Tiers

Every rune is drawn in a chosen material — its Tier blocks. … A stronger Tier deepens a rune's power, its reach, or its charges.

from A Primer on the Runic Arts

Every block and item in Minecraft has a Tier from 0 to 7. Tiers decide which blocks can carry a rune and how strong that rune becomes.

The Tier ladder

Tier	Examples
0	Stone, dirt, grass, sand, gravel, deepslate, andesite, granite, torches
1	Cobblestone, planks, sandstone, netherrack, clay, end stone, cobbled deepslate
2	Logs, stone bricks, bricks, glass, wool, copper blocks, bookshelves
3	Obsidian, quartz blocks, amethyst blocks, lodestones, redstone torches
4	Iron blocks, lapis blocks, redstone blocks
5	Gold blocks, emerald blocks, crying obsidian
6	Diamond blocks, ancient debris
7	Netherite blocks, beacons, dragon eggs

The ladder narrows as it climbs: hundreds of blocks sit at Tiers 1 and 2, and only a handful reach Tier 7. Block tiers lists them all, with a search box.

What the Tier does

A rune's Tier is the Tier of its Tier blocks, the T tiles in its diagram. Draw a Teleport Ward in cobblestone and it is a Tier 1 ward that covers 16 blocks around it; draw it in diamond blocks and it is a Tier 6 ward that covers 56.

A few runes have no Tier blocks at all. They are built from fixed blocks, and their strength comes from their keys or from fuel.

Higher Tiers make runes stronger. Depending on the rune, Tier can set:

• Reach. Ward radius, sensor range, the size of a Faith island.
• Charges. How many uses a tool blessing grants.
• Duration. How long a field or effect lasts.
• Capacity. How much a store holds, or how much a rune may move.

Each rune page has a Settings by Tier table under Configuration, showing exactly what changes from Tier 1 to Tier 7. Server owners can tune these numbers per rune.

Rules for Tier blocks

• Tier 1 or more. Tier 0 blocks are inert and cannot carry a rune. A few runes accept particular Tier 0 blocks as their Tier blocks, and their diagrams say so.
• One material. Every Tier block in a pattern must be the same block. A mix of cobblestone and mossy cobblestone keeps the rune asleep.
• Some runes cap the Tier. Initiation takes Tier 1 blocks only. Diagrams note any cap next to the Tier block in the legend.
• Lit blocks stay lit. When the Tier block is something that can be lit, like a redstone lamp, every copy must match.

Tier 0 as empty space

Tier 0 also means empty. Blank cells in a diagram accept air or any Tier 0 block, so you can draw a rune into stone or dirt as easily as on top of it. A signature arm holding a Tier 0 block counts as an empty arm. That is how a Teleporter remembers its destination: it turns its signature to stone, and stone reads as blank.

Tier keys

Some key cells read a Tier of their own. These are marked with a star in diagrams. Any block of Tier 1 or more fits, and its Tier usually sets a size, a range, or a direction's reach, separate from the rune's main Tier. Examples:

• Each key slot of a Domain sets how far the claim reaches in that direction.
• The chevrons of a Stargate take any Tier 1 or higher block, and their materials spell the gate's address.

Items have Tiers too

Items without a block form, like apples, arrows, or boats, have Tiers as well. They matter wherever a rune burns or weighs an item. Fields such as the Flight Field burn fuel for longer the higher its Tier, and a Pegasus flies farther on higher-Tier fuel.

Checking a Tier in game

• Oracle binds to an item; touch a block with it to learn its Tier.
• Staff can run /runic tier <block> or /runic tiers to list a Tier. See Commands.

Server owners can change any block's Tier in plugins/Runic/tiers-blocks.yml and any item's in plugins/Runic/tiers-items.yml.