New Rituaaaals

[Zetesofos]

Teleportation Catcher. Now DM's have a fun actual ritual for little NPC's to use to stop pesky eldarin. "I think I'll just teleport over the chasm to reach the McGuffin (teleports, get's flung back) What the hell?!...dammit, guess we do this the old fashioned way"

 

[Dausuul]

Many of the rituals seem to be mostly useful in situations where you DON'T have the time needed to cast them. Chameleon cloak, Memory Seal, and wizard's escape, for example. Perhaps there should be some means of "precasting" rituals and then "releasing" them? A Feat which lets you "store" a single ritual? Something...

That way lies Vancian casting. Been there, done that, don't wanna go back.

The extended casting times are features, not bugs, IMO. Sure, the memory-blasting ritual would be incredibly useful for getting past guards and the like. So useful, in fact, that it would severely devalue all the non-magical ways to get past guards. Hence the restriction.

 

[Lizard]

That way lies Vancian casting. Been there, done that, don't wanna go back.

The extended casting times are features, not bugs, IMO. Sure, the memory-blasting ritual would be incredibly useful for getting past guards and the like. So useful, in fact, that it would severely devalue all the non-magical ways to get past guards. Hence the restriction.

Maybe YOU don't want to go back...

As for the utility of it...uhm...you get to use it once, and it costs you 7,000 gold. I'd call a delayed casting of it more of an "In case of emergency" than a "Rogue, stay home, we don't need you".

But think about the other circumstances you'd want to use it in. Sure, there will be cases when someone will willingly submit to it ("You must forget the location of the safehouse before you enter the lair of the mindflayer!"), but most of the time, you'll want to use it on an unwilling subject, and while you can engineer things to make it possible, it often reaches the point where it's easier to just kill them. ("OK, so we kidnap the prime minister, tie him up for ten minutes while we perform the ritual, and then make him forget he saw us stealing the silverware? And, oh, also, that we kidnapped him?")

Of course, if you blow the Arcana roll, you might just kill him anyway...

Which I suppose is a good reason to NOT let it be used without preparation, as it becomes a devastatingly effective combat spell. ("I make Orcus forget...uh...his mother's name. Ooopsie, rolled a 1! Guess he takes damage equal to his hit points now!")

I dunno, I am thinking a Utility power of level 9 or so which causes someone to forget the last, say, round, might be useful as a Daily power. Leave this ritual for the Big Stuff.

 

[TerraDave]

This may be the first "must have" article they have done in the 4E era.

To echo earlier comments, I hope it makes into the compendium, and sooner rather then later.

 

[doctorhook]

Some possible errors I found skimming over the article.

Explorer's Fire:

- Should this ritual be in the "Deception" category instead of "Exploration"? It does, after all, conceal a campfire.
- "Key Skill: Arcana or Nature"; it doesn't say "(no check)", and yet there doesn't appear to be a check involved with the ritual. Error?​

Scribe:

- Does not indicate "(no check)", but the check result doesn't seem to affect the ritual at all.​

Stasis Shell:

- Again, no "(no check)", but the text doesn't indicate the effects of the check either.​

 

[LostSoul]

But think about the other circumstances you'd want to use it in. Sure, there will be cases when someone will willingly submit to it ("You must forget the location of the safehouse before you enter the lair of the mindflayer!"), but most of the time, you'll want to use it on an unwilling subject, and while you can engineer things to make it possible, it often reaches the point where it's easier to just kill them.

The target has to be willing or helpless, so I think it's probably true that it's easier to just kill them. I imagine that's the point - you don't use this Ritual on someone you want to kill.

 

[Ginnel]

Yeah its some really nice stuff here, if I was going to include something to make casting rituals faster it would be a feat like this

Ritual Master
Prerequisites: Int 13, Wis 13, Ritual Casting
Half the time required for casting a ritual spell you have Mastered, 5mins for a ritual cast normally that you have mastered, 2 and a half minutes for a ritual you have mastered cast from a scroll.

sounds good to me.

 

[Zetesofos]

so, 2 min is still 20 rounds of combat. The point of rituals is that they are NOT cast in combat. period.

 

[Branduil]

Memory Seal is awesome.

 

[mattdm]

This may be the first "must have" article they have done in the 4E era.

To echo earlier comments, I hope it makes into the compendium, and sooner rather then later.

It's a good test of whether Dragon material is really going to be first class / completely canon in practice.