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So I’ve been thinking a lot about Rituals lately. I like the mechanic and how they are inherently different from spells for use in combat. Is there a way to benefit martial characters in the same way that rituals can benefit those that are ritual casters? What I mean is that, a spell is a one-off for use in combat whereas a ritual takes longer to cast and can have much greater effects. Why not something similar for the martial characters, where they spend a much longer period of time conducting a ritual and get a longer-term benefit out of it.
I know that, as written, rituals are all magical in nature. But does that have to be the way? I’ve envisioned a whole series of rituals to be used by martial characters that have very little to do with magic.
In the current rule set, I think that they would all have to be in the Exploration category, but I’d rather create a new category:
Martial (Athletics, Dungeoneering, or Endurance): These rituals aid the martial combatant in preparing for battle.
Without going into full write-ups, some examples:
Sharpen My Blade With stone and oil, you polish your blade, honing its edge to razor sharpness. Level: 1 Time: 30 minutes Duration: Special Component Cost: 20gp Key Skill: Dungeoneering
This ritual allows you to temporarily increase the sharpness of any bladed weapon. Your Dungeoneering check determines how sharp your blade becomes, as a bonus to damage to each successful attack from this weapon.
Dungeoneering Check Result Damage Modifier 19 or lower +1 hp per attack 20 – 29 +2 hp per attack 30 – 39 +3 hp per attack 40 or higher +4 hp per attack
[I have a couple of different ideas on how to handle duration. Most simplest would be a straight period of time. Perhaps most complex would be a system that tracks the amount of bonus damage that the character does with the weapon, and the bonus decreases every X number of hp dealt—this would probably be the most realistic, as any blade slowly dulls during repeated use.]
Dance With My Sword You practice your movements with your sword, swinging, feinting, and ducking, in preparation for the upcoming battle. Level: 1 Time: 30 minutes Duration: 6 hours Component Cost: ? Key Skill: Athletics
This ritual allows you to focus your mind and hone your connection to your blade. You Athletics check determines the level of concentration that you achieve with your sword, as a special power bonus to your attack rolls when using that specific weapon.
Athletics Check Result Attack Bonus 25 or lower +1 power bonus 26 – 35 +2 power bonus 36 or higher +3 power bonus
[Anybody that has seen Conan the Barbarian and watched Arnold practicing with his sword should be able to picture this.]
Inspirational Concentration You meditate in preparation for your next battle, concentrating on your allies and their fighting styles and how you might best assist each on the battlefield. Level: 1 Time: 30 minutes Duration: 6 hours Component Cost: ? Key Skill: Endurance
This ritual affects your ability to inspire your compatriots on the battlefield. Completion of the ritual increases your ability to grant bonuses to attacks or defenses based upon the exploits that you use. At the time that you conduct this ritual, you must decide whether the bonus that you will grant is in support of your allies attack or defense rolls.
Your Endurance check result determines the power bonus you grant. For example, if you use an exploit that grants a power bonus to attacks, this ritual grants an additional bonus equal to the result from the Endurance check. Likewise, for those exploits that grant a power bonus to defenses, this ritual grants an additional bonus equal to the result from the Endurance check.
Endurance Check Result Power Bonus to Attack or Defense 25 or lower +1 26 – 35 +2 36 or higher +3
Those are just a few examples, but even in that group, possible problems become apparent. Issues that I see:
1. Component cost is a way that the PHB controls the use of magical rituals. Except for some minor cases, most martial rituals won’t have component costs. They will have a time cost, which in some gaming groups will count for something but in others will just be ignored. How can these be controlled to prevent them from becoming too powerful or becoming completely normal for the characters?
[One way might be to state that only the benefits of one martial ritual are available to a character at any given time, so that the character can only get one given bonus at a time. This would force the martial character to decide which one he wants for a given period of adventuring.]
2. DnD’s inherent math assumptions could be severely broken by the use of these rituals, especially at epic levels. What restrictions could be put in place to prevent (or at least minimize) this?
3. The Ritual Caster feat probably wouldn't apply here, as these are not magical rituals. I suppose a new feat would have to be created, similar to Ritual Caster but designed specifically to account for this new class of rituals.
