We had some fun with the cloud rune last game: Our party had to resque some NPC from a hill giant. We really wanted to kill this thing as quickly as possible, so our aasimar Rune knight (in character) yells: "Druid! Let the stars fall upon me and him both!" And I figured correctly that he meant: "twinspell guiding bolt and hit my PC and the giant." I go, "Ok" as our DM is stuttering: "what are you guys doing?" one bolt hits the giant, and the other hits our rune knight who uses his cloud rune reaction to bounce the attack to the hill giant!
@@garthodowd6846 It's like two years ago, I think around 30 dam or something. I rolled several ones for the second guiding bolt. It could have been a lot more. It was the look on our DM's face that made it memorable really.
I know i am 3 years late to the party, but i am playing a rune knight and the experience of the first cloud rune to direct damage is awesome. We ended up roll playing the cloud rune as it confuses the attacker and makes them hit the one next to him, but it was awesome.
I created a goliath rune knight folk hero as well! It seemed like a natural fit. I love the way goliath synergizes with rune knight on a spiritual and mechanical level. I would not dip barbarian with rune knight. Hill giant rune is right around the corner at level 7, and delaying your 3rd attack at 11th doesn’t seem wise. The double proficiency bonus to tools you receive from the fire rune works for land vehicles, and if you also have animal handling you could be Rolling With Advantage. I also took masonry tools to give my goliath advantage on perception checks to notice secret doors.
I took the lucky feat at 4th level and swing my greatsword with my eyes closed. I roll with disadvantage, then I feel lucky. I turn disadvantage into super advantage. 15% chance to crit, but I can do it 3 times, so almost a 50% chance of critting on my first 3 attacks. Edit: the first time I used this the DM made me roll super disadvantage, so I got to pick the best out of 4 d20.
I’ve always pictured the cloud rune as an illusionary mirror esc thing- like shimmering air that appears in front of you and that’s how things hit other things.
This is exactly my character. Great weapon master, slasher feat (for the same reason) and goliath. I’m an almost incurable multiclasser, but I’m loving my rune knight fighter. I do excellent damage, I can take a beating, and I can protect my group. An ally just got critted? Nope. Cloud rune. I’m having a blast.
Cloud Rune: Just before your friend faces the cold embrace of the maradeurs blade you take up your stone talisman, the ancient runes carved into them start glowing golden and yellow. At the moment the blade touches the bare skin of your friends body, a multitude of luminicent runes appear exactly at the spot on your allies chest where the deadly weapon would have pierced him. With an energetic cling the ill intended weapon strikes your ancestral magic and bounces off of the giant's language you wrought into existence all those years ago. As dark red burning runes appear on one of your other foes, they scream loudly as the runes grind on their skin and let them feel the searing pain of the redirected blow.
Also want to throw out, I tend to think that Rune Knight might be the one fighter that doesn't need barbarian. Level 7 Hill Rune gives you the resistances as a bonus action. Even though it's only once per short rest, that will still get you through a large percentage of big fights. You lose rage damage sure, but that's only 2 per hit. Rather be spending those levels getting more Runes/ASIs/or 3rd attack. Or a class that gives some spell casting as you have great con saves so if you can find a decent spell you can cast before combat, you will increase your effectiveness greatly.
I have been playing Runeknight Goliath as well. Great Weapon Fighting, Greatsword. At level 3 I went with Cloud and Fire rune, we rolled stats and I got 15 STR, 16 INT, 18 CON, because of character reasons. Nothing like spending your reaction to deny the boss's crit and killing one of their underlings. For the feat at 4th I got Heavy Armor Master, to increase my damage reduction from Stone's Endurance, and to help me survive a few extra rounds. And trust me, when you have a dozen kobolds or an 8 headed hydra attacking you, you really appreciate having 3 damage taken off from each hit. At 5th level I learnt the beauty of comboing Fire Rune with Action surge. Nothing like using Fire Rune on the first hit and having advantage on the remaining 3. At 6th level I maxed out my CON, making my chains even harder to break. Now at 7th level I sit comfortably at 94 HP, Hill Rune basically turning my 3 point damage reduction to 6, and using the Rune Shield to deny enemy crits and rerolling my Nat 1s (yes, you can do that). Can't wait till I get Storm Rune in order to give people disadvantage on saving throws against my chain, AoE attacks, or advantage if it is me or one of my friends. My DM absolutely hates me XD
Sounds awesome, although I think RAW Runic Sheild wouldn't allow you to target yourself for nat 1s since its "When another creature...", but if your DM allows it, more power to the almighty mountain man😂
my personal interpretation of the cloud rune is that you magically redirect the kinetic energy elsewhere, so it like comes out the opposite side of your body of where you take the hit and appears as a cloud leaving behind a trail before slamming into the target with the preserved energy of the attack.
Really want to do a Fairy Rune Knight. Just going from tinkerbell to a 15 feet tall literal 'Huge' creature in 6 seconds is just too damn funny 🤣. And you could reasonably do a "Dex" build and be nearly as tanky while still being able to fly.
Two things: -Love the rune knight. Im playing it right now too. Sword and shield. -Your friend can changes runes in a long rest, so he can prepare for fights, or social encounters. He doesnt have to wait for a lvl up.
you have a set amount of runes. 2 at lvl3, 3 at lvl7 etc. You can change those at lvl up. If you have more runes, than equipment pieces, I guess you change them after a long rest.
Currently playing a Firbolg that was raised by Goliath. He started at lvl1 as a barbarian but I took a level of fighter at lvl2. Plan to take them thru Rune Knight and even built it into their backstory. Thanks for confirming that it will be as fun to play as I had hoped.
Just got to Lvl 3 with my Mountain Dwarf RK in our new campaign - also with a Maul in Hand. So I just got the Runes for a session and did not have a chance to really use them yet. Thinking about switching it up for TWF at Lvl 4 because I just found a toned down Dwarven Thrower which needs to have its powers activated again. So nice Sidequest for my PC and a cool future weapon. First time playing a Martial PC and it’s glorious so far.
My friend plays a Aasimar RK. In game he's not truly an aasimar, but a decendant of a line of humans who interbread with chaotic elemental demons or something. He will assume a "destructor form" and become this giant winged abomination, by activating radiant soul and giant's might in the same turn. It might not be the best race/class combo, but it looks cool.
