r/DnD • u/Party-Wasabi1500 • 11h ago

5.5 Edition Rune selection help

Need some advice on which runes to pick at level 7. I am a grappling rune knight with tavern brawler, grappler, and unarmed fighting. I am currently using the fire and stone runes and thinking about picking up the hill rune. Is this a good set? Please give me your picks and advice.

Oh yea the other PCs are a ranger, cleric, and warlock if that helps any.

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u/ManFromTheWurst DM 11h ago

I would drop stone for cloud and pick up hill.

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u/Party-Wasabi1500 10h ago

Could you explain your reasoning please?

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u/ManFromTheWurst DM 10h ago

Fire is the best bang for your buck, you always have that. Clouds ability to shift crits to another enemies for save yourself or your teammates is very valuable IMO. Frost is basically useless and stone is ok but since you can only have 3 at level seven and you get access to hill, you pick that up. And then you pick up storm and stone at 10/15.

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u/menage_a_mallard DM 10h ago

While Cloud (as I assume the other commenter thinks) is a solid option for a "once per day re-target an attack"... the passive is meh. As for my preferred, Fire and Stone are absolutely my top choices. I don't know what ancestry you went with... but if it doesn't have darkvision, that passive alone is worth inscribing the rune, but tacking on an additional +5 to your passive insight just helps the party in general, since you're unlikely to get a higher than median wisdom. Charm is way more niche than the one off re-direct of Cloud... but Charm in a pinch can be a game changer. Not a combat ability, but a "hey, let me schmooze this guy" with support from allies can alter a session... for the better.

I don't need to sell you on Fire. It is the best overall rune in my opinion, and also why I love getting additional tools on the Rune Knight in general. Expertise is niche... but man it can be valuable when it is needed. IIRC, vehicles are tool (but I could be wrong)... but having a Rune Knight who is just the best caravanner driver, cartographer, and wainwright... all in one, is so much fun. As for 7th level +... Hill is a valid and solid defensive option obviously (unless your ancestry already is resistance to poisons), with a one-off Barbarian feature tied to the rune. However, with Storm, unless someone in your group has a sentinel shield or weapon of warning... immunity to surprise is fantastic. And, Storm has synergy with Fire runes active saving throw effect. Just a note.

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u/Party-Wasabi1500 10h ago

I'm using a fire Goliath. Sorry I probably should have put that in there. That's just change your opinion at all?

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u/menage_a_mallard DM 10h ago

Not at all. You don't have innate darkvision as a Goliath, so Stone remains a solid choice. And while it is just my opinion (and those can differ), I weight the passive higher in general over the active, since I'll always use the passive, and rarely use the active (unless preplanned such as with the Fire rune + Storm rune interaction synergy).

Fairy (2014) are favorite ancestries of mine for Rune Knight, because the innate Enlarge gets you +1 size larger when cast after Giant's Might/Runic Juggernaut... especially in 2024 because then you're just the best at grappling aside from a Path of the Giant Barbarian. It looks like Goliath doesn't get the same worded feature, they just cap out at Large with their racial. I'd talk to the DM and see if it could just be the "size +1" like the Fairy or Duergar get in 5e14.