Does anyone have ideas for other rituals of this type? Can anyone offer ideas for how these can be done without breaking the game?
Eliminate the GP cost, and have players expend Action Points to use these rituals.
If they are using action points, wouldn't that necessitate them conducting the ritual during combat (when action points are used), or do they use the action point outside of combat and just have one less when in combat situations?
The concept reminds me of Arcana Evolved's Combat Rites. I think they'd convertly over to 4e rituals nicely. Rank 1/2 = Heroic-tier. Rank 2/3 = Paragon-tier. Rang 3/4 = Epic-tier.
Here's an example of what I'm thinking...
Calmness of Thought You clear your mind, creating a mental trigger to return to this state.
Level: 4 Category: Martial Time: 30 minutes Duration: Special (activate within 6 hours of ritual) Cost: Action point Skill: Endurance
You make saving throws at the beginning of your turn, instead of at the end. Your Endurance check determines how long this lasts once triggered.
Endurance check Duration
19 or lower 2 rounds
20-29 4 rounds
30-39 6 rounds
40 or higher 8 rounds
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Cartographist
If they are using action points, wouldn't that necessitate them conducting the ritual during combat (when action points are used), or do they use the action point outside of combat and just have one less when in combat situations?
I agree that action points are the best way to model combat rites, meaning that any PC won't be using more than 1 martial ritual every couple encounters.
The thing that worries me is that, since the only cost to using them is time, they basically become a "free bonus" every time you're not under time pressure. And the bonuses can add up - a +2 or +3 to every attack roll is worth a lot. After all, one of the stated design goals of 4e was to avoid the problem with 3.5e where there were so many ways to get passive bonuses that you could stack them all on top of each other and create ridiculously powerful characters.
Certainly, if you were planning on doing this, using action points as the cost would probably be a good idea, because it forces a meaningful cost. The only problem is that if the benefit is too low, it will never be worth doing instead of just using an action point the regular way. But it could be an interesting dynamic as you have to decide whether to use an AP on the ritual (giving you a bonus for the whole day) or the regular way (lots of extra power at one point in time).
On the other hand, I am not sure, specifically, what your goal is with this system. The purpose of magic rituals was not to provide a bonus in combat; rather, it was to enable players to use magic to do out-of-combat things while still providing a substantial cost (in time or gold pieces) that is meaningful out of combat. 4e rituals replaced a lot of the 3.5e out of combat spells, but got rid of a lot of (perceived) problems with how they worked (too low a cost to use, obsoleted other character classes, having to pre-guess which ones you would end up needing, etc.)
The purpose of your rituals just seems to be provide yet another way to get a passive combat bonus. Or am I missing something?
If they cost a Ritual Combat feat, with a pre-requisite Wisdom 13+ or something, only one ritual could be in effect at once, and the result lasted until you took an extended rest, what you'd have essentially is a variable feat, and that would make it easier to see when it was out of balance. If the ritual could be performed every day, and it was clearly better than any feat, then it is too good, because they could in essence spend one feat to get something better than a feat.
But if each ritual were clearly worse than a decent feat, then it might be balanced. Being able to slot different rituals would make up for them being worse.
But if any ritual is clearly better than a good feat, then it is unbalanced.
Alex319 – The original idea for the system derived from a need for fluff. Literature, popular culture, and the real world are full of examples of warriors preparing for battle with their little routines (or rituals). List of examples:
- The Karate Kid practicing his poses on the beach. - Conan the Barbarian practicing with his sword. - An American Indian warrior painting his face and joining in a war dance with his tribe prior to going into battle. (Okay, maybe contrived and may or may not have any historical accuracy—but the idea exists in popular culture.) - Pick just about any Viet Nam movie where the soldiers would do little things to prep themselves before going out on patrol. - American football players painting their faces, stretching, and then getting excited in team huddles before the game starts. (For that matter, just about any team sport where the team excites itself prior to the game.)
[Perhaps my examples are lacking—but you get the point.]
I like the idea of warriors doing things to prepare themselves for combat. I am hoping to develop a game mechanic that captures that.
I share your “free bonus” concern—which is why I’ve posted my ideas here so that collectively we can fix my idea before it completely breaks my game.