I don't know about that. Assimar are monsters. Flight at low levels plus neurotic (a common damage type) resistance and the ability to heal themselves, they are a good tank race. Have fun.
For me as a player, II'd flavour the cloud rune redirect as for a split second the attacker is wreathed in wispy clouds, appearing in ghostly form to strike the redirect before the ghostly form and the clouds fade. Tricky cloud giant magic.
I'm playing a 10th lvl 2-shot and god dammit I made the EXACT SAME BUILD stat for stat, feat for feat at this point. After 8th I took 2 lvls of artificer to fulfill the smithing aspect cause why not? Looking forward to it and its a bit reassuring to know this has been well received already.
@@RollingWithAdvantage honestly, you could make dozens of Kaiju inspired builds with rune knight simply by changing the species, warforge for mecha, Hadooze for Kong, Tortle for Gamera, Aarakokra for Rodan, Fairy for Mothra (especially since they get enlarge/reduce for free at level 5), Symic Hybrid for Destroyah and the Kaiju from Pacific Rim, plasmoid for Hedorah, throw a dart at the list of player species list, and that gives you a new kaiju build.
I had a sixth level goliath bear totem barbarian with the brawny feat which meant he was counted as gargantuan. Once I got my hands on the great weapon master and tavern brawler I started using my great axe in one hand because he was that swole. BTW the DM used a home brew system for ability scores which gave us ability score improvements every three levels instead of four, and everyone started the game with an extra feat so it was possible for me to get three feats by level 6.
There is a race specific Feat from DM Binder, it is called Dawncaller. (also a subclass depending on source material). Our DM let us take one race specific feat at the start of our campaign. It helps prevent everyone from being a variant human or some custom stuff where you get a feat. It works out nicely. I took the Dawncaller Feat. Feat: You learn the sacred ways of the dawncallers-the goliaths responsible for watching over their kin throughout the night and awakening them at dawn. You gain the following benefits: -You have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. You can see in dim light within this range as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. -As an action, you can speak a command word to awaken any number of sleeping creatures you choose within 30 feet of you who can hear you. Each awakened creature can immediately stand up without expending any movement. -During a long rest, you only need to sleep for 4 hours; you can perform light activity (e.g. reading, talking, eating, or standing watch) for the remaining 4 hours. During that remaining 4 hour rest time my Goliath reads books on new languages. You also gain dark vision, which is helpful in freeing up those runes, especially if you are in a lot of dark places. The rest stuff has been really helpful at early levels when everyone is squishy. It has allowed us to take more rests. We are working on setting a trap where everyone is sleeping, and when this group of cultists comes into camp, we will be ready.
When I imagined the cloud rune used. I like to remember Cloud Giants are tricksters. So i picture the weapon contacting its target, but instead of blood and gore, the weapon passes through them leaving behind a smoke trail. The new target of the weapon has the smoke appearing across their body with a new wound.
Going to play this and plan on taking the charger feat at 8. Go large, hit with hammer, move 5ft. Next round hit with hammer move another 5ft, back up 5ft, bonus action charge, with advantage on str possibly move another 10ft or get a +5 to damage. Additionally you can do this to huge size enemies (although a lot of them have 10ft reach attacks so might get an opportunity attack on you) but I love the idea of shoving a fire giant 15ft off a cliff. Also at 7th level you will get storm rune that can force disadvantage on checks. It all takes some set up but given the right fight can be really cool.
So, if you get the brawny feat on a build like this it means you can be counted as Gargantuan, so if you ever wanted to grapple a tarrasque you can go for it. I'd also argue that the tarrasque couldn't use legendary resistance against the grapple because your as big as it which is a hard feat to match.
I have a character concept for a Goblin Rune Knight, following the Unarmed Fighting+Tavern Brawler+Skill Expert(Athletics) archetype. I really just want to play out a small race that gets Large and will tackle anything and everything they can. xD It's one of the few "thought experiments" that I've evolved into a full character with considerations to how it would role play and what its general backstory is. Almost had a chance to play it recently, but there was some pre-existing lore in the game I was joining that would affect the way I would have to play them. Some day, though... Volo's Guide to Monsters has an entire section dedicated to Giant culture - including tables for Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws - that you can read for inspiration and weave it into your character if you want that Giant influence to be a big part of your character.
I've had a similar idea, with a Grung Rune Knight grappler who jumps on people's heads and poisons them before growing 2-4 full sizes😂 They believe all Giant lore simply refers to giant Grung and refuse to believe any actual Giants claim to the name "Giant"
yea ive had a lot of fun with my Goliath rune knight, i just hit lv10 and managed to roll nearly max on the size increase so im sitting at 8ft 9in and 335lbs at base, after some rulings and some number crunching, we found that my large form would be 17ft 6in and 3,015lbs, and eventually in my huge form id be 26ft 3in and a whopping 9,045lbs with a massive warblade (think a cross of a Klingon bat'leth and a greatsword which we stated as a reskinned glaive.) throw that on top of the sheer weight capability of the character at 2,400 lbs of pushing power makes my character a great Kiju fighter.
I wouldnt dip into barbarian you can get bludgeoning, piercing, slashing resistance at lvl7 with hill rune 1/short rest wich should be enough only 1lvl later.
Good call on that but if you wanted to you could take a level in barb and free up that rune slot for another. Honestly though RK is just solid and may could just not multiclass at all.
Yeah, but if you have rages to get that B/P/S resistance, you can take Storm Rune at Fighter 7(instead of Fighter 10) and screw around with rolls, giving one thing/round advantage or disadvantage.
@@voicetest6019 You can switch one rune every level. At lvl 7 you grab storm, change stone/fire for hill and keep cloud. Also, hill rune gives you poison resistance as passive.
Played a Rune Knight dragonborn in a one shot yesterday. 4 of us were level 12 each, and our DM thought it would be fun to have us fight an Ancient White Dragon (CR 20). Most of us had randomly generated our characters, so they weren't terribly optimized. I used giant might, our wizard cast enlarge on me, and I proceeded to use my +13 on athletics checks to grapple and shove this dragon into submission. Got 3 rounds of not having to worry about flight and forced disadvantage from the dragon, as well as a couple of wasted turns of it trying to break out. We ended up winning with only 1 casualty.
