D&D 3E/3.5 Is there a D&D 3.5 mechanic for ritual casting?
Greenfield
Adventurer
Exactly. Let me clarify.
Rituals take place in one hour increments. Each hour, every participant in the ritual may cast one spell, be it the primary or a secondary.
So if there's only one caster, the ritual will require one hour per spell involved.
Two casters? one hour for every two spells, with fractions rounded up.
Three casters? One hour for every three spells required, again with any leftovers calling for the extra hour.
Suppose we had three casters for the example. In the first hour the Primary spell, Magic Circle is cast. Another caster adds Continual Flame and the third one adds Fireball. The Glyph, to allow people to pass based on a pass phrase, has to happen in the second hour, since all involved participants have already cast a spell in the first one.
Magic Circle and Fireball are both third level spells, so if neither of those casters has the Ritual Caster feat then they need to be 11th level or so. Why? Because they can only contribute spells up to half their highest available spell rank, and that means that they have to able to cast 6th level spells.
The Cleric (Glyph of Warding and possibly Continual Flame) will have the feat as a class feature, and can use any spell in their prepared list.
Now, to be clear, this is mostly brainstorming. Nothing has come close to being play tested. It may be a complete fustercluck. It's a *PROPOSED* house rule, and even if it somehow works perfectly, should still be 100% at the DM's discretion.
Greenfield
Adventurer
Additional thoughts: Maintaining a ritual for hours at a time wouldn't be easy.
Does a Concentration check seem appropriate? DC = 15 + Spell Level + 1 per hour spent in ritual?
What happens when someone fails? Simple failure, or should there be some kind of backlash?
Backlash sounds delightfully cinematic, but I'm not sure how to adjudicate it. Probably something best defined by the DM when the ritual is designed.
Does a Concentration check seem appropriate? DC = 15 + Spell Level + 1 per hour spent in ritual?
What happens when someone fails? Simple failure, or should there be some kind of backlash?
Backlash sounds delightfully cinematic, but I'm not sure how to adjudicate it. Probably something best defined by the DM when the ritual is designed.
Garthanos
Arcadian Knight
Arcana doesn't specifically use residuum it uses "alchemical reagents" - described in the players handbook and including extracts from creatures.... did you need them to say eye of newt??
Residuum is just a generic which may stand in for the normal ingredients of any ritual with any skill base (I know some DMs make the generic more expensive and I rarely provide it in treasure). If no player knows disenchant the party might never even see residuum.
Shrug D&D economy in my opinion is always and in every edition the main issue with ritual casting.
Last edited:
ElectricDragon
Explorer
This is something I have been working on lately for another thread; but it seems appropriate here as well. It is my attempt to codify rituals that already exist in the game, but are mostly glossed over.
This is but one type of ritual.
Magic Item Recipe
Unguent of Timelessness
When applied to any matter that was once alive, this ointment allows that substance to resist the passage of time. Each year of actual time affects the substance as if only a day had passed. The coated object gains a +1 resistance bonus on all saving throws. The unguent never wears off, although it can be magically removed (by dispelling the effect, for instance). One flask contains enough material to coat eight Medium or smaller objects. A Large object counts as two Medium objects, and a Huge object counts as two Large objects.
Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Prerequisite: Craft Wondrous Item; Market Price 150 gp.
To make this item, you must start on the set date (or one of the optional ones), have acquired the ingredients, fulfilled all conditions and requirements, and followed the directions.
Ingredients
1 heart of a stone golem (for the slow time effect)
1 gil of sweet vitriol
1 drop of vitreous from a basilisk eye (for the protection effects of petrification)
1 handful of chalk
Date: At midday during high summer on a jade-inlaid* marble table.
Optional Date: At midday on the summer solstice on an ebony table inlaid with lapis lazuli*. This option yields double the unguent (the extra hour wiping of the heart does not double.)
Optional Date: At midday on a religious holiday of the god/goddess of time on an altar (which may or may not have the symbol of the deity inlaid in silver or platinum) dedicated to the god/goddess of time.
*The design must be an infinity symbol, though it can be quite elaborate in its presentation of the symbol.
Requirements: Craft Wondrous Item, appropriate table/altar, vestments and divine fire (if divine creator), laboratory and elemental fire (if arcane creator), stone mortar, obsidian pestle, iron kettle, silver spoon, flask, all ingredients, caster level 3+, Craft (alchemy) 1+ ranks.
Condition: Cloudless Day.
Directions: Mix the vitriol, vitreous, and chalk in a stone mortar [I use marble] with an obsidian pestle. Chant the ritual incantation (“Presto Chango”). Pour the mixture into an iron kettle; and, being careful not to splash the ingredients, add the heart. Heat the mixture on an elemental/divine fire for 1 hour. Remove from heat and let dry for two days (until noon) for solidifying into a paste. Using a silver spoon, decant into a flask for storage.
Gnude’s Gnote: The heart can be wiped off and reused [careful wiping will garner enough additional unguent to coat one more Medium-sized object, but this takes an extra hour of work].
A close friend of mine from the capitol sent me this recipe so that I would not have to continue to discard most of the escargot (“not enough customers,” says Gnasti, the wife; “equals lots o’ loss”). This friend also instructed me to offer a copy of the magic item recipe to any cook that asked about any recipe.