Smeelbo – I think that you are on to something. Perhaps the measure of how strong these rituals are should be based on a feat as you say. Or there could be a combination of the two. In those cases where the ritual result was worse than a typical feat, then it might be balanced. If there are rituals that are slightly more powerful, then they would have to incur an additional cost, whether it is in the form of an action point, some gp, or maybe even a healing surge.
My thought after posting was that a cost of one healing surge might be appropriate for some of the “personal” rituals, so the character starts adventuring after an extended rest with one less surge available, but he does have the benefits of the ritual. This wouldn’t make sense for some of the rituals--the Sharpen My Blade ritual, for instance.
Heh, I was just thinking about the same thing on my way to work. The first thing that comes to mind is the warrior's trance that Ryld Argith used in the War of the Spider Queen novels.
I think that it would be interesting to play around with giving some of these rituals penalties as well as bonuses and see how that balances things out. You could also use them as a method of item creation.
__________________ If you knew the number
Of the steps you'd ever take
Bitter, I wonder
Would you run or cease to walk? -Pain of Salvation
Instead of simply giving a vanilla bonus to attack rolls, how about actually making it into a combat ritual, or kata? If the warrior practices a set of moves in a ritualistic fashion, then when he executes those specific moves in that particular sequence, he gains +X on his next Y attack rolls, where X is based on the skill check, and Y is equal to the number of moves that are in his "combo", "kata", or "sequence". Y should probably ignore the first move in the sequence, especially if it's an at-will.
dammitbiscuit - it's Brilliant! (Said aloud, that sounds differently than it looks written. Anyway...)
Are you saying that by practicing a given Encounter or Daily Power ahead of time, the character gets a bonus when using that power in combat? Or am I missing your point?
If that is the case, does the "one martial ritual per day" idea that was discussed above still apply? What about costs?
Hmmm in going with the last thought, perhaps allow 1 'combo' to be practiced per tier per day and make each one increasingly complex and worth more? +1 to hit (+2/+3) or +2 to damage (+4/+6) as an encounter. Allow them to change their combo's once a day after an extended rest. They have to announce at the start of their combo attempt and if they fail one step of it it blows their combo shot for the encounter.
So a heroic combo for a rogue might be Piercing Strike followed by Tortuous Strike and grant either +1 to hit or +2 damage against that opponent for perhaps Wisdom bonus +1 per tier.
A paragon combo might be Piercing Strike followed by Setup Strike followed by Rogue's Luck.
Of course at this point we're not really talkinga bout the OP idea but instead are delving into combo's.
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Feat
Devotional Mastery
Prerequisite: Wis 13
Benefit: You can master and perform devotions of your level or lower.
Now you can simply devise various 'Devotions' which a character can master. These devotions COULD be anything, but they might generally be along the following sorts of lines.
Inner Strength
Level: 1
Time: 10 minutes
Duration: until next extended rest
You focus your willpower and gain access to the Tower of Inner Strength power until you next take an extended rest.
Tower of Inner Strength [Devotion Power]
You reach into your mind and use your devotion to find the will to resist.
Daily - Psychic
Immediate Interrupt when targeted by an attack vs Will Personal
Effect: Add a +1 bonus to your will defense against the triggering attack.
Obviously there could be a whole plethora of these things. It requires a feat to have access to them, but the feat is nice in that it is fairly open ended and gets better as you go up in level and have access to more powerful devotions. However it is also reasonably limited because you do have to choose at the start of the day what sort of devotion to use. How exactly limited that is will be determined by exactly what the devotion does (they don't have to give you access to a power, but the effect should be one time or otherwise reasonably limited). Some of them could be fairly general and give very weak bonuses, others might be highly specialized (enhancing a specific existing feat or power) and give a stronger bonus to balance out the more limited situational applicability.
I think it gives the desired flavor and also brings in a mechanism for allowing characters to prepare themselves for a specific situation they think they will likely face during the next few encounters. USUALLY those sorts of things were pretty limited and that was a flaw in special purpose spells and such in older editions, but there ARE still times when you would like to be able to do something like that, you KNOW what you are likely to face.
