Avenging Runelord Dedication Feat 12

Source Pathfinder #219: Lord of the Trinity Star

The call of a long dead runelord has infected your soul and transformed your fate. Choose one of the following sins: envy, gluttony, greed, sloth, or wrath. You become trained in Arcana. If you are already trained in Arcana, you become trained in the skill of your choice. At 14th level, you gain expert proficiency in Arcana. At 16th level, if you gain master proficiency in Arcana.

You have familiarity with weapons in the polearm and spear weapon groups—for the purposes of proficiency, you treat any of these that are martial weapons as simple weapons and any that are advanced weapons as martial weapons. You learn the Thassilonian language.

You gain the ability to cast an arcane spell as an innate spell. This spell must be chosen from the following list: Darkvision, Mystic Armor, Runic Body, Runic Weapon, See the Unseen, Sending, or Truesight; alternatively, you can choose any spell of 6th rank or lower from the sin spells listed for your chosen sin. You can cast this spell as an arcane innate spell once per day. The spell is automatically heightened to a spell rank equal to half your level rounded up. Use mythic proficiency to determine any attack rolls or spell DCs.

Your obsession with revenge allows you to reflexively lash out at those who harm you with blasts of arcane magic. You gain the Runelord's Response reaction.

Rare

The absolute pursuit of personal power was almost universal among the runelords of ancient Thassilon. In their haste to stave off death, they created personal demiplanes, embraced undeath, fashioned powerful artifacts, and created foreboding strongholds in obscure branches of reality. Using all the magical might at their disposal, they sought to cement their legacies upon future generations, even after death. The spread of generational curses, the carving of visages into mountain peaks, the creation of faux faiths and secret societies that blurred the lines between cult and religion—all of these were pursued by the runelords in their goal of creating an eternal legacy.

To most, the simplest route to a lasting legacy is through family. By passing on a name, trade, or beliefs to descendants, a person's influence may carry on long after they're gone. This, of course, wouldn't do for most runelords. To them, family was a weakness—one that either enemies could exploit or that could lead to betrayal from one's own blood. Runelords who did have children often endeavored to sequester their offspring's minds and bodies as repositories for their own souls, while those with no progeny of their own sought magical creations, influence over abductees, and other more twisted methods to prolong their existence.

Such a mindset could only foster souls possessing an everlasting rage against death. And in the aftermath of several tumultuous events—particularly the recent awakenings of the runelords as well as the world-shaking Godsrain—many of these karmic seeds have begun to take root. The minds and souls of new runelords, along with the living descendants of ancient runelords, have been attacked by the souls of their grasping predecessors. Some of these scattered descendants and new adherents overcame the intrusions and lived their lives of their own, unaware of the supernatural doom hanging over their heads. For others, however, the supernatural incursions proved far more difficult to resist.

This was not a true reincarnation. The bitter souls of these long-dead wizards haven't been reborn into new bodies—the reward of a judged soul sent back to life.

Rather, those invaded by an avenging runelord's soul must constantly fight for control of their fate. Over time, they may experience flashbacks and déjà vu, uncovering the hidden identity within their bodies. As this influence grows, so to do bitter memories of rivalries with the Runelord Xanderghul or those like him.

A Previous Life
As an avenging runelord, a character isn't actually a reincarnated runelord (a PC seeking to play a reincarnated character should instead consider the heroic scion destiny on page 76). They remain their own person, yet their memories and dreams are influenced by the long-dead soul with whom their destiny has become entangled. They might claim to be the reincarnated runelord, or they might deny this influence or even not truly know whose soul has infected their own. When a PC chooses this mythic destiny, they should work with the GM to determine which of the dozens of previous runelords have infected them, choosing from those many runelords who have died and do not live on as undead to this very day. The GM can suggest a runelord whose legacy might be encountered at some point in this Adventure Path as a risen runelord or might leave the identity secret and encourage the player to lean into themes of envy, gluttony, greed, sloth, or wrath (noting that no runelord of lust or pride has yet died, and as such, cannot be used to create avenging runelords).

A Previous Life

As an avenging runelord, a character isn't actually a reincarnated runelord (a PC seeking to play a reincarnated character should instead consider the heroic scion destiny on page 76). They remain their own person, yet their memories and dreams are influenced by the long-dead soul with whom their destiny has become entangled. They might claim to be the reincarnated runelord, or they might deny this influence or even not truly know whose soul has infected their own. When a PC chooses this mythic destiny, they should work with the GM to determine which of the dozens of previous runelords have infected them, choosing from those many runelords who have died and do not live on as undead to this very day. The GM can suggest a runelord whose legacy might be encountered at some point in this Adventure Path as a risen runelord or might leave the identity secret and encourage the player to lean into themes of envy, gluttony, greed, sloth, or wrath (noting that no runelord of lust or pride has yet died, and as such, cannot be used to create avenging runelords).

Avenging Runelord Dedication Feat 12

Rare
destiny
mythic

Your obsession with revenge allows you to reflexively lash out at those who harm you with blasts of arcane magic. You gain the Runelord's Response reaction.