Break a Ritual!

[Wolfwood2]

It's a D&D tradition to find creative uses for magic that makes spells achieve ends for which they weren't originally intended. Let's take a look at 4E rituals and see if we can find non-obvious uses for them.

Animal Messenger - This ritual is very non-specific in defining such terms as "recipient" and "location". Could it potentially be used to track down a fugitive by following the animal? Can you use it to harrass by having the animal whisper insulting messages?

Arcane Lock - You can dismiss your arcane lock at any time, and you instantly know when your arcane lock has been defeated. With a little preparatory work, this could be a great means of coded communication across vast distances.

Consult Oracle - You could potentially make this a combat ritual by summoning the Oracle right before a fight and using it to get useful tactical information during the battle.

Drawmihj's Instant Summons - There's nothing actually saying you have to have the object present when conducting the ritual. (Still, it's going be a hard sell to convince the DM to let you use it to steal stuff.)

Eye of Alarm - Anything that can be extended indefinitely is open to fun. I especially like that you can designate the sound as you like. There must be room for fun there.

Forbiddance - Because it can eventually be made permanent, you can probably _rent_ a Forbidden location in any large city. Don't waste your cash casting it yourself!

Hallucinatory Item - Use it to cover up an item that actually is there. Who will bother touching your treasure if it looks like a pile of cow dung?

Leomund's Secret Chest - So a level 6 teleportation spell. Cool. Just make a chest big enough for the whole party to climb into, and it's like your own personal Word of Recall. It can also be used to transport creature to where you are, if you have them climb in at a prearranged time.

Magic Circle - 1 minute to inscribe per square inside the circle is tough, but with a little prep work you could easily capture an entire building full of people. This seems tailor-made for storybased traps. You create the circle in advance, lure your enemy inside, and then distract him there long enough to keep him... forever.

Magic Mouth - No limitation whatsoever on "conditions you set". 'Nuff said.

Observe Creature - The blurb at the top makes it sound like this is about spying, but it's really about a different kind of info gathering. "Show me the one who murdered my servant Bob!" would be a perfectly reasonable way of specifying the creature intended. And one you know his face, you order your minions to go grab him based on your description.

Phantom Steed - At paragon tier and higher, is there any reason that every party member shouldn't start every combat on a phantom steed? Sure they pop when hit, but the ritual specifically says you land on your feet. Have that extra movement at the beginning of combat can be crucial. This is going to be a must-have ritual for every party.

Secret Page - Something to do with the fact that the size of the page is nowhere specified, only the number of words?

Shadow Walk - No numerical limitation on "allies". Could you lead an army through the Shadowlands?

Any others?

 

[Ravingdork]

It's a D&D tradition to find creative uses for magic that makes spells achieve ends for which they weren't originally intended. Let's take a look at 4E rituals and see if we can find non-obvious uses for them.

Animal Messenger - This ritual is very non-specific in defining such terms as "recipient" and "location". Could it potentially be used to track down a fugitive by following the animal? Can you use it to harrass by having the animal whisper insulting messages?

Arcane Lock - You can dismiss your arcane lock at any time, and you instantly know when your arcane lock has been defeated. With a little preparatory work, this could be a great means of coded communication across vast distances.

Consult Oracle - You could potentially make this a combat ritual by summoning the Oracle right before a fight and using it to get useful tactical information during the battle.

Drawmihj's Instant Summons - There's nothing actually saying you have to have the object present when conducting the ritual. (Still, it's going be a hard sell to convince the DM to let you use it to steal stuff.)

Eye of Alarm - Anything that can be extended indefinitely is open to fun. I especially like that you can designate the sound as you like. There must be room for fun there.

Forbiddance - Because it can eventually be made permanent, you can probably _rent_ a Forbidden location in any large city. Don't waste your cash casting it yourself!

Hallucinatory Item - Use it to cover up an item that actually is there. Who will bother touching your treasure if it looks like a pile of cow dung?

Leomund's Secret Chest - So a level 6 teleportation spell. Cool. Just make a chest big enough for the whole party to climb into, and it's like your own personal Word of Recall. It can also be used to transport creature to where you are, if you have them climb in at a prearranged time.

Magic Circle - 1 minute to inscribe per square inside the circle is tough, but with a little prep work you could easily capture an entire building full of people. This seems tailor-made for storybased traps. You create the circle in advance, lure your enemy inside, and then distract him there long enough to keep him... forever.

