Attunement

The Attunement system is our solution for the Rune-keeper’s hybrid nature. Attunement is a spectrum, with nine steps of Healing (Nestad) Attunement on one side, and nine steps of Battle (Dagor) Attunement on the other. Over the course of a battle, the Rune-keeper will shift his position on this spectrum by the skills he uses. The closer he gets to one side, the less he is attuned with the other.

When a battle starts, a Rune-keeper will typically be in the Steady (Thalas) Attunement state. This is a position of readiness that allows a few minor healing or damaging skills to be used (though all utility skills are available). The grey rune in the middle of the Attunement meter that looks like a “b” is the first rune-letter of Thalas in Tengwar.

If a Rune-keeper uses skills that damage foes, Attunement will shift towards the Battle side of the scale. As that end of the scale is approached, new damaging skills will unlock and some damaging skills will deal additional damage, but healing skills will be blocked. Here, the symbol that looks like an “f” is the first rune-letter of Dagor in Cirth script (which all Battle-attuned skills use.)

Likewise, if a Rune-keeper starts using healing skills, then Attunement will shift towards the Healing side of the scale. As that end is approached, new healing skills will unlock and some healing skills will restore additional morale, but other damaging skills will be blocked. Lastly, the green symbol here that looks like an “m” is the first rune-letter of Nestad in Tengwar script (which all Healing attuned skills use.)

Looking over the skills a Rune-keeper has will help illustrate this. Here are some example skills:

Scribe’s Spark is a basic Rune-keeper Battle skill. It deals lightning damage to a target, and its damage increases by 4% for every step of Battle Attunement. Using it shifts Attunement one step towards Battle.

Prelude to Hope is a basic healing skill that shifts one step towards Healing. It receives a bonus to its healing amount based on Healing Attunement.

If a Rune-keeper alternates between these two skills, his Attunement will end up staying at the Steady midpoint. However, if Scribe’s Spark is used 9 times in a row, full Battle Attunement will be achieved. This will unlock a number of Battle-aligned skills, and increase the damage of Scribe’s Spark by a total of 36%!

Finally, there are various utility skills not associated with Healing or Battle. These skills are Steady skills that always pull Attunement toward the middle. Their advantage is that they have no Attunement prerequisites.

The system may be a little confusing to read about, but while in game the link between skills and Attunement is fairly easy to see. The net effect of this system is that the Rune-keeper can shift from damage to healing focus and back again during a fight, but it takes time. Don’t expect a quick spot-heal from a damage-dealing Rune-keeper!

Gameplay

So far, we’ve gone over the lore aspects of the class, the higher-level design, and the Attunement system. All that’s left to share is a bit about the Rune-keeper’s skill families and how they work.

First, the Damaging skill families. All skills here shift Attunement towards Battle, and some require a high Battle Attunement to be used.

Fury of the Storm – These lightning damage skills are mostly quick instants that can be used while moving. They have unpredictable effects, like the storms they are derived from.

Wrath of Flame – Fire damage-over-time is the style of this family. Most skills have longer casting times. Maintenance is required to keep the Flames burning hot, but very efficient damage can be generated.

Chill of Winter – These chilling skills deal frost damage in smaller amounts than the other two families. However, many skills hit multiple targets or debuff the Rune-keeper’s foes.

Next are the healing skills. There is only one skill family, but it is rather large. All the skills here require Healing Attunement.

Words of Grace – One of our goals for the Rune-keepers has been to make sure his healing skills work differently than the Minstrels. Rune-keeper healing is mostly done through heal-over-time (HOT) effects. Maintenance on a single target is rewarded with a number of different, smaller heals affecting the target at the same time. Group maintenance is also done through HOTs. This leads the Rune-keeper to be wonderful at maintaining high morale, but he cannot quickly react to new threats like the Minstrel can (though, he does have a few tricks to help him out).

Finally, there are the utility skills. All of the skills in these two families shift the Rune-keeper towards the Steady Attunement, which is the middle of the scale. This makes these skills interesting strategic choices, since access to higher Attunement skills can be temporarily removed by using them.

Visions and Foretellings - The small amount of prophecy the Rune-keeper is capable of lies here. His talents generally allow him to predict an event, and then see that it comes true. For instance, he can see that a foe will meet their end in flames. This will cause later fire attacks against that foe a chance to see that end come about!

The Middle Path – This family contains all the tricks of the Rune-keepers trade. Neither damaging nor healing, these skills help keep the Rune-keeper running smoothly. There are some tricks to escaping from enemies or temporarily disabling them. Other skills help keep enemies from getting upset with you in the first place.

And so:

I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse of what went into creating the Rune-keeper. Adding a new class into the mix we already have has been challenging and rewarding. I hope that everyone who tries the class out finds something they enjoy in it!