BTW if your looking for HP get the tough feat instead of constitution because it is more effective in that regard. I often don't increase my constitution past 16 because I would have more than enough HP after getting the tough feat unless I was playing something with a D6 hit die in which case I would focus more on not getting hit in the first place unless it was really weird like a hill dwarf wizard which could actually work really well now that I think about it with Tasha's.
I made a fun build using Rune knight fighter and 5 levels of sorcerer. I took mostly buff spells with sorcerer including the spells enlarge/reduce and haste. I also took knock for laughs(punching a lock till it opens)
The character I'm currently playing is by far my favourite of all time. They are Swashbuckler3/Rune Knight3. Honestly so much fun. Having expertise plus advantage in athletics and slight of hand, for instance. For me it's very much a grappler build. Unsure exactly where I'll go with it regarding feats but they're already so enjoyable to play, i don't really mind.
Im playing a minotaur Rune Knight and i roleplayed the cloud rune that my horn where i have it on emits like a tornado which absorbs the damage and then goes wide and releases the force upon another creature ;)
In my campaign right now I'm playing a Goliath Barbarian/Fighter Wanderer. Going for Barb Zealot / Fighter Rune Knight. Should be insane when I'm throwing out Divine Fury and Fire Rune while I am Raging and Giant. 🤣
So I am playing a zealot barbarian and am thinking about taking 4 levels into fighter and picking up rune knight. 1d12+1d6+str&rage slashing then 1d6+half barbarian level radiant damage with the 2nd turn. Then 2d6 fire rune against trolls because Woothracc Troll Slayer kills trolls. GWM for the +10 damage reckless attack, superior technique fighting style, and martial adept for 2 uses of 3 maneuvers. Minimum damage for first hit on 2nd turn is 24 due to rolled stats, would be different if it were point by.
I agree, barbarian 1 level dip would be awesome. Could also take a 2 level dip into paladin for smite. And just use the few spells to power the smites. And 17 levels in rune Knight. That way you really dont miss out on anything. It's how I would go.
Rune knight all the way. Hill giant rune at 7. 4 attacks at 20. That being said, I’ll bet there is a solid paladin rune knight multiclass build out there.
So what I planned for a Goliath Rune Knight is Fell-Handed, once combined with Storm Rune I'll be able to start a chain of attacks with an advantage from Storm Rune, knock the enemy prone with Fell-Handed and pummel them to dust with the rest of my attacks.
Issue with multiclassing into Barbarian is not being able to use heavy armor. If you wanted to do that you'd probably have toi invest more into dexterity during character creation. And honestly straight Rune Knight is already really good, that way you're not delaying extra attacks and the hill rune.
While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armor: You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws. When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table. You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
Planning on running a rune knight if i get the chance to, and while i plan on going earth genasi as opposed to goliath i can still use this as a sort of guideline while i get used to the class
Man just found this video. I made a character I am itching to play with and the build is basically the same, the difference is that he is a Minotaur smith (rune knight's proficiency with the tools really fits the character too). The thing is, I don't see him wearing armor, at least not heavy armor (maybe a pauldron or something), so Im looking for something that could replace the need for armor. Thought about Barbarian dip, but rage doesn't fit him at all, and getting 1lvl behind just for the unarmored defense doesn't look like a good trade.
I use this build but i replace the fighting style to Unarmed Fighting and taking feat Tavern Brawler. So, i can grapple and shove in 1 turn even without extra attack. On the next turn i hit the enemy and get the bonus grapple damage from Unarmed Fighting
@@RollingWithAdvantage or negate all that by going simic hybrid with the extra grappling appendages. Might not even need goliath because AFAIK titan's might comes with powerful build no?
I have a player that wanted me to give him a prebuilt PC for a mid level one shot. I asked what he wanted, he said he wanted to be big. So, I made him a giant rune knight And he proceeded to wreck my game.
@@RollingWithAdvantage no, Rune Knighs are great. I also play as a shifter RK bounty hunter. I used the cloud giant rune and another player asked "are you a Thundercat?" ... my subconscious 80's kid smiled harder than I did.
One thing I like to do on my fighters is to get the magic initiate feat to use guidance, light, and bless spell from the cleric spell list. The reason is guidance is just useful, the light spell let me see if I have no dark vision, and the bless spell lets me improve my saving throws while also counteracting the effects of great weapon master once per day for a minute.
@@RollingWithAdvantage Yeah, I have made one of my DMs turn into a human tomato because I tend to be a pretty smart player when it comes down to it which is funny since I play characters with 8 intelligence 9 times out of 10. Though my argument is that intelligence is knowledge, and what he is doing is using the information he has infront of him to be smart.
I can wait to get my character to level 7. I did one level into Genie Warlock(air) and will go the rest as Rune Knight Fighter. Im an elven archer with Ranged Fighting Style, so cant wait to get sharpshooter and elven arcuracy with the fire rune and use my hex spell with that, giants might, and genie's wrath. I also just hit level 3 in Rune Knight so i imagine once a turn im shooting a small log at enemies. Trees once i get to end game, lol
Tho thinking about it as a way to move damage around more, and protect party members. Fighting style Interscption could be viable option. Would be worse if you could target yourself with it.
@@RollingWithAdvantage I'm kinda picturing Juggernaut from Marvel comics now. unarmed fighting fight style with Traven brawler. Lol. Oh the ideas are swirling in my head. Lol
Can anyone tell me if becoming a large or larger creature actually has any advantage? Or is mostly flavour along with the extra d6 with the class and taking up more space. Isn't the enlarge spell exactly the same but with an addition d4 on every hit, making it a little better?
If your DM allows giant-scaling weapons then they are going to deal more damage (I think its 3x the base weapon) + you have more carrying space + you are basically immune to spells like swallow etc so yeah you are right!
I just started a Loxodon Rune Knight. It also has powerful build, but it also Loxodon Serenity (adv against charmed and frightened), shoring up a major weakness for Fighters. Most importantly though, they can grapple with their trunks, shove the target prone, then use both hands to swing a two handed weapon with adv against their grapple target. I’m going Skill Expert at 4 for +1 Str and expertise in Athletics and Great Weapon Master at 6. I think it’ll be superior to Goliath.
