D&D 5E ritual casting overpowered?

[the Jester]

Am I missing something or is ritual casting incredibly overpowered? It eliminates the aspect of limited resources that is so crucial to the game.

Only partially. It mitigates the lower number of spell slots that pcs have these days while not swinging the balance of casters in combat. I have found it to be fine. I agree that it's powerful, but that's okay by me.

I am very hesitant to change major rules elements in a new edition until I have run at least one group all the way up to 20th level, so my opinion may change at higher levels. But so far, I haven't found it to break anything.

 

[Zinnger]

I see no problem (or no greater problem than anything else) with rituals. Sure, the feat used to get this offers increased power. What about the feat allowing the fighter to add +10 damage PER HIT!? Oh, and he swings 2/rd for +20 damage. The healer that can use 1 action to heal d6+4+lv hp for each party member without using any spell slots... and do it again after a short rest! This is about as good as level 1 cure wounds for no spell slot use. Oh, how about this one... Lucky - now that's just straight cheating...

Consider the dex fighter or rogue who adds +2 Dex. They got the benefit of a magic +1 weapon! They now have +1 to hit and +1 to damage with their attacks. Plus, depending on armor worn, maybe a +1 AC too. Bottom line is, feats are supposed to be powerful.

If the DM is using the tactics against the party then just find ways to work around them. A cleric can ritual detect magic and then silence the magic mouths with another ritual and use no spell slots. there are a number of ways to work around or with the additional challenge. But as a player, why worry about water walking as a problem. Just don't do it. It sounds like you are speaking from the position of DM. If you are the DM then shame on you. I have been a DM for 37+ years and 5e is all about DM control so take control. Remove the feat (or all of the OPTIONAL feats - as everything in Chapter 6 is DM option). Remove the Ritual tag from all spells. Increase casting time of rituals to an hour as they were in other editions. Do what you feel with YOUR game and make it fun for you and the players. In this case, there is no reason for this thread at all. Options are... Optional.

 

[Psikerlord#]

Judging from Psikerlord's overall statements as read in prior posts, it is "easy mode" because the party with that spell can use it to guarantee themselves an uninterrupted short rest, with the costs of the spell and possible complications when casting it being viewed as non-existent or irrelevant, so it is getting something for "free" by refusing to actually acknowledge the cost.

I acknowledge the opp cost- it is just so low (a second level spell slot), for what the party gains (depending on party make up, reset of all ki, warlock spells, fighter abilities, spending of HD heals, etc) that it results in .... "easy mode".

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

A bit off topic, but--does anyone know why you'd ever want to cast Silence as a ritual? It's an immobile area of silence that takes ten minutes to cast and lasts for ten minutes. When cast as a non-ritual during or immediately before combat, it can help silence spellcasters and prevent guards from alerting other guards... but when you cast it as a ritual it always comes ten minutes too late.

Ideas?

 

[Mistwell]

I acknowledge the opp cost- it is just so low (a second level spell slot), for what the party gains (depending on party make up, reset of all ki, warlock spells, fighter abilities, spending of HD heals, etc) that it results in .... "easy mode".

Chanting for 10 minutes to gain this spell for an hours rest seems like a terrible trade-off to me. If you need an hour uninterrupted that badly, then you don't have 10 minutes to be screwing around with it chanting and concentrating and such.

 

[redrick]

A bit off topic, but--does anyone know why you'd ever want to cast Silence as a ritual? It's an immobile area of silence that takes ten minutes to cast and lasts for ten minutes. When cast as a non-ritual during or immediately before combat, it can help silence spellcasters and prevent guards from alerting other guards... but when you cast it as a ritual it always comes ten minutes too late.

Ideas?

Maybe if you wanted to do something really loud, but weren't in an insane hurry to do it? (As in, could afford to wait 10 minutes before you started.)

As suggested upthread by Zinnger, it is a great way to circumvent a noise-box alarm trap.

Or maybe you want to construct a simple barricade in the dungeon with your carpenter's tools, but don't want to alert every monster in the dungeon that, "hey, we're sleeping here!" Cast silence on the area, and get to swinging your hammer. Or breaking up rocks with your pick-axe. Etc.

Man, if the construction site behind my house could spend a few minutes casting silence before they jackhammered something...

 

[MoutonRustique]

You could also see it as silence having a sort of "sustained" action requirement : you cast silence with your action (and spell slot), then you can maintain it indefinitely by spending the whole duration casting it as a ritual?

Or does the ritual form require sound to work?

Idk... just throwing ideas around (in this case, throwing an idea around...)

 

[redrick]

You could also see it as silence having a sort of "sustained" action requirement : you cast silence with your action (and spell slot), then you can maintain it indefinitely by spending the whole duration casting it as a ritual?

Or does the ritual form require sound to work?

Idk... just throwing ideas around (in this case, throwing an idea around...)

The spell requires verbal components. I would assume the ritual requires the same components. So you wouldn't be able to cast Silence as a ritual inside of Silence. On the other hand, if you were standing outside of the area of effect and keeping up the ritual the whole time, I'd rule that you could keep the spell up indefinitely — so long as you never stopped performing the ritual.

In other words, if you wanted to perform any other action, or if anything whatsoever distracted you, you would stop performing the ritual and lose the effects of the spell. Sort of like a concentration check on steroids. After a certain amount of time, I'd probably require concentration checks against fatigue. Continuously performing a ritual could get pretty exhausting after a while.

 

[smcmike]

Quieting a VERY LOUD entry is the most obvious use of ritual silence. You can imagine that it would be useful to spam on a stealth tunnel-building operation, too.

Also, as a safety mechanism on very loud magical or industrial operations.

Or in a prisoner situation, to keep that powerful caster on lockdown.

For contemplative purposes, in a monastery or a nuthouse (or if you have small children. Dear god please give me the power to cast silence).

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I acknowledge the opp cost- it is just so low (a second level spell slot)...

...and the casting time, and knowing that spell instead of another (even as a wizard, choosing to know one spell is choosing not to know another), and actually having rope.

All for a benefit that, as you point out, depends on party composition exactly how beneficial it is.

Not to forget to mention that it isn't a flawless protective spell, considering that it can be seen by any creature capable of seeing invisible things and can be dispelled.