Ritual magic

[CCamfield]

Does anyone have any house rules for ritual magic? (Loosely speaking, some elaborate spellcasting to achieve an abnormally powerful effect, relative to the casters)).

At some point I probably need to come up with a ritual to permanently remove the enchantment from magical items (for an evil cult sacrificing the magic to their demon-god) and I could definitely do with some help here.

I realize that Relics & Rituals has stuff (obviously) related to rituals, but I don't really want to buy the whole book for one small section of it.

 

[Hygric]

If you have access to the epic levels handbook, you might be able to adapt some of the epic spells section for ritual spells. Could work rather well (so long as you keep tight reign on how it is used in the campaign).

Say, up the casting time to 1 hour base (instead of one minute), require the ritual casting thingies (so that it must be cast by at least 2 people) and create the Ritual Magic feat to allow access to it and you could be on a winner.

hmmm, this might fit well in my campaign... where is my word-processor!

 

[SylverFlame]

My system

I had a system in 2e that went like this. It was mostly for high level summons but would work for everything.
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The casting time became 30minutes/spell level. ALL rituals had components with a cost of no less than 100gp/level (increase for exotic stuff). A one time purchase of "equipment" was required (alter, bowls, etc.).

Preperations time was 10minutes/level (had to meet this before casting) and this could be reduced by additional casters (10min/caster). EG: A third level spell required 30min of prep but three casters could do it in 10min. These casters need not be able to cast the ritual (any fool can sweep the floor for example).

As well, appropriate checks had to made. I would disallow taking twenty as casting a warding circle to hold a demon is EXTREMELY stressful since one mistake and you will be a smear on the wall.
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That's really it. I tried keeping it simple because players would only use rituals occasionally.

 

[CCamfield]

Thanks Sylverflame! (Hygric, I'm afraid I don't have the ELH.)

One additional element to add that just struck me would be to require a number of participants based on the level of the spell. It could be as few(!) as one per level of the spell, or maybe the level of the spell squared. (81 people for a level 9 spell!) Perhaps level-squared spell levels.

Any thoughts on how powerful an effect would have to be to PERMANENTLY disenchant a magic item (or leach the spells out of a spellbook)?

 

[Hygric]

Mord's Disjunction permanently breaks items, and it's a 9th level spell. However, it does it in an area, and does spells as well, so I guess about a 6th level touch range single target ritual spell should do the trick.

 

[SylverFlame]

If you factor in the fact that something is a ritual (specific time and place it can be done) this reduces a spells effectiveness and thereby its level.

As such, I think a ritual to remove magic from an item is at least 7th level for only one item. If you allow it to affect multiple items then the following makes sense to me:

1 item + 1 item/3 levels : Spell level 8 (7 items at 20th level)
1 item + 1 item/2 levels : Spell level 9 (11 items at 20th level)

In each case only the "lead" casters level affects the number. Any more items and this would be one wopping spell. Essentially only gods could affect many more.

I'd also cap the number of items at 11.

The other option is to affect items of only so high a "+".

"+1" and "+1"/ 3 levels (+7 worth of items at 20th level) using the first example.

IMO I'd go with the "+" system. It better represents the power you're weilding with the spell.