Loxodon is a solid race for RK. Though I’ve seen a lot of DMs shy away from the MTG races which is why I don’t mention them too often. You are absolutely right about them though.
I am considering a 3 lvl DIP for a Taha's Beastmaster Ranger. We are playing at Innistrad and I think the options that this gives for that campaing would be amazing. But what do I do with the Gigant's influence, giving the plane has no reference of the Giants as other dnd planes can it be used?
This is exciting. I just rolled up a rune knight as a replacement character at lvl 5 and I came up with almost the exact same build. Only outlander background and dumped intelligence for a bonus to wisdom, and Insight instead of animal handling. I didn't really even notice all the defensive stuff and how much this is a short rest character like a monk or warlock. Can't wait to play it now.
I was the Goliath Rune Knight Trevor is talking about in the video! It truly was such a blast to play and so powerful as well. I hope you dig it as much as I did with Vimak!
I’m playing a Goliath Rune Knight in my campaign, and in this setting he was a Nordic Viking who learned his runes from Baldur. The way he plays is simple; he uses no weapons. He uses the unarmed fighting style, and my DM has ruled that Cestus’ and Gauntlets do not count as weapons, and have been adding extra damage to his punches. With the Cloud Rune and Frost Rune equipped when he is adventuring, his turns mainly consist of growing, grappling, and punching people with the damage of a greatsword, all while being nearly impossible to kill; the only time he’s been downed in the campaign was when the DM crit twice in a row with a Bulette. Even in scenarios where other characters are getting downed multiple times a turn, this fucking monstrosity just stands there, ways the damage, and the proceeds to kill multiple people per turn.
Those stats are harsh. Was surprised he went to Fighter 9. Rune Knight is a lot of fun though. I like that it is pretty flexible to work with different styles of melee play.
Question, can cloud rune redirect AOE damage? Like if someone used fireball on me and an enemy could i redirect the damage i would take onto that enemy and double the damage it takes?
That could be a solid setup as well. RK just offers so much to build around. I love how flexible it can be with the skill bonuses you get for the runes.
Maxed Goliath Rune Knight + Party member capable of casting Enlarge/Reduce on them after they go Huge = a Gargantuan capable of grappling Colossal creatures. Thank you, have fun headlocking God 😂
So, I would personally dump intelligence to bring wisdom to a 12, then instead of the crusher feat I boost my strength and dexterity to get 18 strength and 12 dexterity for the saving throw bonuses.
@@RollingWithAdvantage I imagine and ultimately a lot of DMs tend to stray away from super deadly saving throws especially at early levels. Not many DMs will throw something with suggestion at the party very often.
Would you say the Giant's Might ability also gives the bonus to ranged attacks? RAW - it doesn't say melee attacks. I'm planning a ranged Fairy RK with a bow. Use the Fire stone to restrain and then use the foe as a pin cushion with all that advantage. As a fairy I'll be like 2 feet tall with dreams of becoming the size on a giant or as close as possible.
I would say if the attack is strength based it would work. Throwing a javelin is a str attack. However, an argument could be made for a box because if you ever shot an English long bow you need to be pretty strong to pull it back. It’s a DMs call I guess. I generally rule in favor of the player.
Goliath is great if you are looking for some great RP + flat str ASI. Human is also great for RP, plus you can do some great combo's with your feats, eg. Crusher + Greatsword Master!
Hey, if I use this Giant Form, and my fellow mage, or even I, uses Enlarge on myself, do I get even bigger? It will be sick to swing the Hammer with all that size. Imagine a Huge Sized Goliath playing golf with some bandits on the Open-Field...
We had some fun with the cloud rune last game: Our party had to resque some NPC from a hill giant. We really wanted to kill this thing as quickly as possible, so our aasimar Rune knight (in character) yells: "Druid! Let the stars fall upon me and him both!" And I figured correctly that he meant: "twinspell guiding bolt and hit my PC and the giant." I go, "Ok" as our DM is stuttering: "what are you guys doing?" one bolt hits the giant, and the other hits our rune knight who uses his cloud rune reaction to bounce the attack to the hill giant!
That's hilarious!
This is brilliant
How much damage did he do ?
@@garthodowd6846 It's like two years ago, I think around 30 dam or something. I rolled several ones for the second guiding bolt. It could have been a lot more. It was the look on our DM's face that made it memorable really.
I know i am 3 years late to the party, but i am playing a rune knight and the experience of the first cloud rune to direct damage is awesome.
We ended up roll playing the cloud rune as it confuses the attacker and makes them hit the one next to him, but it was awesome.
My buddy to this day says the RK was the best class he ever played.
I created a goliath rune knight folk hero as well! It seemed like a natural fit. I love the way goliath synergizes with rune knight on a spiritual and mechanical level.
I would not dip barbarian with rune knight. Hill giant rune is right around the corner at level 7, and delaying your 3rd attack at 11th doesn’t seem wise.
The double proficiency bonus to tools you receive from the fire rune works for land vehicles, and if you also have animal handling you could be Rolling With Advantage. I also took masonry tools to give my goliath advantage on perception checks to notice secret doors.
I took the lucky feat at 4th level and swing my greatsword with my eyes closed. I roll with disadvantage, then I feel lucky. I turn disadvantage into super advantage. 15% chance to crit, but I can do it 3 times, so almost a 50% chance of critting on my first 3 attacks.
Edit: the first time I used this the DM made me roll super disadvantage, so I got to pick the best out of 4 d20.
Decided to pick a Goliath Rune Knight Folk Hero. I then saw this video and confirmed I made the right choice.
RK is currently my favorite class in 5e, and goliath is just a perfect fit for it.
Same here! Exact build too lol. Polearm master and then great weapons master feats. Cloud and Fire runes so far
I’ve always pictured the cloud rune as an illusionary mirror esc thing- like shimmering air that appears in front of you and that’s how things hit other things.
I can see that.
This is exactly my character. Great weapon master, slasher feat (for the same reason) and goliath. I’m an almost incurable multiclasser, but I’m loving my rune knight fighter. I do excellent damage, I can take a beating, and I can protect my group. An ally just got critted? Nope. Cloud rune. I’m having a blast.
RK has become my absolute favorite class in 5e.
Bastard combo(polearm master & Sentinel) as a huge Rune Knight is the most fun I've ever had in D&D
Nice!!
