Many characters have access to magic directly through choice of class. Those that are primary casting classes have spell slots that can be directly used to cast spells prepared in them, or known in a repertoire. Secondary casting classes usually get, or can opt into, a pool of Spell Points in which to cast a few specific spells as powers, or grow a small repertoire that can be used in the same way. But what about those classes that don't get automatic access to magic? And what about secondary casting characters that don't want to opt into their class's magical tools?
Rituals and esoteric rituals allow these characters to still be able to cast some spells in certain circumstances. It's not as easy as having a primary or secondary casting class, and requires either a great deal of skill or sacrifice to pull off, but it can add a lot of versatility to any character's tool kit. Ritual casting is also helpful to those characters that already get spells from their class, as it can be used to reliably, if slowly, replicate the effects of spells they know (or otherwise don't) without costing any precious spell slots or spell points to do so.
LEARNING RITUALS
There are a few ways characters can learn rituals and esoteric rituals in Realm of Runes. Each magical tradition's associated skill (Arcana, Nature, Occultism and Religion) has skill feats available that can let a character pick spells and learn the ritual version of that spell permanently and directly. Some classes, like the Sorcerer, can more easily learn ritual versions of spells that they already know in their repertoire, while the Cleric's natural inclination toward ritual in worship helps them more easily learn esoteric rituals.
For those that aren't well invested enough to learn a ritual directly, or that simply have more important places to spend important character resources like feats, ritual instructions make this casting process available anyway. Ritual instructions are a category of magic items that detail all of the incantations, materials and appropriate gestures to cause a spell to manifest through ritual casting. Simply having the ritual instructions for a spell or esoteric ritual is enough to do so, and these instructions are not consumable items. Once you have a set of instructions, you can use it over and over again to perform the ritual as many times as you want, as long as you don't lose it.
THE RITUAL CASTING PROCESS
Rituals and esoteric rituals have a special process unlike spells and powers that is like a separate mini-game for the character, or characters, that are performing the ritual. When performing a ritual, the steps listed are performed in order. Many steps are optional, and can be skipped. If the total spell level is reduced to zero at any point, a ritual is completed and cast immediately and no further steps are necessary. If this occurs for an esoteric ritual, this is treated as a success. Better degrees of success for an esoteric ritual can only be achieved by attempting its final skill check.
STEP 1: DETERMINE TOTAL SPELL LEVEL
When casting a ritual or esoteric ritual, the caster arbitrarily chooses the spell level for the spell to manifest at. This can be any spell level at least equal to the spell’s base level, with no maximum. This can allow a ritual caster to gain spell effects that could not otherwise be obtained by casting the spell by spell slots or spell points, only capped by the ambition of the caster, but the higher the total spell level the more difficult the ritual is to complete. This total spell level sets the goal to complete the ritual, and other steps of ritual casting reduce this value to make higher-level rituals easier, or to complete them early.
STEP 2: MISCELLANEOUS REDUCTIONS (OPTIONAL)
This step is for items or abilities specifically designed to reduce the total spell level of a ritual. Some items, like a candle of ritual invocation directly reduce the total spell level of a ritual when used. Others, like a potion of ritual compliance, make the caster better at performing the ritual. The general feat Sacrificial Ritualist, can also be used to sacrifice living, or even intelligent, creatures in order to power a ritual, making high-level rituals easier to pull off for those willing and able to murder their way there.
STEP 3: SECONDARY CASTERS (OPTIONAL, ESOTERIC RITUALS ONLY)
Some esoteric rituals list a number of secondary casters, or other casters that assist in the casting of the esoteric ritual. Any number of secondary casters can help, up to the number listed by the ritual. An esoteric ritual that allows secondary casters also lists the skills that secondary casters can use, which may be different from the primary skills required. Each secondary caster attempts one of these skill checks, choosing which skill to use separately from other secondary casters. The difficulty of this check is a Hard DC of twice the current total spell level, as chosen by the primary caster in step 1 and possibly reduced by miscellaneous reductions from step 2. If any secondary caster succeeds, reduce the total spell level by 1 for each secondary caster that succeeds. Secondary casters that fail are not penalized beyond their inability to help.
STEP 4: SACRIFICE SPELL SLOTS (OPTIONAL)
The primary caster can sacrifice a spell slot or prepared spell to power the ritual. Reduce the total spell level by the level of the slot or spell sacrificed. Because they're never expended when cast, Cantrips cannot be sacrificed this way. This step gives primary casting classes a bit of an edge at ritual casting if they need it, and it can help dramatically reduce the difficulty of a high-level ritual like resurrection, or simply guarantee success of a lower-level one that you can't afford to fail and try again because you don't have time to spare.
STEP 5: SACRIFICE INNER MAGIC (OPTIONAL)
The primary caster can sacrifice Spell Points or Resonance to power the ritual. Reduce the total spell level by the number of Spell Points or Resonance Points sacrificed. This step is like step 4, but more widely accessible. All primary casting classes, as well as secondary casting classes that have opted in, have spell points to spend if needed. All characters, regardless of class, have Resonance.
STEP 6: SACRIFICE SANITY (OPTIONAL)
The primary caster can power the ritual by drawing on latent psychic power from the minds of casters. Reduce the total spell level of the ritual by any amount, then all casters take mental damage for each level reduced this way. This step cannot be used if the primary caster is immune to mental damage, but otherwise is a somewhat risky option that can help make high-level rituals more accessible, or guarantee the success of lower-level ones, by spending Hit Points directly as opposed to more limited daily character resources like spell slots or spell points. If the primary caster is reduced to 0 Hit Points by this damage, however, the ritual fails and all other sacrifices thus far are for naught.
STEP 7: PERFORM FINAL SKILL CHECK
The primary caster attempts a skill check to complete the ritual. An esoteric ritual lists its possible skills in its full description, and the primary caster chooses one of the available checks to attempt. A spell ritual always uses the magical tradition’s associated skill. Many spells belong to more than one magical tradition, and a caster can choose whichever tradition it wants when attempting a ritual for such spells. Ritual instructions are similarly agnostic regarding which traditions can use those instructions in order to perform a spell ritual. The difficulty of the final skill check is an Incredible DC of twice the current total spell level, as chosen in step 1 and possibly reduced during steps 2-6. A spell ritual is cast on any success, while many esoteric rituals have special results depending on the resulting degree of success which can make reducing the level of an esoteric ritual valuable, even if confident in your ability to cast it, in order to make critical successes more likely or critical failures less likely.
Rituals and esoteric rituals are an important way of keeping magic accessible to all characters that want to use it, even those that do not otherwise have easy ways of making use of it. It's not always guaranteed to succeed, and takes large amounts of in-game time to attempt, but it can be rewarding, powerful, or simply a way of using a key utility spell like create water as many times as needed to keep your party alive without having to blow all your spell slots to do so. Next time we'll take a closer look at character backgrounds, and how they can be used to add unique flourishes to characters and also hook them into a campaign.
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