Rune Shaper 5e
Prerequisite: Spellcasting Feature or Rune Carver Background
You’ve studied the magic of Giant runes, granting you the following benefits:
Comprehend Languages. You learn the comprehend languages spell. You can cast this spell without expending a spell slot, and you must finish a long rest before you can cast it again. You can also cast this spell using any spell slots you have.
Rune Magic. You know a number of runes equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded down), chosen from the Rune Spells table. Whenever you finish a long rest, you can inscribe each rune you know onto one nonmagical weapon, armor, piece of clothing, or other object you touch. You temporarily learn the 1st-level spells that correspond to the runes you inscribed, as specified on the Rune Spells table, and you know those spells until you finish a long rest, when the runes fade. While you are wearing or carrying any rune-marked object, you can cast the spells associated with those runes using any spell slots you have.
You can invoke a rune inscribed on an object you are wearing or carrying and cast its associated spell without expending a spell slot or using material components. Once you cast the spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. Your spellcasting ability for this feat is Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (choose when you select this feat).
Each time you gain a level, you can replace one of the runes you know with another one from the Rune Spells table.
Rune Spells
| Rune | Spell |
|---|---|
| Cloud | Fog Cloud |
| Death | Inflict Wounds |
| Dragon | Chromatic Orb |
| Enemy | Disguise Self |
| Fire | Burning Hands |
| Friend | Speak with Animals |
| Frost | Armor of Agathys |
| Hill | Goodberry |
| Journey | Longstrider |
| King | Command |
| Mountain | Entangle |
| Stone | Sanctuary |
| Storm | Thunderwave |
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
We’ve got an abundance of 1st level spell-slot like feats laying around these days; Strixhaven Initiate and Magic Initiate provide a wide selection of options with varying upsides, and both Fey Touched and Shadow Touched provide a 1st level spell of a specific school alongside an excellent 2nd-level option. Rune Shaper does not match most of these bonuses.
What you’re getting with Rune Shaper is flavor, and the potential to get one or two bonus runes as the game progresses. That’s not nearly enough. The rest of the feats are frontloaded and are generally best in the lower tiers. This spell is worse in most ways than all of its competitors, as Comprehend Language isn’t exactly a spell I’m eagerly seeking out, and the cantrips or additional spell options far exceed the flexibility of swapping around this list on level up. The second and third eventual runes is kind of moot at that tier of play.
As a Background feat, I think this is great. It's a single 1st-level slot and spell known for 1st-level characters, which is a reasonable power-up in the early game that matches the likes of Squire of Solamnia. If everyone else is also getting 1st level feats, this one is probably going to be way worse than the other options, as it's definitely the worst spellcasting expansion, and wildly outclassed by the classic martial build feats. This puts me in a spot where I just don’t know who these backgrounds and feats are for.
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