[5e DnD] Runeseeker Class (arcane half-caster)

I have just uploaded [5e DnD] Runeseeker Class (arcane half-caster) to the downloads area.

A warmage class that is more than just a fighter-mage.
A runeseeker studies magic in a more practical way than a wizard, looking for forgotten magic carved in ancient ruins like an "archaeologist" of magic, then learns how to craft them and add them to their weapon perfectly like a virtuoso artisan.
The archetypes study different uses of runes resulting in: soulsmith (giving life to their weapon and better use of the weapon's runes), arcane slaver (tatooing runes on a creature's body to have a minion) and blood mage (carving runes on their own body and sacrificing blood for powerful spells).

You can find the file here in the downloads section. Please use this thread for comments.

I attached a pdf with the class as well.
Let me know what you think. If it's unbalanced, if the concept doesn't seem good or if you think something different would be more interesting. English is not my first language, so it would be nice to know if anything that I wrote sounds weird, especially the wording of rules.
Thank you!

Well I didn't receive any feedback, but I'll have you know that the pdf has now a better layout and there have been a few changes in the features.
Also here is the class in forum format.

RUNESEEKER
Touching the stone walls with a look of fascination in his eyes, a dwarf examines the ancient glyphs engraved on it, feeling the power they emanate with his fingertips and comparing them with the runes he etched on his axe. The axe suddenly shouts to warn him of danger, without hesitation he swings it at a sneaky group of shadow creatures. The moment the axe cuts the first one, the runes decorating it gleam light and erupt in an explosion of flames.
Riding a wyvern covered in runic tattoos, a human clad in golden plate armor charges at high speed towards a red dragon in the sky, whispering an incantation as she couches her lance that becomes colder than ice. The dragon strikes with his claws against her large shield as she pierces his scales with her lance.
A tiefling scarred by runes and horrifying drawings all over his face and his muscular body stands in the middle of a magic circle, chanting and dancing slowly holding a longsword in his hands. Suddenly he slices all along his own arm, letting the blood flow on the circle, the light of the candles becomes extremely bright and in a flash of light a demon appears in front of him. He commands it to kneel before him, and a diabolic grin appears on his face when the order is obeyed.
Runeseekers are as interested in improving their magical power as they are in simply satisfying their strong curiosity, with a passion for history and tradition. Runes are a very ancient source of magical power, much more than the spells found written in books with ink, their understanding requires as much constant study as it requires direct experience and excavation missions in ancient ruins.
Runeseekers are usually practical thinkers, they know well that delving into caverns filled with monsters is dangerous, and they prefer being well equipped. Runeseekers traditionally store their knowledge on useful objects, usually weapons that they also cover with enchantments, and in order to learn how to carve their runes they often become excellent weapon crafters.
There are many more runes than the traditionally known ones that evolved into the dwarvish script, most magical runes are ideographic, not phonographic, and their shape can change greatly from culture to culture, runeseekers learn their hidden meaning in order to activate their magical powers. While runeseekers most commonly use runes with a norse style, sometimes they take the shape of oriental ideographs, detailed glyphs, tiny alchemic circles, cuneiform pictographs found in pyramids or even simplified doodles found in caves that were inhabited by the first men.

CREATING A RUNESEEKER
When creating a runeseeker character the most important thing is defining how he got interested in the study of ancient cultures and languages. Did you discover you are the last descendant of a destroyed culture that you now want to study and pass on to a new generation? Are you just curious to understand all the tiny facets of history and language of a civilization that you find fascinating and exotic? Did your character find a magic axe engraved in runes while mining and started studying the meaning of the symbols, wanting to know more about where it came from and who made it?
What drives you to find the vestiges of old civilizations? Do you want to reconnect with the spirits of your ancestors and recover the artifacts that once belonged to them? Are you an avid reader of epic poems and believe that many of the stories written by old authors hide truth on where to find ancient cities and relics? Do you want to teach everyone about the long lost history that you find in your adventures or do you want to keep your precious discoveries and the power that derives from them for yourself?

QUICK BUILD
You can make a runeseeker quickly by following these suggestions. First, Strength should be your highest
ability score, followed by Intelligence. (Some runeseekers who focus on ranged fighting make Dexterity higher than Strength.) Second, choose the guild artisan background. Third, choose the Beacon minor property and the Confident quirk for your runic weapon.

