Ritual Magic (Apath)

Unofficial rules compendium

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Introduction

Ritual magic is slower and less exact than spell magic. A number of people gather and perform a ritual together, having a general idea of what they want to achieve. The lead caster selects a ritual seed, usually a spell the caster knows, and the ritual amplifies and changes the effects of this seed, usually into something much stronger.

All spellcasters are capable of ritual magic, but the more powerful spellcasting classes does it better. You can can learn or improve your ability to use ritual magic with the the Ritual Caster feat.

Ritual Caster Feat

This feat allows anyone to learn to cast ritual magic, and improves the ritual magic ability of classes that are not full spellcasters. Note that at level 20, all classes benefit from the Ritual Caster feat, as it gives access to level 10 spells for the purpose of ritual magic only.

Ritual Caster

You can cast ritual spells

Benefit: You can use ritual magic as if you had the ability to cast spells of a spell level equal to half your Hit Dice. Your caster level for ritual magic is equal to your Hit Dice. This in no way changes your ability to cast spells or use magic items outside of ritual magic.

Casting Ritual Magic

Casting ritual magic requires following a fairly simple sequence. First you select a seed or root spell that has the effect you want, and then you apply modifiers that change the effective spell level of the ritual. These modifiers change the effective level of the ritual spell in a way similar to metamagic, but there are both positive and negative modifiers. If, after all modifications, the final spell level is one you can cast, you can use the ritual spell once you have fulfilled all the conditions of the ritual. If you have fulfilled all conditions, and survived the consequences of any hassle (see below), there is no roll or random factor - just like regular spell casting, the ritual casting automatically succeeds.

Hassle

As you modify the ritual, particularly as you reduce the effective level of the ritual casting, you collect hassle points. This is a bad thing. Hassle points are an abstract measure of the opposition and friction your work on the ritual provokes. The more hassle points you collect, the more likely it is that some outside agency that objects to the ritual will seek to hinder you. Depending on the number of hindrance points you have collected, this can range from minor inconveniences such as additional random encounters or protesters obstructing your preparations to a full-scale attack on the ritual site itself.

Hassle is the random element of rituals. Rather than have a big final roll for the ritual that can fail, causing a great anticlimax, hassle is there to provide hindrances that are adventure elements in themselves. The goal is to make casting a ritual exciting and dangerous rather than just demanding a lucky roll.

Spell Seed

The first step is always to select the sort of effect you want the ritual to have. This is done by selecting a spell, or sometimes a root ritual that is not actually a researched as a spell, but that could potentially become a spell. This spell seed has a spell level that is used as the initial level of the ritual spell. This spell level is later modified by all the factors below.

That the exact details of the ritual seed are superseded by other ritual factors. Spell details such as casting time, spell components, range, and duration are usually not factors in the final ritual spell. It is always best to select a spell seed that has as few embellishments as possible. Communal, greater, and similar versions of spells are usually to be avoided.

Having spell effects as the basis of ritual casting saves making up hundreds of different rituals, but also means that any poorly designed or balanced spells risk being used as poorly designed/balanced rituals. Be careful with what spells you allow in the game!

Cast Time

This is the amount of time spent on the ritual itself. All casters and acolytes (see below) must be present the entire time. A congregation, if any, need only be present for the last hour of this time. If the ritual takes 8 hours or more, this precludes any other downtime activity that day. A ritual that takes days requires 8 hours for the caster and all acolytes each day.

Date

Certain days are more compatible with certain rituals. Particular days are festivals sacred to different deities or very active for certain kinds of magic. Other times are marked by stellar conjunctions or otherwise special - these are much more rare. All magically significant days are well known to various factions, who keep an eye out for ritual magic performed on these days. For any particular ritual, there are about two suitable festival times each year. If a random wait is desired, a suitable festival day usually arrives in 1d12 months.

The main day for magic on Porphyra is the Day of Calling, in remembrance of the arrival of the NewGods on Porphyra. On this planar barriers are particularly weak and all magical guardians are on high alert, making this a very powerful but also very risky day.

Resources

It is normal but not necessary to spend money on preparations and components for a magic ritual. This has a cost based on the final level of the ritual spell. If the spell is cast in a locale made for the casting of this kind of ritual spells, the GM may give a rebate on the cost, at about 1% of the value of the installation, but no more than 50% reduction in cost.

For a particularly lavish ritual, ten times the expenses gives an even greater modifier.

Assistants

Having assistants makes ritual magic much easier. Assistants come in two kinds, acolytes and congregation. Acolytes are capable of ritual magic themselves, usually because they are spellcasters. They need to have a spellcaster level at least equal to the final level of the ritual spell to be cast. Congregation are believers, people who support and help the ritual by being fans, witnesses, and participating in mundane aspects of the ritual, such as processions, dances, or singing. More advanced assistance requires both acolytes and congregation, the acolytes leading and coordinating the actions of the congregation.

Knowledge

It helps if the ritual caster knows the spell seed. If he has the spell prepared and actually casts it as a part of the ritual this reduces the difficulty. If he does not know the spell, typically by having the spell in a spellbook, there is a penalty. Spontaneous casters such as sorcerers do not suffer the known spell penalty. Finally, if the spell seed is not on the ritual caster's spell list at all, there is a more severe penalty.

Exceptional

This is the catch-all for exceptional circumstances that aid the ritual and is the sole domain of the GM. This is also the only category that can apply multiple times in truly exceptional circumstances.

Examples include

• Having a powerful supernatural creature of an appropriate type be present
• Using an artifact of appropriate powers in the ritual
• Having spent previous game sessions preparing for the ritual, such as questing for ritual objects or lore
• Performing the ritual in a magically appropriate place, such as in the caldera of a volcano for fire spells

Area

The following modifiers depend on the effect desired. Area is the size of the effect. Only spell seeds that have an area can produce ritual spells with an area. The type of area is the same as that of the spell seed; burst, blast, cone and so on.

Duration

How long the ritual spell lasts. In the case of durations of a month or more, this is actually a month and a day, a year and a day, and so on.

Range

How far the effect can reach from the ritual caster. The entire effect of the ritual spell must be within range, including the entire area of an area effect. Spell seeds with a range of touch can be given a range normally, but spell seeds with a personal range cannot be given a range. If the ritual caster cannot see the target of the effect (or center of an area), remote targeting must be used (see below).

Targets

A spell seed that affects one or more targets can have the number of targets changed. All targets must be within range and the two targets furthest apart cannot be more than half the maximum range of the effect away from each other.

Ritual Spell Basic Characteristics

Casting Time 1 minute

Components V, S, M

Range 100 ft

Area/Targets 10 ft. radius burst, 10 ft. cone, or 1 creature

Duration instantaneous

Saving Throw as spell seed

Saving Throw DC 10 + 1/2 caster level

Spell Resistance yes

Limitations Of Ritual Magic

There are certain things ritual magic just cannot do.

• No ritual spell can be lower than 2nd level. This means you have to be able to cast 2nd level spells (or be forth level and know the Ritual Casting feat) in order to use ritual casting at all.
• A ritual spell can either have an area or a number of targets, not both.
• A ritual spell can improve either duration or range. Never both. A ranged ritual can still have an instantaneous duration.
• A ritual spell cannot create a magic item. There are other rules for doing that.

See Also

• Action Power Experiments