There is really no particular reason for these to be limited to Martial characters either. Admittedly some Arcane characters have rituals already and wizards have some spell flexibility
built in via the spell book mechanism, but I can see Clerics and Paladins also having access to devotions. I don't think it would hurt anything.
I reread the PHB on Rituals last night, and thought about it some more. First, I am not sure Martial Characters really need Rituals. Of all the character classes, Martial Characters currently have the most options, so why do they need more?
Second, if Martial Ritual essentially becomes a variable feat, that is, you pick the effect you need right now, then it probably becomes the best martial feat, which is probably not what you want.
Third, it must cost something, otherwise characters will simply mash the Martial Ritual button every chance they get. So at the very least, you have to eat so many GP of Residium to power the ritual ("Just a teaspoon o' residium makes the meditation go down...").
Fourth, it must key off a skill. I recommend Endurance, the question being, can you keep up your katas or whatever for however long it takes to complete the ritual.
Finally, looking at the structure of the existing rituals, you can mostly classify them into ten minute and one hour casting times. My advice would be that ten minute rituals granted you a single use of a Daily Power that once activated would be in effect until the end of the current encounter, while hour rituals would be in effect until you took an extended rest.
If Martial Rituals are cheap and better than a good feat, they are broken.
I reread the PHB on Rituals last night, and thought about it some more. First, I am not sure Martial Characters really need Rituals. Of all the character classes, Martial Characters currently have the most options, so why do they need more?
Second, if Martial Ritual essentially becomes a variable feat, that is, you pick the effect you need right now, then it probably becomes the best martial feat, which is probably not what you want.
Third, it must cost something, otherwise characters will simply mash the Martial Ritual button every chance they get. So at the very least, you have to eat so many GP of Residium to power the ritual ("Just a teaspoon o' residium makes the meditation go down...").
Fourth, it must key off a skill. I recommend Endurance, the question being, can you keep up your katas or whatever for however long it takes to complete the ritual.
Finally, looking at the structure of the existing rituals, you can mostly classify them into ten minute and one hour casting times. My advice would be that ten minute rituals granted you a single use of a Daily Power that once activated would be in effect until the end of the current encounter, while hour rituals would be in effect until you took an extended rest.
If Martial Rituals are cheap and better than a good feat, they are broken.
Smeelbo
I'm not sure martial characters NEED rituals either. It was a topic of discussion and its always fun to consider what the possibilities are. It might add a bit to the game, but truthfully the options available in the core rules to all classes are pretty wide ranging already. MP adds some interesting builds and class features, but the core classes are pretty well set as is.
My proposal was intended to address the 'variable feat' concept in such a way that the result is a bit of flexibility at the cost of providing a reduced capability. If the various effects which can be accessed via this mechanism are fairly weak, then it becomes a reasonable trade off. The character can retool a bit between extended rests, but a dedicated feat would produce a stronger effect. Thus the ritual based effects MIGHT displace one or two of the more specialized feats, but probably still only for certain classes and builds.
I think monetary costing in general is a questionable game mechanic. Frankly I find the whole 'residuum' mechanic to be rather awkward and hokey myself. Inevitably players don't keep careful track of these sorts of things and it causes endless headaches or else devolves down into 'well, basically it doesn't cost enough to bother with'. A very high ritual casting cost may be pretty effective, but even then it is an awkward mechanic. If the GM needs the characters to be able to do something he's got to then come up with a plot device to avoid paying for it, and if he doesn't want them to do it AT ALL, then the ritual simply shouldn't be available. Basically a rule mechanic should be balanced within the framework of its utilization and cost should be relegated to the meta game where it becomes a campaign specific thing. So overall gold piece style costs to me are not a way to balance out game mechanics.
I don't see why it HAS to 'key off a skill', it can, and thats fine, but I don't know of a reason why that is absolutely necessary. I suppose an Endurance skill check requirement would work. It seems to be an undervalued skill in general anyway. Obviously it also reduces the overall value of the whole feature as well, since the ritual might fail on any given day.
As I structured it these things would give you access to some 'effect', and the suggested type of effect would be access to a special power. This power would generally be a daily (but could be encounter or even at-will in theory). This pretty much automatically puts the effects at a level well below standard feats, which mostly are 'always on' effects. The character would have the effect available until an extended rest/24 hours. If it isn't used within that time then the ritual has to be performed again.
