Becoming a Rune Lord

Any cult may have a Rune Lord or Lords, though not all cults have them at any given time. All cults are anxious to induct Rune Lords, but the candidate must meet the criteria given below.

Minimum Requirements for a Rune Lord Candidate

At Least 90% Ability in at Least Five Skills.
These skills must be in fighting or in other skills, though many cults have at least one fighting skill requirement. Which skills are necessary depends on the individual cult. The Sun Dome Temple, which makes its living in part by selling mercenaries, demands five fighting related skills, of which at least two must involve the spear, and one the bow, which are the traditional weapons of this cult. On the other hand, cults of Orlanth, the God of Wind, require only one weapon skill which must be with any sword weapon.
A POW of at Least 15.
Basically, the candidate has to have enough POW to attract a god's attention.
Prove His Dedication.
At the barest minimum the cult will insist that a candidate be an initiate of the cult for a period of at least one year. Often there is some sort of test through which a candidate is expected to prove his dedication and worthiness.

Benefits of Rune Lordship

Skill Advancement Beyond 100%.
As a Rune Lord, a character may extend an ability beyond 100% by making an experience roll of his INT or less on D100. Extending one's ability beyond 100% has a number of benefits, though the character still has no better than a 95% chance of success with the skill.
1. Combat Skill Benefits
  1. An opponent's parry and dodge abilities are reduced against a 100%+ attack. Thus a character with a normal parry of 75%, fighting a Rune Lord with a 120% attack, has only a 55% chance of parrying the Rune Lord (120-100 = 20, 75-20 = 55).
  2. While the actual chance of hitting remains no better than 95%, the chance of an impalement or critical hit continues to increase. Thus our Rune Lord with a 120% attack with a spear has a 24% chance of impaling, and a 6% chance of a critical hit, which is better than the 20% chance of impaling, and the 5% chance of a critical possessed by a character with only a 100% chance to hit.
  3. The ability to split attacks or parries increases so that a character with a 120% chance of parrying with his shield could make two 60% parries, one 70% and one 50% parry, or any other combination as long as no parry is reduced below 50%.
    If the Rune Lord increases to 150% ability with attack and/or parry, he can split his attack or parry among three enemies instead of two. Note that to be able to attack three opponents in one melee round, the character must be able to strike at Strike Rank 4 or less with that weapon. The prohibitions against further attacks if an impale or critical hit is scored still apply. He cannot attack or parry the same enemy more than once.
2. Non-Combat Skill Benefits.
  Similar benefits can be incurred with the non-fighting skills as well. The advantage of this becomes obvious when the Rune Lord with the 120% chance of Hiding must escape the notice of a guard with a 55% chance of Spot Hidden. The guard's chance of finding the Rune Lord is only 35%.
  Note that if the Rune Lord rolls 96-00, he has failed to Hide, and the guard will see him whether or not he Spots Hidden.
  As with the combat skills, the chance of a special or critical success also continues to increase.
Divine Intervention.
When a Rune Lord appeals for divine intervention, the player rolls D100 and consults the following table. Note that unless the player rolls 96-00, the Rune Lord will always receive divine aid. (This aid may vary with request, and the Rune Lord who overuses this privilege risks the anger of his god.) The table gives the number of POW points he loses permanently as price for this aid. He can, however, regain the POW through normal POW gain rolls.
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                D100            POW Lost
 
