Topic: Battle Runes issues

[Ecthelion]

You need to be able to cast the spell in order to draw the Battle Rune for it?  Thats seems odd if the objective is to give non-spell using characters a boost.  Why not just buy the spell?  Perhaps I'm interpreting that statement incorrectly.

The character won't want to buy the spell since he presumably is wearing armor and it would cost a lot of PPs and thus also ranks in the spell. But that's not my point since Rasyr in fact ditched that old ruling that you had to learn the spell (see his postings above). What I'd like to know is whether there is still a restriction for e.g. a Fighter that prevents him from inscribing e.g. a Mage spell that he normally does not have access to.

[Witchking20k]

I would have ditched that ruling anyway.  As for actually being able to use spells from Professional Spheres, I would say that if you can get your hands on it you can use it.....but it would be very difficult to get your hands on, as mages in general gaurd their secrets with a certain vigour

[Ecthelion]

My personal take also is that, for being able to learn a spell as Battle Rune, the character would need to get access to the spell. For the sake of simplicity I'd rule that access to the spell is defined via the current profession. But I had hoped to get an official ruling on that.

[Witchking20k]

Thats why Universal Spells are, well, Universal.  Anyone has access to them.  Myabe you'd be able to purchase the Arcane Discovery Talent (or the HARP version of it) and justify the use of another spheres battle runes.  That seems to provide game balance, as a DP expendature is IMHO always a good way to keep power-gaming in check.

[jasonbrisbane]

Yes, Any character can cast Elemental Bolt if he has 23 ranks in Battle Runes Skill.....


Or he can get 4 ranks in Elemental Bolt........


Pretty obvious what the benefit is, really!

[Ecthelion]

Sorry, but I don't understand your point. Not any character can get 4 ranks in Elemental Bolt, only those with access to the Mage sphere can do so. And whether any character can really use Elemental Bolt via Battle Runes is not really obvious, since the ML rules state that the access to such runes is limited to casters of a given sphere of magic. Rasyr's ruling above might mean that this limitation should be removed, but that is IMO far from clear.

[Thom @ ICE]

The ruling can be found in Martial Law. Why Rasyr made a contradictory statemen on July 16, 2008 I can not say - but since he did not flag it as an official ruling I would say that the words in Martial Law hold.

Inscription requirements: To inscribe a Universal spell,
a character need only have 5 ranks in Battle Runes,
plus a number of ranks equal to the Power Points
needed to cast the spell, and be able to cast the spell.
If a spell costs 6 PP to cost, then the caster must
have 11 ranks in Battle Runes to inscribe the spell.

To inscribe spells of any other spheres, the character
must have 20 ranks in the Battle Rune skill plus a
number of ranks equal to the Power Points needed
to cast the spell, and be able to cast the spell.

If you can't cast the spell itself, then you can't inscribe it as a battle rune.

Note: Your warrior could go to the high mage and have them inscribe the rune, and then the warrior can activate it when needed.

[Ecthelion]

The ruling can be found in Martial Law.

From the rules written in ML everything is perfectly clear. You need to be able to cast the spell to inscribe a rune and thus only those with access to a given sphere will be able to create runes from this sphere. I am fully of aware of that ruling and have no questions concerning how it works.

Why Rasyr made a contradictory statemen on July 16, 2008 I can not say - but since he did not flag it as an official ruling I would say that the words in Martial Law hold.

Non-spell users should not be penalized by having to invest twice in the often costly Mystical Arts category in order to be able to inscribe a rune. So the requirement to be able to cast the spell was planned to be dropped (this got lost on the way to the final book, as Rasyr explained above). This is what Rasyr clarified. Now we can well understand this reasoning and used the skill accordingly, but then the question arises how to handle the restriction concerning which spells are allowed to be inscribed. And concerning this new ruling I'd like to know whether a restriction concerning the spell spheres does still exist.

Note: Your warrior could go to the high mage and have them inscribe the rune, and then the warrior can activate it when needed.

Yes, I am aware of that. And since the Mage would also be able to create a rune with a certain trigger condition, the Fighter would even be able to use the rune without having to make a Runes / Battle Runes skill check in order to activate the rune. But you don't always have a Mage/Bard/Ranger/Druid etc. at hand...