My Rogue Wants to Cast Darkness From an Armor Rune

[Balkoth]

My level 18 Rogue player wants to cast Darkness from an armor rune (like Invisibility from an Invisibility rune, though he'd be fine with it taking the normal spell actions). I think the main goal is to avoid having to pull out a wand, trick the magic item (which takes three actions), stow the wand, and regrip his Elven Branch Spear. So a worn item that could cast Darkness would also work as well.

Problem is I don't see either of those (runes or worn items) on Archives of Nethys.

Any items I'm missing that would be applicable?

Would creating a custom rune for him cause any balance issues? I'm slightly worried about it stepping on the spellcaster niche and being very strong against foes without Darkvision (the rogue has it)

He also has the Shadowdancer dedication already and Shadow Jump so I'm also comparing this to Dance of Darkness which is two actions, is a smaller area, and requires a Performance check (crit success is 1 min, success is two rounds, failure is one round). So basically a custom item would be saving him a feat and giving him a better version of it.

He could alternatively have spent two feats on a spellcaster dedication and then basic spellcasting to cast Darkness twice a day.

But again, he's also level 18, there's a lot of powerful magic items available, so this probably wouldn't be too big of a deal.

Advice?

[NorrKnekten]

I wouldn't make it a rune for one.

I would rather be looking at items with the invested trait which lets him cast it either by commnand or envision without using Trick Magic.

Alternatively you could make it a spellheart that can cast darkness that is affixed to the spear, Would only require trick magic item to be used.

For example Trinity Geode that gives an assortment of spells but as said, requires it to be affixed to the spear or armor.

[Loreguard]

My suggestion if you want to let them do it is create it as a Spellheart. And have a special ‘rider’ for the item that it can be activated by shadowdancers who have ShadowDancer focus spells.

It avoids the character from having to use trick item, and is believable such an item might have been made for such ShadowDancers.

It also seems you ‘Want’ to do it for them and you are asking us permission, and verify it doesn’t break things significantly in flaws you hadn’t anticipated. I don’t think it is an unworkable departure from standards, but as others suggested, I’d make it a ‘Fluttering Ribbon of Darkness’ spellheart you attach to your armor. Which was invented to help shadowdancers of old. Make it Rare, as it is not typical for Spellheart to have special allowances for specific archetypes. And have the player learn of someplace that may have one. The party can work together to help them get it.

[Cintra Bristol]

You could also look at Library Robes.

[Finoan]

I think you are technically into homebrew territory here. I am not finding any existing items that would do the job.

But there are plenty of item types that could do the job, they just don't have that particular spell on them. Creating an item of those types that has the needed spell should be simple enough and well balanced.

In addition to the spellheart mentioned by others, I would also propose a Relic. Shadow Aspect looks promising, but I'm not finding an existing ability that casts Darkness.

[Aristophanes]

And honestly, how many creatures pl 14 - 22 don't have Darkvision, or have easy access to it, or a work around i.e. precise scent, tremorsense sonar, etc.?

[Balkoth]

A lot of creatures have it, a lot of NPCs might not.

Appreciate the advice everyone, I'll look into Spellhearts more.