                01-05            0 Points
                06-10            1 Point
                11-20            2 Points
                21-30            3 Points
                31-40            4 Points
                41-50            5 Points
                51-60            6 Points
                61-70            7 Points
                71-80            8 Points
                81-90            9 Points
                91-95           10 Points
                96-00           No Aid
 
```
Because of his direct tie with his god, the Rune Lord may even call upon his god after death, calling for one favor. Certain Death gods, of course, will not answer a call for renewed life, but may answer a call to bring a Rune Lord's party out of difficulty. This call for divine intervention must be made immediately (the next melee round) after death, or the spirit of the Rune Lord will join his master's entourage and be unable to call on such intervention.
If the Rune Lord has insufficient POW to meet the demands of the god, he ceases to exist, and his spirit is drawn into the entourage of his god.
Board and Succor.
A Rune Lord always has free room and board at any temple or other establishment of his cult. Also, his cult will usually try to get him out of any imprisonment he may have gotten himself into. The method may differ with the cult. Many major cults will usually pay a ransom. A few may attempt a rescue mission of some sort.
The cult will usually handle any other needs of their Rune Lords, including supplying them with warhorses and other tools of the trade within the monetary abilities of the particular cult.
Allying a Spirit.
The cult will assist the Rune Lord in obtaining an allied spirit to inhabit either an item or an animal familiar. Attempting to ally a spirit resembles attempting to bind it, but involves persuasion rather than combat. The priests of the cult can call up a spirit allied to their god. In effect, the god details one of its dependent spirits to negotiate with the Rune Lord. If this negotiation is successful, the spirit is the Rune Lord's ally as long as it exists and as long as the Rune Lord remains faithful to his god. Unlike a bound spirit, it can cast spells. An allied spirit is in Mind Link with the Rune Lord, and is also capable of anything a bound spirit is capable of. It perceives the world through the Rune Lord's senses.
Warrior cults will typically place an allied spirit into the Rune Lord's weapon. Other cults will use an item of armor, a shield, a medallion, an animal familiar, or other vessel. A Rune Lord can only have one allied Spirit at a time.
Use of the Cult's Rune Metal
The cults have the secret of enchanting their particular Rune metal so that weapons and armor can be made from it (ordinary weapons and armor are made from iron). The enchanting process is magical and keys the item created to the owner. If the owner dies, the enchantment dies with him, and the metal must be re-enchanted to be used by another.
Among other rituals, 1 point of divine intervention is necessary for enchanting the Rune metal. This point of divine intervention will enchant one weapon, one shield, and one full set of armor for a Rune Lord or Priest. If one or more of the components of this set are missing at the time of the ritual, they can be enchanted later, at the cost of another point of sacrificed POW. This (these) point(s) must come from the receiving Rune Lord or Priest.
Should the character wish to enchant further items beyond his basic set, he must make another POW sacrifice. Enchanted Rune metal weapons will not take any damage from iron weapons unless the attacker rolls a critical hit. The total points absorbed by the enchanted weapon or armor are equal to 1 1/2 times the total absorbed by the iron equivalent.
Improved Resistance to Magic.
A Rune Lord always resists magic and spirit combat with his maximum POW. Even if a Rune Lord with a POW of 19 were to cast 18 points worth of spells, leaving him with a current POW of 1, he would still defend against magic with a POW of 19. His god makes up the difference, out of concern for the safety of the sacrifices the Rune Lord will make to him in the future.

Responsibilities of Runelordship

A Rune Lord has responsibilities to his cult. There are two principle responsibilities common to all cults. Individual cults may impose additional particular responsibilities.

Accountability
The Rune Lord is accountable to his cult, and must come at its call. He has a fair measure of independence under normal circumstances, but if a message must be carried across a thousand miles of wilderness inhabited by hostile natives, he will be appointed to lead the expedition.
Support
As the Rune Lord is supported by the cult, so he must support the cult. 90% of his income, and all magical items he cannot use personally, must be donated to the temple treasury. However, this donated portion of his income can be used to buy training and spells provided by the cult. Any ransoms paid for the Rune Lord will also be taken from this donation, if it is available. If it is not available, the Rune Lord's future donations will be used to pay back the cult before they can be used for further training and spells.
Cults can generally only provide training in certain skills.

Rune Lord-Priests

A Rune Lord with a POW of 18 or higher may become a Priest of the cult he is associated with. He cannot go up in combat skills, but his god helps him remember what he knows already, so that he does not lose combat abilities the way a normal character becoming a Priest might. He keeps any benefits he has already gained from his Rune Lordship. Even a combination Rune Lord and Rune Priest can only have one allied spirit at a time. A Rune Lord of one cult cannot become a Priest of another. A Rune Lord serving as a Priest cannot appeal for divine intervention as a Rune Lord. If the god took enough POW from him, he would go below 18 POW, voluntarily reducing his maximum POW below the 18 minimum for a Priest, which a Rune Priest is forbidden to do.

Leaving the Cult

A Rune Lord could become a rogue, leaving the cult and losing the benefits of divine intervention and the allied spirit. His former god might impose further penalties. He would retain any Rune metal artifacts and 100%+ abilities he already had.

Less drastically, he may ask for a leave of absence. This may not be done immediately after his cult has asked him to perform a dangerous mission. This will involve persuading the High Priest of his temple to let him go.

His reasons for leaving by either fashion vary, but include going on a quest, which if he is skillful and the gods are kind, may make him a Hero. Of course, many cults encourage and support such quests.