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What a rune spends

Every rune pays for its magic somehow. Some burn their whole pattern in one go. Others stand in the world and keep working. A few charge you an item, fuel, or a store of blocks as they work.

Runes that burn away​

Most runes are spent when they wake. Their magic goes somewhere lasting, into a tool, a chest, you, or the land, and the pattern pays for it.

When a spent rune wakes, these blocks vanish:

  • Every Tier block.
  • Every block in a cell marked any block except the Tier block.
  • Key blocks, apart from the ones the rune keeps. A Domain keeps its beacon, gold, and diamond; Genesis keeps its dragon egg.
  • Signature blocks, for runes that spend their signature, such as the Personal Teleport.

These always stay:

  • Empty cells and optional cells, along with the ground under the pattern.
  • Bedrock, wherever it sits in the pattern.
  • An optional key cell you left empty.

Spent blocks vanish outright. They drop nothing.

Rune diagrams mark every spent cell with a corner mark, and the info box sums it up under Spent on use.

If something goes wrong​

When a spent rune fails partway, after its blocks are gone but before its magic takes hold, Runic puts the pattern back and tells you: the rune was restored. Nothing is lost to an error.

Runes that stay​

Some runes keep working for as long as their pattern stands, such as Waypoints, wards, a Hearth, a Domain, or a Weather Sensor. The info box says Reusable; the pattern stays under Uses.

A standing rune often changes a block or two when it wakes. A Teleporter turns its signature to stone, and a ward turns the air around its emerald into glass. The rest of the pattern is the rune's body. Break it, and the magic ends.

Many standing runes remember who raised them. See Ownership.

Other costs​

Runes can ask for more than their own blocks:

  • A held item. Absolution takes a player's head, an Athenaeum a plain book.
  • Fuel. Fields such as the Flight Field burn items from their seats or from nearby stores, lasting longer on higher-Tier fuel.
  • Charges. Item magic and designators spend a charge each time they work. See Charges and bound items.
  • Stores. Building runes like the Reality Master draw blocks from chests and from your inventory.

Each rune page lists what its rune needs under Materials in the info box, and the rune's notes cover anything extra.

Ending magic on purpose​

  • Break the pattern to end a standing rune.
  • Lower a ward by right-clicking its emerald, if you raised it. See Wards.
  • Cast Dispel. At Tier 1 it strips the magic from your held item. At Tier 2 it also clears the magic on you. At Tier 3 and above it also clears the magic bound to blocks in the world around you, reaching farther at each Tier.