Ancestral Whispers

CapnZapp · Jul 6, 2009

What do you make of this ritual?

Basically it turns one of your untrained skills into a trained one for 24 hours. (Eberron Player's Guide, p116)

Doesn't this change the name of the game completely? As I understand it, you can now buy a feat slot for 140 gold* per day (the Skill Training feat)...

Have I missed something or is this ritual a completely different beast than the usual middling ritual fare?

*) More at higher levels: multiply by five every five levels

Mort_Q · Jul 7, 2009

It is very Eberron. I don't think it breaks anything important. These skills don't count as prerequisites, and are expensive.

CapnZapp · Jul 14, 2009

Any other thoughts?

Any other rituals that can replace real crunch (i.e. converting gold into feats, powers, skills, and the like?)

radja · Jul 14, 2009

I only checked the PH, so there's probably more.
3 comprehend langage rituals each day is the linguist feat (at 30gp/day)
phantom steed can create flying mounts for the whole party.

I don't think it's a problem though.

Mesh Hong · Jul 14, 2009

If you think it is unbalanced then you could reduce the cost and have it give a +3 or +4 bonus to an untrained skill rather than the +5.

CapnZapp · Jul 23, 2009

Well, it's not so much me finding it unbalanced...

It's more of "wow - here's a ritual allowing you to buy yourself more game elements". You normally can't get another feat unless you reroll a human.

So I'm basically asking: don't you feel too this is huge?

(I'm not so much thinking of the skill here - I'm thinking that now that the possibility is out in the open, how long will it take until we get rituals for getting more powers and more feats in general? Perhaps a ritual to get a second paragon path?!?)

Mesh Hong · Jul 23, 2009

I have just remembered a power that I loved from the Trinity game. Very basically, for a limited time you could increase a skill by reducing skills you already knew, I think it was for every 2 points you forgot you gained 1 point in a skill of your choice. This worked quite well.

Maybe the ritual could work in a similar way, you can get a bonus in an untrained skill but at the cost of skills you already know. With the duration being 24hrs you could indeed become an expert in Dungeoneering but at the expence of forgetting some of your Diplomacy, Heal and Religion knowledge.

I think you would probably have to work on a 1 to 1 basis.

Mind you I have just remembered that you havn't got a problem with the mechanics of the ritual, just the open door quality of it, so consider the above just me thinking aloud.

cdrcjsn · Jul 24, 2009

Considering that specific skills aren't really necessary, I don't see a big issue.

Finding information is more than just a streewise roll now for example. It's a skill challenge. Likewise, most skills have workarounds so that there isn't really an absolute need to have a specific skill.

It seems on par with other rituals that you can get.

Bumbles · Jul 24, 2009

CapnZapp said:
So I'm basically asking: don't you feel too this is huge?

It reminds me a bit of the end of this Star Trek episode.

I suppose it might be possible to abuse, but if that happens, you start telling the player no.