Rune Economy
Runes are the only currency in Tarnished & Rising. They're earned from everything — tasks, workouts, meals, boss kills — and spent on leveling up, upgrading your companion, and a handful of emergency purchases. All earnings are multiplied by your current Ember multiplier, which starts at 1.0x and climbs to its 2.4x cap at Ember 180.
Earning Runes
| Source | Runes | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 task | 400 | Per task completed |
| Tier 2 task | 1,200 | Per task completed |
| Tier 3 task | 1,250 | Per task completed |
| Weekly task | 1,250 | Per task completed |
| Companion task | 750 | Per task completed |
| Log workout — Skirmish | Up to 2,500 | Light effort; volume multiplier applies |
| Log workout — Siege | Up to 3,500 | Solid effort; volume multiplier applies |
| Log workout — Onslaught | Up to 5,000 | Intensity ceiling; volume multiplier scales up to this |
| Log workout — Stretching | 2,500 | Flat rate — no intensity or volume modifier |
| Log meal | 750 | First 4 paid meals a day — later logs still count for DQS & macros but pay 0 |
| Hit macro target (pass/fail) | +1,000 per macro | Up to 4,000/day across 4 macros — 70% calorie floor required |
| Log rest day | 1,000 | Within consecutive rest day cap |
| Daily login | 250 | Just for opening the app |
| Weekly boss kill (Standard) | 10,000 | |
| Weekly boss kill (Veteran) | 15,000 | |
| Weekly boss kill (Legendary) | 25,000 | |
| Monthly Raid Boss kill (Standard) | ~40,000 | Coming after launch — provisional, subject to tuning. See Raid Bosses |
| Monthly Raid Boss kill (Veteran) | ~60,000 | Coming after launch — provisional |
| Monthly Raid Boss kill (Legendary) | ~100,000 | Coming after launch — provisional |
| Achievement unlocked | 5,000–150,000 | Scales by achievement tier |
| Realm United bonus | 2,000 | Planned (Phase 5) — not yet live. All players complete T1+T2 same day |
| Return of the Tarnished | — | After 5+ days away: full Vigor restore, Grace rekindled, debuff cleansed, guaranteed loot drop — not a Rune grant. See The Death System |
All amounts are multiplied by your current Ember multiplier before being applied — and Ember isn't the only multiplier. Dexterity adds +1% to all Rune earnings per Skill Point (up to +20% at 20 points — see Stats & Skill Points), and an active companion adds up to +20% at companion Level 10 (see Companions). All three stack on the same base amount.
Every Rune movement — every earn, every spend, every overnight event — is recorded in The Ledger, your complete plain-English Rune history. Open it from the LEDGER row on your Grace character card, or from your own row in the Realm. Multiplied earnings can be tapped for a full payment receipt showing exactly how the amount was built.
Spending Runes
| Purchase | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Level up | 30,000–1,510,000 | Scales by level. Tap on Grace tab. |
| Companion level up | 25,000–730,000 | Fixed cost per companion level. Companions start at Level 0 with no perks — Level 1 (+2% Runes) is the first purchase. Tap LEVEL UP on Grace tab. |
| Skill Point Respec | 100,000 | Reallocates all Skill Points freely. Unlimited uses. |
| Emergency Flask | 25,000 | Consumed immediately — cannot be stored. |
Death Penalty
On death, you lose 50% of your unspent Rune balance, with a maximum loss of 300,000 Runes. The balance can never go below zero. This is why spending regularly matters — hoarding a large balance creates significant death risk.
The 300,000 Rune cap means players who hoard beyond 600,000 Runes are not additionally penalized past that threshold. But reaching that balance at all represents significant risk.
The Rune Bar
The Rune bar on the Quests screen shows your current unspent balance as a percentage of the cost to reach your next level. It fills as you earn and drops if you spend. When it hits 100%, it pulses to signal you're ready to level up. Tap the bar to see your exact balance and the exact Rune cost to your next level.
What a Good Day Earns
As a concrete example — 3 T1 tasks (1,200) + 2 T2 (2,400) + a T3 (1,250) + a solid Siege workout (3,500) + 3 logged meals (2,250) + a clean 4-macro sweep (4,000) — at 1.0x multiplier (day one) that full good day earns roughly 14,600 Runes before a boss kill. At 1.5x that's ~21,900. At the 2.4x cap it reaches ~35,000 Runes — plus a boss kill windfall on top if you get that kill.
Notes & Tips
- Boss kills are the single largest one-time Rune source in the game. A Legendary kill (25,000) at the 2.4x multiplier cap is 60,000 Runes. This is intentional — boss kills should feel like windfalls.
- The macro bonus system requires the 70% calorie floor to fire. Log at least 70% of your daily calorie target or no macro bonuses apply at all. Each macro is a simple pass/fail — Calories and Carbs and Fat must come in at or under target, Protein must hit target or above. Hit it or you don't.
- Selling duplicate equipment earns small amounts: Common 2,500 · Uncommon 5,000 · Rare 10,000 · Legendary 15,000. Not a primary income source but worth doing on duplicates.
- Workout volume multipliers apply to Weightlifting and Cardio — the intensity ceiling (Onslaught 5,000, Siege 3,500, Skirmish 2,500) is the maximum, reached only at full volume. Lower volume means 50% or 75% of that ceiling. Onslaught at minimal volume pays less than Onslaught at full volume.
- Rune balance floors at zero — you can never go negative.
The boss kill rewards are sized as windfalls because Nick asked JD what would make him push through a hard week. JD said "a big number." Nick made the numbers big. This is the only piece of game design that required no iteration, no second draft, and no follow-up questions. JD said "a big number" and Nick said "okay" and that was the meeting. The entire boss reward economy was decided in one sentence. It was the correct sentence.