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Rune Arms require the [[Rune Arm Legacy (3.5e Feat) | Rune Arm Legacy]] feat to craft or use. Otherwise they are, if heavy and ornate, gauntlets or spiked gauntlets, as described above.
Once it has at least one charge, it can be fired as a Standard action, or as an off-hand attack (Taking penalties for two-weapon fighting as normal; It counts as a Light weapon when used in this manner). Firing it is a ranged touch attack with a range increment of 60 feet, plus an additional 10 feet per Tier beyond Tier I. This is a Force effect, thus hitting incorporeal creatures normally. Damage reduction does not apply, but spell/power resistance does. The weapon deals one dice of damage per charge it contains, but the dice size is determined by its Tier, as follows: Tier I: d4. Tier II: d6. Tier III: d8. Tier IV: d10. Tier V: d12. Other versions of the Rune Arm exist that are not Force-based; These have their damage dice increased by one size (Tier V being 2d8 in this case) and require different spells to create (Such as ''Flame Blade, Scorching Ray'' or ''Fireball'' to create a Rune Arm that releases blasts of fire), but otherwise function much the same.
Once fired, the weapon must charge again before it can be fired again. However, the weapon can become unstable. If it is charged again within 1d4 rounds of being fired (or of being used for one of the spellcasting functions; See below), each round it is charged, the wielder must make a Will save (DC = 10 + The Rune Arm's Tier + the number of times during that encounter the character has had to make this save) or it deals damage equal to the damage it would currently deal if fired to all creatures in a 5-foot radius of the wielder, including the wielder, and everyone in that radius (except the wielder) gets a Reflex save (DC equal to the Save DC for the Will save) for half damage (Thus if a Tier III Rune Arm had 5 charges and the Wielder failed his Will save at the beginning of his turn when the Rune Arm gained its 6th charge, it would deal 6d8 Force damage in a 5-foot radius centered on the wielder).
If the wielder is a spellcaster and knows at least one metamagic feat, he can use the Rune Arm's energy to empower his spells. However, this ability can only affect spells of a spell level equal to or lower than the Rune Arm's Tier, so this can only affect up to 5th-level spells with a Tier V Rune Arm. Both of the following functions affect the casting time of the spell as if spontaneously applying metamagic to the spell, regardless of whether the spell is being cast spontaneously or not. If the spellcaster casts a spell that deals damage, he can expend the Rune Arm's current charge as part of the casting. In doing so, he can add the Rune Arm's damage to the spell in addition to the spell's normal damage. Second, if the spellcaster is attempting to apply metamagic to a spell he is casting spontaneously, he can expend the Rune Arm's charge as part of casting the spell, provided the Rune Arm contains at least two charges per spell level increase of the metamagic feat. In doing so, the spent charges reduce the spell level increase accordingly; If this negates the spell level increase, then the spell's casting time isn't increased by the application of the metamagic; And any additional charges Heighten the spell by one spell level for every two charges beyond the amount needed. Thus if a Sorcerer was casting an Empowered Acid Arrow with a fully-charged Tier V Rune Arm (10 charges), four of those charges would negate the spell level increase, and the other six would increase the spell's effective level to 5th, thus allowing it to pass through the Globe of Invulnerability protecting his enemy. The extra energy can be used to apply Heighten Spell in this manner, just like any other metamagic, but a spell can only be heightened to a maximum of 9th level.
In addition to the normal abilities, a Rune Arm can have weapon enhancements added to it as if it were a magic weapon, though some enchantments would not work (Like Defending, KeepKeen, Throwing or Vorpal). For the purposes of determining enchanting cost, the Rune Arm is treated as a weapon with an Enhancement Bonus equal to its Tier. However, the Rune Arm's total special enchantments cannot exceed its Tier (Thus a Tier I Rune Arm could only have a +1 equivalent enchantment added to it, but a Tier III could have any combination of enchantments that add up to +3). The enchantments added to the Rune Arm only affect the blast it produces, not the wielder's unarmed attacks.
The cost of enchanting the Rune Arm is added separately to the item's normal cost. A pair of [[Gish Gauntlets (3.5e Equipment) | Gish Gauntlets]] cannot be used to further enhance the Rune Arm's blast, though a Rune Arm can be made into a Gish Gauntlet in addition to its normal powers.