Ritual Magic & Boosting spell sucess

Realised after last time I should probably write this down 🙂

The rules mention “Ritual Magic” in several places but deliberately don’t clarify it overmuch with the idea each GM adjusts it to their particular campaign. So here in brief is how I’m going do it.

For each shift in a spells casting time you can get a stacking “Ritual Bonus” It also presupposes that you are performing chants drawing runes lighting incense or the like the details are up to the Caster but the more detail you give me the more inclined I may be to throw in an added +1 role playing bonus on the spell check.

Original Casting time 1 Action 1 round 2 rounds 1 Turn +(10 -59 minutes) 1 Hour+
(6 turns to 7 Hours)
8 Hours
(Working Day 8-12 hours)
1 Day
(24 hours continuous)
3 Days
(Physical maximum)
Max Bonus ====> +1  ===> +2 ===> +4 ===> +6 ===> +8 ===> +12 ===> +15
Requirements   Chanting &
Concentration
Chanting &
Concentration
+ Basic
Materials
Items
+ Basic
Materials
Items
+ Special Materials + Special Materials Special Materials + Favorable Location
Notes Leaves caster fatigued for a day after Leaves caster fatigued for a week after

Spending a full round or two on a ritual requires no extra props, the caster is assumed to be chanting dancing or performing other activities to enact the ritual casting. Basic ritual materials (Diagrams on floor Incense etc) are REQUIRED for Rituals of one turn or one hour. 8 Hour or full day ritual REQUIRE some exotic materials as well and or a special location to add to the spells potency. Grand three day rituals require extra special materials location and preparation.

Occasionally you may find “Non magic” items that none the less will give you a bonus to a ritual. Likewise if you think creativly you may be able to think of items that can do this in specific cases.

The “Gotcher”

Well Magic can be enhanced by taking more time and care but there is a catch: If you should fail a ritual spell (and anyone can roll a”1″) then the Bonus on the ritual is ADDED to the misfire/fumble result. So roll a 1 on summoning a Demon and expect baad things to happen instead of a potent ally….

Both Clerics & Mages can use variations of Rituals. Two or more mages or clerics (but not one of each) can combine in a ritual at least of one hour duration to enhance the chance of the primary caster as per the main rulebook. If this interests somebody later let me know I’ll go into more detail then.

So in practice a +1 or +2 is achievable in combat most of the time. Rarely a +4 can be used as Temerian did the other night, but the main way to boost a spells success is by Spell burn (or sacrifices in the case of a cleric)

To be consistent if at some point somebody wants to use a mundane skill – say a party Dwarf wants to make a Sword etc, We can use the same sort of procedure. Normal Manufacturing time will be the “casting time” starting point. A sword for example would be a 1-4 hour base process so the max you could get would be three upshifts to a 3 day process giving  +4 to the skill check. Mundane skills are much less demanding on materials etc than magic however.

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