CLASS FEATURES
As a runeseeker, you gain the following class features.

HIT POINTS
Hit Dice: 1d10 per runeseeker level
Hit Points at 1st Level: 10 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d10 (or 6) + your Constitution modifier per runeseeker level after 1st

PROFICIENCIES
Armor: All armor, shields
Weapons: simple weapons, martial weapons
Tools: Choose one from smith's tools or woodcarver's tools

Saving Throws: Constitution, Intelligence
Skills: Choose two from Arcana, Athletics, History, Investigation, Nature, Perception, Persuasion, Religion and Stealth.

EQUIPMENT
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
· (a) a martial weapon and a shield or (b) two martial weapons
· (a) chain mail or (b) leather, longbow, and 20 arrows
· (a) a scholar's pack or (b) a dungeoneer's pack
· (a) a set of smith's tools or (b) a set of woodcarver's tools

FIND RUNES
Runes can be found hidden in the most unexpected places, and they can look like meaningless cuts on stones even to the most experienced wizard, your experience in exploring ancient ruins and your knowledge of ancient cultures is unparalleled. You have advantage on Intelligence (History) checks related to the buildings and engravings of ancient civilizations, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks and Intelligence (Investigation) checks in the surroundings of the remains of ancient civilizations when looking for hidden runes and runestones.
Runestones function like scrolls, except that they are only a few symbols engraved on small stones and they are written in lost runic characters that are not related to any specific language, but represent directly magical energies. Only runeseekers can activate runestones.

RUNIC WEAPON
You have a supernatural bond with your favorite weapon, a weapon that you enchanted with runes, or that you found or received already bearing ancient runes. When you get this feature choose one of your weapons, that weapon becomes your runic weapon. Your runic weapon is indestructible and you can summon it as a bonus action on your turn, causing it to teleport instantly in your hand. The weapon has a minor property and a quirk. Choose one of the minor properties in the Minor Property table in Chapter 7 of the Dungeon Master's Guide, then choose a quirk from the Quirk table in the same page, discuss with your DM any detail about the minor property and the quirk if necessary. If you are not the creator of your runic weapon you might want to choose with your DM characteristics from the Creator or Intended User table and the History table as well. Your DM might want you to roll on these two tables instead of choosing.
Only you can attune to your runic weapon, if the quirk or the minor property have any effect that requires attunement. If you die anyone can attune to your runic weapon. The runic weapon doesn't count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage

FIGHTING STYLE
At 2nd level, you adopt a style of fighting as your specialty. Choose one of the following options. You can’t take a Fighting Style option more than once, even if you later get to choose again.

ARCHERY
You gain a +2 bonus to attack rolls you make with ranged weapons.

DUELING
When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand and no other weapons, you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with that weapon.

GREAT WEAPON FIGHTING
When you roll a 1 or 2 on a damage die for an attack you make with a melee weapon that you are wielding with two hands, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll. The weapon must have the two-handed or versatile property for you to gain this benefit.

TWO–WEAPON FIGHTING
When you engage in two-weapon fighting, you can add your ability modifier to the damage of the second attack.

SPELLCASTING
Studying the runes confers you magic power, runes are extremely concise and your runic weapon has enough space to contain all your spells, growing more and more covered in inscriptions as your repertoire expands. You choose spells from the runeseeker spell list. See chapter 10 on the Player's Handbook for the general rules of spellcasting and the end of this document for the runeseeker spell list.

RUNIC WEAPON AS SPELLBOOK
When you get spellcasting at 2nd level, your runic weapon contains six 1st-level runeseeker spells of your choice.
The spells that you add to your runic weapon as you gain levels are each in the form of few specific runic characters coming from the research you conduct around ruins and in libraries, as well as from intellectual breakthroughs you have had about the way the runic characters interact. You might find other spells during your adventures. You could discover a runic spell recorded on the grave of an ancient mage king, for example, or out of luck on a pebble on the side of a river, or on the sword of an evil runeseeker you just defeated. Copying a spell into the runic weapon works exactly like a wizard spellbook, but you can't replace your runic weapon nor lose it, however you can create backups of your spells on stones or tablets even though it is usually not necessary.

