I like the runic idea, it sounds original, but with an ancient feel. I think there should be a seperate skill for alchemy, which in this case, would be similar to summoning. You would have a magic pen with which you would draw the alchemist's symbol (same thing in full metal alchemist), then you could summon anything as long as you have the correct runic tablets to do so. Also, even more with alchemy, have a philosopher's stone, which would allow you to summon a monster, and its strength would depend on how many souls of that monster you collected in the stone(once again, similar to full metal alchemist, but with my own twist). The stone probably would be the reward of a quest, similar to Desert Treasure, and would require around 80 alchemy and 50 magic (since alchemy and magic are somewhat intertwined, and this would also keep pure alchemists from growing to their full potential, as the boss monsters would all have protect from mage on, and range would be weak against them). Oh, and I think I'll read up on runic, sound interesting. EDIT: pic works on Windows Xp EDIT (again): I think the ideal runic alphabet would be Elder Futhark, as its simple, small (only 24 letters), and looks ancient and powerful 8).