D&D 5E Should Rituals Have a Cost?

[1of3]

They do require components. It just isn't clear, how a character runs out of components.

Instead of using money, I'd rather roll a d10. If the result isn't higher than the ritual's level, the character does not have the necessary components to do it again.

 

[Lwaxy]

I will always house rule that the higher a spell, the more components a ritual needs and the more expensive it will be.

I voted some could be for free, but I would want most rituals to cost something.

 

[Leatherhead]

Some should just take time.
Some should take a bit of gold.
But I think that other, non-purchasable, costs should be used too. And not just healing surges, gathering rare components for a particular ritual can be a quest in itself.

 

[Weather Report]

Some should be free, some should cost money, and some should require exotic components (quested after, and such).

 

[tuxgeo]

IMHO, material components should need to be on hand and used up as specified for each specific ritual. However, the fiddly tracking of components should be optional: a PC who casts ritual magic should have to be equipped with one (1) Ritual Components pouch at the time of character-generation, at a standardized cost for such things, but afterward shouldn't ever have to replenish it in the default game. That would allow DMs who want to enforce GP-loss caused by using rituals to do so, while other DMs could just skip that part.

My bigger gripe with the use of Rituals currently in 5E Next is that a PC can only cast a spell as a ritual if the PC has it prepared. That's nonsense! If the directions for conducting the ritual are in the PC's ritual book (or spellbook), then the ritual should be available at all times, requiring only:
• material components;
• time;
• light source to read the ritual from the ritual book.

 

[MerricB]

If 4e is any guide, paying permanent costs (wealth is a permanent cost) for a one-time effect is really unpopular.

That is an extremely general statement and, I believe, quite wrong. People happily pay gold in PF and 3E for one-time effects (especially wands of healing). What my friends and I objected to in the costs of 4E potions and rituals was that the cost was too high for the benefit.

4E also managed to make the cost too low, as the scaling of money meant that at very high levels, most utility rituals were trivial in cost!

Personally, I'd feel a lot happier if rituals cost money/resources. "Time" is a bit fuzzy as a resource, as it changes value greatly between campaigns. (Wandering monsters make Time far more significant). That you have the option of casting the spell with a slot if you don't have another way of casting it makes me happy.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

That is an extremely general statement and, I believe, quite wrong. People happily pay gold in PF and 3E for one-time effects (especially wands of healing).

You're paying a very low price per hit point when you use a wand of healing and in 4e, you wouldn't buy one if such things even existed, since you can patch yourself up between battles with healing surges. Come to think of it, a healing potion in 4e still costs a surge, so there's no benefit to using it out of combat. (In-combat healing is usually as fast and usually heals more.)

A Wand of Cure Light Wounds is incredibly cheap for its benefits, and not being able to top up hit points is so aggravating that PCs will pay any price, including resting after only one encounter, to get that benefit. I don't think that's a fair comparison.

 

[MerricB]

You're paying a very low price per hit point when you use a wand of healing and in 4e, you wouldn't buy one if such things even existed, since you can patch yourself up between battles with healing surges. Come to think of it, a healing potion in 4e still costs a surge, so there's no benefit to using it out of combat. (In-combat healing is usually as fast and usually heals more.)

Healing potions in 4E will sometimes heal more HP than the surge will on its own, so there are occasional benefits for using them out-of-combat. There are also potions that heal even when you don't have any surges left (the potions of cure * wounds, from MME).[/quote]

A Wand of Cure Light Wounds is incredibly cheap for its benefits, and not being able to top up hit points is so aggravating that PCs will pay any price, including resting after only one encounter, to get that benefit. I don't think that's a fair comparison.

It shows that there are costs that players will pay for consumable effects. In addition, I seem to remember scrolls and wands of knock, death's ward and other such things in my 3E/PF games. If the price is right, players will buy consumable effects. If the price is too high - which it mostly is in 4E - then they won't.

 

[Wulfgar76]

Yes.

1. Material costs serve as a safety valve against unlimited 'free' magic spells (rituals)
2. Exotic material components are flavorful, immersive, and can drive adventure in their own right
3. Material components open up a swathe of design space for spells

 

[I'm A Banana]

I think part of the question is: what type of an ability is a ritual?

Is it like a consumable magic item? That is, unnecessary, but useful, something you expect to be able to "run out of"?

Or is it like a class feature? That is, something your character does as a part of how they help their party in an adventure?

Rituals need a "cost," but I don't think that cost needs to be GP. If you embrace the second model, a cost in terms of the "inaction economy" might help: instead of taking a long or short rest, you use a ritual (which then lasts until the next long or short rest), giving up HP's for magic effects.