereal or Daemonic monsters, etc.
  Spelleater Rune 1 Magic Resistance 5+
  Spelleater Rune 2 Magic Resistance 4+
  Spelleater Rune 3 Magic Resistance 4+, Magic Dispel 6+ once per battle level in each dungeon
3 Rune of Smashing 1 Ignores 1 point of armour.
  Rune of Smashing 2 Ignores 1 point of magical and 2 points of non-magical armour.
  Rune of Smashing 3 Ignores 2 points of magical and 3 points of non-magical armour.
  Rune of Breaking Ignores 3 points of armour. On a 'To Hit' of 6, it destroys magical armour.
4 Death Rune Once per adventure, an extra 2D6 may be rolled for Damage.
5 Rune of Rage Once per adventure ignore rules for Initiative and Pinning and move directly to attack the largest monster, with double move rate.
  Rune of Wrath Acts as Rune of Rage but gives extra attacks in the turn it is used according to the wielders battle level:
Novice +1
Champion +2
Hero +3
Lord +4
In addition, every roll to go berserk/become frenzied gains +1 (though a 1 is still a 1).
6 Rune of Strength Simply, this adds +1 to your Strength for the purposes of determining damage.
7 Rune of Toughness Simply, this adds +1 to your Toughness for the purposes of resolving damage.
8 Rune of Might Once per adventure you may add 1D6+(Battle Level) to your Strength for one turn (for Strength tests, etc. as well as determining damage).
9 Rune of Endurance Once per adventure you may add 1D6+(Battle Level) to your Toughness for one turn.
10 Rune of Restoration Restores 1 wound at the end of the turn if you are above 0 wounds.
  Rune of Restoration 2 Restores 2 wounds at the end of the turn if you are above 0 wounds.
  Rune of Recovery Restores 2 wounds at the end of the turn if you are above 0 wounds, and once per adventure you may use it to restore a number of lost profile points according to your battle level:
Novice 2
Champion 3
Hero 4
Lord 5
11 Rune of Destruction Once per adventure, the Warrior may double the normal number of attacks. Each subsequent Rune of Destruction allows Attacks*2 once. Only one may be used per turn.
12 Rune of Sure-Striking This Rune allows you to re-roll the Damage Dice that scored the least, if you wish.
  Rune of Clarity Allows you to ignore temporary 'To Hit' and Initiative modifiers as a result of poison, gas, magic, etc. and allows one automatically successful 'To Hit' roll once per adventure.

Ballistic

This table details runes that can be placed on items such as bows, crossbows and pistols. These runes can also be placed on weapons that may be thrown, such as knives and spears.
2 Rune of Magic Makes this Weapon Magical for the purposes of fighting Ethereal or Daemonic monsters, etc.
  Rune of Magic 2 This weapon ignores the -1 Ballistic Skill against enemy Magic Users. While wielded the warrior has Magic Resistance 6+.
  Fire Rune (re-roll for blackpowder or thrown weapons) With this rune, fire arrows automatically set alight, and you may re-roll the first time it is extinguished. Normal arrows set alight on a roll of 6, and are treated as normal fire arrows.
3 Rune of Concentration Once per turn for a shot using this weapon, you may add +1 to your Ballistic Skill.
  Rune of Concentration 2 You may add either +2 to your Ballistic Skill for 1 shot or +1 to your Ballistic Skill for every shot you make with this weapon this turn.
4 Rune of Strength Simply, this adds +1 to this weapon's Strength for the purposes of determining damage.
5 Quicksilver Rune This rune allows you to take an extra shot if you remain stationary for a whole turn, only firing this weapon.
6 Rune of Sure-Striking This rune allows you to re-roll the Damage Dice that scored the least, if you wish.
  Rune of Clarity Allows you to ignore temporary Ballistic Skill and Initiative modifiers as a result of poison, gas, magic, etc. and allows an automatically successful shot once per adventure.
7 Seeker Rune Roll an additional 1D6 for one shot per turn. If you roll a 5+ the shot ignores armour. In addition, one attack per adventure ignores Toughness (nominate after successful hit, can be combined with ignoring armour).
8 Strike Rune This rune allows one shot per adventure to be fired at +3 Ballistic Skill.
9 Razorshard Rune (re-roll for blackpowder or thrown weapons) A single arrow fired from this weapon may, once per adventure, explode in the face of the enemy, causing additional wounds. Roll to hit as usual, and if you hit do an additional automatic hit to every model in the surrounding squares of the target, including the target itself.
10 Rune of Penetration 1 Ignores 1 point of armour.
  Rune of Penetration 2 Ignores 1 point of magical and 2 points of non-magical armour.
  Rune of Penetration 3 Ignores 2 points of magical and 3 points of non-magical armour.
  Rune of Piercing Ignores 3 points of armour. On a to hit roll of 6, it destroys magical armour.
11 Shrieking Rune This rune allows a single attack per adventure to be accompanied by a massive auditory assault, distracting the target, and so ignoring armour. The shrieking attacks the target and all models adjacent to it, causing them to have -2 'To Hit' and Ballistic Skill for 1D3 turns. Subsequent attacks are as normal.
12 Pinion Rune (re-roll for blackpowder or thrown weapons) Once per adventure you may trade in all your attacks for a single shot at a target against a wall. If the target is hit, roll an extra 1D6. A roll of 5+ indicates that the target has become pinioned, and may not act this turn as it frees itself. The shot does normal damage. Additional runes allow you to attempt this more than once, though on different turns.

