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True rituals are very complicated spells that are the stuff of legend. They are far beyond the power of any single spellcaster and can only be cast in ritual form. They cannot by further augmented by any feats or other abilities. True rituals combine all aspects of magic and have no schools of magic associated with them.

True rituals are cast as normal spells with the exceptions detailed below.

TRUE RITUAL COMPONENTS

All true rituals have verbal, somatic, material, and experience cost components. Each member of the ritual must pay the experience cost. If the ritual is using proxy ritual members to cast the spell (see below), the experience cost of the replace caster(s) is divided equally among the normal casters who are participating in the true ritual. If the experience cost lowers one of the caster’s levels, the lost level must come from the caster’s primary spellcaster class.

CASTERS REQUIRED

Each true ritual has a minimum number of required casters. Each caster must have the spell prepared in the usual fashion at the time of casting. True rituals are prepared in lieu of one of the caster’s spells of equivalent level.

With multiple casters, the power of the ritual is increased. Use the level of the highest caster in the group and add the number of other casters (not proxies) participating in the true ritual to determine the effective caster level. The ritual’s effects are based upon this effective caster level.

PROXIES

Some true rituals allow a proxy in place of one or more of the required casters. The proxy section of a true ritual details who can replace a required caster during the ritual. Proxies cannot replace every caster: There must be at least one spellcaster to lead the ritual.

SAVING THROW

True rituals have more power behind them, which in turn makes them more difficult to resist. Any saving throw against a true ritual has a DC of 15 + the level of the spell + the relevant ability modifier of the highest-level caster participating in the ritual.

COUNTERING RITUAL MAGIC

Dispelling or countering augmented and combined ritual castings of a spell is similar to countering a normal casting of the spell. Of course, the longer casting time offers a larger window of opportunity to disrupt the spell. Throughout the casting, observers get a Spellcraft check (DC 18 + the spell’s level). The DC is slightly higher due to the changes in the prolonged casting, but the longer casting time allows for a retry of the check each round. Using dispel magic to counter an augmented or combined ritual casting is much easier due to the delicate and extended manipulation of the magical energies involved. The dispel check goes against a DC of 6 + the spell’s caster level if the dispel check is made during the casting of the ritual spell.

As with countering metamagic feats, any additional effects or added levels are not taken into account when counterspelling a ritual casting. A regular cone of cold spell counters a ritually enhanced cone of cold.

True rituals cannot be countered with knowledge of the true ritual in question: The preparations are too long and complicated to enact even throughout the hours of casting time required. True rituals can easily be disrupted, however, through combat, distraction, or other means. Unlike augmented or combined ritual castings, any dispel magic checks to counterspell a true ritual go against a DC of 15 + the caster level of the true ritual’s highest-level caster.

RESEARCHING ORIGINAL TRUE RITUALS

Any spellcaster who can cast a true ritual can attempt to create a new, original true ritual. Creating a true ritual, however, is much more demanding than creating a normal spell.

Like the research of a regular spell, the creation of a true ritual requires access to a well-stocked library for a wizard and meditation, prayer, and sacrifices in a major temple or blessed location for clerics and druids. A wizard’s library must be comprised of books, treatises, and manuscripts totaling at least 50,000 gp in value. Magical items and spellbooks do not count toward this total for the personal library’s value.

The research must be conducted by at least three spellcasters of the same type  (arcane or divine) who collaborate on the ritual’s research. During the research, each of the spellcasters must pay 1,000 gp per week with a minimum of one week per effective level of the true ritual. This money goes into the same fees, experimentation, and components that regular spell research consumes. At the end of the research period, each of the researchers makes a Spellcraft check against a DC of 20 + the spell level. If all the researchers succeed, the new true ritual has been successfully created (assuming the spell is viable). If any of the researchers fail, however, they must all go through the research process again if they wish to keep attempting to learn the true ritual.

The criteria for a viable true ritual are entirely dependent upon the requirements of the DM. Use the guidelines for new spell creations found in the core rulebooks. Compare any new true ritual concept with those presented in this chapter.

The following elements are required for all true rituals:

• A minimum of three casters is required to perform a true ritual. More may be required depending on the ritual.
• The ritual must have an experience point cost to cast. Higher experience point costs can balance the power level of some true rituals.
• The number of casters required to cast a true ritual is also the number of casters that are required to research the ritual. Requiring a higher number of creators can also serve to balance the ritual’s power level, though not as much as an experience point cost (and not if the PCs acquire the ritual through means other than research).

This material is covered by the Open Gaming License.

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Under the direction of a single spellcaster, a group of individuals can work together to generate greater spell effects. Similar to the use of augmented ritual casting, the primary caster uses ritual casting to enhance the basic prepared spell (or a free spell slot for a bard or sorcerer). Although groups with like magic (divine or arcane) work best together, anyone can assist with the performance of the ritual (although the lack of precision by non-spellcasters adds to the chance of failure).

Combined ritual casting works differently than augmented ritual casting: The caster and participants do not need to have an understanding of metamagic feats. Instead, the leader of the combined ritual casts the spell to be modified, and the auxiliary members of the ritual contribute their will, desire, and life energies to supplement the overall power of the spell.

This supplementary power is used as bonus levels that are split between the different aspects of the spell. Each aspect of a spell that varies with caster level (range, number of targets, area, duration, damage dice, etc.) is treated as a separate category that can be increased with bonus levels generated by the combined ritual casting. The supplementary bonus levels provided by the ritual casting cannot violate the restrictions or limits of the spell. For example, a combined ritual casting of fireball cannot exceed the spell’s 10-die maximum for damage.

