Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group

[Amaril]

I'm working on some guidelines for performing Rituals in my fantasy game. The version presented in the Horror Companion is harsh with some limited chances of success, which is appropriate for a horror setting as noted in the introductory paragraph for Rituals, but I don't feel it's suitable for a high-magic fantasy setting in which magic is a common occurrence in civilized society or in many cases an source of industry.

As such, I have a few questions about the rules as written and would like some feedback on adopting Rituals to a fantasy setting.

Question: Do arcane skill rolls for each action during the Ritual (i.e. Dramatic Task) potentially suffer backlash, or is only the final arcane skill roll to determine the effect at risk of backlash?

Modifications
Rather than suffering penalties to each arcane skill roll during the ritual, I'm thinking of having each enhancement/effect apply a -1 penalty to the final arcane skill roll, a -2 penalty for a greater effect (e.g. +2 bonus vs. +1).

I'm also considering removing the drawing of a card if the ritual fails, and instead simply consuming time and any material components, leaving backlashes and critical failures on the arcane skill roll as the risk of performing a ritual.
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Kristian
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[Clint]

[quote="Amaril"]Question: Do arcane skill rolls for each action during the Ritual (i.e. Dramatic Task) potentially suffer backlash, or is only the final arcane skill roll to determine the effect at risk of backlash?

It's only the actual casting roll after the ritual is finished that would have to worry about Backlash (if the AB had that).

[Amaril]

[Lord Inar]

[Amaril]

[Amaril]

[kronovan]

[Amaril]

[jpk]

[Amaril]

[jpk]

Ah. I see what you're shooting for a little better, then.

While I can't say it's a preferred or general method, what I'm doing with my fantasy game at home right now is inserting two new skills, Ritual (Divine) and Ritual (Arcane). For my setting, Ritual (Divine) is based on Smarts and is actually used to compel the action of divine beings based on existing pacts, agreements, and compulsions, while Ritual (Arcane) is based on Spirit and is used to impose the caster's will on reality on an unnaturally large scale.

Rituals are all unique to setting and many have additional specific requirements (such as Arcane Backgrounds, Imperial Blood, Noble, rank, follower of a specific god, etc). If you know the ritual and have the required stuff on hand, you can make the roll to make it happen. You get one free at each new rank, and can pick up new ones for an advance (two of lower rank or one of your current rank). Some new rituals require a justification to learn, some don't.

While a route like that gives you a lot of control and ramps up the flavor as much as you want it to, it also requires a lot of setting-specific set-up (or players who will wait to know what other rituals are available and don't need the whole catalog at the start).

I hope there's something out of that you can use.

[Amaril]

Interesting. So rather than use a blanket method to ritualize existing powers, create new unique rituals with individual requirements. I'll have to think on that some. The HC Ritual method is a bit of a better advantage because they can take a new power as an advance and augment it with a ritual rather than sacrifice a potential new power for just one ritual.
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[jpk]

Well, in this particular setting, advancement won't be the only way they can get new rituals. Story-based enhancements will be happening, such as rituals, connections, and other rewards based on the ongoing story. Of course, they're also open to story-based bad, bad things, too.

There are also some things that can be handled with Ritual that don't require an actual "learned ritual," such as forcing open select magical portals or activating "in-place" ritual effects.

The custom rituals allow for a wider range of flavored options, such as one that allows a target's Leadership Edges to apply to an entire town's militia, but enhanced powers tend to allow for much more consistency.

[77IM]

For my ritual system, it's pretty simple. There are some checks and penalties and time required (minutes) for the effect you want, etc. But then there are the Three Important Questions:

Useful/Powerful: Is the ritual is particularly useful or more powerful than other similar magics, to the extent that the PCs will want to use it all the time? For example, in a nautical setting, a ritual that transports your ship to any port seems like it would be used constantly, instead of actually sailing and navigating.

Rare: Is the ritual effect not very common in the campaign setting, to the extent that the very effect would change the setting? For example, maybe the PCs find a ritual to turn lead into gold! That would surely upset any gold-based economy, so such a ritual should be rare.

Boring: Does the ritual accomplish so much that using it is actually less interesting than going on an adventure? Some ritual effects (often those that are also Useful/Powerful or Rare) are just, well, boring, usually because they short-circuit the adventures that the campaign is supposed to be about. For example, in a treasure-hunting campaign, where the PCs search for lost relics, a ritual that tells them where to find any lost relic is boring, because the PCs will just use that ritual all the time instead of adventuring.

