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Ritual Magic - Houserule

1456167250

Edited 1512267346
Campaign 3 - Darksun 5e Due to great results from the first 2 campaigns (noted below) I am expanding the Ritual Spell descriptor to be more universally applicable.  Everything Can Be a Ritual Arcane, Divine, Psionic spells are all available as rituals. Even Instant spells like magic missile or fireball. No training is required, but a skill check is mandatory for each attempted spell with a DC indicated below based on spell level... Spell Level 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Target DC 5 8 11 14 17 20 23 26 29 32 All spells require an Inelligence skill check modified as follows: Divine spells require Religion knowledge skill Arcane spells require Arcane knowledge skill Psionics (as applicable) require Psionic(?) skill These can be untrained ability checks as necessary. Special: T he Ritual class feature or feat allows for advantage on the intelligence roll.  To use a spell as a ritual it must either be an available spell to cast (as per known/memorized spells available to cast per day) or it must be written down and followed like a recipe/scroll.  Technical Bits Time - a ritual requires 10 minutes per spell level. (0 level / cantrips require 5 minutes)  At the end of the time period is when the skill check is performed. Components - All material components / focus needed to cast the spell normally is also required for the Ritual version of the spell. Assistance - anyone can assist in the performance of a ritual; this action provides advantage to the skill check roll. The Cost of Failure Ritual magic is Dangerous.  If a ritual results in a failed die roll it is DM fiat to resolve what happens to the participants of the ritual... up to and including death.  Natural 1s are always treated as a Failure; Natural 20s are always treated as a Success.  Further Uses Spells can be modified or made up on the fly at DM's discretion as rituals, using the DC chart above to approximate the difficulty of the task.
1456167269

Edited 1512267368
Campaign 1 & 2 rules (archived) For current rules see Campaign 3 rules in the first post To help push the feel of a magic-saturated world like Eberron in 5e, I am expanding the Ritual Spell descriptor to be more universally applicable. Bear in mind: this is heavy houseruling. I've ran similar concepts in prior 3e/PF games, so I'm confident in the core mechanics, but due to 5e being a different system (technically) there may be tweaks needed along the way. Be welcome to discuss the ideas here in this thread as you wish. Everything Can Be a Ritual Arcane, Divine, Psionic spells are all available as rituals. Even Instant spells like magic missile or fireball. No training is required, but a skill check is mandatory for each attempted spell with a DC indicated below based on spell level... Spell Level Target DC Divine spells require Religion Checks Arcane spells require Arcane Checks Psionics (as applicable) require Psionic Checks These can be untrained ability checks as necessary. Special: The Ritual class feature or feat eliminates the need to perform a skill check for the spells included with the feature/feat as well as any spells memorized / prepared when cast as a ritual.. it simply takes more time to cast instead of expending a spell slot.... for example, a 1st level Wizard can perform a ritual without fail for any 0 or 1 level spells in his spell book he has memorized, but a 2 level spell would still require a skill check until the Wizard reaches 3rd level and access to 2nd level spells. Technical Bits Time - a ritual requires 10 minutes per spell level. (0 level / cantrips require 5 minutes) At the end of the time period is when the skill check is performed. Components - All material components / focus needed to cast the spell normally is also required for the Ritual version of the spell. Assistance - anyone can assist in the performance of a ritual; this action provides advantage to the skill check roll. auto success - only if you have the ritual feat or spell feature. Many classes get it for free. without the ritual feat you are doing skill checks for every spell. with the ritual feat you only need to do a skill check for spells not currently memorized / prepared. You can of course swap your memorized spells under normal rules. The Cost of Failure Untrained ritual magic is Dangerous. If a ritual results in a failed die roll it is DM fiat to resolve what happens to the participants of the ritual... up to and including death. Natural 1s are always treated as a Failure; Natural 20s are always treated as a Success. Further Uses Spells can be modified or made up on the fly at DM's discretion as rituals, using the DC chart above to approximate the difficulty of the task.