Cast Ritual

[ForumFerret]

I hate to say it, but the more I think about it the more I wonder if having the Cast Ritual feat available to anyone is too powerful/flexible. I mean, if the definition of overpowered is a feat which everyone takes...well, I can't see anyone building an optimized character -not- taking Cast Ritual.

The opportunity cost is so low: spend one feat, and gain access to, what, 50% of the 3e Wizards spellbook? Sure, you have to spend some money buying the rituals themselves (or risk some resources to loot them) but for that kind of flexibility...

I look forward to the Rituals preview (When is it, again?). Hopefully it will alleviate my concerns.

Thoughts?

 

[Khaalis]

At this point we aren't certain that Cast Ritual is actually a feat. Even if it is, we have no idea what kinds of requirements and prerequisites are required for the individual rituals. It is my hope that there will be differentiation among the rituals. Some rituals may be general access like the Enchanting ritual, but I would hope that others like Raise Dead are more restrictive on who can actually cast them. I'd like to see Arcane Rituals, Divine Rituals, Martial Rituals, General Rituals, etc. We'll see soon enough (2.5 weeks and counting).

 

[DeusExMachina]

Also if the party already has 3 ritual casters for example, why take the feat if you can also take any of a number of different useful feats?

 

[Ander00]

If rituals are truly as generic as has been hinted, that'd be great. It would mean that should our so far undecided player pick the rogue in favor of the wizard, I'll just have my warlord pick up the feat and we shouldn't be screwed for not having a cleric or wizard in our party.


cheers

 

[Jack99]

I have a hard time making up my mind on this subject. On one hand, I feel that rituals (as we know them - spells from the prior editions) should be the provenance of wizards, warlocks and priests. Perhaps even paladins.

On the other hand, some greater flexibility would be mighty nice. I still have issues with a fighter performing a Raise Dead Ritual.

Maybe taking the Ritual feat (assuming it exists) will require you have access to either the arcane or the divine power source. So in order for a fighter to cast rituals, he would have to multi-class first. That would work for me.

 

[Mort_Q]

I suspect that a DM could easily require you to spend time and money gathering rituals, either as tomes or scrolls. I also suspect that there are different feats for each power source... or maybe that's just wishful thinking.

 

[Wepwawet]

From what was hinted, I believe rituals will have somthing to do with Incantations (I don't know in which book it came, but I saw it here)

For example, in that restore ritual (or what was it's name?) seen in the PHB you have to do one or more Heal skill checks.
So I would say that your ability to perform rituals is limited by your skills, or those available in the party (from PCs with ritual casting maybe)

Edit: Well, with half your level bonus to skills, it won't be much of a limitation, either...

 

[Byronic]

Edit: Well, with half your level bonus to skills, it won't be much of a limitation, either...

I think that the DC will raise later on so having a feat in a skill might still be quite handy.

 

[Stormtalon]

When I looked thru the Ritual section last night (Source C&G in Minnesota has a preview set of the books), each ritual had an associated skill; a lot of them seemed to require Arcana, though the Cure Disease ritual required Heal and I think the rest require Religion. I believe you have to have skill training, so it's a minimum of two feats (unless Arcana/Heal is in your class list) for a non-caster to be able to make use of rituals.

As far as Cure Disease goes, it has the potential to be brutal. Some diseases might impose a penalty on the Heal check as it lists "zero or below" on the check result table. That result, btw, kills the patient outright. Below 10 (working from memory here, so might be off by 5 or so) and they take damage equal to their max HP, which might be survivable. The other check levels are 75% hp, 50%, 25% and at over 30 on the check, zero damage.

 

[Hellzon]

I still have issues with a fighter performing a Raise Dead Ritual.

You haven't seen Conan the Barbarian then. That's one fighter with the Raise Dead Ritual right there.

Edit: For the uninitiated, I'm not talking about Conan. It's one of his comrades.

More edit: A Warlord with the Ritual Casting feat sounds like a pasable approximation of a historical druid or bard (if their magic had been real).