Magetech

What is Magetech?
It is a combination of two things. Living runes, and Amplifiers. A concept built and inspired from the
Materia system from Final Fantasy VII. Now, this is just a loose idea so far that I am developing, but I hope
you like what you see in this document and are interested in what I am making here. If you are please come
over to my Patreon as well
So let's start with the living runes. They would be the equivalent to materia.

Living Runes
Living runes are items that you could find just like any other magic item in your setting, but unlike other
items they will grow and evolve the more you use them. They can level up and get strong just like your
character can. But at a cost, as nothing is for free.

Growing Runs
As of right now, this system only works with experience points, not with milestone levels. This is because
as you gain experience points, you can “feed” this into whatever living rune you have. Doing so lowers the
experience points you as your character gets however. Think of it as the living rune feeding of your
experience, growing from it.
However this does not impact other players' exp gain. You still divide the experience as you normally
would.
For example: you are 4 players that have just killed 8 goblins. They are each worth 50 exp so 50*8 = 400 exp. You
divide this among your party as normal. 400/4=100. Now let us say that one of your party members has a Living
rune, that player can choose to give as much of that exp they gained to the Living rune as they want. This does NOT
affect your exp gain, only the player that has one and decided to “feed it”.
How much exp does a Living rune need to level up? Well this is still a work in progress and has not been
fully tested yet. But as of writing this the initial test is that a Living rune levels up twice as fast as a normal
character does. Level 1 to level 2 would be 150 exp (half of 300). But a Living rune can only ever level up one
level per exp gained.

Exp Points Level For example: you have one level 1 Living fire rune. You are also level 1 and
you were just awarded 250 experience points by your GM. You want to
0 1 give all of that exp to your Living rune, but you cannot. As it levels up to
level 2 after you give it 150 exp. That means that you will still have 100
150 2 exp to give to yourself.
450 3 I have only made 2 Living runes so far for this system but they are
all in the document and free to use. They are not completely
1350 4 finished, nor are they fully playtested yet so they are not balanced.
3250 5 They do have different effects depending on if they are slotted into
an armour or a weapon.
Living Fire Spark Rune
Wondrous Item (Living Rune), rare.
The Living fire rune contains a core of a greater fire elemental. Locked in a magically infused ruby. The
inside of the ruby seemed to have a swirling fire in it, as bright as the sun itself. One single rune is carved in
the outer shell of this ruby prison, an upward pointing triangle translated to “ignis”.
Armour Effects - If this is affixed to an armour you gain the following effects. Your DC is
Proficiency+8+Con.
Level 1 - You take ¾ fire damage. Rounded to the nearest whole number.
Level 2 - You take ½ to fire damage. Rounded to the nearest whole number.
Level 3 - You only take ¼ fire damage. Rounded to the nearest whole number.
Level 4 - You can cast the spell “Hellish Rebuke”. You can do this a number of times equal to half the
Living runes level rounded up.
Level 5 - Once per day, you can unleash a fire tornado around yourself. Any target within 10 feet must
make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, a target takes 11 (2d10) fire damage and ignites. A burning
creature takes 5 (1d10) fire damage at the start of each of its turns. A creature can use an action to douse the
fire, ending the effect.
Weapon Effects - If this is affixed to a weapon, you gain the following effects. Damage with this weapon
is counted as magical for overcoming resistances. You regain all uses after a long rest. Your DC is
Proficiency+8+Con and your spell attack is Proficiency+Con.
Level 1 - You can cast the cantrip “Firebolt” a number of times equal to the runes level. (Damage scales
with player level)
Level 2 - Each attack that lands with a weapon that has this rune deals an additional 1d4 fire damage.
Level 3 - You can cast the spell “Scorching Ray” a number of times equal to halve the Living runes level
rounded up.
Level 4 - The additional fire damage is now 1d6 instead of 1d4.
Level 5 - Once per day, you can release a 20 ft cone of flame from the weapon. Each creature in that area
must make a Dexterity saving throw, taking 24 (7d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage
on a successful one.
Living Heart Ice Rune
Wondrous Item (Living Rune), rare.
The Living ice rune contains a heart of ice. Locked in a magically infused sapphire. The inside of the
sapphire seemed to have a snowstorm locked inside it, it is perpetually swelling inside. One single rune is
carved in the outer shell of this sapphire, an inverted triangle translated to “arctis”.
Armour Effects - If this is affixed to an armour you gain the following effects. Your DC is
Proficiency+8+Con.
Level 1 - You take ¾ cold damage. Rounded to the nearest whole number.
Level 2 - You take ½ to cold damage. Rounded to the nearest whole number.
Level 3 - You only take ¼ cold damage. Rounded to the nearest whole number.
Level 4 - You can cast the spell “Armour of Agathys” at second level. You can do this a number of times
equal to half the Living runes level rounded up.
Level 5 - Once per day, you can force a creature that hits you with a melee attack to make a Constitution
saving throw. On a failure, ice begins to form around the creature, and it is restrained. The restrained
creature must repeat the saving throw at the end of its next turn, becoming petrified in ice on a failure or
ending the effect on a success. The petrification lasts until the creature spends at least 1 hour in a warm
environment. Alternatively, a creature can be freed of the restrained or petrified conditions if it takes at
least 10 fire damage.
Weapon Effects - If this is affixed to a weapon, you gain the following effects. Damage with this weapon
is counted as magical for overcoming resistances. You regain all uses after a long rest. Your DC is
Proficiency+8+Con and your spell attack is Proficiency+Con.
Level 1 - You can cast the cantrip “Ray of Frost” a number of times equal to the runes level. (Damage scales
with player level)
Level 2 - Each attack that lands with a weapon that has this rune deals an additional 1d4 cold damage.
Level 3 - You can cast the spell “Rime's Binding Ice” a number of times equal to halve the Living runes
level rounded up.
Level 4 - The additional cold damage is now 1d6 instead of 1d4.
Level 5 - Once per day, you can cast the spell “Spirit Shroud”, you do not need to maintain concentration
on this spell and the damage is always cold.
Amplifiers
Are really just the items that the Living runes can be placed in. They are however magical and the only
way to actually draw out and use the power of the living runes. The sort of functions like conduits for the
magic of the runes. Normally they can only house one Living rune. But some have more than one slot and
strange things might happen if you place more than one rune into these Amplifiers.
The runes themselves do not require attunement, but Amplifiers do.