For each "Yes" answer, the ritual gets a Special Requirement. These are all custom and are all a PITA. It might be the blood of a particular monster, or it can only be performed at a particular time and place, or it's just really inconvenient in some way. If all three answers are "No" then there are no special requirements -- just a check and a few minutes' time.

This turns rituals into a form of Challenge Translation ("translate" in the geometric sense): If you're facing a boring challenge, you can substitute a ritual. The ritual might have PITA requirements that are just as challenging but less boring. Overland travel is the classic example. After a certain point, going BACK across the desert AGAIN is dull, so a teleport ritual is fine... but pulling it off should be about as tricky as a desert random encounter.

-- 77IM, shamelessly stole the "three questions" method from Spirit of the Century
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[Snate56]

How about requiring a Ritual circle or alter that's not portable but available in most towns, vilages and cities?




SteveN
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[Amaril]

I think all of this might be missing the bigger picture. My primary goal is not to include "rituals" per se, but to provide a way to make greater magic (not to be confused with epic-level) ubiquitous and available in a commercialized form. Being able to teleport miles away should not be something that's next to impossible. Flight should be usable for hours, not rounds. These are examples of limitations for things that I personally cannot justify being limited. I don't quite see the harm in making it accessible. The only issue that might come up is characters with Arcane Background might potentially outshine non-casters, but really, non-casters can benefit from these powers just as much as they can be the targets of some of those defensive and utility powers.

Rituals from the Horror Companion were just my attempt at providing an easy, in-game method of making such greater effects possible and feasible.
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[The Dread Polack]

I haven't read the HC, and don't remember how rituals work in the FC right now at work.

It sounds to me like some, though not necessarily all of the rituals you propose are similar to modern conveniences such as flying in planes, going to a clinic, installing a security system, or a lot of benefits of simply having electricity.

If this sort of thing is ubiquitous, then I'd save myself some trouble of statting out new ABs and treat it much like modern-day conveniences. Maybe they require an AB, and maybe they don't. I like jpk's system of having a new skill for the ritual. Maybe one skill will cover all rituals, or maybe you need a different skill for each type, like "Ritual healing", "Ritual Teleportation", or "Ritual Warding". That could limit how many people are walking around with a ton of ability.

If a player wanted to have this ability, decide whether they need an AB, then decide whether they need a specific skill, and after that, I'd keep it as simple as possible. Look at modern anologs. If you want a ritual flight to be like taking a train ride, then make it similarly limited. Do they need to follow a ley line? Do they need to use some sort of fuel? Decide how difficult the task is, assign a modifier or TN to the roll, and then have them roll it.

Here's a couple theoretical examples:

Magic Carpet Ride: Only characters with AB: Sorcery can fly a carpet, but it takes a "Ritual Flight" roll get it moving. The pilot (for lack of a more interesting term) must purchase or craft an enchanted rug large enough for all passengers. This one is the size of a large van and holds 10 people with their gear comfortably. It cost him 2,000 gp and he must roll Ritual Flight at -1 once per hour due to the size. It also costs him 2 PP per hour to keep in the air.

This isn't a difficult thing to pull off. Finding someone who can do it is probably fairly difficult outside of a large town, and it's expensive to hire one. Once your PC can do it, he only has to pay for the rug and flying is now free, but draining of PP.

Magical Clinic: You need an appropriate AB and the healing power. The Healing skill is also a must. Once a ritual healer has successfully diagnosed a medical problem with the mundane healing skill, he can spend a number of PPs and material components costing money to instantly heal it, or cause it to fade in a number of rounds/minutes/hours/days depending on the condition, as listed on a table. A new "witch doctor" will only have 10 PP, and mostly focus on at most 10-20 patients a day (depending on the severity of the problems and the length of the shift, since they recover PP over the course of the day). Experienced doctors will have 20+ PP and the Greater Healing power, which will expand the range of problems they can heal. Minor maladies can be healed for free given enough time.

This is pretty much like modern medicine (at least in a fictional world), only much simpler. Most PCs will just have a list of prices they care about for paying NPC doctors, but a PC doctor will want to buy up their healing skill and carry a bag full of ritual healing supplies.

Magical Security Company: This is maybe even simpler. The person setting the security decides upon the scope of the security procedures (wards? Mystic Alarms? Summoned spiritual patrols?), then rolls their skill, noting the result. When someone tries to break it, they roll their stealth against this result (or casting skill, if trying to dispel or bypass it). Failure means the alarm is tripped.

Treat this just like mundane security with magical trappings. It should probably cost more, however.


So, that was pretty long-winded and not very specific, but I hope it was at least a little helpful?