Aura

An Aura is an item that can be bought as part of the Members Loyalty Programme. Activated auras can be purely cosmetic, offer a combat bonus or used to activate a special effect. An aura can be activated by using the "Activate aura" option on an equipped aura. When activated, a glow will appear around the player's right hand. The effect has been compared to the appearance of it snowing around the player. The aura effects only continue after you die if it is equipped in death. For instance, during a game of Clan Wars or Duel Arena, upon dying, the aura effect will continue, but dying anywhere by normal means throughout RuneScape, and having it appear in your inventory, or Wilderness where it goes away entirely, counts as unequipping it. You must then wait for it to recharge.

Auras are classified in four different classes, which is shown by the red circles in the ring of the aura. The first tier 4 aura, named Aegis was released in December 2011.

It's worth noting that, while holding a weapon, all 4 tiers have a different look.

An aura offers a temporary effect, which cannot be paused. Removing an aura will stop the effect, and reduce the remaining time to zero. You can check the remaining time left by right-clicking an equipped aura and choosing 'Aura time remaining'. Also, if the account using an aura is logged out while the aura is activated, the timer will continue to run out.

After use, an aura must go through a cooldown period before being used again. The cooldown period's length is specified by the particular aura. The cooldown period continues when the player is logged out. If an aura is removed or deactivated prematurely, the remaining duration of the aura is added to the cooldown period. For example, if the "Reverence" aura (1 hour activation and 3 hour cooldown) is removed immediately after activation, the cooldown will state 4 hours before you may reactivate. If the aura had 40 minutes left to work, and a cooldown time of 3 hours before it was taken off the player, the recharge of the aura would take 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Auras are untradeable and most cannot be used in PvP activities. As they are items, they also cannot be brought into Daemonheim or some minigames like Stealing Creation.

Auras can be purchased, and replaced if they have been lost, from Xuan. You can find Xuan near the Warriors' Guild in Burthorpe and, as of 21 September 2011, in Varrock square. An easy way to access him is by using the teleport to Troll Invasion available through the Games necklace.

Cosmetic Auras
Unlike other auras, cosmetic auras, or Effects, only affect the appearance of a player. There is also no activation or cooldown time.

There are currently 8 Gaze Auras that can be bought from Xuan and work to give a player various cosmetic effects. When first released, the only effects available were ones that make a players' eyes appear to glow with varying colours.

Trivia

 * On the day of release of the second batch of auras, all of the Greater auras used the image of their tier one counterpart in the Knowledge Base.
 * On the day of release, Greater quarrymaster said "5%," but was changed to "3%" in the Knowledge Base the next day. This is strange due to the normal version of Quarrymaster also being 3%.
 * When used in combination with the Abyssal whip, the glow creates what looks like magical runes along the top portion while held.
 * For a few days after release the aura would float in the air without the player animation if activated while cooking.
 * If one were to rest while an aura is active, the glow on one's hand would not show.
 * When completing the Nature Spirit's grotto event in Temple Trekking the aura remains blue. It can be fixed by wearing different armour, but if you wear the same armour it returns to blue. It is only visible to the player with the aura.
 * Currently, there is a glitch where your aura randomly activates for apparently no reason, without using any charge, and regardless of whether it is charged or still recharging. Taking your aura off will end the effect early.
 * According to Xuan, auras are carved from the bones of magical beasts in foreign lands by the age-worn hands of mystics. The magic in the bones then flows through the carving to focus power upon the player's hand or weapon. This may be a reference to the Eastern lands, where Xuan is said to have come from. This is because the Eastern lands are based on ancient Asia, which in turn had ancient Chinese medicines where rare animal bones were used to supposedly cure and strengthen people.
 * There was a glitch in the Dominion Tower, where if you are using an aura with a dominion sword and the sword disintegrates, the aura will remain there until you equip a new weapon. This glitch has been fixed.
 * Xuan says auras are worn on the hand, yet they are not visible unless activated.