Editing Runepriest (section)

==4e==
The Runepriest was introduced in PHB3 and are classed as a Divine Leader, which meant that they had to go head-to-head with [[Cleric]]s in regards to usefulness in their role. While Clerics were pretty much stuck to either going for combat or going for support, the Runepriest tried to make use as both through the use of Runes; whenever a Runic-keyword power is used, you pick between Protection or Destruction, add in whatever effects that adds to the power, and then enter that rune's state (or others depending on which [[Paragon Path]] or items you pick up). Of course, they can also do medic stuff with the Rune of Mending power with extra perks based on runes. The one diverging point is the Runic Artistry class:
* '''Defiant Word''' takes advantage of a careless enemy by adding Wis to your next attack's damage if they miss you. This is a bit of a trap option considering that without extra proficiencies, you'll only have simple weapons to hit people with.
* '''Serene Blade''' gives proficiency with military heavy blades while also allowing you to use your Wis to determine AC. You also gain THP every time you're hit, scaling from Wis to Wis+5 to Wis+10 depending on which tier you're in.
* '''Wrathful Hammer''' gives proficiency with mauls and military hammers. You also gain Con to damage against the an enemy that hit you.

Compared to a Cleric, it is a bit tricky to nail down, but it does give some useful switch-hitting while also being a reliable frontliner all the time.

The Runepriest suffered a lot from coming out in the [[Player's Handbook]] 3, which was after [[Divine Power]] but right before Divine Power 2 was cancelled in favor of Essentials crap. This meant that it initially began with only two Runic Artistry options; Defiant Word and Wrathful Hammer. In issue #404 of [[Dragon Magazine]], which was an [[Oriental Adventures]] issue centered on [[Kara-tur]], the article "Shan Zi of Kara-Tur" discussed a cultural tradition of the Runepriest, which resulted in the addition of a handful of new runepriest prayers, the Enlightened Word [[Paragon Path]], and a third Runic Artistry option in the form of the Serene Blade tradition.

The only other article that Runepriests benefited from was Dragon #398's [[Unearthed Arcana]]: Ignorance is Blessed, which provides the variant class feature "Rune of Elemental Warding". This replaces Rune of Mending, and lets you give yourself and an ally [[Energy Resistance]] to Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning or Thunder. If you use it in Rune of Protection mode, you can add a second buddy to the protected list. If you use it in Rune of Destruction mode, you instead can both do bonus elemental damage of that resisted type until the end of your next turn.

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