Cloud Rune:
Just before your friend faces the cold embrace of the maradeurs blade you take up your stone talisman, the ancient runes carved into them start glowing golden and yellow.
At the moment the blade touches the bare skin of your friends body, a multitude of luminicent runes appear exactly at the spot on your allies chest where the deadly weapon would have pierced him. With an energetic cling the ill intended weapon strikes your ancestral magic and bounces off of the giant's language you wrought into existence all those years ago.
As dark red burning runes appear on one of your other foes, they
scream loudly as the runes grind on their skin and let them feel the searing pain of the redirected blow.
Probably my favorite ability in D&D right now. It can just be so clutch in the right moment.
With a hit a flash of light happens, then then the wound appears on the other guy.
Also want to throw out, I tend to think that Rune Knight might be the one fighter that doesn't need barbarian. Level 7 Hill Rune gives you the resistances as a bonus action. Even though it's only once per short rest, that will still get you through a large percentage of big fights. You lose rage damage sure, but that's only 2 per hit. Rather be spending those levels getting more Runes/ASIs/or 3rd attack. Or a class that gives some spell casting as you have great con saves so if you can find a decent spell you can cast before combat, you will increase your effectiveness greatly.
I have been playing Runeknight Goliath as well.
Great Weapon Fighting, Greatsword.
At level 3 I went with Cloud and Fire rune, we rolled stats and I got 15 STR, 16 INT, 18 CON, because of character reasons. Nothing like spending your reaction to deny the boss's crit and killing one of their underlings.
For the feat at 4th I got Heavy Armor Master, to increase my damage reduction from Stone's Endurance, and to help me survive a few extra rounds. And trust me, when you have a dozen kobolds or an 8 headed hydra attacking you, you really appreciate having 3 damage taken off from each hit.
At 5th level I learnt the beauty of comboing Fire Rune with Action surge. Nothing like using Fire Rune on the first hit and having advantage on the remaining 3.
At 6th level I maxed out my CON, making my chains even harder to break.
Now at 7th level I sit comfortably at 94 HP, Hill Rune basically turning my 3 point damage reduction to 6, and using the Rune Shield to deny enemy crits and rerolling my Nat 1s (yes, you can do that).
Can't wait till I get Storm Rune in order to give people disadvantage on saving throws against my chain, AoE attacks, or advantage if it is me or one of my friends.
My DM absolutely hates me XD
Sounds awesome, although I think RAW Runic Sheild wouldn't allow you to target yourself for nat 1s since its "When another creature...", but if your DM allows it, more power to the almighty mountain man😂
my personal interpretation of the cloud rune is that you magically redirect the kinetic energy elsewhere, so it like comes out the opposite side of your body of where you take the hit and appears as a cloud leaving behind a trail before slamming into the target with the preserved energy of the attack.
Really want to do a Fairy Rune Knight. Just going from tinkerbell to a 15 feet tall literal 'Huge' creature in 6 seconds is just too damn funny 🤣. And you could reasonably do a "Dex" build and be nearly as tanky while still being able to fly.
Two things:
-Love the rune knight. Im playing it right now too. Sword and shield.
-Your friend can changes runes in a long rest, so he can prepare for fights, or social encounters. He doesnt have to wait for a lvl up.
Great point about changing out runes.
you have a set amount of runes. 2 at lvl3, 3 at lvl7 etc. You can change those at lvl up. If you have more runes, than equipment pieces, I guess you change them after a long rest.
I think that one way to describe the cloud rune effect is that clouds swirl around the characters and they look like they temporarily switch places
Love it!
Currently playing a Firbolg that was raised by Goliath. He started at lvl1 as a barbarian but I took a level of fighter at lvl2. Plan to take them thru Rune Knight and even built it into their backstory. Thanks for confirming that it will be as fun to play as I had hoped.
Just got to Lvl 3 with my Mountain Dwarf RK in our new campaign - also with a Maul in Hand. So I just got the Runes for a session and did not have a chance to really use them yet.
Thinking about switching it up for TWF at Lvl 4 because I just found a toned down Dwarven Thrower which needs to have its powers activated again. So nice Sidequest for my PC and a cool future weapon.
First time playing a Martial PC and it’s glorious so far.
My friend plays a Aasimar RK. In game he's not truly an aasimar, but a decendant of a line of humans who interbread with chaotic elemental demons or something. He will assume a "destructor form" and become this giant winged abomination, by activating radiant soul and giant's might in the same turn. It might not be the best race/class combo, but it looks cool.
Aasimars are very fun to play.
I don't know about that. Assimar are monsters. Flight at low levels plus neurotic (a common damage type) resistance and the ability to heal themselves, they are a good tank race. Have fun.
For me as a player, II'd flavour the cloud rune redirect as for a split second the attacker is wreathed in wispy clouds, appearing in ghostly form to strike the redirect before the ghostly form and the clouds fade. Tricky cloud giant magic.
I'm playing a 10th lvl 2-shot and god dammit I made the EXACT SAME BUILD stat for stat, feat for feat at this point. After 8th I took 2 lvls of artificer to fulfill the smithing aspect cause why not? Looking forward to it and its a bit reassuring to know this has been well received already.
This character was a beast in that campaign.
I was thinking about making a Dragonborn Rune Knight to be Godzilla (or Lizard folk for Zilla)
Do it!
@@RollingWithAdvantage honestly, you could make dozens of Kaiju inspired builds with rune knight simply by changing the species, warforge for mecha, Hadooze for Kong, Tortle for Gamera, Aarakokra for Rodan, Fairy for Mothra (especially since they get enlarge/reduce for free at level 5), Symic Hybrid for Destroyah and the Kaiju from Pacific Rim, plasmoid for Hedorah, throw a dart at the list of player species list, and that gives you a new kaiju build.
I had a sixth level goliath bear totem barbarian with the brawny feat which meant he was counted as gargantuan. Once I got my hands on the great weapon master and tavern brawler I started using my great axe in one hand because he was that swole. BTW the DM used a home brew system for ability scores which gave us ability score improvements every three levels instead of four, and everyone started the game with an extra feat so it was possible for me to get three feats by level 6.
Hilarious!
