Rituals : What We Know And What We Hope

[Fallen Seraph]

*Nods* Plus as another poster put on a old-thread how the old-idea of a village doing a yearly ritual or someone having to do a ritual without knowing quite why (D&D LOST!) would work with allowing non-magic users to use Rituals.

It would also be nice if Rituals could be done in groups. There could be the main Ritualist and other NPCs/PCs who add bonuses to the Ritual Skill-Rolls.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

It would be cool if there were 'rituals' with the 'Martial' power source and using the same mechanics for balance.

It could represents things like a fighter performing an extended kata to center himself before battle or a warlord performing a rousing speech to motivate the troop.

 

[Lurker37]

It occurs to me that the ability to use rituals is going to be mandatory for all characters at epic levels, in order to travel to the places where a lot of epic adventuring is apparently meant to take place: the planes.

I can't see this working unless every single character class has access to a generic planar travel ritual. It would be cumbersome and restrictive to play options if only certain classes got access to these rituals - I can't imagine that a party of a Warlord, Fighter, Rogue and Ranger is intended to be unviable for epic-level play. So I conclude that at least one of those classes needs access to a planar travel ritual. And once one of them can do it, I see no reason to deny it to the rest.

We know that cleric and wizard get the ability to use rituals at first level (or rather, they did at the time the characters for DDXP were created - we know at least one rule has changed since then), but how do other classes get access to rituals?

I was thinking at first it may be a feat, but if my guess about all classes getting access to planar travel rituals is correct, then it shouldn't be possible for an inexperienced troupe to shoot themselves in the foot by no-one thinking to take the feat.

So, my current theory is that all classes get access to rituals, but not all at the same level. I furthermore guess that there will be rituals that any class can use, and others that can only be used by, say, classes linked to a specific power source.

 

[MaelStorm]

From the W&M we know that some planar travel rituals will be linked to the tier-level system:

• Heroic: will be linked to the Feywild and the Shadowfell
• Paragon: will be linked to the Elemental Chaos and perhaps the Abyss
• Epic: will be linked to the Astral See and the Dominions

There are also spills which are openings to the Feywild and the Shadowfell.
High-level rituals or special portals are the usual access to the realms of the gods.

 

[Incenjucar]

This could also be great for "village" casters in general. No actual -spells-, but access to rituals.

The village hedge mage can't throw a fireball worth beans, but she can blight your crop or bless your marriage.

Oh man. This also means I won't have to make a spirit-manipulator class... I can just create rituals for it... oh yes yes yes.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Just the combination of any-class Rituals and Milestones alone are giving me a ton of RP/story ideas.

 

[Lizard]

This could also be great for "village" casters in general. No actual -spells-, but access to rituals.
.

Oh, I like it. If true, solves a lot of problems for me.

 

[Incenjucar]

You could even expand it to folk superstitions, some of them could actually WORK in a D&D world, after all.

Nothing major, of course, but perhaps minor, short-term benefits against weak supernatural creatures, even if they're so insignificant as to not be worth a +1... just so you can say "The faerie winced as it forced itself through the magical barrier created by throwing salt over your shoulder, but it's just not enough to slow it down."

 

[Fallen Seraph]

Hmm... You could also have on-going Rituals, like a daily Ritual to be performed, so abstaining the Fey in the nearby forest would be.

Gathering up all leftover milk and bread in the village and placing it at a specific rock at the edge of the forest, there the person begins to mutter a chat, a traditional peace agreement they have with the Fey then leave.

OOO, or we could do something like the Village but better. Have the monsters be real, and have some ritual involving the colour yellow and how it repels the monsters, perhaps someone goes around painting the doors yellow each week or something.

 

[Incenjucar]

Painting the doors to keep death out and such. Or planting flowers and preserving them to keep the dragon at bay... and then the PCs accidentally set the flowers ablaze....

Maybe it's what keeps a gate to another realm CLOSED.... or something stuck in a cave...