The stone golem heart was very difficult to acquire, but my men found a ruined wizard’s tower defended by one (and only one, thank the gods). After several forays, we were able to dismantle the beast, deactivate it permanently, and thus gain its heart.
I was able to purchase the basilisk eye from a merchant that usually passes through here in the spring (though it took him nearly 2 years to find a pair for me); so far that first eye has lasted for multiple batches of the unguent (I use the unguent on the basilisk eyes themselves, to keep them fresh).
This unguent does NOT work on actually still living creatures, else my cousin, Gnauseous, would be a conversation-piece at the entrance to the inn rather than the over-talkative hostler that pesters my customers with incessant small talk about crops and weather.
This is but one type of ritual.
Magic Item Recipe
Unguent of Timelessness
When applied to any matter that was once alive, this ointment allows that substance to resist the passage of time. Each year of actual time affects the substance as if only a day had passed. The coated object gains a +1 resistance bonus on all saving throws. The unguent never wears off, although it can be magically removed (by dispelling the effect, for instance). One flask contains enough material to coat eight Medium or smaller objects. A Large object counts as two Medium objects, and a Huge object counts as two Large objects.
Faint transmutation; CL 3rd; Prerequisite: Craft Wondrous Item; Market Price 150 gp.
To make this item, you must start on the set date (or one of the optional ones), have acquired the ingredients, fulfilled all conditions and requirements, and followed the directions.
Ingredients
1 heart of a stone golem (for the slow time effect)
1 gil of sweet vitriol
1 drop of vitreous from a basilisk eye (for the protection effects of petrification)
1 handful of chalk
Date: At midday during high summer on a jade-inlaid* marble table.
Optional Date: At midday on the summer solstice on an ebony table inlaid with lapis lazuli*. This option yields double the unguent (the extra hour wiping of the heart does not double.)
Optional Date: At midday on a religious holiday of the god/goddess of time on an altar (which may or may not have the symbol of the deity inlaid in silver or platinum) dedicated to the god/goddess of time.
*The design must be an infinity symbol, though it can be quite elaborate in its presentation of the symbol.
Requirements: Craft Wondrous Item, appropriate table/altar, vestments and divine fire (if divine creator), laboratory and elemental fire (if arcane creator), stone mortar, obsidian pestle, iron kettle, silver spoon, flask, all ingredients, caster level 3+, Craft (alchemy) 1+ ranks.
Condition: Cloudless Day.
Directions: Mix the vitriol, vitreous, and chalk in a stone mortar [I use marble] with an obsidian pestle. Chant the ritual incantation (“Presto Chango”). Pour the mixture into an iron kettle; and, being careful not to splash the ingredients, add the heart. Heat the mixture on an elemental/divine fire for 1 hour. Remove from heat and let dry for two days (until noon) for solidifying into a paste. Using a silver spoon, decant into a flask for storage.
Gnude’s Gnote: The heart can be wiped off and reused [careful wiping will garner enough additional unguent to coat one more Medium-sized object, but this takes an extra hour of work].
A close friend of mine from the capitol sent me this recipe so that I would not have to continue to discard most of the escargot (“not enough customers,” says Gnasti, the wife; “equals lots o’ loss”). This friend also instructed me to offer a copy of the magic item recipe to any cook that asked about any recipe.
The stone golem heart was very difficult to acquire, but my men found a ruined wizard’s tower defended by one (and only one, thank the gods). After several forays, we were able to dismantle the beast, deactivate it permanently, and thus gain its heart.
I was able to purchase the basilisk eye from a merchant that usually passes through here in the spring (though it took him nearly 2 years to find a pair for me); so far that first eye has lasted for multiple batches of the unguent (I use the unguent on the basilisk eyes themselves, to keep them fresh).
This unguent does NOT work on actually still living creatures, else my cousin, Gnauseous, would be a conversation-piece at the entrance to the inn rather than the over-talkative hostler that pesters my customers with incessant small talk about crops and weather.
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
I like the house rule, and if I were still running 3e or Pathfinder I would adopt it, except for part of this sentence.
Full range of spells...
Reminds me of Persistent Spell. WotC put some effort into restricting what spells it could apply to, but it's a doomed effort. Eventually some spell will come out that, while perfectly balanced, could create a broken combo.
I generally prefer something like Permanency (the versions I'm familiar with all give a specific list of spells they apply to) or 4e, which made the ritual/regular spell split greater, and every ritual is balanced (or at least balanceable) while regular spells virtually never last more than 5 minutes (and those that do are basically trade a power slot for a componentless ritual, rather than something that could be either). I don't know why a wizard should be able to create a ritual involving Fireball, for instance.
Greenfield
Adventurer
The exact spells that can go into a ritual is up to the DM. All rituals need to be developed in cooperation with the DM, and all need to be approved by the DM.
The "Full range of spells" phrase simply means that they can use spells of any level that they can cast, and that applies only to casters with the Ritual Caster feat. characters who don't have that feat are limited to their lower level spells (i.e. their top spell slot level /2, rounded down).
The "Full range of spells" phrase simply means that they can use spells of any level that they can cast, and that applies only to casters with the Ritual Caster feat. characters who don't have that feat are limited to their lower level spells (i.e. their top spell slot level /2, rounded down).
LuisCarlos17f
Legend
You shouldn't forget the pacts with vestiges from 3.5 Tome of Magic.
