I agree the intent was probably not what is actually said in the book. However, I seem to fairly frequently get these rules rulings guesses wrong as well.

It just occurred to me that the RAW do say that a rune on a wand helps you whack things better. That at least should be errata'd as I know someone official has said (likely on the old defunct forums) that you must actually hit someone with the weapon with the elemental rune on it to get the extra damage.

Let me start by saying I'm no one official.

As far as the rune goes, I think the intent is very clear. In the same sentence it states "The damage bonus applies to any spell that causes fire damage as well as all weapon attacks."

In terms of some of the concerns raised about power levels and the usefulness of wands, let me share my perspective.

1. Why have a wand when you can have a weapon? - A wand counts as a free hand for spell casting, a weapon does not. With a wand you can also wield a shield or a weapon in your other hand. With a weapon it must be free unless it's psionics. With the exception of a few heritage spells, there are not elemental effects that this would benefit. There is definitely an opportunity cost. There are also other runes that have far different effects if placed on a wand than a rune, so being able to combine all of them on a single item can be an advantage. It also allows the caster to effectively double to number of wand/weapon runes available by having the wand as well as having two different elemental effects active - 1 per wand/weapon.

2. Isn't it overpowered? - This ties in closely with the previous question. Bonuses between the two items don't stack and there are opportunity costs both in rune slots and free hands if solely viewed from a weapon perspective. To gain the benefit of the rune, the rune must be active and you can only have one energy type active at a time per RAW. "Several Runes sheath Wands and weapons in elemental energy. An item may be sheathed in only one form of elemental energy at a time." - FiM
There was a question about it being more like a permanent rune with multiple benefits. Permanent runes provide two separate benefits simultaneously or certainly the opportunity to do so. To me at least this doesn't feel like the same level of benefit.

With a sweep of his hat,

Paul

Rune Staffs allow the user to use that quarterstaff like a Wand. Any runes on said staff provides the benefit of a Wand or a Weapon (pending on how the caster is utilizing the staff at the time) at no speed cost to the user (with the exception of activating the rune).

So why use a wand when you can have a weapon? Because in the case of Rune Staffs you have both-in-one. And, there are cases where a Rune does have a different effect on a Weapon vs. being used as a Wand (Rune of Air and Stone for example), or Permanently inscribed runes, one gets the best of both worlds. Regarding Fire, Frost, and Lightning? No reason for any user (caster or not) to use this on a wand.

I really wish they'd make runestaffs available in the campaign. Per the book, any caster can make one for 2Gc (except they can't in the campaign). I'd be more likely to play an arcane caster if these were available.

There's a lot of things the new Campaign Guide should fix (badly overdue).

Can someone official weigh in as to whether this rule requires looking at?
Even it's looked at and deemed to be fine the way it is. That's ok.

I don't expect any immediate decision.

For now we should play with RAW. But if this needs to be changed because the intent was something different, then I'd like to know that work is being done.

Thanks everyone for your input. I know I end up in the minority with my rulings. So it's comforting knowing I'm not the only one seeing it may be a mistake.

I guess I didn't feel the need to chime in, because (to me) the wording is clear. On wand or weapon, the effect would kick in on weapon attacks MADE WITH THAT WEAPON (don't want people thinking "I have a fire rune in my greatsword, so all my unarmed attacks (kicking) would get the flame damage") and to spells cast appropriate to the element. (Of course, you still need 1 hand free to cast the non-Psionic spells).

e.g. If you have a fine flame rune on a hand axe, you would get +1 fire damage to attacks made with that weapon and +1 damage if you cast elemental bolt (fire).

And if you flip it so the rune is on a wand?...

Presumably the same thing. You get +1 elemental damage to appropriate spells and to attacks to whack people with your wand (probably a bad idea).

Considering the rule is the wand will break if used as a weapon, tis a bad idea indeed