At higher levels the available effects could be somewhat more extensive, so a paragon level ritual might grant a very minor at-will or continuous effect, or a daily use 'lasts till end of encounter' effect. At epic level the effects might be about on a par with standard heroic tier feats.
Obviously if they are better than a good feat then they aren't balanced. As I said, cost to me is not a balancing mechanic, but at least in the variation I suggested I THINK they would be weaker than a feat. It would really be up to GMs to insure that whatever specific rituals they added were balanced. Another consideration is that the whole feat itself might become too good if a LARGE number of these rituals were available to a specific character.
Overall my feeling is not to bother with the whole thing, but it could be an interesting mechanic for a specific variant class to be built around.
I reread the PHB on Rituals last night, and thought about it some more. First, I am not sure Martial Characters really need Rituals. Of all the character classes, Martial Characters currently have the most options, so why do they need more?
Second, if Martial Ritual essentially becomes a variable feat, that is, you pick the effect you need right now, then it probably becomes the best martial feat, which is probably not what you want.
Third, it must cost something, otherwise characters will simply mash the Martial Ritual button every chance they get. So at the very least, you have to eat so many GP of Residium to power the ritual ("Just a teaspoon o' residium makes the meditation go down...").
Fourth, it must key off a skill. I recommend Endurance, the question being, can you keep up your katas or whatever for however long it takes to complete the ritual.
Finally, looking at the structure of the existing rituals, you can mostly classify them into ten minute and one hour casting times. My advice would be that ten minute rituals granted you a single use of a Daily Power that once activated would be in effect until the end of the current encounter, while hour rituals would be in effect until you took an extended rest.
If Martial Rituals are cheap and better than a good feat, they are broken.
Smeelbo
I'm not sure martial characters NEED rituals either. It was a topic of discussion and its always fun to consider what the possibilities are. It might add a bit to the game, but truthfully the options available in the core rules to all classes are pretty wide ranging already. MP adds some interesting builds and class features, but the core classes are pretty well set as is.
My proposal was intended to address the 'variable feat' concept in such a way that the result is a bit of flexibility at the cost of providing a reduced capability. If the various effects which can be accessed via this mechanism are fairly weak, then it becomes a reasonable trade off. The character can retool a bit between extended rests, but a dedicated feat would produce a stronger effect. Thus the ritual based effects MIGHT displace one or two of the more specialized feats, but probably still only for certain classes and builds.
I think monetary costing in general is a questionable game mechanic. Frankly I find the whole 'residuum' mechanic to be rather awkward and hokey myself. Inevitably players don't keep careful track of these sorts of things and it causes endless headaches or else devolves down into 'well, basically it doesn't cost enough to bother with'. A very high ritual casting cost may be pretty effective, but even then it is an awkward mechanic. If the GM needs the characters to be able to do something he's got to then come up with a plot device to avoid paying for it, and if he doesn't want them to do it AT ALL, then the ritual simply shouldn't be available. Basically a rule mechanic should be balanced within the framework of its utilization and cost should be relegated to the meta game where it becomes a campaign specific thing. So overall gold piece style costs to me are not a way to balance out game mechanics.
I don't see why it HAS to 'key off a skill', it can, and thats fine, but I don't know of a reason why that is absolutely necessary. I suppose an Endurance skill check requirement would work. It seems to be an undervalued skill in general anyway. Obviously it also reduces the overall value of the whole feature as well, since the ritual might fail on any given day.
As I structured it these things would give you access to some 'effect', and the suggested type of effect would be access to a special power. This power would generally be a daily (but could be encounter or even at-will in theory). This pretty much automatically puts the effects at a level well below standard feats, which mostly are 'always on' effects. The character would have the effect available until an extended rest/24 hours. If it isn't used within that time then the ritual has to be performed again.
At higher levels the available effects could be somewhat more extensive, so a paragon level ritual might grant a very minor at-will or continuous effect, or a daily use 'lasts till end of encounter' effect. At epic level the effects might be about on a par with standard heroic tier feats.
