Ritual Scrolls Question

[Trit One-Ear]

I know you don't have to have the ritual caster feat to use a ritual scroll, but does the scroll remove the level requirement needed to cast the ritual?

Trit

 

[Jhaelen]

I know you don't have to have the ritual caster feat to use a ritual scroll, but does the scroll remove the level requirement needed to cast the ritual?

Trit

Yes! The only reason not to use ritual scrolls at lower levels is their (gold) cost.

 

[Trit One-Ear]

That is very exciting and opens up a whole world of possibility. However, it also scares me as my players are becoming very obsessed with rituals and the variety of ways they can be used.

Should lead to some interesting sessions!

Thanks!
Trit

 

[Dragoslav]

The judicious use of rituals can open up a lot of possibilities for the players. For example, they could use Object Reading or Speak With Dead to learn something important that leads them to doing something they may have done anyway, but now they know why they're doing it (or at least have some inclination) instead of just being led there.

Also keep in mind the limitations of the rituals that keep them from becoming game-breaking. Component costs, skill checks, etc. And for things like Object Reading or Speak With Dead, the limitations on what information the adventurers can get from that. For example, maybe they find at level 1 a "Speak With Dead" ritual and use it on the corpse of the guy who you're planning on becoming the Lich King at level 15 -- you can always make them do a diplomacy skill challenge with an impossibly high DC so they can't spoil the whole campaign.

 

[Ryujin]

The judicious use of rituals can open up a lot of possibilities for the players. For example, they could use Object Reading or Speak With Dead to learn something important that leads them to doing something they may have done anyway, but now they know why they're doing it (or at least have some inclination) instead of just being led there.

Also keep in mind the limitations of the rituals that keep them from becoming game-breaking. Component costs, skill checks, etc. And for things like Object Reading or Speak With Dead, the limitations on what information the adventurers can get from that. For example, maybe they find at level 1 a "Speak With Dead" ritual and use it on the corpse of the guy who you're planning on becoming the Lich King at level 15 -- you can always make them do a diplomacy skill challenge with an impossibly high DC so they can't spoil the whole campaign.

Or have the future Lich King mislead them, so that they actually help him to become the Lich King

 

[Ferghis]

That is very exciting and opens up a whole world of possibility. However, it also scares me as my players are becoming very obsessed with rituals and the variety of ways they can be used.

Remember that Scrolls require both the scroll and the components for the the ritual. This tends to be somewhat expensive, so many parties tend to not use this kind of resource: you're lucky in this respect. Many DMs tinker with the notion of giving players a certain amount of "free" components per day, or other houserules to encourage players to use rituals.

As for being scared, remember that each scroll uses up both the components AND the scroll: if they want to use a Sending ritual twice, they have to buy two scrolls (at the full price of the ritual) AND keep around enough components to use those two scrolls. So, you can keep this under control by not allowing PCs to find a particular ritual scroll on the market, or only one such scroll. This applies to rituals in general: for example, when faced with some overland part of the campaign, the DM of one of the games I'm in said that we couldn't find any teleportation or overland flight (I forget the name: something about Eagles).

 

[Mirtek]

Using scrolls is inferior to having someone with the ritual caster feat and the mastered ritual as soon as you have to use a ritual more than once.

A caster who has mastered the ritual pays the market price once and the component cost for every casting.

Someone using a scroll pays both the market price and the component cost for every casting

 

[Jhaelen]

Using scrolls is inferior to having someone with the ritual caster feat and the mastered ritual as soon as you have to use a ritual more than once.

Sure, but what help is that if the ritual you need is of a higher level than your ritual caster?