We've had a runesmith in our Saturday game for a while now. He frequently places the Zohk rune on my rogue.
For several sessions I thought that I only benefitted from the speed boost when I moved toward the runesmith. Since many of our encounters took place in dungeons and similar tight spaces and we're not spread out, I'm rarely able to take advantage beyond its teleportation ability (which has helped us escape bad rooms more than once).
The target gains a +15-foot status bonus to their Speeds, but only when their movement would end closer to you than they started their turn.
This morning, I was reading the ability, and came to the realization that it doesn't say I have to move toward the Runesmith to get the speed bonus; I just need to end my movement closer to him than I started.
Suddenly, I'm running PAST and AROUND the runesmith to reach an enemy in a single stride that would otherwise take two strides. It gets even better if the movement is totaled then checked, rather than checked for each action. I've been able to run AWAY from the rune smith, round a corner, and into a different room to engage enemies there just because the runesmith ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL is positionally closer to me than when I started.
It is SO much more versatile than I originally gave it credit for.
Is this really the way it is intended to work? Am I missing anything?
How might you best take advantage of such a boon?
The running toward and then past the runesmith is perfectly plausible because we can say the homecoming speed applied to the first part of the Stride and the rest of the Stride was the character's own speed. Likewise for running away and then toward to get around an obstacle, but in this case, the homecoming speed was in the second part of the Stride. We just have to view the effect of the Zohk rune as a magnetic acceleration that can be turned on and off at will.
My playtest runesmith applied Zohk to allies who might need an emergency recall and to criminals trying to escape. I don't recall anyone exploiting the speed-enhancing abilities of Zohk, perhaps because we had a bard singing Triple Time already enhancing speeds. The playtest was a year ago, so my memories are no longer detailed.
One other detail is the Zonk says "Speeds" rather than "Speed," so it applies for Fly, Climb, Swim, and Burrow speeds, too.
I don't understand breaking it down into "parts" unless you're referring to individual move actions/Strides.
Looking forward to my rogue getting burrow speed later. Normally it's slow, but with Zohk it will make for some fast ambushes.
I don't understand breaking it down into "parts" unless you're referring to individual move actions/Strides.
Using actions naturally requires envisioning the action. In this case, I envision the Zohk-enchanted character moves faster when approaching the runesmith and moves at normal speed when departing from the runesmith, even when both parts are part of the same 40-foot (25 feet + extra 15 feet) Stride. This is not accurate with regard to the mechanic, because the character gains no extra distance if they move toward the runesmith and then away from the runesmith to further away that their initial position. Also, no actual speed of movement is in the Stride mechanic; instead, it just counts squares. But visualization does not have to be perfect.
Settling for imperfect visualization explains why I am only 95% accurate on rules questions.