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Armour Runes

Armour runes are placed differently to other runes. Because armour can be in the form of a suit of armour, a shield or a helmet (or even items such as gauntlets) not all of the runes available can be used. There are three tables, dealing with armour, shields, and helmets. Runes can only be scribed onto metallic armour, so not furs or leather. Roll 1d6 on the relevant table.

Armour

1 Rune of Fortitude Armour bearing this rune grants 1D6 extra Starting Wounds. Re-roll at the start of each adventure. This bonus is lost while you are not wearing the armour.
2 Rune of Iron Adds +1 Toughness to the armour's effect.
3 Rune of Defence Once per turn, you may ignore the lowest Damage Dice of an attack made against you with more than 1 Damage Dice.
4 Rune of Endurance You may add 1D6+(Battle Level) to your Toughness for one turn per adventure.
5 Magic Rune Makes this armour magical, so any attack made without a magical weapon but at a Weapon Skill lower than yours is made at -1 'To Hit'.
  Magic Rune 2 This gives a chance of ignoring the effects of magical weapons used against you (Ballistic or Melee). Roll 1D6+Willpower, if it beats the dungeon level all additional effects made by that sort of magical weapon against you in this combat are negated (does normal damage).
6 Dodge Rune This rune gives Dodge 6+, or improves any existing Dodge skill by 1 while this armour is worn.

Shields

1 Rune of the Furnace Any fire-based attacks made against the bearer of this item fail on a roll of 5+. This includes fire, magical fire, a Skaven Warpfire thrower, Flamers of Tzeentch, etc.
2 Rune of Iron Adds +1 Toughness to the shield's effect.
3 Rune of Deflection Once per turn you may roll an additional Damage Dice for an enemy attacking you, and discard the highest one. You may invoke this rune after the enemy has rolled for damage.
  Rune of Deflection 2 You may either do this twice per turn, or roll two dice and discard the highest 2.
4 Rune of Endurance You may add 1D6+(Battle Level) to your Toughness for one turn per adventure.
5 Magic Rune Makes this shield magical, which means that it can use its toughness bonus against magical attacks (unlike normally).
6 Shield Rune Can entirely ignore a number of hits equal to your battle level per adventure. You must declare you are doing this before the 'To Hit' roll is made. Any attack that ignores armour cannot be ignored in this way.

Helmets

1 Rune of Distraction Once per adventure you can invoke the helmet's power to distract your foes. Roll 1D6 + Willpower for each monster in base contact. If it is higher than the table that generated them, they each lose:
Novice 1 Attack
Champion 2 Attacks
Hero 3 Attacks
Lord 4 Attacks
They will have at least 1 Attack next turn, unless you roll a 6, which removes all their attacks, regardless of your Battle Level. Each subsequent rune allows you to do this again each adventure, but on a different turn.
2 Rune of Iron Adds +1 Toughness to the helmet's effect.
3 Rune of Anticipation This rune allows you to try to read your enemies intentions. Roll 1D6 once per turn. If you score a 6, you receive +1 to Pinning, +1 'To Hit', and +1 to any Parry or Dodge skill.
4 Spelleater Rune Magic Resistance 5+
  Spelleater Rune 2 Magic Resistance 4+
  Spelleater Rune 3 Magic Resistance 4+, Magic Dispel 6+ once per Battle Level in each dungeon.
5 Rune of Clarity Allows one automatic 'To Hit' roll per adventure.
6 Rune of Inspiration Roll 1D6 at the start of each adventure. Your Warrior may add +1 to: 1-4 Initiative (1-2= Physical/Reflex, 3-4= Intelligence), 5-6 Willpower.