PREPARING AND CASTING SPELLS
The runeseeker table shows how many spell slots you have to cast your spells of 1st level and higher. To cast one of these spells, you must expend a slot of the spell’s level or higher. You regain all expended spell slots when you finish a long rest.
You prepare the list of runeseeker spells that are available for you to cast. To do so, choose a number of runeseeker spells from your runic weapon equal to your Intelligence modifier + half your runeseeker level, rounded down (minimum of one spell). The spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots.
For example, if you are a 5th-level runeseeker, you have
four 1st-level and two 2nd-level spell slots. With an
Intelligence of 14, your list of prepared spells can include
four spells of 1st or 2nd level, in any combination. If you
prepare the 1st-level spell Hex, you can cast it using a 1st-level or a 2nd-level slot. Casting the spell doesn’t remove it from your list of prepared spells.
You can change your list of prepared spells when you finish a long rest. Preparing a new list of runeseeker spells requires time spent studying your runic weapon and memorizing the incantations and gestures you must make to cast the spell: at least 1 minute per spell level for each spell on your list.

SPELLCASTING ABILITY
Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your runeseeker spells, since you learn your spells through dedicated study and memorization. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a runeseeker spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Spell save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus +
your Intelligence modifier
Spell attack modifier = your proficiency bonus +
your intelligence modifier

ARCANE FOCUS
You can use an arcane focus (found in chapter 5 in the Player's Handbook) as a spellcasting focus for your runeseeker spells. Your runic weapon counts as spellcasting focus for your runeseeker spells.

MARTIAL SOMATIC COMPONENTS
You can perform the somatic components of spells even when you have weapons or a shield in one or both hands.

LEARNING SPELLS OF 1ST LEVEL AND HIGHER
Each time you gain a runeseeker level, you can add a runeseeker spell of your choice to your runic weapon. Each of these spells must be of a level for which you have spell slots, as shown on the Runeseeker table. On your adventures, you might find other spells that you can add to your runic weapon.

ELEMENTAL BURST
Starting at 2nd level, you add a rune to your weapon that lets you release elemental explosions originating from the point of contact between your weapon and your foes. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack using your runic weapon, you can expend one runeseeker spell slot to attempt to deal elemental damage to all creatures in 10-foot radius sphere centered on the creature you hit. If the
original attack roll would hit any of the creatures in the sphere, it takes 2d6 damage for a 1st-level spell slot, plus 1d6 for each spell level higher than 1st, to a maximum of 5d6. Choose the damage type between a damage type that any of your prepared spells can deal. You are immune to the damage of your own elemental burst.

RUNE SECRET
When you reach 3rd level, your knowledge of runes reaches forgotten techniques to create enchantments with runes. You choose the Secret of the Soul Runes, the Secret of the Mind Runes or the Secret of the Blood Runes, all detailed at the end of the class description.
Your choice grants you features at 3rd level and again at 7th, 10th and 15th level

ENHANCED RUNIC WEAPON
At 3rd level you discover a new rune that lets you unlock the true potential of your runic weapon. When you attune to your runic weapon, it counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

ABILITY SCORE IMPROVEMENT
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th,
and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your
choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of
your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability
score above 20 using this feature.

EXTRA ATTACK
Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of
once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

ENCHANTING RUNES
Starting at 6th level you discover new runes to enchant your runic weapon permanently with great powers. Your runic weapon gains one enchanting rune of your choice, the enchanting runes provide their bonus only when you are attuned to your runic weapon. Your enchanting runes options are detailed at the end of the class description.
The weapon gains new enchanting runes again when you reach 11th and 18th level.

EXTRA ATTUNEMENT
When you reach 6th level, you can attune to an additional magic item.

EYES OF THE RUNE KEEPER
When you reach 11th level your knowledge of ancient written languages reaches its peak. You can read all writing.

MAGICAL RAMPAGE
At 14th level, you can focus your weapon's fury towards the runic spells engraved on it. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can cast as a bonus action a spell that has a casting time of 1 action.

PERMANENT RUNES
When you reach 20th level you learn how to instil the power of your runes by engraving them on anything that they can affect. When you cast a 1st or 2nd level spell with a duration that is not "instantaneous", you can extend the casting time to 8 hours, if you do, the duration becomes "until dispelled". If the spell required concentration, it doesn't require it anymore. Any other condition for the spell to end specified in the spell description makes the spell end as usual.

