About them rituals

[Milambus]

They don't get the book for free but they do get the feat for free. You need to pluck down the gold for the book.

Wizards can put rituals into their spellbook, and it contains 3 of them at level 1.

Clerics get a ritual book, and it contains two rituals including Gentle Repose.

Neither has to buy them.

 

[Rafe]

You're correct that he doesn't need to be trained in the ritual's key skill, though.

Really? I thought the key skill had to be Trained. Hmm... that really opens things up.

 

[disarray2]

I take it you are going on the fact it says you possess one? I took have you get one but you still need to buy the thing from your starter gold and it didn't just appear before you when you decided you became a wizard. It's a tool of your trade much like a sword is for a fighter and they didn't get that for free. The cost is comparable to a fighter getting his weapons and armor and if you don't need to purchase it, it does seem a bit unfair to the other characters that require higher priced armor/weapons.

 

[Rafe]

I take it you are going on the fact it says you possess one? I took have you get one but you still need to buy the thing from your starter gold and it didn't just appear before you when you decided you became a wizard. It's a tool of your trade much like a sword is for a fighter and they didn't get that for free. The cost is comparable to a fighter getting his weapons and armor and if you don't need to purchase it, it does seem a bit unfair to the other characters that require higher priced armor/weapons.

I make my players pay for the spellbook, and I always pay for mine. Otherwise, Wizards start play with 70g unspent while others who've had to pay for everything start play with 5-15g.

 

[Patlin]

The Fighter doesn't even need to be trained in the the Religion Skill. (I assume you mean trained in Religion, since everyone "has" all skills.) In fact, you technically don't need to be trained in any skills in order to perform rituals, however, the result of some rituals is better depending on the result of your skill check. Naturally, a character trained in the key skill will end up with more favorable results. Raise Dead doesn't require a skill check, however.

Later!
Gruns

I thought there was a prerequisite on the Ritual Caster feat of trained in Arcana or Religion?

 

[disarray2]

I make my players pay for the spellbook, and I always pay for mine. Otherwise, Wizards start play with 70g unspent while others who've had to pay for everything start play with 5-15g.

Exactly Rafe. That's what I was trying to say but doing it poorly. I paid for mine.

 

[disarray2]

I thought there was a prerequisite on the Ritual Caster feat of trained in Arcana or Religion?

You are correct. Here's the text.

Ritual Caster
Prerequisite: Trained in Arcana or Religion
Benefit: You can master and perform rituals of
your level or lower. See Chapter 10 for information on
acquiring, mastering, and performing rituals. Even
though some rituals use the Heal skill or the Nature
skill, the Arcana skill or the Religion skill is required
to understand how to perform rituals.

 

[Gruns]

Yes but...

I thought there was a prerequisite on the Ritual Caster feat of trained in Arcana or Religion?

That's correct, but my point was that you don't need to be trained in the key skill, which is what the original poster was inferring by mentioning Religion as it applies to the Raise Dead ritual. (It's Key Skill is Religion).

Later,
Gruns

 

[Doctor Proctor]

I make my players pay for the spellbook, and I always pay for mine. Otherwise, Wizards start play with 70g unspent while others who've had to pay for everything start play with 5-15g.

Yes, but an armor wearing Melee Cleric wouldn't have 70g left over to spend on a ritual book. So you're being a bit unfair to the Cleric here.

Plus, you're forgetting the fact that you could just have the Wizard and Cleric each buy a ritual. You could even houserule that they have to in order to eat up some gold.

I don't really see it as a problem though. Our Rogue started out a Dagger, Crossbow, some bolts and Leather Armor. He had enough gold left over to buy himself a Healing Potion, so the Wizard or Cleric that had extra cash could do the same. It's a "bonus" for them, but it's also something they could use to aid the party in a pinch.

 

[nittanytbone]

I make my players pay for the spellbook, and I always pay for mine. Otherwise, Wizards start play with 70g unspent while others who've had to pay for everything start play with 5-15g.

Disagree entirely.

RAW: It says you start with a ritual book! Pretty clear!

RAI: As we've noted here, getting a free book and a free feat is one of the bennies for being a traditional ritualist (Wizard/Cleric, i.e.). Taking that away levels the playing field even more. Also, Its nice for the wizard/cleric to be able to start play with some ritual components so that they can actually USE that "tool of the trade."