Runesmithing for Shadowdark

Shadowdark Supplement by Dawnfist Games

Imbue weapons and armor with runes of power

Runes are fragments of ancient power, bound into stone long before the gods we know came to be. They cannot be crafted, copied, or learned from dusty tomes. They must be found, claimed, and carefully bound into worthy steel.

Runesmithing for Shadowdark adds a complete rune imbuing system to Shadowdark RPG, designed to feel rare, costly, and impactful.

What This Supplement Adds

Runesmithing introduces:

• 17 unique runes, each with different effects in weapons and armor
• A clear system for discovering runes through ancient Runestones
• Rune capacity based on material (Steel, Mithral, Spellweave)
• Rules for extracting and imbuing runes
• Rules for creating Spellweave
• Imbuing ritual details
• Guidance for runestone frequency in dungeons and the wilderness
• XP rewards tied to rune discovery and imbuing
• Custom art by Carlos Castilho – one of the official artists of Shadowdark

Everything is designed to slot directly into Shadowdark.

Briefly on the runes

There are 17 unique runes, each with different effects depending on whether they are imbued in a weapon or armor.

Examples:

• Blood – Recover HP on a critical hit / Increase maximum HP
• Storm – Chain lightning on crit / Reduce lightning damage taken
• Frost – Impose disadvantage / Resist frost
• Eternal – Crit on 19–20 / Chance to stand back up at 0 HP
• Ward – Dispel Magic on hit / Ignore one attack per day

The order in which you imbue them also determines the name of your newly powered item, for example: Flame + Blood runes in a greataxe might name it; “Flame Blood Cleaver“. Ward + Venom runes in a shield might name it; “Venom Ward Shield“.

Clear rules for finding runes

The supplement clearly defines how many runes a Runestone contains and provides the GM with clear instructions on how many Runestones to place in a campaign setting or dungeon, as well as how to award XP for rune discovery and rune imbuing. Minimal vagueness, maximum flavor.

Runesmithing for Shadowdark is available through DriveThruRPG in PDF.

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