RUNE SECRETS
To use runes it is necessary to carve them on something. Usually runeseekers carve runes on stones and on their runic weapon, however, with the advancement of their studies they discover new ways to inscribe runes, either as an improved way to carve on their weapon or new methods to inscribe runes on different things.

SECRET OF THE SOUL RUNES
Runeseekers that choose this path seek to become master weapon crafters, trying to transform their runic weapon in the perfect weapon. Their crafting technique becomes so advanced and precise that the decorated runes carved on the runic weapon can instil life.
Sometimes called soulsmiths, mastersmiths or arcane artisans, these runeseekers often seek to recreate long lost techniques of weapon crafting by finding ancient artifacts or forgotten ancient guides.

MASTER ARTISAN
At 3rd level, you gain proficiency with smith's tools or woodcarver's tools if you are not proficient in both already. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses either of the two proficiencies.

AWAKENED RUNIC WEAPON
At 3rd level your runic weapon becomes a sentient magic item that can communicate with you by transmitting emotions and it can sense the surrounding world with 30 feet of blindsight. You can decide the runic weapon's intelligence, wisdom and charisma by assigning the following scores in the order that you prefer: 14, 10, 8. Decide the weapon's personality traits by choosing them from the backgrounds in Chapter 4 in the Player's Handbook. The weapon remembers everything that happened to it from the moment it was created.
At levels 7th, 10th and 15th the weapon's conscience and perception will grow in various ways. At 7th level it will be able to communicate with you telepathically while it is able to perceive your presence, its blindsight grows to 60 feet. At 10th level the weapon becomes able to produce sounds and speak two languages of your choice, its blindsight grows to 90 feet. At 15th level the weapon becomes able to communicate telepathically with anyone it is able to perceive the presence of, its blindsight grows to 120 feet.
At levels 7th, 10th and 15th you can increase one of its ability scores of your choice by 4, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 2. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20.

SCULPT ELEMENTAL BURST
At 7th level your runic weapon can create pockets of relative safety within the effects of your elemental bursts. When you use your elemental burst you can choose a number of creatures equal to the expended spell slot or less. The chosen creatures are immune to the damage of your elemental burst.

IMPROVED ELEMENTAL BURST
At 10th level your runic weapon learns how to release its energy with even more might at your command. Your elemental bursts now affect a 20-foot radius sphere centered on the creature you hit, instead of a 10-foot one.

ULTIMATE AFFINITY
At 15th level you and your runic weapon reach perfect mental coordination that lets you grant to the weapon the chance of moving freely on its own. You can move your runic weapon magically as long as your hands are free and the runic weapon is within 5 feet of you, in combat you can attack as if using your hands without having to move a muscle.
When you hit a creature with a weapon attack using your runic weapon, the weapon goes on a sudden and brief frenzy, attacking other enemies around the creature, temporarily exiting out of the area where you can wield the weapon magically in normal conditions. Choose any number of other enemies in a 20-foot radius sphere centered on the creature you hit. If the original attack roll would hit any of the chosen creatures, it takes damage equal to the damage you dealt to the creature you hit first. The damage is of the same type dealt by the original attack.
Ranged runic weapons are able to control their projectiles to achieve the same result.

SECRET OF THE MIND RUNES
Some runeseekers have a personal preference for enchantment, curious of finding ways to permanently influence the mind of other creatures. Others have a strong desire to be leaders and don't like to get their hands dirty with lowly jobs. Some want to punish evil doers and take them under their control to force them to act for good under their service. In other cases they are master riders or beast trainers that want the talent to tame anything. For any of these reasons, runeseekers might discover the technique of controlling minds by tattooing enchanting runes on any creature.
Often these runeseekers earn themselves different titles depending on the creatures they are most often seen with. For example dragon trainers when they manage to get a dragon under their control. Death knights or demon knights when they are seen fighting with undead creatures or fiends. Elemental lords when they manage to draw their runes on the animated elemental power that is elementals. Others are less picky about who they will control and earn more generic names like mind benders or arcane slavers.

TATTOOED RUNES
At 3rd level, you gain proficiency with tattooist's tools. You can draw runes on other creatures using tattoos.

