Ok well I was reading up on different types of divining for Anika and I came upon Runes. As I read up on them I found they could be used to weave spells and thought it would be fun too use that in Arda.

So for the people that do not know Runes are symbols or stones of magical power. Each symbol has a different meaning and holds a different magical property. They are pretty much like words of power. The symbols by themselves can do some magic, but when you fit the symbols together they can weave different magic. An example of this would be if you used a rune for love and seen but not changed (fate) it would guide you too your soul mate.

In one RP site I have found they say: "Rune is a sphere of magic that grants the practitioner the ability to exert control over fate. The practioner cannot create supernatural effects directly, he cannot say, cause water to appear out of thin air. He can however cause a fast and violent rainstorm with clouds very quickly appearing from nowhere. The sphere is weak in that it can produce no powerful supernatural effects. Yet it is strong as it can fate an elementalist, or a sorceror to do so." I thought that was kind of a neat way of using it. The only bad part about this method I think would be that they would not be used much because they are not instant magic, but rather a method of redirecting fate.

You could also make them instant affect, kind of like regular magic. The only problem I see here is of course that if they act like instant magic, why would you buy the runes and not the spells. It becomes kind of redundant. That is why the above method is used in the other RP site.

There are already runes out there that could be used here, already having their meanings and magical properties, but I think it would be more unique for Arda to make up their own sets of runes and label them with the power they hold. This would also make it easier too Moderate the power level of the runes.

What is cool about rune magic is that it is more your own creativity and individualized. You are able to come up with your own spells depending on what runes you own. If you can come up with a new way to fit the words together and come up with a new spell, you get too use it. Of course the spells would still have to follow the rules of Arda. Because of the creativity and freedom this magic gives I think it would be best if only ARP players could use it.

Another neat way too do it would be much like the Herbalism. You buy the runes and the book and you can follow the recipes given too create your spells. These spells would be done without using Magical energy and would not count towards the five spell limit for Fighters. The only down side of this would be that there is little creativity and freedom as everything is already spelled out for you.

The runes could also be used in Socket weapons. Say if you put the rune for fire in your socket your weapon could ignite into flames or the blade could heat up or it just does fire damage. If you put the rune for luck into your socket weapon then your weapon may move truer or hit more vulnerable areas.

I think Runes would be a nice addition to Arda. It could be used too add a little more freedom and creativity in the spell crafting department if you followed the idea of piecing the words together like a puzzle to create magic. Coming up with the Arda runes would be an easy thing too do as well. If you have any questions or comments please post.

You could already use this method in order to cast other spells. It is noted that you can cast magic in Arda through any means that you wish, including drawing runes or claiming that your purchased spells are held within magic stones.

However, I don't think it's a good idea to let people have free reign over creating their own spells. Some people have very wild ideas about what kind of magic they ought to be allowed to cast. It would, frankly, lead to a LOT of godmoding. If one can simply buy enough runes, one can do absolutely anything? I agree that it sounds cool in theory, but there are lots of people who want to make their characters powerful very quickly, and thus they would heavily abuse this in order to make themselves invincible. Only the god/desses of Arda are allowed to have unlimited magic.

I've always thought that weaving spells with symbols and such was cool, but this seems a little too open to interpretation.

I have to agree with Wraith with his comment.

In which case I agree that people shouldn't be able to make their own spells, if they were then they should get approved before hand to be approved. Though I don't know if the admins of Arda would wish to deal with the fact of approving something else, they seem to have a lot of things on their plate already.

Though what I do like is the fact that your thinking with the Herbalism idea. I did read everything, and *I* would agree if it was like that with predetermined runes that when matched together had to create something like a spell. Though if you think about it, it might be unethical to do this. Think about it, a person carrying 20 runes on them to cast a spell in the midst of a battle? Their would certainly be drawbacks to using them, and frankly I would rather use spells. Unless of coarse once you buy them you can combine them on the spot to use them as a -one time- shot type spell. But then, why not just buy a spell for unlimited use.

A lot of flaws with Runes and Arda in my honest opinion.

At any rate, I already have a runes shop in the work for use with socketed items.