There is a race specific Feat from DM Binder, it is called Dawncaller. (also a subclass depending on source material). Our DM let us take one race specific feat at the start of our campaign. It helps prevent everyone from being a variant human or some custom stuff where you get a feat. It works out nicely. I took the Dawncaller Feat.
Feat:
You learn the sacred ways of the dawncallers-the goliaths responsible for watching over their kin throughout the night and awakening them at dawn. You gain the following benefits:
-You have darkvision out to a range of 60 feet. You can see in dim light within this range as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.
-As an action, you can speak a command word to awaken any number of sleeping creatures you choose within 30 feet of you who can hear you. Each awakened creature can immediately stand up without expending any movement.
-During a long rest, you only need to sleep for 4 hours; you can perform light activity (e.g. reading, talking, eating, or standing watch) for the remaining 4 hours.
During that remaining 4 hour rest time my Goliath reads books on new languages. You also gain dark vision, which is helpful in freeing up those runes, especially if you are in a lot of dark places. The rest stuff has been really helpful at early levels when everyone is squishy. It has allowed us to take more rests. We are working on setting a trap where everyone is sleeping, and when this group of cultists comes into camp, we will be ready.
i was really looking for this video glad i found it
Thanks for watching!
Hill giant rune gives you bear totem resistance for same amount of time, barbarian multiclass is not as useful
When I imagined the cloud rune used. I like to remember Cloud Giants are tricksters. So i picture the weapon contacting its target, but instead of blood and gore, the weapon passes through them leaving behind a smoke trail. The new target of the weapon has the smoke appearing across their body with a new wound.
Going to play this and plan on taking the charger feat at 8. Go large, hit with hammer, move 5ft. Next round hit with hammer move another 5ft, back up 5ft, bonus action charge, with advantage on str possibly move another 10ft or get a +5 to damage. Additionally you can do this to huge size enemies (although a lot of them have 10ft reach attacks so might get an opportunity attack on you) but I love the idea of shoving a fire giant 15ft off a cliff. Also at 7th level you will get storm rune that can force disadvantage on checks. It all takes some set up but given the right fight can be really cool.
I like the idea a lot! Let me know how it plays out.
So, if you get the brawny feat on a build like this it means you can be counted as Gargantuan, so if you ever wanted to grapple a tarrasque you can go for it. I'd also argue that the tarrasque couldn't use legendary resistance against the grapple because your as big as it which is a hard feat to match.
Nice!
I have a character concept for a Goblin Rune Knight, following the Unarmed Fighting+Tavern Brawler+Skill Expert(Athletics) archetype. I really just want to play out a small race that gets Large and will tackle anything and everything they can. xD
It's one of the few "thought experiments" that I've evolved into a full character with considerations to how it would role play and what its general backstory is. Almost had a chance to play it recently, but there was some pre-existing lore in the game I was joining that would affect the way I would have to play them. Some day, though...
Volo's Guide to Monsters has an entire section dedicated to Giant culture - including tables for Personality Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws - that you can read for inspiration and weave it into your character if you want that Giant influence to be a big part of your character.
I've had a similar idea, with a Grung Rune Knight grappler who jumps on people's heads and poisons them before growing 2-4 full sizes😂
They believe all Giant lore simply refers to giant Grung and refuse to believe any actual Giants claim to the name "Giant"
yea ive had a lot of fun with my Goliath rune knight, i just hit lv10 and managed to roll nearly max on the size increase so im sitting at 8ft 9in and 335lbs at base, after some rulings and some number crunching, we found that my large form would be 17ft 6in and 3,015lbs, and eventually in my huge form id be 26ft 3in and a whopping 9,045lbs with a massive warblade (think a cross of a Klingon bat'leth and a greatsword which we stated as a reskinned glaive.) throw that on top of the sheer weight capability of the character at 2,400 lbs of pushing power makes my character a great Kiju fighter.
Amazing!
I wouldnt dip into barbarian you can get bludgeoning, piercing, slashing resistance at lvl7 with hill rune 1/short rest wich should be enough only 1lvl later.
Good call on that but if you wanted to you could take a level in barb and free up that rune slot for another. Honestly though RK is just solid and may could just not multiclass at all.
Yeah, but if you have rages to get that B/P/S resistance, you can take Storm Rune at Fighter 7(instead of Fighter 10) and screw around with rolls, giving one thing/round advantage or disadvantage.
@@voicetest6019 You can switch one rune every level. At lvl 7 you grab storm, change stone/fire for hill and keep cloud. Also, hill rune gives you poison resistance as passive.
Played a Rune Knight dragonborn in a one shot yesterday. 4 of us were level 12 each, and our DM thought it would be fun to have us fight an Ancient White Dragon (CR 20). Most of us had randomly generated our characters, so they weren't terribly optimized. I used giant might, our wizard cast enlarge on me, and I proceeded to use my +13 on athletics checks to grapple and shove this dragon into submission. Got 3 rounds of not having to worry about flight and forced disadvantage from the dragon, as well as a couple of wasted turns of it trying to break out. We ended up winning with only 1 casualty.
BTW if your looking for HP get the tough feat instead of constitution because it is more effective in that regard. I often don't increase my constitution past 16 because I would have more than enough HP after getting the tough feat unless I was playing something with a D6 hit die in which case I would focus more on not getting hit in the first place unless it was really weird like a hill dwarf wizard which could actually work really well now that I think about it with Tasha's.
Tough is a great fit it just didn't fit into this build.
@@RollingWithAdvantage didn't fit yet you mean he still has time to make that choice.
@@NobodyDungeons Con also determines DC for Fire/Stone rune.
Hey, Trevor!
You're the third one I've come across so far.
The few, the proud. :)
I made a fun build using Rune knight fighter and 5 levels of sorcerer. I took mostly buff spells with sorcerer including the spells enlarge/reduce and haste. I also took knock for laughs(punching a lock till it opens)
Nice fun build! I like the idea of bludgeoning spells with the crusher feat.
@@RollingWithAdvantage I played around a bit more with builds and if you go with bard college of swords, your push back abilities can become insane
The character I'm currently playing is by far my favourite of all time. They are Swashbuckler3/Rune Knight3. Honestly so much fun. Having expertise plus advantage in athletics and slight of hand, for instance. For me it's very much a grappler build. Unsure exactly where I'll go with it regarding feats but they're already so enjoyable to play, i don't really mind.