BINDING RUNES
At 3rd level you learn how to tattoo mind-bending runes on other weaker creatures to make them into your subordinates. With a 8 hour ritual you can bind an unconscious creature with 0 current hit points and a challenge rating of 1 or lower and an intelligence score of 3 or lower. After the creature is bound to you their intelligence score permanently becomes 1. After the ritual the bound creature is covered in tattooed runes that grant you control over it. You can bind only one creature at a time, if you bind a new creature the previous one is automatically released.
The bound creature obeys your commands as best as it can. It takes its turn on your initiative, though it doesn’t take an action unless you command it to. On your turn, you can verbally command the bound creature where to move (no action required by you). You can use your action to verbally command it to take an action. Once you have the Extra Attack feature, you can make one weapon attack yourself when you command the bound creature to take an action. When you are unconscious or sleeping and when you are more than a mile away from the bound creature, the bound creature becomes unconscious. The bound creature is immune to damage from your elemental burst.
You can bind more powerful creatures at higher levels. At 7th level you can bind a creature with a challenge rating of 2 or lower. At 10th level you can bind a creature with a challenge rating of 4 or lower. At 15th level you can bind a creature with a challenge rating of 6 or lower.

MIND BENDING
When you reach 7th level you can break the will of intelligent creatures under your control. The intelligence score of a bound creature can be 6 or lower, after the creature is bound to you it permanently loses the ability to speak and comprehend languages.
You can bind more intelligent creatures at higher levels. At 10th level you can bind a creature with an intelligence score of 10 or lower. At 15th level you can bind a creature with an intelligence score of 12 or lower.

SECRET OF THE BLOOD RUNES
Sometimes called blood mages, blood knights or simply skincarvers, these runeseekers have no qualms when it comes to achieve more power. Experimenting with their own skin and blood they transform their weapon in a part of their body, bonding through the forbidden use of blood sacrifices. Specialised in the flow of life force and magical power, they soon start to understand how to manipulate this flow between living creatures in order to steal the vital energy out of other beings.
Sometimes they try to use their macabre powers for the greater good, but when they get used to the taste of vital energy, it becomes hard to keep their grip on sanity. Others just embrace the insanity and transform their bodies in a canvas for carved runes, sometimes even transforming themselves into vampires or liches without the slightest shade of regret.

SKINCARVED RUNES
At 3rd level, you gain proficiency with the skincarver's tools. Skin carving is a technique similar to tattooing, but distinct in that the skin is carved by chisels. You gain proficiency with the Medicine skill if you don't have it already. If you are already proficient in the Medicine skill your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make that uses Medicine. You can skincarve runes on your own body.

BLOOD BOUNTY
At 3rd level you carve runes on your skin while letting the blood enchant your weapon, creating a strong bond that lets you drain life from the blood of your slain enemies. When you reduce a hostile creature to 0 hit points, you regain hit points equal to the full damage that your attack would have inflicted if the creature's hit points weren't reduced to 0.

BLOOD MAGIC
At 3rd level you can sacrifice blood to regain magical energy. You can use a bonus action to take 3d10 slashing or piercing damage and recover a 1st level expended runeseeker spell slot, or a level higher for each additional 3d10 damage that you are willing to take. This damage cannot be reduced by resistances, immunities or by other means.
For example if you are a 10th level runeseeker you can take 9d10 damage to recover a 3rd level spell slot, 6d10 damage to recover a 2nd level spell slot or 3d10 damage to recover a 1st level spell slot.

DRAIN SURGE
At 7th level the runes you carve on your skin let you gain more control on when to drain life from your enemies. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack using your runic weapon, you can decide to regain hit points equal to half the amount of damage dealt with the attack to that one creature.
Once you use this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before you can use it again.

BLOOD LUST
At 10th level when you drain life from your foes without the need to recover from your wounds, you enter a state of uncontrolled blood lust. When you would regain hit points from blood bounty or drain surge but your current hit points are already equal to your total hit points, until the end of your next turn you gain advantage to all attack rolls and deal 1d6 more damage to any creature you hit.
The effects do not stack if they are triggered again while they are already in place, the effects simply last until the end of next turn starting from the last trigger that ensued.
During a bloodlust the flesh of one of your hands grows into your weapon and vice versa, blending seamlessly. You can't be disarmed from your runic weapon and you can't sheathe your sword or use the hand for anything other than attacking with your weapon until the blood lust ends.