The leader (who casts the actual spell) uses their caster level as the starting level in each category of the casting. The total bonus levels, as shown on the table, are then divided up and added into each category as the primary caster chooses. The caster’s level plus the extra bonus levels now determine the effects for each of the spell’s separate categories.

Add all partial levels and round down to determine the total bonus levels added to the spell. Add an additional +1 bonus level per participant that has the ability to cast the spell in question, reflecting the added spell knowledge and caster level ability. (Crossover between arcane and divine versions of the same spells are permissible for this bonus.)

COMBINED RITUAL CASTING TIME

The casting time of a combined ritual casting is the base time of the ritual casting (as shown on the table below) multiplied by the number of participants and the spell level:

(base ritual time) x (# of participants) x (spell level)

The number of participants does not include the leader of the combined ritual, only the people who are helping to power the spell.

Any casting time of an hour or longer requires the leader to make a Ritual Casting check at a DC of 10 + the spell level. The DC of this check is increased by one for every non-spellcaster participating in the ritual. If this check is failed, the energies involved with the combined ritual casting create a backlash that affects all of the participants, resulting in (ritual bonus levels x spell level) hp of damage. A successful Will throw (DC 15 + spell level) reduces this damage by half. The combined ritual is still cast in the event of a failed Ritual Casting check, but only half of the supplementary bonus levels can be harnessed prior to the spell discharge.

COMBINED RITUAL MATERIAL COMPONENTS

Combined ritual casting also requires expensive material components. These additional components are similar to those used in augmented ritual casting and represent the same types of ingredients. The cost of the material components is a number of gold pieces equal to:

10 gp x (# of participants) x (spell level)

Go to Ritual Casting – Part 3: True Rituals

Weaving a spell is the art of drawing upon the tapestry of magic that permeates all the things. The use of metamagic subtly alters the normal flow of spells, bringing more power to the dweomer at the cost of a higher spell slot. Augmented ritual casting of spells energizes spells at the time that they are cast, as opposed to the time they are prepared; thus the spellcaster does not need to sacrifice any spell levels to cast a spell augmented with metamagic. The ritual provides the extra power.

A spellcaster can ritually cast spells augmented with only the metamagic feats that he knows, but he can include each feat that he knows at the expense of extending the casting time, sacrificing more expensive components, and taking greater risk that the ritual will fail. Each extra metamagic feat that is applied to a spell through augmented ritual casting that would normally increase the level of spell instead makes the spell take longer to cast and cost more in material components. The total of these extra levels is the added level modifier. The added level modifier is used to determine the specific requirements of an augmented ritual casting.

AUGMENTED RITUAL LIMITS

The level of the spell being cast plus the added level modifier of all feats augmenting the spell cannot exceed the highest level spell the caster is capable of normally casting.

Example: A 12^th level wizard cannot cast 7^th level spells. The most powerful ritual a 12^th level wizard could perform to augment the knock spell (a 2^nd level spell) would be one with an added level modifier of +4 (2 + 4 = 6, the highest spell level the wizard can cast).

AUGMENTED RITUAL CASTING TIME

To determine the casting time of an augmented ritual casting, first determine the spell’s base ritual casting time according to the spell’s normal casting time (see table). The ritual casting time is equal to this base time multiplied by the total added level modifier of the augmentations:

(base ritual time) x (added level modifier)

Any casting time which exceeds an hour requires a Ritual Casting check against a DC of 10 + the spell level. (Use the spell’s original level, not the augmented level, for this DC.) A failure on this Ritual Casting check results in the magical energies warping and recoiling back upon the caster, resulting in (level of the spell + added level modifier) hp of damage. The augmented ritual is still successfully cast in the event of a failed Ritual Casting check.

AUGMENTED RITUAL MATERIAL COMPONENTS

Augmented ritual castings require extra material components beyond those normally required for casting the spell. These additional components represent the rare materials that must be expended to draw upon even greater power for the spell effect. For divine casters, these components are typically comprised of holy incense, small sacrifices, or similar trappings offered to the gods. For arcane casters, these components may represent herbs, minerals, or any other form of ritual trappings.

Regardless of what these ingredients are, the general cost of these materials is a number of gold pieces equal to:

25 x (added level modifier)

SPECIFIC FEATS

Heighten Spell: The Heighten Spell feat can be used, with the difference in the actual spell level and the new spell level being used to calculate the added level modifier.

Quicken Spell: The Quicken Spell feat cannot be added to an augmented ritual casting. However, if the feat is used normally and the quickened spell is then augmented the ritual casting time can be greatly reduced (per the chart above).

Silent Spell: The Silent Spell feat cannot be added to an augmented ritual casting. If a spell prepared with the effects of the Silent Spell feat is used to perform an augmented ritual casting, the feat’s benefits are negated.

Spell Focus: This feat may be used in augmented ritual castings to provide a bonus beyond the normal +2 benefit. For every extra +1 bonus (above the normal +2 bonus provided by this feat) with which the caster desires to augment his casting, one level is added to the total added level modifier of the augmented ritual casting.

Spell Penetration: This feat may be used in augmented ritual castings to provide a bonus beyond the normal +2 benefit. For every extra +1 bonus (above the normal +2 bonus provided by this feat) with which the caster desires to augment his casting, one level is added to the total added level modifier of the augmented ritual casting.

Still Spell: As with Silent Spell, the Still Spell feat cannot be added to an augmented ritual casting. If a spell prepared with the effects of the Still Spell feat is used to perform an augmented ritual casting, the feat’s benefits are negated.

Go to Ritual Casting – Part 2: Combined Ritual Casting