Im playing a minotaur Rune Knight and i roleplayed the cloud rune that my horn where i have it on emits like a tornado which absorbs the damage and then goes wide and releases the force upon another creature ;)
I like that a lot! Great idea!
In my campaign right now I'm playing a Goliath Barbarian/Fighter Wanderer. Going for Barb Zealot / Fighter Rune Knight. Should be insane when I'm throwing out Divine Fury and Fire Rune while I am Raging and Giant. 🤣
Love it!
So I am playing a zealot barbarian and am thinking about taking 4 levels into fighter and picking up rune knight. 1d12+1d6+str&rage slashing then 1d6+half barbarian level radiant damage with the 2nd turn. Then 2d6 fire rune against trolls because Woothracc Troll Slayer kills trolls. GWM for the +10 damage reckless attack, superior technique fighting style, and martial adept for 2 uses of 3 maneuvers. Minimum damage for first hit on 2nd turn is 24 due to rolled stats, would be different if it were point by.
I simply can't recommend Rune Knight enough. It's so good.
Just rolled up a rune knight 5/eloquence bard 3 Goliath myself. He’s a grappling machine!
Oh man that will be fun to run.
I agree, barbarian 1 level dip would be awesome. Could also take a 2 level dip into paladin for smite. And just use the few spells to power the smites. And 17 levels in rune Knight. That way you really dont miss out on anything.
It's how I would go.
Solid idea!
Rune knight all the way. Hill giant rune at 7. 4 attacks at 20. That being said, I’ll bet there is a solid paladin rune knight multiclass build out there.
Dang you didn't even talk about oversized weapons! That's the bread and bitter of this build. Either that or going full grappler
So what I planned for a Goliath Rune Knight is Fell-Handed, once combined with Storm Rune I'll be able to start a chain of attacks with an advantage from Storm Rune, knock the enemy prone with Fell-Handed and pummel them to dust with the rest of my attacks.
Issue with multiclassing into Barbarian is not being able to use heavy armor. If you wanted to do that you'd probably have toi invest more into dexterity during character creation. And honestly straight Rune Knight is already really good, that way you're not delaying extra attacks and the hill rune.
You can use heavy armor but you wouldn’t use unarmored defense. I agree though that there is no reason to multiclass.
You also don’t get any of the benefits of the rage while wearing heavy armor.
While raging, you gain the following benefits if you aren’t wearing heavy armor:
You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
When you make a melee weapon attack using Strength, you gain a bonus to the damage roll that increases as you gain levels as a barbarian, as shown in the Rage Damage column of the Barbarian table.
You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
Good call
Planning on running a rune knight if i get the chance to, and while i plan on going earth genasi as opposed to goliath i can still use this as a sort of guideline while i get used to the class
Earth Genasi could be really fun!
Man just found this video.
I made a character I am itching to play with and the build is basically the same, the difference is that he is a Minotaur smith (rune knight's proficiency with the tools really fits the character too).
The thing is, I don't see him wearing armor, at least not heavy armor (maybe a pauldron or something), so Im looking for something that could replace the need for armor. Thought about Barbarian dip, but rage doesn't fit him at all, and getting 1lvl behind just for the unarmored defense doesn't look like a good trade.
RK is just nuts good. It’s my favorite melee class currently.
I knew I couldn't be the only one to figure out how powerful this is.
I use this build but i replace the fighting style to Unarmed Fighting and taking feat Tavern Brawler.
So, i can grapple and shove in 1 turn even without extra attack.
On the next turn i hit the enemy and get the bonus grapple damage from Unarmed Fighting
Solid combo!
@@RollingWithAdvantage and i use the damage dice from giant's might to boost the grapple damage and reflavour it as a supplex, haha fun stuff
@@kurniawandwiseptian I love that!!
@@RollingWithAdvantage or negate all that by going simic hybrid with the extra grappling appendages. Might not even need goliath because AFAIK titan's might comes with powerful build no?
I have a player that wanted me to give him a prebuilt PC for a mid level one shot. I asked what he wanted, he said he wanted to be big. So, I made him a giant rune knight
And he proceeded to wreck my game.
Haha!! The RK is so good.
@@RollingWithAdvantage no, Rune Knighs are great.
I also play as a shifter RK bounty hunter. I used the cloud giant rune and another player asked "are you a Thundercat?"
... my subconscious 80's kid smiled harder than I did.
@@vernonhampton5863 amazing lol
@@vernonhampton5863 Leonin is actually an extremely good race for Rune Knight!
Hi! What do you recommend for 2nd feat of this build? This build is exactly what I was looking for - a greatsword slashing monstrous goliath.
Heavy armor master is a good pick.
One thing I like to do on my fighters is to get the magic initiate feat to use guidance, light, and bless spell from the cleric spell list. The reason is guidance is just useful, the light spell let me see if I have no dark vision, and the bless spell lets me improve my saving throws while also counteracting the effects of great weapon master once per day for a minute.
A solid option for sure.
@@RollingWithAdvantage Yeah, I have made one of my DMs turn into a human tomato because I tend to be a pretty smart player when it comes down to it which is funny since I play characters with 8 intelligence 9 times out of 10. Though my argument is that intelligence is knowledge, and what he is doing is using the information he has infront of him to be smart.
I can wait to get my character to level 7. I did one level into Genie Warlock(air) and will go the rest as Rune Knight Fighter. Im an elven archer with Ranged Fighting Style, so cant wait to get sharpshooter and elven arcuracy with the fire rune and use my hex spell with that, giants might, and genie's wrath.
I also just hit level 3 in Rune Knight so i imagine once a turn im shooting a small log at enemies. Trees once i get to end game, lol
Awesome stuff!
Tho thinking about it as a way to move damage around more, and protect party members. Fighting style Interscption could be viable option.
Would be worse if you could target yourself with it.
I think a sword/board version could be fun as well.
@@RollingWithAdvantage sword/board??
@@DracosDiabolis sword and shield version that is more defensive. (Sword/board)
@@RollingWithAdvantage I'm kinda picturing Juggernaut from Marvel comics now. unarmed fighting fight style with Traven brawler. Lol. Oh the ideas are swirling in my head. Lol
@@DracosDiabolis that’s definitely a build for the RK
Can anyone tell me if becoming a large or larger creature actually has any advantage? Or is mostly flavour along with the extra d6 with the class and taking up more space.
