Best use of rituals you have seen so far?

[Plane Sailing]

So, what have been the best use of rituals (by any class) that you have seen so far in your 4e games?

Whether standard PHB ones, Dragon issue ones or home-brewed rituals?

Cheers

 

[NMcCoy]

Not the best use, but a fun one - we were trying to capture and hold a warehouse area. We bashed down the front gate, Make Whole'd it again behind us, and proceeded to fortify the premises while our pursuers had to deal with the repaired and reinforced gate.

 

[misalo1]

Not the best use, but a fun one - we were trying to capture and hold a warehouse area. We bashed down the front gate, Make Whole'd it again behind us, and proceeded to fortify the premises while our pursuers had to deal with the repaired and reinforced gate.

Well Done.. I like that.

 

[Ryujin]

All I've got is drowning a NPC dwarf in boiling water by Arcane Locking the only exit, because he risked the lives of the whole party to further his own agenda.

I am planning on building a fortress using Earthen Ramparts and Excavation for around 2000gp though.

 

[Byronic]

All I've got is drowning a NPC dwarf in boiling water by Arcane Locking the only exit, because he risked the lives of the whole party to further his own agenda.

I am planning on building a fortress using Earthen Ramparts and Excavation for around 2000gp though.

How did you do the arcane Lock ritual so fast? I mean, wouldn't he have died in the ten min necessary to cast it?

Do you use a house rule?

 

[Ryujin]

How did you do the arcane Lock ritual so fast? I mean, wouldn't he have died in the ten min necessary to cast it?

Do you use a house rule?

It wasn't all that fast actually. The fighter held the door while I cast it, and while the dwarf was pounding away at it trying to get out. We're a fairly mercenary lot, but loyal to each other unto death. An outsider risks the life of a party member, he's going to pay for it.

Next time I'll just use one of those consumable spikes.

 

[Lancelot]

Our games see a fair bit of ritual use. Water breathing, water walking, comprehend languages, hand of fate, detect secret doors and knock are all favorites.

Creative uses:

Floating disk to carry a captured enemy while trying to evade pursuit in a mountainous area. The disk allowed them to move at their full speed, rather than getting slowed by hauling around 220 lbs of unconscious baaz draconian.

Make whole to repair a good shrine, while staving off a zombie assault. The party wizard was 9 minutes into casting the ritual when zombies started battering their way into the shrine from two entrances. The rest of the party had to hold them off for 10 rounds (1 minute) while the wizard completed the ritual - which would repair the altar, resanctify the area, and permanently keep out the zombies. Each round was a tough decision: do I keep casting, even though my buddies are in desperate danger... or do i stop casting, join the battle, and hope that our group can take out a bunch of zombies in straight combat?

 

[fba827]

As of yet, rituals have not been actually cast by the PCs in either campaign. However, in one of the two campaigns, the rituals are used "off screen" by NPCs to explain the majority of the plot points - so I wouldn't say they have been "worthless" for us yet.

Edit: It is worth noting that in both campaigns we are still level 4 or lower, so not as much game time for it to actually have come up.

 

[zoroaster100]

I see some of the new classes allow use of some rituals without using component costs. That seems like a nice way to correct some of the excessive cost of ritual casting (too much money plus too much time together add up to rarely or never used). But I wonder if they'll find a way to retro that fix for wizards and clerics as well.

As for the question at hand, so far my groups have only used on ritual, Comprehend Languages, which came in pretty handy to read ancient runes in a dungeon they were exploring. They only just got to third level, though.

 

[ArtofSymmetry]

I used Tensers Floating Disc with a high arcana roll to ferry each of our PC's over 20 sleeping kruthik minions. Very useful when you have a Paladin in Plate Mail.

I Also used Gentle Repose to preserve some corpses, which I then stored inside a Portable Hole.

Cantrips are also good for this thread, I used Mage Hand to prop a corpse in front of an arrow trap.

Plan to use Ghost Sound and Bluff to some effect as well.

As for Rituals in general, my dm is rather lax on ritual costs and time. He let's us extend a short rest to 10 minutes so I can cast things like Gentle Repose and Tensers, he also let's me reduce the cost on most rituals. (Except Tenser's because I always roll like 1000 lb capacity and he thinks it's rigged)