ADVANCED BLOOD MAGIC
At 15th level you reach final understanding of blood magic, you can sacrifice blood to improve the power of your spells. When you cast a spell you can take 2d10 slashing or piercing damage and cast the spell as if it was cast with one higher spell slot than the one you used, or a level higher for each additional 2d10 damage that you are willing to take, if the damage brings you to 0 hit points the spell is not cast. This damage cannot be reduced by resistances, immunities or by other means. The spell level can exceed your highest spell slot level up to 8th level. When you reach 17th level the spell level can reach 9th level.
For example if you are a 17th level runeseeker and you cast a 5th level spell you can take 4d10 damage to cast it as a 7th level spell, 2d10 damage to cast it as a 6th level spell or 8d10 damage to cast it as a 9th level spell.

ENCHANTING RUNES
You can't choose the same rune more than once when you get the enchanting rune feature. All of these features require attunement. Your runic weapon becomes a Rare magic item when you add the first rune, Very Rare with the second one and Legendary with the third one.

ARROW RUNE
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. If the weapon is ranged it can automatically generate its own ammunitions when shooting as long as you don't want to use your ammunition. If you choose to let the weapon generate its own ammunition, it loads itself and loses the loading property if it has it.

CORROSION RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature takes an extra 1d4 acid damage, at the start of their next turn the creature takes 1d4 more damage.

DEATH RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, if the target has 20 hit points or fewer after taking this damage, it must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be destroyed.

DECAY RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature takes an extra 1d6 necrotic damage, the creature can't regain hit points until the end of their next turn.

DEFENSE RUNE
You gain a +1 bonus to your AC when holding this weapon.

DRAIN RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, you regain 1 hit point.

FEAR RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature takes an extra 1d6 psychic damage. You can choose to cause the creature you hit to be frightened until the end of their next turn. This property can't be used again until the next dawn.

FEROCITY RUNE
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. When you roll a 20 on your attack roll with this weapon, the target takes an extra 7 damage of the weapon's type.

FLAME RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature takes an extra 1d6 fire damage. You can use a bonus action to speak this weapon's command word, causing flames to erupt from it. These flames shed bright light in a 60-foot radius and dim light for an additional 60 feet. The flames last until you use a bonus action to speak the command word again or until you drop or sheathe the sword.

FLIGHT RUNE
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. If the weapon is melee and doesn't have the thrown property it gains the thrown (20/60) property. If the weapon already has the thrown property or the ranged property, its normal range increases by 20 feet and its maximum range increases by 60 feet.

FORCE RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature takes an extra 1d6 force damage and is pushed up to 10 feet away from you or pulled 10 feet towards you.

FROST RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature takes an extra 1d6 cold damage and its speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of their next turn, it can't reduced by less than 10 feet this way.

KNOWLEDGE RUNE
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. When you make an Intelligence check you can choose to get advantage on that check. This property can't be used again until the next dawn.

LIGHTWEIGHT RUNE
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. If the weapon is melee and has the heavy and two handed property it loses them and gains the versatile property, it deals its normal damage when used with two hands and 1d8 damage when used with one hand. If the melee weapon doesn't have the heavy or two handed property, it gains the light and finesse properties.

LUCK RUNE
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. You can call on the weapon's luck (no action required) to reroll one attack roll you dislike made with this weapon. You must use the second roll. This property can't be used again until the next dawn.

OATH RUNE
When you use this weapon to make an attack, you can speak this weapon's command word and make the target of your attack become your sworn enemy until it dies or until the next dawn. When your sworn enemy dies you can choose a new one after the next dawn. When you hit your sworn enemy with an attack, it takes an extra 2d6 damage of the weapon's type.

RADIANCE RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature takes an extra 1d6 radiant damage. You can choose to cause the creature you hit to be blinded until the end of their next turn. This property can't be used again until the next dawn.

RAGE RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon and your current hit points are equal to less than half of your total hit points, the target takes an extra 1d10 damage of the weapon's type.

RETURN RUNE
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. You can cause the weapon to teleport instantly in your hand without expending a bonus action, with the same effort that it requires you to normally sheath the weapon. If the weapon has the thrown property it automatically appears in your hand right after each attack.

