Skill: Cabbalism

In the Nolaria Campaign, Cabbalism holds a special place because it is the written form of a magic spell. Cabbalism is the basis of all magic items and artifacts. They can be used to strengthen a device, trigger a trap, hold a one-use spell, etc. Cabbalism is sometimes required to perform Artificing and greatly helps with Alchemy.

Cabbalism often requires little in the way of tools, usually a writing kit or engraving tools. There are some runes that require special tools, too.

Most runes are described in the Rune Tamalk (usually five volumes). The basic Tamalk covers runes of levels 1 to 4. Advanced runes are described separately. These descriptions are insufficient to automatically write them. Cabbalistic ability (level) matters. Runes are grouped into levels of difficulty. As the cabbalist advances, it gets easier to write simple runes. The following are the difficulty checks (DC) needed to write a rune of a given level:

DEX bonus applies to DC checks.

If a starting player takes the Acolyte background, the character will have some exposure to cabbalism: L1, Apprentice. They will have a book with runes they know, and simple writing kit. If the character has immediate access to the Rune Tamalk (either basic or complete), a rune book is not necessary. If a rune book is lost, it may be re-created by purchasing a blank book and copying known runes out of the Tamalk books.

Many rune patterns require drawing or inscribing more than one rune and require both containment and trigger points.