Isn't the enlarge spell exactly the same but with an addition d4 on every hit, making it a little better?
If your DM allows giant-scaling weapons then they are going to deal more damage (I think its 3x the base weapon) + you have more carrying space + you are basically immune to spells like swallow etc so yeah you are right!
Lifting and carrying capacity is, I think, doubled.
Yeah, I completely forgot about lifting things
Lifting being doubled is a feature most over look but can be quite handy.
My next character is going to be variant human crusher rune knight. Growing in size and smashing things seems like a ton of fun.
I just started a Loxodon Rune Knight. It also has powerful build, but it also Loxodon Serenity (adv against charmed and frightened), shoring up a major weakness for Fighters. Most importantly though, they can grapple with their trunks, shove the target prone, then use both hands to swing a two handed weapon with adv against their grapple target. I’m going Skill Expert at 4 for +1 Str and expertise in Athletics and Great Weapon Master at 6. I think it’ll be superior to Goliath.
Loxodon is a solid race for RK. Though I’ve seen a lot of DMs shy away from the MTG races which is why I don’t mention them too often. You are absolutely right about them though.
I am considering a 3 lvl DIP for a Taha's Beastmaster Ranger. We are playing at Innistrad and I think the options that this gives for that campaing would be amazing. But what do I do with the Gigant's influence, giving the plane has no reference of the Giants as other dnd planes can it be used?
This is exciting. I just rolled up a rune knight as a replacement character at lvl 5 and I came up with almost the exact same build. Only outlander background and dumped intelligence for a bonus to wisdom, and Insight instead of animal handling.
I didn't really even notice all the defensive stuff and how much this is a short rest character like a monk or warlock.
Can't wait to play it now.
I was the Goliath Rune Knight Trevor is talking about in the video!
It truly was such a blast to play and so powerful as well. I hope you dig it as much as I did with Vimak!
It’s insanely good!
I’m playing a Goliath Rune Knight in my campaign, and in this setting he was a Nordic Viking who learned his runes from Baldur. The way he plays is simple; he uses no weapons. He uses the unarmed fighting style, and my DM has ruled that Cestus’ and Gauntlets do not count as weapons, and have been adding extra damage to his punches. With the Cloud Rune and Frost Rune equipped when he is adventuring, his turns mainly consist of growing, grappling, and punching people with the damage of a greatsword, all while being nearly impossible to kill; the only time he’s been downed in the campaign was when the DM crit twice in a row with a Bulette. Even in scenarios where other characters are getting downed multiple times a turn, this fucking monstrosity just stands there, ways the damage, and the proceeds to kill multiple people per turn.
so when rolling your attacks, do you just use the die for unarmed strike plus the die for the cestus?
Those stats are harsh. Was surprised he went to Fighter 9. Rune Knight is a lot of fun though. I like that it is pretty flexible to work with different styles of melee play.
Still my favorite fighter.
Question, can cloud rune redirect AOE damage? Like if someone used fireball on me and an enemy could i redirect the damage i would take onto that enemy and double the damage it takes?
Gonna be playing a fairy rune knight soon.
Can’t wait! should be hilarious
Awesome stuff!!
Rune knight fighter and artificer have me so excited with tashas
That could be a solid setup as well. RK just offers so much to build around. I love how flexible it can be with the skill bonuses you get for the runes.
Giant smite + Enlarge spell
Maxed Goliath Rune Knight + Party member capable of casting Enlarge/Reduce on them after they go Huge = a Gargantuan capable of grappling Colossal creatures. Thank you, have fun headlocking God 😂
So, I would personally dump intelligence to bring wisdom to a 12, then instead of the crusher feat I boost my strength and dexterity to get 18 strength and 12 dexterity for the saving throw bonuses.
He was going to do this but he decided he wanted to try out crusher. It's been pretty good so far as it gives him some control on the battlefield.
@@RollingWithAdvantage I imagine and ultimately a lot of DMs tend to stray away from super deadly saving throws especially at early levels. Not many DMs will throw something with suggestion at the party very often.
Poor B'stard Level 5 and no magic weapon Lol.
I'm about to play a goblin rune knight who uses the ability to wield 2h/heavy weapons
Love it!
I am try to join the discord but having some troubles
discord.gg/5UD44E9P
Can you send me a invite on discord so I can join @GENRAMBO
@@jaywilson5929 discord.gg/kSeaYTmT
Would you say the Giant's Might ability also gives the bonus to ranged attacks? RAW - it doesn't say melee attacks.
I'm planning a ranged Fairy RK with a bow. Use the Fire stone to restrain and then use the foe as a pin cushion with all that advantage. As a fairy I'll be like 2 feet tall with dreams of becoming the size on a giant or as close as possible.
I would say if the attack is strength based it would work. Throwing a javelin is a str attack.
However, an argument could be made for a box because if you ever shot an English long bow you need to be pretty strong to pull it back. It’s a DMs call I guess. I generally rule in favor of the player.
I played a minotaur rune knight with unarmed fighting in a one shot.
I love the idea of a minotaur RK!
@@RollingWithAdvantage How about a psi-warrior minotaur? One way or the other you are using your head to hurt the monsters.
You wont be able to used the Fire Rune unarmed as it states after you hit a creature with a weapon . Thats the only one that states it that way tho
I like to play rune knight as a variant human so I can take that early feat
always a solid choice
Goliath is great if you are looking for some great RP + flat str ASI. Human is also great for RP, plus you can do some great combo's with your feats, eg. Crusher + Greatsword Master!
Hey, if I use this Giant Form, and my fellow mage, or even I, uses Enlarge on myself, do I get even bigger? It will be sick to swing the Hammer with all that size.
Imagine a Huge Sized Goliath playing golf with some bandits on the Open-Field...
Yes you can get very big with that combo.
@@RollingWithAdvantage that's really good. Any tips on which Wizard Subclass would be good for it?
I’d probably go celestial sorcerer. The favor of the gods ability is very good. You also get metamagic options.
Sure a goliath rune knight is cool but what about a... fairy rune knight?
I’m very interested to see the fairy in action.
To be honest, all i could think of when i saw this class was build a goliath grappler😂
Oh yea!!
Imagine if he threw something at someone
Fastball Special?