Living Rune (Occult)
CREATURE 13The most famous living runes are those of the ancient Runelords of Thassilon, resurging as Thassilon rebuilds in the modern era. Other living runes can be found, however, each with its own particular abilities. Living runes can also be crafted to deal different types of energy damage with their Strikes.
These runes are crafted by unknown hands and often left in out-of-the-way places.
Magic is a complex thing to begin with, and at a certain level of sophistication, the differences between a spell and an autonomous creature become increasingly blurry. Living symbols are constructed creatures of reified and reinforced magic, held together by glyphs, runes, and eldritch formulae.
A living rune can't speak, but it can sculpt its form into complicated scripts and pictographs that can be understood by any creature with the ability to read written language. A living rune can also understand any written or spoken language.
A constant spell affects the monster without the monster needing to cast it, and its duration is unlimited. If a constant spell gets counteracted, the monster can reactivate it by spending the normal spellcasting actions the spell requires.
When a creature attempts to Strike a living rune and critically misses, the attacker hits the surface (a canvas, wall, or so on) behind the living rune. This might damage the surface or the attacker's weapon, at the GM's discretion.
A living rune can move only along flat surfaces. If the surface it's on is destroyed (such as a portrait hit by a Fireball spell or a wall being smashed), the rune takes 7d6 damage and is shunted to the nearest flat surface. If there is no flat surface within 5 feet, the rune is destroyed.