SHAPELESSNESS RUNE
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. You can expend your bonus action to transform this weapon into any weapon you are proficient in, it gains all of the properties of the new weapon and stays into that shape permanently until changed into a new one.

SHARPNESS RUNE
If the weapon deals slashing damage, when you attack a creature with this weapon and roll a 20 you lop off one of the target's limbs, with the effect of such loss determined by the DM. If the creature has no limb to sever, you lop off a portion of its body instead.

STORM RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature takes an extra 1d6 lightning damage and can't take reactions until the end of your next turn.

THUNDERCLAP RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature takes an extra 1d6 thunder damage and is deafened for a minute. You can't be deafened while wielding this weapon. As a bonus action you can make your voice boom up to three times as loud as normal for one minute or you can create an instantaneous sound that originates from 30 feet of you such as the rumble of a thunder, the cry of a raven or ominous whispers.

VENGEANCE RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, the target takes an extra 1d10 damage of the weapon's type if it was the last creature to deal damage to you.

VENOM RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon, that creature takes an extra 1d6 poison damage. You can choose to cause the creature you hit to be poisoned until the end of their next turn. This property can't be used again until the next dawn.

VICIOUSNESS RUNE
When you roll a 20 on your attack roll with this weapon, the target takes an extra 14 damage of the weapon's type.

VIGOR RUNE
When you hit a creature with this weapon and your current hit points are equal to your total hit points, the target takes an extra 2d6 damage of the weapon's type.

WARNING RUNE
You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon. This weapon warns you of danger. While the weapon is on your person, you have advantage on initiative rolls. In addition, you and any of your companions within 30 feet of you can't be surprised, except when incapacitated by something other than nonmagical sleep. The weapon magically awakens you and your companions within range if any of you are sleeping naturally when combat begins.

RUNESEEKER SPELLS
The spells in the following list can be found in Chapter 11 of the Player's Handbook, except for those marked with an asterisk, found in Chapter 2 of the Elemental Evil Player's Companion.

1ST LEVEL
Burning Hands
Catapult*
Charm Person
Color Spray
Comprehend Languages
Detect Magic
False Life
Feather Fall
Find Familiar
Fog Cloud
Hellish Rebuke
Hex
Ice Knife*
Identify
Illusory Script
Longstrider
Magic Missile
Protection from Evil and Good
Ray of Sickness
Shield
Thunderwave
Witch Bolt

2ND LEVEL
Aganazzar's Scorcher*
Arcane Lock
Cloud of Daggers
Continual Flame
Darkvision
Detect Thoughts
Enlarge/Reduce
Enthrall
Flaming Sphere
Gust of Wind
Knock
Levitate
Locate Object
Magic Weapon
Melf’s Acid Arrow
Misty Step
Pyrotechnics*
Ray of Enfeeblement
Scorching Ray
Shatter
Spider Climb
Suggestion

3RD LEVEL
Bestow Curse
Clairvoyance
Counterspell
Dispel Magic
Elemental Weapon
Fear
Feign Death
Fireball
Flame Arrows*
Fly
Glyph of Warding
Haste
Lightning Bolt
Magic Circle
Melf's Minute Meteors*
Phantom Steed
Protection from Energy
Remove Curse
Sending
Sleet Storm
Slow
Tongues
Vampiric Touch

4TH LEVEL
Arcane Eye
Banishment
Blight
Confusion
Conjure Minor Elementals
Control Water
Dimension Door
Elemental Bane*
Evard's Black Tentacles
Fabricate
Fire Shield
Ice Storm
Leomund’s Secret Chest
Locate Creature
Mordenkainen’s Faithful Hound
Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere
Phantasmal Killer
Polymorph
Stone Shape
Stoneskin
Vitriolic Sphere*
Wall of Fire

5TH LEVEL
Animate Objects
Bigby’s Hand
Cloudkill
Cone of Cold
Conjure Elemental
Contact Other Plane
Creation
Dominate Person
Dream
Geas
Hold Monster
Immolation*
Legend Lore
Modify Memory
Passwall
Planar Binding
Rary’s Telepathic Bond
Scrying
Telekinesis
Teleportation Circle
Transmute Rock*
Wall of Force
Wall of Stone

Only had time for a skim, but it's a very interesting class concept! Lots of fun customization here, and definitely different in flavor from the core classes. The Soul Runes subclass is my pick of the litter. While the Blood Runes subclass isn't quite to my taste, but that's a personal thing, no reflection on the idea itself or its mechanics.

