Rituals (3.5e Variant Rule)

Author: Ghostwheel (talk) Date Created: February 18, 2011 Status: WIP Editing: Clarity edits only please

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Rituals

What are Rituals?

Rituals are a way of bringing player agency and world-shaping abilities to games that lack spellcasters such as the wizard or cleric. They give such powers to all characters--after all, why should only the spellcasters have the ability to change the world around them? Rather than giving only traditional spellcasters such abilities, this variant grants them to all characters.

Mechanics

Rituals require an amount of time to enact, and duplicate some sort of effect. While many rituals appear in the world, most can only be cast by a character of a certain character level (CL from now on). The following table defines at what CL characters can cast a ritual of what level:

Rituals by Character Level

Character level	Ritual Level
1	1
3	2
5	3
7	4
9	5
11	6
13	7
15	8
17	9

Casting a Ritual

There are a number of components to casting a ritual. Depending on the ritual's nature, it has either a short casting time (one minute), medium casting time (ten minutes), or long casting time (one hour).

Rituals require special materials, incense, or other components to cast; this cost is equal to the ritual's level squared x 50. These components are consumed regardless of whether the ritual succeeds or fails.

Finally, characters require a Charisma check to successfully cast a ritual, made at the end of the ritual's casting time. The DC for this check is equal to 10 + ritual level. If the ritual duplicates a spell, the effect caster level is equal to the caster's character level, and any DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 character level + Charisma modifier.

Rituals may be interrupted at any time, as per the Concentration skill (replace all instances of "spell" with ritual. All rituals are considered to have a somatic and verbal component).

Collecting Rituals

Rituals can be found or researched; either way, recording them requires a ritual book (identical to a spellbook). Alternative materials can be used to record a ritual as per Alternative Spellbooks (Complete Arcane 186). Each ritual requires 100 gp per ritual level in special inks, adhesive dust, or similar material to record, and takes a single page of the ritual book.

While many rituals are found, they can also be researched. Characters can research rituals that are at least one level lower than the highest-level ritual they can cast, and researching a ritual requires 1,000 gp per ritual level to research as well as three days per level of the ritual.

Sample Rituals

Here are a number of sample rituals to get you started. Remember that specific rituals may be missing from a campaign altogether at the DM's discretion. Use the following rituals as guidelines for your own.

First Level Rituals

Astral Traveler

• Casting Time: Long
• Effect: Duplicates Astral Traveler

Second Level Rituals

Create Food and Water

• Casting Time: Long
• Effect: Duplicates Create Food and Water.

Endure Elements

• Casting Time: Medium
• Effect: Duplicates Endure Elements.

See Invisibility

• Casting Time: Short
• Effect: Duplicates See Invisibility. Range is changed to Touch.

Third Level Rituals

Invisibility

• Casting Time: Medium
• Effect: Duplicates Invisibility.

Levitate

• Casting Time: Short
• Effect: Duplicates Levitate. Range is changed to Touch.

Fourth Level Rituals

Fly

• Casting Time: Short
• Effect: Duplicates Fly.

Supplemental Rules

Hang Ritual [General] Benefit: Upon successfully casting a ritual you may stop right before the last word. The ritual then "hangs", ready to be used at a later time. A ritual may be activated as a standard action if its activation time is short, a full-round action if its activation time is medium, and a one-round action if its activation is long. Unhanging a ritual provokes an attack of opportunity and may be interrupted as normal. Special: Some rituals may take a different amount of time to cast on the fly. This feat may be taken any number of times. Each time this ritual is taken, you may hang another ritual. For example, someone who took this feat three times would be able to hang up to three rituals at a time.

Professional Ritualist [General] Benefit: You gain a +5 bonus to the Charisma check to successfully cast a ritual. Special: This feat may be taken multiple times. Each time the bonus increases by another two. Thus, someone who took this feat three times would gain a +9 bonus to their check.

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