Obviously if they are better than a good feat then they aren't balanced. As I said, cost to me is not a balancing mechanic, but at least in the variation I suggested I THINK they would be weaker than a feat. It would really be up to GMs to insure that whatever specific rituals they added were balanced. Another consideration is that the whole feat itself might become too good if a LARGE number of these rituals were available to a specific character.
Overall my feeling is not to bother with the whole thing, but it could be an interesting mechanic for a specific variant class to be built around.
I think we can take martial rituals in a more interesting direction than bonuses to attack, etc. More like the arcane rituals already presented. Some ideas:
* Armor Harness - you spend extra time equipping your armor, reduce skill check penalty
* Arming Squire - you may equip a weapon/shield of your choice as a free action
* Suppress Condition - by meditating you suppress a condition until the end of combat
* Battle History - you research ancient military texts for helpful knowledge
* Gather Reserves - by meditating you improve the effects of your second wind
* Herculean Effort - spend healing surge to gain Strength bonus to lift/push
While not necessary, I think there's potential to develop the concept further.
I think we can take martial rituals in a more interesting direction than bonuses to attack, etc. More like the arcane rituals already presented. Some ideas:
While not necessary, I think there's potential to develop the concept further.
I like your ideas a wee bit better - arcane rituals typically don't provide significant combat bonuses. If a ritual can be used to benefit a combat, typically it does so by changing the scene or tactical situation, and usually not in a way that would be consistently useful for every single combat.
Cartographist - thanks! I still worry, however, that even if restricted to certain combos, a ritual that provides a numerical combat boost isn't a good ritual, and should probably be a utility power or feat instead.
I think the idea of combos or katas as we tentatively explored in 3 or 4 short posts should possibly be divorced from the Martial Ritual idea, and forked to a new thread. I'll contemplate the idea further while I'm playing in tonight's game, to see if any good thoughts on implementation gel.
I do *really* like the idea of martial rituals, but it's hard to think of any that would provide something other than a combat edge. If you want to keep going on this track, don't let me stop you, and you're of course more than welcome to cherry-pick my seed of an idea and use it for your own purposes. Personally, I'll be happier if I can think of some good Martial Rituals (which aren't numerical bonuses to attacks/powers) to contribute to your thread, and/or think of a good set of feats or powers that *do* provide numerical bonuses using the idea of choreographed, pre-planned attack sequences that train the body to maximize the efficiency or effect of moves used together.
I heard the intended effect when reading your pun involving my username. Good stuff.
I think there's room for martial rituals which allow the player to perform inhuman, legendary abilities that aren't necessarily magical but require a dash of magical power to unleash.
Mages who do this nonsense are called Ritualists, and the nonsense that they do is called a Ritual, right? How about warriors doing this nonsense being referred to as War Mystics, and the nonsense that they do being referred to as Legendary Acts, Acts of Legend, Legendary Feats, something like that?
Legendary Stunts should generally require Endurance, Heal, or History checks. Characters who aren't magically inclined will already have plenty of incentive to take the highly useful Acrobatics or Athletics skills. A case could possibly be made for some that use Intimidate, too...
For the flavor, I'd say "coat your weapon, fists, feet, or heart/chest with residuum" is a good default assumption. For certain acts, I could see allowing a War Mystic to DESTROY a magic item in the act of performing the ritual. This would provide a convenient parallel to Disenchant Magic Item that prevents War Mystics from being forced to depend on others to provide residuum.
For example, let's imagine a ritual that allows a War Mystic to remove a door, wall, or building (basically, any man-made construction, the size of which determines the DC of the check) that is in his way. The war mystic spends 10 minutes stretching his muscles and making practice swings. During that time, he also coats his fists with a paste of residuum and blood. OR, if he doesn't have enough residuum handy, he grabs a magic item, preferably a magic weapon. He then rips the magic item in half, or if it is a weapon, he bashes it against the offending structure.
He makes an Endurance check to determine whether he withstands the shockwaves of force that reverberate through the structure. If he rolls poorly, it means that he wasn't focused enough and allowed himself to be knocked back or injured into distraction from his task.
