diff --git a/code/datums/datumvars.dm b/code/datums/datumvars.dm
index a0837547afb..a7000f0c760 100644
--- a/code/datums/datumvars.dm
+++ b/code/datums/datumvars.dm
@@ -524,8 +524,8 @@
 
 /client/proc/view_var_Topic(href, href_list, hsrc)
 	//This should all be moved over to datum/admins/Topic() or something ~Carn
-	if(!check_rights(R_ADMIN|R_MOD))
-		return
+	if(!check_rights(R_ADMIN|R_MOD, FALSE) && !((href_list["datumrefresh"] || href_list["Vars"] || href_list["VarsList"]) && check_rights(R_VIEWRUNTIMES, FALSE)))
+		return // clients with R_VIEWRUNTIMES can still refresh the window/view references/view lists. they cannot edit anything else however.
 
 	if(view_var_Topic_list(href, href_list, hsrc))  // done because you can't use UIDs with lists and I don't want to snowflake into the below check to supress warnings
 		return