Martial Rituals

Here's a list of a couple potential heroic-tier combat rites:

1 Battle Prayer (Meditation) Endurance
1 Campfire Watch (Guard) Endurance/Perception
1 Craft Ammunition (Arming) Endurance
1 Heroic Weapon Form (Technique) Acrobatics/Athletics
1 Scout Ahead (Exploration) Perception/Stealth
1 Sharpen My Blade ? (Arming) Endurance

2 Bodyguard (Guard) Endurance/Perception
2 Forced March (Exploration) Endurance
2 Sundering Blow (Might) Athletics/Endurance

3 Rally (Obeisance) Diplomacy/Intimidate
3 Repair Arms & Armor (Arming) Endurance
3 Work Through Pain (Meditation) Endurance

4 Arming Harness (Arming) Endurance
4 Herculean Effort (Might) Athletics/Endurance

6 Signature Weapon (Arming) Endurance
6 Warrior’s Mettle (Meditation) Endurance

8 Healing Trance (Meditation) Endurance
 

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Well, the technique idea you had brought up earlier deserves its own category. I kind of see it as being based around 3 rites, one for each tier. Maybe even call them Heroic Weapon Form, Paragon Weapon Form, and Epic Weapon Form (though I prefer "immortal technique" for that one ;) )?

What I'm thinking is that you'd chose a # of powers to link into a form. If you perform them all successfully & in sequence during combat you gain a bonus to the last power equal to the # power in the chain. At paragon tier you might get a rite that allows you to perform them in any order, not just in sequence. At epic tier you might have the bonuses accrue for each power you perform successfuly, growing like a crescendo.
 

OK, here's the first of (hopefully) many combat rites.

Campfire Watch
As the fire burns, your senses are alert to danger even as you rest your weary body.

Level: 1
Cost: 1 healing surge
Category: Guard
Duration: Extended rest
Key Skill: Endurance/Perception

As long as the campfire burns you suffer no penalty to Perception checks to notice danger during an extended rest, and you may wake all your allies with a minor action by either extinguishing the fire or putting extra wood on. You may make active Perception checks instead of passive ones during your campfire watch.
 

Has anyone else seen Mongoose Publishing's Quintessential Fighter for 4th edition? It includes a system for Martial Rituals similar to what's been discussed here.
 

Moniker -



Care to share?

You bet.

I've amended the ones I've used in the game thus far following the four points of logic you introduced in this thread. Here are the names, and the first ritual I crafted (redrafting current rituals). Additional rituals will be Fighter's Cadence (linking together successful at-will attacks to result in a Milestone), increasing endurance for 24 hours, Pathfinder (forage for food and water without skill checks over a period of time by enviroment), Penny Pinching (increase the amount of coin you have by shaving coins down) and other rituals that fall outside of just the fighter's realm - they'll ally with Rogue, Ranger and Warlord interests as well.



Repair Arms and Armor (Level 1 Martial Rite)

As you finish the rite, the blade is fully restored whole and unblemished as if that Orc hadn’t just sundered it with a dastardly blow. It’s the least you can do after using the innkeeper’s sword to kill that barbarian who burst through the door with murder in his eyes.
Level: 1
Category: Arming
Time: Special
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: Focus worth 30 gp, plus 1/5th of the item's cost in materials
Special Key Skill: Endurance (no check)
A single weapon or suit of armor is completely repaired during an extended rest. You can repair a single ammunition during a short rest. In cases where you attempt to repair an item not on any price list, the DM determines the cost.
Focus: A set of artisan's tools worth 30 gp.




Craft Arms and Armor (Level 4 Martial Rite)

Working day and night, you finally complete your work. The hot blade hisses as you quench it in water, while raising it reflects the guttering light in the hearth behind you.
Level: 4
Category: Arming
Time: Special
Duration: Permanent
Component Cost: Focus worth 350 gp, plus 1/3rd of the item's cost in materials
Special Key Skill: Endurance (no check required)
A single magic weapon or suit of magic armor is created over a period of days. Additionally, you can craft lesser arms and armor if you so choose. Note that you cannot create magic items beyond the scope of simple weapons or armor (e.g. Magic Armor +2).

It takes a number of days equal to the type of armor or weapon you're attempting to craft:

Simple One-handed Melee/Ranged - TBD
Simple Two-Handed Melee/Ranged - TBD

Martial One-Handed Melee/Ranged - TBD
Martial Two-Handed Melee/Ranged - TBD

Superior One-Handed Melee/Ranged - TBD
Superior Two-Handed Melee/Ranged - TBD

Focus: A set of smithery tools (including tongs, hammers, coal, an anvil, a hearth and other miscellaneous tools) worth 350 gp. Note you must own a storefront in order to house these tools.


Stand Your Ground (Level 5 Martial Rite)
Standing between the lines you've drawn in the dirt, you turn back blow after blow. Covered in beads of sweat, you cover your comrade's escape down the alleyway.
Level: 5
Category: Guard
Time: Special
Duration: Until broken
Component Cost: 1 Action Point
Key Skill: Endurance
You draw the proverbial lines in the sand with your foot. When performing the ritual, you choose an origin to ward against - artillery, brute, controller, lurker, skirmisher, soldier or all. The last option applies a –5 penalty to your check. It requires 1 round to inscribe per square and you must declare what squares you will attempt to ward before the end of the rite. Note you can only ward a number of squares equal to your move rate. An affected creature whose level is lower than your Endurance check result minus 10 cannot pass over the line, affect creatures on the other side of the boundry, or affect the boundary in any way. Other foes of different origin take force damage equal to your Endurance check result when passing through the boundary, which breaks the ward. Note that you can still take actions, however you cannot abandon the ward or it breaks.
 
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Has anyone else seen Mongoose Publishing's Quintessential Fighter for 4th edition? It includes a system for Martial Rituals similar to what's been discussed here.
Really? I haven't been able to find any info about it online. Could you post the approach Mongoose takes? thanks!
 

One of the things this makes me think of is "Kings Magic" the "Rites of Kings" --- a flavorful name for your Obesiance --- various movies including... excaliber , for instance A ritual which binds your weapon to you so that it cant be used against you... or maybe the first time it is used against you, that use is at a serious penalty, or bound by blood so only those of your bloodline will be able to use it well. I know some of that could be in old fashioned magic items but I like the idea that some Martial ritual at high enough level bleeds back into a very magical flavor.
 

One of the things this makes me think of is "Kings Magic" the "Rites of Kings" --- a flavorful name for your Obesiance --- various movies including... excaliber , for instance A ritual which binds your weapon to you so that it cant be used against you... or maybe the first time it is used against you, that use is at a serious penalty, or bound by blood so only those of your bloodline will be able to use it well. I know some of that could be in old fashioned magic items but I like the idea that some Martial ritual at high enough level bleeds back into a very magical flavor.

Yeah, I like that. A PC could bind a weapon to himself, maybe anyone else wielding it gets a -1 to hit or something like that.

NPCs could quite easily have similar but stronger bondings, though you don't really need a game mechanic for that especially. Such an item might be an artifact or other similarly special magic item.
 

Right but were did all those silly magic items come from ;-) and if the concept is interesting enough then making it a "Rite of binding" is more fun.
 

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