---
title: "Living Rune (Primal)"
obsidianUIMode: preview
noteType: pf2eMonster
cssClasses: pf2e
aliases: "Actor.xwnPTMcoIg6MomGF" 
tags:
  - pf2e/creature/type/construct
  - pf2e/creature/type/lawful
  - pf2eMonster
  - pf2e/creature/level/13
statblock: inline
name: "Living Rune (Primal)"
level: 13
license: OGL
---

```statblock
columns: 2
forcecolumns: true
layout: Basic Pathfinder 2e Layout
source: "Pathfinder Bestiary 3"
name: "Living Rune (Primal)"
level: "Creature 13"
rare_03: [[Rare]]
alignment: ""
size: "Small"
trait_01: [[construct]]
trait_02: [[lawful]]
modifier: 25
perception:
  - name: "Perception"
    desc: "+25; Darkvision, Truesight"
languages: "truescript"
skills:
  - name: "Skills"
    desc: "Deception: +24, Nature: +0, Stealth: +25"
abilityMods: [1, 6, 1, 8, 8, 5]
speed: 25 feet
sourcebook: "_Pathfinder Bestiary 3_"
ac: 34
armorclass:
  - name: AC
    desc: "34; __Fort__ +20, __Ref__ +23, __Will__ +27"
hp: 245
health:
  - name: ""
  - name: HP
    desc: "245; __Immunities__  bleed,  death effects,  disease,  doomed,  drained,  fatigued,  healing,  nonlethal attacks,  paralyzed,  poison,  sickened,  spirit,  unconscious,  vitality,  void"
abilities_top:
  - name: ""

  - name: "Truescript"
    desc: "  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."

  - name: "[[Bestiary Ability Glossary/Constant Spells|Constant Spells]]"
    desc: "  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."

abilities_mid:
  - name: ""
  - name: "Backdrop"
    desc: "  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."

  - name: "Surface-Bound"
    desc: "  A living rune can move only along flat surfaces. If the surface it's on is destroyed (such as a portrait hit by a [[Spells/Fireball|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."

attacks:
  - name: ""

  - name: "**Ranged** `pf2:1` Electrical Blast"
    desc: "+25 (electricity, range increment 60 feet)\n__Damage__  4d12 electricity"

  - name: "Primal Innate Spells"
    desc: "DC 35, attack +27; __7th __  _[[Spells/Volcanic Eruption|Volcanic Eruption (x2)]]_; __6th __  _[[Spells/Cursed Metamorphosis|Baleful Polymorph]]_, _[[Spells/Petrify|Flesh to Stone]]_, _[[Spells/Rune Trap|Glyph of Warding (At Will)]]_, _[[Spells/Tangling Creepers|Tangling Creepers]]_; __5th __  _[[Spells/Cone of Cold|Cone of Cold (x2)]]_, _[[Spells/Wall of Fire|Wall of Fire (x2)]]_; __1st __  _[[Spells/Detect Alignment|Detect Alignment (At Will)]]_\n__Constant__  __(6th)__ _[[Spells/Truesight|True Seeing]]_"
 
```

```encounter-table
name: Living Rune (Primal)
creatures:
  - 1: Living Rune (Primal)
```



The 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.

Primal living runes usually resemble animate carvings rather than lines of power or paint, and are often found on menhirs or sacred trees.

* * *

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.
