11 thoughts on “Has anyone come up with a list of rituals?”

  1. The thing about rituals is they can just be made up on the fly, no real list needed. For example:

    Ritual of Opening

    “I need to get into the Underworld”

    It’s going to take days, first you must bind a ghost to a emerald, then you’ll have to arrange stones in line with the stars and release the ghost as the cleric reads from a Tome of Exorcism to create a brief gate. You and your allies will risk danger from Orninveers, God-like guardians of the borders and seals between realms.

  4. Perhaps a list of things to fill in the blanks would be helpful? So instead of coming up with stuff from scratch you can pick and choose from suggested elements?

    First you must…

    …acquire a specific item.

    …draw the ritual sigils on the floor in powdered silver.

    …make a deal with a demon.

    …drink this transformative potion.

    …sacrifice a part of your body.

    …sacrifice a part of your mind.

    You’ll need help from…

    …the gods.

    …demons.

    …someone you totally screwed over in a previous adventure.

    …a future version of yourself from an alternate timeline.

    You and your allies will risk danger from…

    …an enemy already established (Baron Evilpants will not permit this!)

    …an enemy right there (e.g. “Hold off those orcs while I finish the spell!”)

    …creatures or forces unleashed by the magic.

    …creatures or forces attracted by the magic.

    …your evil twins.

    Stuff like that?

  5. this helps a lot, but I also think that the requirements for Ritual can be a big part of world building with far reaching consequences.. if you are making something too accessible, you are basically making it part of the way the world normally works. If you make it too complex, it becomes more of a plot device.. In any case it is something that shapes the world significantly.

    Am I overthinking this?

  8. Tim Franzke eh I find difficult to accept the fact the wizard can use earth-shattering rituals and only a puny 1st level spell. I have trouble putting them in the same coherent narrative. I remember we already had this discussion a few weeks back 🙂

    Thanks for the links. Very instructive.

  9. It doesn’t take anyone special to summon Cthulhu, just someone crazy enough to perform the ritual…

    The way you can create a soft level requirement is in how difficult the steps are of the ritual. For example, does the ritual require the tooth of a goblin or the tooth of the tarrasque? a crushed agate (100gp value) or a crushed diamond (1000gp value) or crushed flawless diamond (5000gp value) or crushed flawless diamond from the diadem from the crown of Asmodeus?

    So a 1st level wizard wants to craft a robe of stars in a ritual. Give him the ritual requirements, even if what he’ll need is the bollocs from a balrog, and let him make a long term plan to get’r done.

    But on the other hand. It might be fun when all that is required is the Necronomicon and the phrase (properly repeated) “KLATU BARADA NICTUU!” and see what happens on a low roll…

  10. Ask the wizard: “You spent years studying this, what do you think?” Then add something yourself to give it a twist. If you have to, create a random table with cool stuff.

    The best ritual we had, the casting wizard included “a secret revealed”. So all the characters had to sit in a circle and tell their best kept secrets untill the GM decided on one that was outrageous enough to banish Cthulhu.

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