Runepriest in Action?

[TarionzCousin]

Has anyone played or seen a Runepriest in action? They are one of the non-psionic classes from PHB 3, in case you have been asleep for months.

Our current DM is rotating out of his spot soon and doesn't want to play his bard. He's looking for another "leader." I have been suggesting Artificer, but Runepriest looks like fun.

Also, check out the review of the PHB 3 at rpg.net.

Runepriest is one of two non-psionic additions, in this case a divine Leader. A Str user, Runepriest either takes on a more offense-oriented approach with the Con secondary (Wrathful) or more defense-oriented with the Wis secondary (Defiant). At any point the Runepriest is in either the Destruction or Protection runic state. Destruction offers allies a +1 attack bonus against enemies adjacent to the Runepriest while Protection offers adjacent allies 2/4/6 damage reduction. The Runepriest can switch his state whenever he uses a power with the runic keyword (all of them) and each power has a different secondary effect depending on which runic state the Runepriest is in.

The difference between Wrathful and Defiant is only slight, with Wrathful gaining Con mod bonus damage against an enemy that strikes him while Defiant gains Wis mod damage against an enemy that misses. This is a melee heavy Leader option that generally does a bit more damage than other Leader builds but lacks certain defensive options. It is at its best in a melee-focused party, as many of the defensive powers are only useful when adjacent to the target.

In play we found the Runepriest to be quite fun, so much so that several members of my group want to play the Class in our next campaign. That each power has different secondary effects at will, combined with the melee focus, resulted in a class that had a lot of options at the table and, at least in the Heroic Tier did a surprising amount of damage for a Leader. What's more, the Class has an excellent thematic feel and fits into most campaigns with little trouble.

 

[ppaladin123]

I'm playing one right now. It's very effective and I love the flavor. On the other hand, it generates a ton of small fleeting buffs/bonuses/debuffs to keep track of. Check out this thread (to which I contributed) someone made on the WotC boards:

http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/23375885/I_hate_Runepriests_now

 

[Antronach]

Runepriests themselves do very little damage. However with the buffs he gave that party he was indispensable.

I think in the last fight he had a sustain minor giving allies near him +2 ac. And a stance giving adjacent allies +1 to hit. While having those two up he prevented at least 100 damage, and enabled his party members do to do another 100 (level 6). I admit he got pretty lucky, lots of people that should have been missing by 1 and lots of me barely hitting.

 

[fba827]

i was considering a runepriest as my next pc. but after reading it over closer, there just seem to be too many "fiddly bits" and (based on past experience) that would cause trouble at my table with the mix of players currently there (we just don't do good with lots of fiddly bits: it'll frustrate someone if people are constantly being reminded of what affects them or not, or another player who will constantly forget what bonuses/effects were just told to him, or another player whose brain pretty much shuts down when you toss out additional numbers he/she needs to add that aren't already pre-added for him/her on the PC sheet).
that's not to say it's a bad class, but i don't think it would work well in my particular group if played to full versatile effect. so figure out how good your group is with fiddly bits and make an assessment from there. beyond that, it looks as good and flavorful as other leader classes, with enough distinctive tone so that you don't feel like any of the other leaders with a different label.

 

[Deverash]

I'm playing one right now. It's very effective and I love the flavor. On the other hand, it generates a ton of small fleeting buffs/bonuses/debuffs to keep track of. Check out this thread (to which I contributed) someone made on the WotC boards:

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I love the flavor of the class as well, and have a great time playing him. But it's a bit rough as the only leader in a party of 6, since the runepriest has the worst healing ability of any of the leaders. On the bright side, they do give out a ton of bonuses to defenses(if you want to go that way) and can basically give everyone adjacent to them Resist 2 All indefinately. As long as the other players realize that they'll be using their second wind, it should work out, though.

And it fun to set up "pinatas" with your at wills ("Next person to hit this guy gets X temporary hits/bonus to defenses/bonuses to damage!")

 

[Mengu]

I like mine so far.

I have yet to get Wrathful Hammer damage. My buddies keep killing whatever hits me, so I never get to attack them back. I guess it's not a bad problem to have.

Between +1 attack and the +4/+5'ish damage boost I can line up twice per encounter, stuff dies fast. And in a pinch between Rune of Endless Fire, Flames of Purity, and Rune of Mending, I can dole out some healing.

In a party without a defender, I was able to take on the role of the punching bag as well, though most of that comes from being a Goliath and starting with Toughness.

 

[TarionzCousin]

This is all good stuff. Thanks. I'm out of XP for the day now.

 

[Insight]

I played a Runepriest for D&D Encounters and never even got to bloodied once, due mostly to the bonuses I was giving to things adjacent to me. I was the only leader in the group and never really had a big problem with healing.

I my current, regular gaming group, we are starting a new campaign and I am one of 2 leaders in a group of five. I don't anticipate the Runepriest's healing ability, or lack thereof, to be a big deal.

BTW, the way I deal with the "fiddly bits" is the creation of "flip cards", one for each power, with the rune state effects for "Destruction" and "Protection" on either side. And no one but me needs worry about how long they last; as soon as my next turn is up, or I switch to another rune state, I either flip the cards or put one of them away (I always have either the basic "Rune of Destruction" or "Rune of Protection" card up).

 

[Prestidigitalis]

Slightly off-topic:

I really have a hard time, conceptually, with the Runepriest as Strength-primary. What would you think of swapping Strength for Wisdom everywhere in the class definition? That is, making it Wisdom-primary and Str/Con-secondary, and then adjusting all powers and feats accordingly.

Obviously, it would be a lot of work, but in theory?

 

[Mr. Teapot]

Slightly off-topic:

I really have a hard time, conceptually, with the Runepriest as Strength-primary. What would you think of swapping Strength for Wisdom everywhere in the class definition? That is, making it Wisdom-primary and Str/Con-secondary, and then adjusting all powers and feats accordingly.

Obviously, it would be a lot of work, but in theory?

Off the top of my head, it makes the Con secondary option slightly more appealing because you won't have the Primary and Secondary stats both on the same NAD. (Con-secondary would also get a worse basic attack, but I don't know if that balances things any.)