Rune Arm

Rune Arm concept art

The Rune Arm (or Arm Cannon) is a kind of equipment implemented with Update 11 and the Artificer class. It goes into the secondary weapon/off hand slot and requires Artificer Rune Arm Use feat (Artificer level 2 class feat) to use. Since Update 60, any character can become proficient with Rune Arms if they invest into the Machrotechnic Epic Destiny.

Overview

Rune Arms are off-hand weapons that can be wielded with one-handed weapons and all crossbows. The Rune arm has unique magical properties:

• Rune Arm Imbue: Your main-hand weapon will deal additional damage.
• Rune Arm blast: Rune Arms can blast enemies with magical damage as a free action (not restricting the user's ability to cast or attack). The weapon uses Charges with five tiers, and these charges increase in damage the higher the tier (Rune Arms have a max tier level). Charges can be added standing still or while moving limited by the "Stable Charge Tier".
• Just like normal magic items, Rune Arms can have several magical enchantments. For some rune arms, these can be modified via the Cannith Crafting system.

Sources:

• Originally, named rune arms have only appeared in the end rewards of older quest chains.
• More recently, rune arms drop in the (end) chests as standard named loot.
• DDO Store has a couple of rune arms.
• Randomly generated rune arms do not exist.
• Some pawn vendors purchase some Rune Arms, such as the Armor/Shield vendor in Eveningstar. Depending on the binding, some Rune Arms can be sold via the auction house or shard exchange.

Interaction with other classes:

• Rune arms uncenter Monks
• Rune arms break Druidic Oath
• Rune arms can be used with Single Weapon Fighting. Bards can take the appropriate enhancement to make rune arms compatible with Swashbuckling.
• Rune arms are a unique type of off-hand weapon. They do not qualify for any bonuses that pertain to shields, orbs, or off-hand combat styles. Only specific benefits that state "while wielding a Rune Arm" or "Rune Arm DC" apply.

Crafting

The enchantments on some Rune Arms can be modified using Cannith Crafting. This applies to Rune Arms with the the Craftable Rune Arm enchantment - see Craftable Rune Arm for details.

All craftable rune arms can have one suffix and one prefix enchantment. Rune arms with minimum level 11 or higher also can have the extra slot added to them (aka Mark of House Cannith Slot).DDO Forums ^{ARCHIVE ME!} Rune arms have their own set of enchantments that can be applied to them (similar to but more restricted than trinkets).

Unlike the rest of Cannith Crafting, Minimum Level Shards are not required to be applied to the rune arm before adding enchantment shards. In fact, Minimum Level Shards cannot be applied to rune arms because the minimum level of the Rune Arm is set by the item itself, and crafting enchantments onto the rune arm will not change the minimum level. The listed "Minimum Level" can never be changed when crafting Rune Arms; this is working as intended.

Note:

• The minimum level shard seems to control the property of turning an item from BtC into BtA, and so rune arms which are BtC will remain BtC even after having CC effects applied, since minimum level shards cannot be applied to them (Any CC effects applied are instead set to the ML of the rune arm itself).
• Some rune arms list Absolute Minimum Level. This applies to legacy Cannith Crafting, it used to be possible to reduce the minimum level of rune arms by two using Bound Shard of Masterful Craftsmanship I. This is no longer possible, but old Rune Arms with reduced minimum level still exist and function.

How it works

• Can be worn together with one-handed weapons and crossbows (not bows) along with scrolls.
• Rune Arms will give bonus damage to the weapon in your main hand.
• Tapping the Alt button will start charging it up, tapping it again fires it. You can keymap a different button if you wish.
• For Rune Arms that fire multiple projectiles at higher tiers, hard targeting and soft targeting can be different. Multiple Runs Arms fire their projectiles in an arc when hard targeted versus a straight line when mouse-targeting. Due to projectile path finding issues it might be more effective to mouse-target.
• You can Toggle the Rune Arm Use feat on while on an action-bar to make it keep auto-charging.
• Damage will be affected by Artificer level and charge tier.
• Moving or blocking with a charge reduces the charge to its maximum stable tier.

Quote:
Originally Posted by (former developer) Eladrin Each rune arm has a maximum tier - Thought Spike, for instance, can only charge up to Tier 2. That information will be added to their tooltips shortly.

Quote:
Originally Posted by (former developer) Eladrin Yes. (Technically it's the other way around - Max Tier sets the Imbue power. ) Rune arms are non-ki items. Spinning, loud, distracting, magical vortex generators damage my calm. They can only be used with one handed items (as well as crossbows).

Quote:

Originally Posted by (former developer) Eladrin The caster's spell damage amplification effects and enhancements modify the rune arm's damage. Metamagics do not affect any of the rune arm spells at this time. They use your Artificer level as their caster level and your Intelligence modifier - it's more or less as if you were casting a spell through the relic. The spells count as having a level equal to their charge tier plus one.

• This doesn't seem to match the in-game DC, see this thread ^{ARCHIVE ME!}.

• Cosmetic Rune Arms do not exist; Rune Arms cannot be used with a Mirror of Glamering.

Increasing damage

• Items and enhancements that increase spell damage or create spell criticals also affect rune arm damage.
• Rune Arm shots scale with 100% Spell Power.
• Rune Arms don't benefit from items with a bonus to caster level on Evocation (Infused Chaosrobe, Might of the Abishai).
• Rune Arms don't benefit from Prestige Bonuses to caster level (Radiant Servant will not boost Candlelight/Coronach/Tira's Splendor, for instance).
• Rune Arms do benefit from the Spellsinger's Song of Arcane Might.
• The DC of Rune Arm blasts is: 10 + Current Charge Tier + INT modifier + Max Charge Tier + Evocation Feat Bonuses
  • This changes to highest of INT/CHA/WIS modifer with the Machrotechnic Rune Arm Use enhancement.
  • In addition, items with Rune Arm Focus enchantment increase the DC. Artifact bonus to Rune Arm DC is available on Renegade Champion and Conduit of the Titans set.
• Different Rune Arms can be resisted with different saves (Fortitude/Reflex/Will).

Rune Arm-related abilities outside of Artificer

Most rune arm-related abilities are concentrated in various Artificer enhancements. A few abilities exist elsewhere:

• Machrotechnic epic destiny grants the feat Rune Arm Use to all characters as a Tier 2 ability. Note that this is the only way non-Artificer characters can currently equip a Rune Arm.
• Swashbucklers gain +1 Imbue Dice while Swashbuckling with a Rune Arm in your off hand.
• Vile Chemist's extra damage and multiplier also apply when using a Rune Arm.

Named Rune Arms

They most commonly appear in the end-reward lists in chains or quests. They may also be found in named loot/wilderness encounter/raid chests.

Additional rune arms are available from the DDO Store. ML5 and ML13 variants exist, e.g. Ice Rune Arm or Greater Force Rune Arm. All are craftable. The following elements are available: Ice (Cold Bolts), Acid (Acid Shot), Fire (Fire Blast), Lightning (Electrical Blast), Radiant (Light Spirals), Force (Force Shot).

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Category for all the Rune Arms in the game.

NOTE: A craftable rune which has been Cannith Crafted cannot be simply disjuncted and re-crafted, unlike all weapons, armors, and accessories. You need to reset it first at Device Workstation and then disjunct it again.

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