Magic Mouth - No limitation whatsoever on "conditions you set". 'Nuff said.

Observe Creature - The blurb at the top makes it sound like this is about spying, but it's really about a different kind of info gathering. "Show me the one who murdered my servant Bob!" would be a perfectly reasonable way of specifying the creature intended. And one you know his face, you order your minions to go grab him based on your description.

Phantom Steed - At paragon tier and higher, is there any reason that every party member shouldn't start every combat on a phantom steed? Sure they pop when hit, but the ritual specifically says you land on your feet. Have that extra movement at the beginning of combat can be crucial. This is going to be a must-have ritual for every party.

Secret Page - Something to do with the fact that the size of the page is nowhere specified, only the number of words?

Shadow Walk - No numerical limitation on "allies". Could you lead an army through the Shadowlands?

Any others?

Pure win. I shall puruse some rituals and get abck to you.

 

[LokiDR]

I have been wondering about the definition of a teleportion circle. Could I inscribe one on the inside of a shield? How about in a wagon? Using the arcane lock trick, this could be an easy summon reinforcements trick.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Leomund's Secret Chest - So a level 6 teleportation spell. Cool. Just make a chest big enough for the whole party to climb into, and it's like your own personal Word of Recall. It can also be used to transport creature to where you are, if you have them climb in at a prearranged time.

The wording says objects can be removed and put inside:
Unless you feel like killing the party (corpses are objects after all, no longer creatures): I don't see how you would use it.

 

[Mistwell]

Tenser's Floating Disk

You create a slightly concave, circular plane of force that floats a foot off the ground and can carry what you lay upon it. The disk is 3 feet in diameter and 1 inch deep at its center. It remains stationary unless you move more than 5 squares away from it, in which case it moves with your base speed once per round until it is within 5 squares of you. You can command the disk to move up to your speed as a move action. If you are more than 5 squares from the disk for 2 consecutive rounds, the disk disappears, dropping whatever it was carrying. 24 hour duration, minimum carry capacity 250 pounds.

So, you can now sit on it yourself (it carrys anything you put on it), and moves your base speed as a move action. Any reason why you can't use this to move over traps? Pools of acid or lava? It normally floats a foot off the ground, but it can also keep up with you wherever you go (so if you were flying, presumably it would float well above that 1 foot level from the ground), which may mean it is capable of flying if you direct it to with a move action.

It's also a force object, which I think means it can block a doorway.

If you are an elf (speed 7) with the +5' speed feat, and you run (+2 speed) you could be moving the slower character in your party behind you at a speed of 10.

 

[WarlockLord]

This thread is awesome.

I will contribute when I am at home with my books.

But there's always the old standby of covering a pit or something with illusion.

 

[Wolfwood2]

The wording says objects can be removed and put inside:
Unless you feel like killing the party (corpses are objects after all, no longer creatures): I don't see how you would use it.

When talking about what can be transported, it refers to "contents" rather than "objects", with the only limitation given that the contents be able to fit inside the chest.

 

[Mistwell]

I was actually thinking of having an entire adventure night based on a University test to overcome traps and challenges based on ritual scrolls and components supplied to the players. This thread helps come up with the ideas for those challenges.

 

[James McMurray]

Tenser's Floating Disk



So, you can now sit on it yourself (it carrys anything you put on it), and moves your base speed as a move action. Any reason why you can't use this to move over traps? Pools of acid or lava? It normally floats a foot off the ground, but it can also keep up with you wherever you go (so if you were flying, presumably it would float well above that 1 foot level from the ground), which may mean it is capable of flying if you direct it to with a move action.

It's also a force object, which I think means it can block a doorway.

If you are an elf (speed 7) with the +5' speed feat, and you run (+2 speed) you could be moving the slower character in your party behind you at a speed of 10.

It says it floats 1' off the ground, not that it can fly. I assume it's WotC ignoring the third dimension rather than them intentionally creating a 1st level ritual that gives anyone who can cast it a fly speed for 24 hours.

Using it to help others keep up is cool though.

 

[Mort_Q]

Drawmihj's Instant Summons - There's nothing actually saying you have to have the object present when conducting the ritual.

The attune part is reasonably implicit.