If he succeeds at the task, the structure crumbles into rubble, or is possibly even vaporized into dust if he rolls exceptionally well. If he used a magic item, the destruction of the item itself provides the residuum necessary for the ritual. Any excess residuum drifts to the floor, and all that is left of the item is an ancient-looking shattered blade, worn-out pair of gloves, etc.
Ooh - what if using an appropriate item type gave you a 10% discount on the residuum necessary for the ritual?
Stunts:
March of the Unstoppable General - Endurance check. You can travel without stopping to rest or sleep for a number of days based on how much residuum you expend. You do not receive the benefits of an extended rest, but each night you recover half of your healing surges. If you run or hustle more than once in a given 12 hour period, you fatigue yourself and can travel no further without rest. If you beat a higher DC, you can conscript allied creatures into your marching orders and extend the effects to them. Preferred item slot to destroy: Feet
Irrelevant Obstacle - Basically as described above in the example. Preferred item slot to destroy: gloves or weapon
The biggest foreseeable problem, to me, is that if they don't already have them, WotC will probably end up publishing Rituals that accomplish any effect we can think of.
Existing rituals appear to exist specific situations: a locked door, distant travel, a dead or diseased ally. They also fall into one of nine categories: Binding, Creation, Deception, Divination, Exploration, Restoration, Scrying, Travel, and Warding. None of those look like to hit or damage bonuses, and indeed, few of the rituals are useful in combat. Indeed, none of those categories seems very martial.
The more I think about it, the less martial rituals make sense to me. Whatever it is, it's probably not a ritual. None of the suggested skills for martial rituals are knowledge based, whereas all the existing ritual skills are.
What will probably happen is that Arcane Power will introduce many rituals that are useful in combat. For example, these 3.5 spells might become 4E rituals: Message, Resist Energy (I'd bet money on that one), Whispering Wind, Geas, Animate Dead, Stone Shape, Planar Binding, Sending, Dream, Magic Jar, and so on. Spells that don't make sense as "powers."
So rather than try to shoe horn a variable martial feat into rituals, probably better just to come up with a variable feat, probably a chosen situational +1, resets on an extended rest, and is always worse than an existing feat. If you wanted it to be more powerful, it would need an additional cost, such as a healing surge, some penalty, an action point, or such.
Not as much fun, I know, but some of the rituals proposed here would come to dominate combat to the point where fighters would feel "entitled" to Martial Ritual as a bonus feat, since all fighters then "must" have Martial Ritual.
Existing rituals appear to exist specific situations: a locked door, distant travel, a dead or diseased ally. They also fall into one of nine categories: Binding, Creation, Deception, Divination, Exploration, Restoration, Scrying, Travel, and Warding. None of those look like to hit or damage bonuses, and indeed, few of the rituals are useful in combat. Indeed, none of those categories seems very martial.
True, there would be a need for new categories (Craft, Strategy, and Herculean Effort come to mind), though I could see Exploration working - the forced march idea dammt biscuit presented could fit into this category.
If we go the legendary skill use = martial ritual route, then looking to the d20 epic skill rules as well as action movie tropes might provide insight. Like an Acrobatics ritual that allows you to fall a great distance into a body of water without inury...I guess this would be like Endure Elements in that the ritual is "cast" when you anticipate bad weather...or in this case falling into a river.
The idea is that the 8 hours spent mastering the ritual is physical exercise, for example practicing cliff-diving.
Quote:
The more I think about it, the less martial rituals make sense to me. Whatever it is, it's probably not a ritual. None of the suggested skills for martial rituals are knowledge based, whereas all the existing ritual skills are.
To be fair, a couple rituals are based off of Heal. Also, there is historical precedent for german fighting texts dating to the 1400s as well as "De Re Militaria" guides for feuding princes, so it's possible to use History for a couple martial rituals (or whatever we call tem).
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Not as much fun, I know, but some of the rituals proposed here would come to dominate combat to the point where fighters would feel "entitled" to Martial Ritual as a bonus feat, since all fighters then "must" have Martial Ritual.
That's why I agree martial rituals should shy away from providing combat bonuses and need to focus on nifty tricks outside of combat. Some of those parkour videos got me thinking about rituals useful in a chase.
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