I see that characters can activate Runebound shards, but don't see any indication of how difficult they are to activate. Is activation automatic (just spend a maneuver)?

If they are automatic, not requiring a skill check, have anyone played around with requiring a skill check to activate them? If so, what difficulty were you looking at?

It defaults to a maneuver to use (RoT p. 118). Checks are actions by default, so no difficulty to use a runebound shard normally. However, looking at them individually (at least the ones in the book), they either require an action, or are paired with an action (the weaponized runes, like the arcane bolt rune, require a maneuver to activate and an action to use as a weapon).

It also require a pure spirit, the Heart of the Cards, and the power of friendship.

If it doesn't specify, I always default to AVERAGE. So a lot of them are Ranged. So, Average Ranged check

1 hour ago, IamGazrok said:

If it doesn't specify, I always default to AVERAGE. So a lot of them are Ranged. So, Average Ranged check

It's a Ranged combat check, so it follows the normal ranged combat rules: the difficulty is based on range.

As others have said, activating the shared is a manœuvre, so there's no check involved.

Unless stated....of course. Many runes use the Ranged skill though...

On 9/20/2020 at 8:41 AM, IamGazrok said:

Unless stated....of course. Many runes use the Ranged skill though...

RoT127:

"Unless stated otherwise, activating a runebound shard is a maneuver. Some runebound shards function as a weapon when activated, in which case the listed weapon proile speciies the skill a character uses to make the combat check."

Activating them is a manœuvre that requires no skill check. Once activated, though, they can be used as a weapon…which is an action and requires a skill check.