Ritual Rules

A ritual is a spell that can be cast with little to no investment of spell points to produce longer-term effects at the costs of longer casting times and occasionally higher costs.

Rituals are not limited by a spellcaster’s spells known and do not require spellcaster levels to cast them, though some require the worship of a certain god to use. Anyone can buy or find a ritual and anyone trained in Spellcraft can attempt to cast them.

Performing Rituals

To perform a ritual usually requires drawing arrays, performing complex, sometimes dance-like gestures, and/or chanting. A ritual cannot be performed when unable to move, but those that require chanting or other vocalizations are noted.

If a ritual requires reagents, the caster must supply these materials, which are consumed as part of performing the ritual. Some rituals require specific items, usases of class features, SP, etc as reagents while others require items variable enough that only the general cost of such items is noted.

Rituals that list sympathetic components as reagents need a symbolic connection to the target; some hair, blood, personal possession, etc.

Some rituals also require a ritual focus, a totem or symbolic device that is used in the ritual, but not consumed, meaning it can be repeatedly reused to cast said ritual.

No matter what, casting a ritual requires a Spellcraft check. The ritualist may not take 10 on this check and failure means the ritual fails and half of the reagents are wasted unless they are listed as not being consumed.

Up to two other creatures trained in Spellcraft may use Aid Another to to aid in your Spellcraft check.

The effects of a ritual manifest at the end of the casting time or, if noted, at the start of the casting time. In the later case, they end at the end of the casting time, or when the ritual is disrupted. A ritual is disrupted if the caster is forced to make a concentration check and fails. No materials are wasted if a ritual is disrupted.

Characters are able to safely take short breaks of up to 15 minutes to eat, drink and relieve themselves during rituals with a casting time longer than four hours, but if a ritual has a casting time longer than 24 hours, the caster begins to suffer the effects of sleep deprivation, including needing to make Concentration checks each hour.

You may always choose to have a ritual have a lesser effect than what is determined by your Spellcraft check, but any other amounts are fixed.

Obtaining Rituals

Mages, characters who take the Ritualist feat, and those who start play with a ritual book all gain a small number of rituals for free, determined by the source of their initial rituals. Otherwise, rituals may be purchased like any normal item for their Ritual Cost plus markup, found as treasure, or researched.

Researching Rituals

A ritual may be researched by expending mystical reagents worth its Ritual costs, plus a Spellcraft check with a DC equal to its Spellcraft DC + (Ritual Level + Ritual Rarity)x2 + 20. A character attempting to research a ritual gains a +2 on the check for every full day they spend researching and may make a new check at the end of each day. A character cannot take 10 on theses rolls.

On a natural 1, the reagents used to research the ritual are wasted without the ritual being learned and the Ritaul Cost must be paid again to continue researching. Otherwise, the reagents are not expended until the spell is researched.

Rituals of Creation

Magic Items are all created using Rituals of Creation, which are rituals unique to that type of magic item. A character may add Expertise bonuses related to the crafting of similar mundane items to the Spellcraft roll to create the item.

For every 5 points by which you exceed the Spellcraft DC for the item, it reduces the work time required by 2 hours.

Work time is not the same as casting time. A character may only put in 8 hours of work time into item creation per day, eating, sleeping and resting as normal, but if they cannot continue their work within 1 day per 5 character levels, the ritual fails and all materials are wasted.

Unless otherwise noted in an item’s description, its ritual of creation costs the same as the Base Price of its +3 Superiority level with a modifier of x2 for Uncommon, and x4 for Rare items. The creation rituals for Restricted or Artifact items cannot be purchased.

Level, Restriction Level and Costs

The level of a ritual (denoted as Level x where x equals the level 1-20) indicates what character level a character must be to cast it. A character may purchase or find rituals they are too low level to use, but can never research a spell they cannot cast. Level 0 rituals can be cast or researched by anyone.

The restriction level (denoted as Rx where x equals the restriction level 1-4) is a measure of how difficult the spell is to obtain. R1 rituals are freely available, R2 rituals can only be found in small cities or larger, R3 spells can only be found or purchased from wizard’s schools and similar enclaves, and R4 rituals are known only by a select few magi who may or may not be willing to teach them.

Ritual costs are calculated as 50gp times the restriction level, times the ritual level. Level 0 rituals cost 25gp times restriction level.