After running several RuneQuest games recently for players new to the system, one fundamental difference between RuneQuest and 5e (or Pathfinder) became especially clear to me.
In RuneQuest, a hero is a bridge between the divine and the mortal worlds. Through rune magic, cult ties, bound spirits, and the like, you touch real divine power — yet you remain mortally fragile. A lucky arrow, a critical spear thrust, or a failed resistance roll can still end you in a single round.
To grow stronger is to take more of your god into yourself — for good and for ill. Your character becomes semi-divine, but never safe.
This is why RuneQuest heroes feel closer to the great figures of ancient myth: Gilgamesh, Achilles, Rostam, Arjuna — half-divine beings who bleed, suffer, and die, yet whose deeds echo forever in the myths of their people.
By contrast, characters in modern 5e often feel more like superheroes wearing fantasy clothing. They begin fragile, but rapidly become highly resilient. Death is usually a temporary setback rather than a profound consequence. Their powers tend to be clean, tactical tools rather than dangerous fragments of the divine. Mortal vulnerability goes away, and god-like power requires less sacrifice and cost.
Or another way of looking at is:
RQ is fundamentally tragic. Your hero is a bridge between the mortal and the divine, and that bridge is dangerous to walk. Power comes at a cost. Glory is real, but so is hubris, sacrifice, and the possibility of a meaningful death.
5e is fundamentally comedic. Not in the sense of constant jokes, but in the classical sense: the story moves toward restoration, growth, and (usually) a happy or at least satisfying resolution.
Now both approaches are perfectly cool and valid, but they scratch very different itches. Anyways, just a few thoughts while brain-dead post GaryCon!
Now this difference also helps explain the difference in range and types of rune spells. They aren’t just cool powers – but they help display the fragments of the gods that your character wields and becomes. They aren’t balanced, just as the gods themselves aren’t balanced.