Ritual Creation rules? Any?

[nightspaladin]

OK. Got the three core. Had only a small chance to flip thru them though. I like the rituals they include, and though many of them seem to have variable scaling based on your roll, thus covering what would have been multiple spells in 3.x, there do seem to be some very basic effects missing, that I would like to add. I can't seem to find anything in either of the three books about making new rituals. Has anyone that has dissected the books found guidelines for this? Any thoughts on this if there aren't guidelines?

 

[baberg]

I haven't seen anything about making new rituals, but I'd probably find a related ritual (or something that seems roughly as powerful as that) and slightly modify the details. Could you give an example or three as to what you think you're missing?

 

[nightspaladin]

Polymorph. Leomund's Tiny Hut. Just 2 off the top of my head.

I really like the ritual power framework. It appears to be very versitile and simple to create, but there are some powers I know my players have been tossing around for years that I don't seem to be able to recreate with the 50 or so listed.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Polymorph - if you want to use it for combat purposes (meaning it grants you attacks, attack bonuses and similar abilities), it should be a spell, not a ritual. If not, you might be able to create something useable based on the existing rituals.

Leomunds Tiny Hut? Hmm. I think you might be able to find something to base that off.

The most important part is figuring out which level a Ritual should be, I think.

For Tiny Hut, you have to consider when it's appropriate for Heroes to be able to create their own "safehouse" in the middle of dangerous territory. I suppose higher Heroic Tier fits. (Levels 7-10?). Should probably use Arcana or Nature as key skill.

Polymorph for non-combat purposes (utility forms like: Birds to scout and fly, fishes to swim, harmless animals to infiltrate). Compare to actual Fly and Water Breathing powers.

 

[baberg]

Polymorph. Leomund's Tiny Hut. Just 2 off the top of my head.

I really like the ritual power framework. It appears to be very versitile and simple to create, but there are some powers I know my players have been tossing around for years that I don't seem to be able to recreate with the 50 or so listed.

Yeah, you're just going to have to homebrew some of that. For the Tiny Hut, I'd look at the Traveller's Feast which can create food for 5 people. It's a level 4 ritual, but creating a safehouse would be more complex, so I'd agree with Mustrum_Ridcully, make it a level 8ish ritual with the costs on par with other level 8 rituals.

Polymorph I'd probably make a pretty low ability since Doppelgangers can start showing up at level 3. Put some limits on it that seem fair (1 hour in form, can only shift to similar sizes, etc) and give it the average costs for a level 3 ritual.

There are a ton of "gaps" in traditional spells and rituals that D&D used to have. Either house-rule them or ask the PCs to find another creative way to do the same thing.

 

[nightspaladin]

I'm considering just creating them on the fly using the 3.x versions as guidelines. I know that there is a paradigm shift here on alot of powers, but it is a start.


Since 3.x assumed 20 levels of play and 4e assumes 30 to space out powers i think the baseline may be whatever level a 3.x character would have access to the spell times 1.5, roudning down in the player's favor.

So a 5th level 3.x spell, which a normal progression character would have had at 9th level, would be 9 x 1.5 = 13th level. Seems like a good starting place.