New Rituaaaals

[Ravingdork]

I just love the idea of casting Arcane Barrier, which is then target by a Conceal Object ritual. During a battle with a fast, flying creature (such as a dragon) run through the Arcane Barrier and have the pursuer crash full on into it!

Also, one of my players (an evil son-of-a-bitch) plans on taking Delay Affliction, passing himself off as a miracle healer for hire, and then skimping out on town when people start to get sick again.

 

[Stogoe]

I just love the idea of casting Arcane Barrier, which is then target by a Conceal Object ritual. During a battle with a fast, flying creature (such as a dragon) run through the Arcane Barrier and have the pursuer crash full on into it!

This is exactly the reason why rituals have a long casting time. If you could use them in-combat, they'd be an I-Win button. That's why I have no problem with the casting times.

 

[doctorhook]

Nice

Thanks Doc! I can't tell you how much I appreciate you spending your valuable time to help the rest of us save time.

pdf saved.

...

Thanks to all of you, as well! Tell your friends about it, too!

If anybody's looking for a copy, the thread is linked in my sig. I plan on keep the index updated as more rituals get released.

- Kyle, aka "doctorhook"

 

[Goumindong]

Something I've been pondering is the idea of ways to cast rituals without spending the component cost.

Maybe a feat that lets you cast rituals of (your level / 2) by spending X healing surges instead of the component costs (where X is determined by level / ritual / whatever), and these healing surges take a week (or longer) to come back instead of a day.

That way you can have the wizened mystic who channels his ki into amazing pseudo-magical feats (especially if somebody adds some Endurance-based rituals), no residuum or mass expense of components involved.

They tried this with wizards in 3e. It did not work.

 

[Seeker_of_Truth]

Something I've been pondering is the idea of ways to cast rituals without spending the component cost.

Maybe a feat that lets you cast rituals of (your level / 2) by spending X healing surges instead of the component costs (where X is determined by level / ritual / whatever), and these healing surges take a week (or longer) to come back instead of a day.

That way you can have the wizened mystic who channels his ki into amazing pseudo-magical feats (especially if somebody adds some Endurance-based rituals), no residuum or mass expense of components involved.

I don't think this is necessary as NPCs don't need to follow PC rules. For PCs your proposal is probably too powerful at very low levels (level 2 for example), and worthless at higher levels (around 10+). Money scales very quickly and the costs of casting a ritual several levels below yours are pretty insignificant unless you're casting it hundreds of times. You'd also want to make sure that PCs couldn't use this to generate wealth without the DM having to resort to fiat. If a level 10 elf can hide for 100 years and craft a bunch of items he then turns into residuum that's a problem.

 

[sukael]

Money scales very quickly and the costs of casting a ritual several levels below yours are pretty insignificant unless you're casting it hundreds of times.

That's part of the idea... at a certain point there should be some way to do it without having to worry about the bookkeeping at all.

You'd also want to make sure that PCs couldn't use this to generate wealth without the DM having to resort to fiat. If a level 10 elf can hide for 100 years and craft a bunch of items he then turns into residuum that's a problem.

Yeah, that would be something to watch out for.

 

[Noir le Lotus]

I'm beginning to have some concerns about rituals.

I'm not really a big fan of 4th edition, but one thing I appreciate is that Magic no longer completely bypass skills as it happens too often in 3.X.

But I've noticed something : some rituals are really far superior comparatively to a mondane use of the skill.

Discern Lies or Detect Secret Doors both add the Arcana check to the normal check of the caster, making them nearly impossible to resist !!

Other rituals, like Cloak of Chameleon or Conceal Object require an opposed check, but the caster makes his check with a +5 bonus.

As it is really hard to have bonus on skill checks, these rituals are really strong : not only did they allow the caster to make an action without the appropriate skill, but they give them more chance to succeed, if they have time and money (will happen most of the time).

Don't anyone feel the same ??

 

[Falling Icicle]

I'm beginning to have some concerns about rituals.

I'm not really a big fan of 4th edition, but one thing I appreciate is that Magic no longer completely bypass skills as it happens too often in 3.X.

But I've noticed something : some rituals are really far superior comparatively to a mondane use of the skill.

Discern Lies or Detect Secret Doors both add the Arcana check to the normal check of the caster, making them nearly impossible to resist !!

Other rituals, like Cloak of Chameleon or Conceal Object require an opposed check, but the caster makes his check with a +5 bonus.

As it is really hard to have bonus on skill checks, these rituals are really strong : not only did they allow the caster to make an action without the appropriate skill, but they give them more chance to succeed, if they have time and money (will happen most of the time).

Don't anyone feel the same ??

Actually, I feel just the opposite. Rituals are expensive and time consuming to learn and to cast. A ritual costs the same amount as a magic item of its level just to learn. And then, it costs money every single time it is cast. And further, rituals are *magic.* Considering these things, I think rituals should be more impressive than a mundane skill, which can be used quickly and for free.

 

[Ravingdork]

This is exactly the reason why rituals have a long casting time. If you could use them in-combat, they'd be an I-Win button. That's why I have no problem with the casting times.

Um. You can use them in combat. You just need to plan ahead. Despite the long casting times, the durations are often long enough to set up a battlefield of sorts.

You should always plan ahead when fighting a dragon anyways if given the chance.

 

[Tenniel]

I think you could potentially make the wall 21 x 21 squares.

Not quite that big as each square in a Wall can only share sides with no more than two sides (PHB 271). But you could do something like below. This is 240 squares. BYO Minotaur.

+++++++++++++++++++++
....................+
+++++++++++++++++++.+
+.................+.+
+.+++++++++++++++.+.+
+.+.............+.+.+
+.+.+++++++++++.+.+.+
+.+.+.........+.+.+.+
+.+.+.+++++++.+.+.+.+
+.+.+.+.....+.+.+.+.+
+.+.+.+.++@.+.+.+.+.+
+.+.+.+.+...+.+.+.+.+
+.+.+.+.+++++.+.+.+.+
+.+.+.+.......+.+.+.+
+.+.+.+++++++++.+.+.+
+.+.+...........+.+.+
+.+.+++++++++++++.+.+
+.+...............+.+
+.+++++++++++++++++.+
+...................+
+++++++++++++++++++++