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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kobold Stew" data-source="post: 9130980" data-attributes="member: 23484">Ritual Caster.Ritual caster offers:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">+1 ASI</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Choose any two 1st-level ritual spells, which you now have prepared and can cast with slots.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Quick ritual: 1/long rest, you can cast a ritual without spending a slot, but without the +10 minutes. This is functionally giving a level-1 slot to casters for the use of rituals.</li> </ul>So, right away, if you’re not a caster, you can’t RP that you found/stole a spellbook and are hacking your way through it, or a bookish kind of hedge maze. If you are not a caster, you get to cast 1 of 2 known rituals per long rest, and that’s it. However you’ve learned them, there’s no longer the apparatus.Problem 1: lack of range. If you are a caster, you get access to another class’s list (it’s framed in terms of arcane/divine/primal, but that can change trivially). So we can look for opportunities to “hack” another class’s list. Except… almost all are on the Wizard’s list, and so that is the natural choice for all characters (unless you are a wizard and you want access to Purify Food and Drink, Detect Poison and Disease, or the execrable Ceremony).Problem 2: level 1 only. You also can’t get access to any rituals above level 1. This is therefore very similar (now) to the Pact of the Tome invocation (where there is a book). Pact of the Tome should also be compared to the level 1 feat Magic Initiate, which gives 2 cantrips and a spell form a single list, again with a single casting. All three of these features are now very similar.Problem 3: rituals create teamwork. Rituals, almost by their nature, are not individual focused. With the exception of Find Familiar, they are party-focused not player-focused. We should want rituals in play because they encourage teamwork and support. Diluting access to rituals dissipates collective problem solving.Problem 4: limited worthwhile choice. So let’s look at the spells, ranked roughly in order of usability:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Find Familiar is a natural choice for many. You don’t need to cast it every day, and so the choice between this and Magic Initiate is two cantrips any time vs. 1 ritual most days.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Detect Magic is something every party needs, and so here you go.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There’s a couple of spells you are unlikely to need more than once per day: Alarm, Comprehend Languages, Identify (note Identify is now the spell to read another wizard’s spellbook).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I’ve always liked Unseen Servant and Floating Disk, but when you need then you often want them more than 1/day – they’re ideal as rituals, but not for the feat ritual caster, and so get downgraded I the context of this feat. Speak with Animals probably falls in this category.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I can’t imagine taking any of the others in the context of this feat. Speak up and make a case for Illusory Script if you disagree.</li> </ul>Problem 5: no scaling. We’ve also lost the ability to get more rituals. We’ve lost the book-building game, but also the ability to access higher-level rituals.<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At level 2 there’s Augury and Silence, with Beast Sense and Gentle Repose as useful if available to cast without burning a 1/day option.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At level 3 there’s Water Walk, Water Breathe, Phantom Steed, and Tiny Hut. All of these are solid, and reasonable things for a ritual caster to want.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">At level 4 there’s Divination, and at 5 the Commune spells.</li> </ul>These are great spells, and a Ritual Caster should have access to some of them. Even if the feat taker could take an extra ritual at levels 6 (level 3 or below) and 10 (level 5 or below), there’d be some diversity. But it shouldn’t require a feat chain, and ritual casting should be available generally.Problem 6: quick ritual makes the spells useful in combat, which (for the most part) they aren’t.Even if you don't find all of these problematic as I do, I don't see a way for this feat to integrate smoothly or be a desirable player choice.</blockquote>

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