I'm not sure you need to require the Runeseeker to attune to the features of their own runic weapon, since you already need to have the class to gain such benefits at all. But I understand that's a balance choice, and it does work well if you're representing a learning period. Also, I might recommend making it impossible for others to attune to the runic weapon (as it's so tied to the Runeseeker themselves), though another Runeseeker should certainly be able to copy runes from one for their own use.

Everything else looks fine on a quick look!

Thank you so much for the feedback! And thanks for the positivity as well.
Actually the funny thing is that I showed this in other places where they liked mostly just the blood runes subclass, and I started thinking that maybe I should have made a blood mage class instead. It's nice to know that someone likes the soul runes since they are the "basic" archetype for the runeseeker.

About runeseekers being the only one able to attune to runic weapons, it's already in the rules, actually only the specific runeseeker that made the weapon can attune to their specific runic weapon, unless the runeseeker is dead, in that case anyone can attune to it, which means you can kill a runeseeker to steal their weapon or you can find old runic weapons of ancient runeseekers. You wouldn't be able to cast the spells though, but you would get the benefits of the Enchanting Runes, also if it's an awakened runic weapon it's not going to be happy to be used by someone else. I find it possible that maybe sometimes you can find the awakened runic weapon of an ancient runeseeker that died centuries ago, that one might be more friendly towards a finder and would have had time to process the loss of their father/mother. I think I will also add a little rule to make the runic weapon destructible again when the runeseeker dies, for the next version.

Thanks again! Let me know if there's anything that seems unbalanced or if you'll ever plan on playtesting the class.

This is a really cool class idea. It also oddly would fit right in with my game's setting with only a few minor tweaks.

I've only read through about half of the document thus far but it actually seems not too terribly unbalanced. I really dig all 3 archetypes, though it'd take a bit of play for me to really see how it truly works. Either way, if I can convince one of my players to switch, I'll start testing it soon if that's okay.

Nice, thank you! Just for the sake of curiosity, what would you need to change for the class to be in your game's setting? I'm asking because it could be a general issue, I need the class to be easy to fit in any d&d setting.

I don't think it's unbalanced either at this point, I went through quite a lot of iterations for some of the rules (and wordings). Mind runes is a little better than beastmaster ranger, but since beastmaster ranger is generally considered underpowered this should be a good thing.
It would be really nice if you could test it out for me thank you! None of my players is particularly interested in the concept, so I have no-one to check if it actually is balanced once in play. I could add an NPC to the game and see how it works out, but I don't like the idea of having a DMPC around.

Well, I use a somewhat custom magic system within my setting where in runes are the spells in general in the setting. I've gotten rid of the idea of prepping spells (seems to work better for my players and ads for a bit more flexibility). Looking at the rules, it'd be mostly lore changes and that. So, you're actually in pretty darn good shape with my setting.

Oh I see, so your setting is basically perfect for a runeseeker, that sounds nice. I personally prefer all out spontaneous spellcasting for every caster too, but when making a homebrewed class it has to be working considering the normal rules of the game and I wanted to make it clear that the weapon was used as a spellbook, so the class had to be working like a wizard more than Eldritch Knight or Arcane Trickster.
Any big lore change that you are going to have to do?

Oh totally and I completely understand why you did that so that was more just a thing for my personal use.

As for the changes to the lore, well magic is pretty industrialized and as such it's got sort of a steampunk feel similar to Eberron (except without the decay of the world because of it). On top of that, I have a magical focus that works more like how spell scrolls do and they override all of the game's basic foci (wands, staves and such) to help show this industrialized vision. There's more to it, but it also ties into the real reason why I run my games, which is to help my writing for a book series I'm writing.

Oh I see, so it's a pretty different setting when compared to usual ones. The "research" part of the runeseeker would be more important than the "discover ancient stuff" fluff. I guess it should be easy to refluff in the end. You should be able to use your focus variant with a runeseeker the same way you would with a wizard.
Good luck with your writing! The whole idea seems interesting.

If you manage to have a runeseeker in the game feel free to let me know how it works out, both regarding balance and the kind of stories they might end up being in.