Needle Darts Mischief?

[CuriousOwl]

I feel like this shouldn't be possible, but I'm having difficulty finding anything in the rules to say it can't work. It's likely a gray area that wasn't considered.

Could someone get a Striking Rune etched on a block of silver/cold iron/etc that was then used as the metal for the Needle Darts cantrip? Would the rune have an impact? Why or why not?

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Traditions arcane, divine, occult, primal
Range 60 feet; Targets 1 creature
Defense AC

You shape three needles out of a piece of metal in your possession and send them flying in a tight group toward one target. Make a spell attack roll against your target’s AC. The needles deal 3d4 piercing damage and might cause bleeding.

The needles impart any special properties of the metal that forms them; for instance, cold iron needles deal additional damage to creatures with weakness to cold iron. All the needles are made of the same metal, and the metal returns to you after the attack.

Critical Success The target takes double damage and 1 persistent bleed damage.
Success The target takes full damage.
Heightened (+1) You send one additional needle, increasing the regular damage by 1d4 and increasing the persistent bleed damage on a critical hit by 1.

[Blave]

Weapon runes affect Strikes made with that weapon. A spell attack is not a Strike.

[HammerJack]

This isn't a "where do the rules say it doesn't work" so much as a "nothing about the Striking rune implies that it would".

Also, even if it did work, the only case where it would have any theoretical benefit is with a level 19 Major Striking rune for a level 1 or 2 caster. Otherwise the number of dice that a striking rune increases Strike damage rolls to is LOWER than the number of dice the spell already deals.

[breithauptclan]

I also don't allow etching weapon runes onto items that are not inherently weapons.

Yes, a block of cold iron could be used as an improvised weapon and would be considered a weapon during that Strike action. That doesn't mean that it qualifies as a valid target for etching weapon runes.

[CuriousOwl]

Blave wrote:

Weapon runes affect Strikes made with that weapon. A spell attack is not a Strike.

That was what I was looking for! Thanks.