Amplification Weapon
Weapon (Any), uncommon (requires attunement)
It has one slot for a living rune. It takes on the aspects of its Living rune. Additionally with a level 3 rune, it
becomes a +1 weapon, with a level 5 rune it becomes a +2 weapon.

Amplification Weapon (Duo)

Weapon (any), very rare (requires attunement)
It has two slots for living runes.
Syncro - If it has two of the same named Living runes in it, it becomes a +1 weapon at level 1, +2 at level 3
and +3 at level 5. Additionally all level effects and uses are doubled. You only need to feed one rune, to level
both (lowest level rune counts as current level).
Miss aligned - The spell and level effects are combined. Example - You have a Heart Ice and a Fire Spark
rune in your weapon. When you use the level 1 effect (Ray of Frost/Firebolt) both happen at the same time
to the same target, but with one role.
Additionally each use of an effect with limited use is lowered by one.
The Living runes do not get along, you need to feed both of them as normal to level them up.

Amplification Armour
Armour (Any), uncommon (requires attunement)
It has one slot for a living rune. It takes on the aspects of its Living rune. Additionally with a level 3 rune, it
becomes a +1 armour, with a level 5 rune it becomes a +2 armour.

Amplification Armour (Duo)

Armour (Any), very rare (requires attunement)
It has two slots for living runes.
Syncro - If it has two of the same named Living runes in it, it becomes a +1 armour at level 1, +2 at level 3
and +3 at level 5. Resistance changes, level 1 ½ damage, level 2 immune, and level 3 ½ damage absorbed.
Additionally all level effects and uses are doubled. You only need to feed one rune, to level both (lowest
level rune counts as current level).
Miss aligned - Resistances change, level 1 immune, level 2 1⁄2 damage absorbed, level 3 full damage
absorbed. But each day you must choose which damage type to be strong against. That other follows the
following traits, level 1 1.5x damage, level 2 2x damage, level 3 2.5x damage.
All spell effects happen at the same time.
The Living runes do not get along, you need to feed both of them as normal to level them up.