[NSFW] Darkvision: Three-Step Process

[EP]

I don't know if it needs to be stepped up to keep it a challenge. People will work within their comfort level, so you can have both "regular" stuff (such as a feat progression which is the obvious choice here) and more exotic submissions. I suppose it also depends if you care about the amount of submissions (basically whether you'd rather have a lot of varied ones or a few "exotic" ones). I would advice to keep it simple (to begin with at least), in order to attract submissions, which will keep the concept alive. That also makes more people want to contribute. It would be a shame if the concept died with the second exercise.

True enough. I don't really have any of the others worked out so far (although I'm close enough to being set on the second exercise for this month), so I don't know if there will ever be an incremental difficulty as each exercise continues. Some may just be tougher than others right off the bat. I'll probably just go with what I'm seeing to date and work with that accordingly. There's clearly more than enough uses for darkvision beyond what I was considering.

 

[Tuft]

Drider Curse
Level 14 Curse
Interfering with the rituals of the Drow may carry a horrible price.

Attack: +18 vs Fortitude
Religion improve DC 30 Maintain DC 26 worsen DC 25 or lower

The target is cured.
---
Initial Effect
Intense pain cause the target to lose one healing surge, which cannot be regained until the target is cured, or reaches the curse's final stage.
---
The target is weakened and immobilized as their legs starts to change.
---
Final Stage
The target's lower body is turned into a giant spider. Target gains darkvision and spider climb.

 

[EP]

Tuft, remind me to never let you be the DM at my table.

That's certainly how you grant darkvision... among other things. Nice job.

 

[77IM]

(Formatting and wording is probably way off since this is from memory but I guess that's part of the fun, eh?)


Rituals:


Darkvision
Level: 3 / Material Component Cost: 125 gp
Type: Exploration / Targets: Up to 10 creatures within 5 squares
Time: 10 minutes / Skill: Nature

The target gains darkvision. Your check result determines the duration of the effect, according to the table below. If you target multiple creatures, all gain darkvision, but the duration is divided by the number of creatures (for example, if your check result indicates 6 hours, but you target 3 creatures, each gets darkvision for only 2 hours).

DC : Duration
0-15 : 10 minutes
16-25 : 1 hour
26-35 : 6 hours
36+ : 24 hours


Permanence
Level: 12 / Material Component Cost: Special (see text)
Type: Miscellaneous / Targets: One ritual effect within 4 squares
Time: 8 hours / Skill: Arcana (no check)

One ritual effect of your level or lower has its duration increased to 24 hours. Once every 24 hours, you may spend a healing surge to extend the duration another 24 hours. You can extend the ritual effect in this manner no matter how far you are from it, even if you are on another plane. If the ritual effect is targeting some other creature, then whenever you spend the healing surge to extend the duration, the creature is entitled to a saving throw to cancel the effect.

Permanence has a material component cost 5x the cost of the ritual you are extending. You must spend 5 healing surges when you initially perform Permanence. If another character aids you in the ritual, whoever contributes the initial healing surges must also be the one who spends a surge every 24 hours to continue extending the duration.



Paragon Feat:


PERMANENT ENCHANTMENT
Prerequisites: You must be under the effect of a ritual which is being extended with Permanence.
Benefit: The duration of the ritual's effect becomes permanent, and the effect will continue even if the Permanence ritual lapses (because the requisite healing surges were not spent). The ritual effect ends only when you lose this feat through retraining.



Notes:

1. Level 3 darkvision might be too low-level. Lighting isn't really an issue (sunrods are cheap), but the advantages for stealth may warrant making this ritual level 5 or 6. Frankly I can't see darkvision being as useful as Raise Dead; it's maybe as useful as Water Breathing.

2. Permanence is a risky idea because of interactions with other rituals. Permanent Weather Control? Permanent Water Breathing? Permanent Silence? Permanent Linked Portal, for crying out loud... These sound powerful but not game-breaking especially compared to some of the other paragon-level rituals.

3. Permanence really isn't, because it requires ongoing healing surge expenditure. This seems to be the way some other rituals work. Often they have a bonus "If you sustain the ritual for a year and a day it becomes permanent" but I felt that maybe that is too strong. Hmm, perhaps a higher-level ritual...?

4. Spending a feat to make a ritual (affecting yourself) truly permanent seems like a reasonable price to pay.

-- 77IM


PS. This took me about a half an hour to do: that seems like a decent amount of effort for most NSFW-type contests (longer ones could be "special events" or something).

 

[EP]

77IM: Simple, but does the trick. I think this falls under granting darkvision prior to the third step, however, as they do have it as soon as using the first ritual. But I think the ritual itself would work fine at that level if only for one character. I agree that nothing too much higher should be required.

I know what you mean by permanence and affecting other rituals, but yours seems fine. Using a healing surge to offset the extended time works out in theory, but perhaps the healing surge is permanently lost until the ritual expires or else it won't mean much over time. If it only costs you one healing surge and you have seven others to draw from, then there's nothing to stop you from having the ritual last for an eternity!!! (cue evil wizard's laugh)

 

[Pbartender]

In four steps, using the rules already existing in the 4E PHB...

1. Choose the feat Ritual Caster.
2. Master the ritual Enchant Magic Item.
3. 14th level + 21,000 gp
4. Craft Goggles of Night.

 

[77IM]

77IM: Simple, but does the trick. I think this falls under granting darkvision prior to the third step, however, as they do have it as soon as using the first ritual.

The original instructions specified three steps to get "full use" of darkvision. I don't consider the ritual to be "full use" because it is a PITA. Like if the player falls into a darkened pit or gets ambushed at night, they probably can't spend 10 minutes to cast the ritual. The ritual is "partial use" where the usage is that you load up your darkvision ahead of time and then use it for a bit. Plus it costs money...

I was going for the idea that the feat was "full use" because it's permanent (like, it could be part of the Senses entry of a monster stat block).

-- 77IM

 

[EP]

The original instructions specified three steps to get "full use" of darkvision. I don't consider the ritual to be "full use" because it is a PITA. Like if the player falls into a darkened pit or gets ambushed at night, they probably can't spend 10 minutes to cast the ritual. The ritual is "partial use" where the usage is that you load up your darkvision ahead of time and then use it for a bit. Plus it costs money...

I was going for the idea that the feat was "full use" because it's permanent (like, it could be part of the Senses entry of a monster stat block).

-- 77IM

Ahhh, good point. Damn fine point and since this is all meant as a brainstorm (meaning there's no serious evaluation, just discussion), it counts. Nice work.

I just had a vision of a party stuck in a pit, taking their time to invoke a ritual within a trap. Then I imagined I'd have to make up an enclosing spike wall just to force them to try something faster.

 

[EP]

Good job, everyone. I have to admit, these have been fun to look at and it's only the first week.

There's a new exercise started (check the sig for the link) and this one will always stay open. They only end when everyone stops posting.