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Master Runes

Every now and then a rune of such power is discovered that it revolutionises Runesmithery. It is seldom that a Runesmith will offer to attempt to carve such a rune into a weapon, but when he does it is an opportunity to be seized. Often only those he deems worthy will be blessed with a Master Rune. This is represented by a special roll to see if the Runesmith offers to scribe a rune. The Runesmith will only offer 1 Master Rune per settlement, and so it's first come, first served. To discover whether your warrior is chosen as worthy, roll 1D6+(Battle Level). In the Dwarf Guildmasters, you may add 2 to this roll. Should you roll a natural 6, you are in luck: he is an especially skilled Runesmith, and he is ready to offer you a choice. Roll twice on the table and pick one. If your score is 10 or above, you are seen as worthy, and he ushers you into his forge to make the deal. A Master Rune will cost 1D6+2*300 gold in the Dwarf Guildmasters, but in the Runesmith special location it costs 1D6+4*300. If you cannot pay you are firmly ushered out again and may not buy an ordinary rune either. Other Warriors are free to be offered a Master Rune. If you accept the honour, roll for cost and roll for the Master Rune.
No Master Rune can be used directly in conjunction with another rune. No item can have more than one Master Rune at one time.

Master Rune Table: Weapons

Roll 1D6
1 Master Rune of Death Once per adventure, you may declare that you are using this rune. You must use all your attacks on one monster. If you inflict at least 1 wound, the creature is instantly slain. Once it is dead, your turn is over. Treasure and Gold are awarded as normal.
2 Snorri Spanglehelm's Master Rune This weapon has +1 'To Hit' permanently. For one turn per adventure, every attack made with this weapon hits automatically.
3 Skalf Blackhammer's Master Rune This weapon ignores all Toughness and non-magical armour. Any form of skill ignoring the blow like Tattoos, Ignore Pain, Ignore Blow, Evade, etc. cannot be used against this weapon. Works for one designated attack per turn.
4 Master Rune of...(Roll 1D3):
1 Dragon Slaying
2 Daemon Slaying
3 Banishment
This rune causes double Dice Damage against either Dragons (hydras, wyvens), Daemonic creatures, or Undead. Damage done by this weapon on its target also cannot be ignored or avoided by Ignore Blow, Ignore Pain, Parry or any similar skill.
5 Master Rune of Groth One-Eye All Warriors on the same board section as the wielder receive +4 to all Fear/Terror tests, and the wielder may re-roll a failed test once per turn.
6 Alaraic the Mad's Master Rune This weapon ignores all magical armour. The effects of magical armour, items and weapons are ignored for one combat per adventure.


Master Rune Table: Armour

Roll 1D6
1 Master Rune of Adamant Double the Toughness bonus of the armour (i.e. +2 toughness becomes +4)
2 Master Rune of Courage Ignores any Fear or Terror tests. +2 to all Warriors testing for this on the same board section.
3 Master Rune of Gromril Gives +1D3+1 Toughness to the item. May ignore (Battle Level)+2 blows completely throughout the adventure.
4 Master Rune of Resistance Gives Magical Resistance 4+. One enemy attack in the adventure which misses may be rebounded onto an adjacent monster or the attacker itself.
5 Master Rune of Regret Every failed attack against the wearer for one turn causes unmodified wounds equal to the wearer's battle level on the attacker.
6 Master Rune of Steadfastness Ignores all damage dice scoring 1 or 2. Each turn, receive +1 Toughness per unused point of movement.

After the Master Rune has been placed on the item, roll 2D6 on the following table:

2 The Master Rune will fade after 1 adventure.
3 The Master Rune will fade after 1D3 adventures.
4-5 The Master Rune will fade after 1D6+1 adventures.
6-7 The Master Rune will not fade after the next adventure. Roll again afterwards on this table with a +1 modifier.
8-9 The Master Rune will not fade after the next 3 adventures. Roll again afterwards on this table with a +2 modifier.
10-11 The Master Rune will not fade for at least 2D6 adventures. Roll again afterwards.
12+ The Master Rune appears to be permanent! It will not fade in your lifetime.
 

In addition to this, the Master Runes may well disappear during an adventure. They are powerful and unsteady spells, and cannot ever be controlled except by their maker. If a Warrior is reduced to 0 wounds, roll 1D6. If you score 5+, the Master Rune dissolves and restores BL+5 wounds to the Warrior. If you roll a 1, it dissolves anyway. Otherwise it remains, but the warrior must be healed in the normal way. If the warrior wielding a weapon is ever killed, any Master Rune immediately fades, even if he is later resurrected. In addition, at any stage during the adventure a Warrior may release the Master Rune to automatically dispel a single spell. Finally, a Wizard or magic-user may freely attempt to release the magic tied up in the Master Rune. Roll 1D6, and add 1 for a Hero and 2 for a Lord. If you roll an unmodified 1, the Master Rune dissolves and you receive no power. If you roll a 4-5 it fades, releasing 3D6 Power Points immediately. If you score a 6, however, only 1D6+3 Power Points are released, but the Master Rune remains.
As you can see, dealing with Master Runes can be extremely unpredictable. Though they can tip the balance of a battle in your favour, their high cost and limited lifespan can make them a costly investment.

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