Source-checkedGameplay & overhauls

Rune Magic

by hyleanlegend · for Valheim

Hold back the rain, command the earth, and calm the seas! This mod adds powerful magic runes that can be cast or engraved on standing stones for a variety of unique non-combat effects.

226KDownloads
50d agoLast updated
BepInExLoaders
ThunderstoreSource

About Rune Magic

From Thunderstore

Hold back the rain, command the earth, and calm the seas! This mod adds powerful magic runes that can be cast or engraved on standing stones for a variety of unique non-combat effects.

Four magical effects side-by-side: a golden glowing magic circle, a distant spherical forcefield in a storm, a man standing on a conjured ice floe in a bay, and an expanding ring of white light converting barren soil to grass.

Rune Magic

Rune Magic adds a variety of unique non-combat spells and effects, balanced around collecting runic energy from the Runestones scattered across the map. It also includes an optional (but recommended!) rune discovery mechanic to align with standard game progression.

Features

  • 25 different runes to cast or engrave on standing stones
  • Subtle and powerful visual effects
  • Progression system that rewards exploration
  • Works seamlessly with pre-existing worlds
  • Usable out of the box, but configuration allows tweaking balance as desired
  • Server authoritative configuration, so players can't cheat by changing their local config
A man with glowing green eyes standing in a forest, surrounded by floating phantasmal animal heads

Getting Started

Crafting a Rune Focus

The rune focus is how you extract and shape runic energy, so the first thing you'll want to do is craft one. To do this, you'll need a workbench of level 2 or higher, along with a few stones and some rubies.

Extracting Runic Energy

Next, you'll need to find a Runestone out in the world. Put your rune focus in the top row of your inventory, then press the key associated with that slot to use the rune focus on the Runestone and extract its energy. The amount of runic energy stored in your focus is indicated by its durability.

Unlocking Runes

Each Runestone has a particular rune associated with it, which you can unlock by extracting runic energy from it. However, which runes a Runestone has the potential to unlock depends on its biome. As you progress to more dangerous areas, you'll be able to unlock more useful and interesting effects.

Using Runes

  • The rune focus behaves similarly to the hammer, with a table of possible effects and a single one you can select at any given time. With it equipped, right click to see all of the runes you currently have unlocked.
  • Runes in the Casting/Creation tabs are instantanous effects. Click on a valid location (the ground or breakable rock, depending on the rune), and the effect will happen. Some of these can also be resized, by scrolling the mouse wheel. The cost to cast is shown at the bottom of the screen, where the required resources would normally display.
  • Runes in the Augments tab are passive effects. So long as you have one of them selected, and the rune focus equipped, its effect will be active. Rather than a one-time cost, these will continuously drain runic energy while active.
  • Runes in the Engraving tab are persistent effects. They can be placed on certain rock formations (waystones and menhirs) or on the constructible standing stone (found in the Misc tab of the hammer's build menu). They have a one-time cost to place, and can be removed (middle click with the rune focus) to refund their cost. Note that if the structure they're placed on is destroyed, they'll disappear without refunding their cost.

Detailed Rune Descriptions

Spoiler

Casting/Creation (instant effects)

  • Restoration Rune: This will revert any changes to the terrain in the affected area, leaving it in its original state. This includes elevation changes (e.g. from mining) and cultivation/paving. It won't move anything placed on the terrain, so be careful if you raised the ground and then built on it.
  • Foundation Rune: This will flatten the terrain in the affected area. The final height is the ground height at the point clicked (by default), but this can be changed to use the ground height under the player using the mod config.
  • Shattering Rune: This allows players to precisely break pieces of stone. Mouse over breakable stone, and it'll highlight which chunk will be broken on-click.
  • Blasting Rune: When placed, this will destroy stone in a small radius after a short delay, also dealing a small amount of damage to anyone standing too close. It can only be placed on breakable stone.
  • Rune of the Stonecaller (various): These summon rock formations from the ground, varying from small boulders to the towering stone pillars of the plains. Be careful before casting these, since once summoned the boulders are ordinary stone and will have to be mined away the old fashioned way if you want to remove them.

Augments (passive effects)

  • Rune of Alertness: While selected (and the rune focus is equipped), you'll be able to detect nearby enemies and their direction/distance, indicated by the size/angle of the phantom heads floating around you. Any alerted enemies will have a glowing yellow indicator above their heads, which turns orange if they aggro another player, and red if they're aggroed on you.
  • Rune of Ocean Currents: While selected and controlling a ship, this will apply a small force in the direction you're looking. Wind is still the major factor in boat speed, but this makes maneuvering in tight spaces much easier.
  • Rune of Frozen Footfalls: While selected and standing near water, icebergs will form beneath your feet, allowing you to walk on the surface of the water. This only costs runic energy if you're actually close enough to water to cause the icebergs to form.
  • Rune of Decumberance: While selected (and the rune focus is equipped), this prevents you from being encumbered. However, the cost to maintain the effect scales with the amount you're carrying above your normal maximum.

Engraving (persistent effects)

Read the full description on Thunderstore →

Highlights

From source data

Loaders

Runs on BepInEx.

Footprint

Rated a light load on a server.

Last update

Its author last shipped an update 50d ago.

Rune Magic on Nxeon

From our catalogue
One-click install
Supported on Nxeon Valheim servers, for BepInEx servers. We download it from Thunderstore, place it, and restart the server.
Server side
Optional on the server
Server type needed
BepInEx
Server load
light
Smallest plan we suggest
Valheim — 4 GB (4 GB RAM). This follows our own load rating above, not a benchmark.
Latest build
1.5.1, released 2026-09-15

Game versions by loader

LoaderGame versionsNewest
BepInEx

From 25 recorded builds of Rune Magic.

Recent builds

BuildReleasedGame versionsLoaders
1.5.12026-09-15n/aBepInEx
1.5.02026-09-12n/aBepInEx
1.4.02026-05-04n/aBepInEx
1.3.22025-10-06n/aBepInEx
1.3.12025-04-16n/aBepInEx
1.3.02025-03-15n/aBepInEx

Run Rune Magic on a Valheim server

Pick a server or deploy a new one above; it is installed in one click.

What kind of mod it is

From the catalog
Listed on Thunderstore as “Content”

Gameplay & overhauls

New mechanics, content and overhauls that change how the game plays.

Works on a server

From source side support

Thunderstore lists server-side support for Rune Magic as optional: it can run on a server, but isn’t required there.

Compatibility

Game
Valheim
Loaders
BepInEx
Runs on
Serveroptional on the server
Requires
One-click install needs a BepInEx server.

Verified at the source

  • ✓ThunderstoreOfficial listing, checked 2026-10-01Open ↗
  • ✓Authorhyleanlegend, as published on Thunderstore
  • ✓LicenseNot published by the sourceFree

Rune Magic, answered

Generated from the mod’s own source data.

Do my players need to install Rune Magic?

Thunderstore lists server-side support for Rune Magic as optional: it can run on a server, but isn’t required there.

Which loaders does it support?

BepInEx.

Is it free?

Yes. Rune Magic is free to download from Thunderstore.

How do I add it to my Nxeon server?

Use “Add to a server” on this page, or open NxLabs from your dashboard. We install it, restart your server and switch it on.

NxLabs

Run Rune Magic on a Valheim server.

Deploy in about a minute from $9.99 a month, then add Rune Magic in one click.