4e Rituals

[Farcaster]

Okay, try as I might, I'm having trouble understanding the exact requirements for using a ritual. Let me walk this through and you can see where I am getting a bit confused.

It's clear that to learn any rituals, I first have to have the Ritual Caster feat and be trained in Arcana or Religion (pg 200). If I meet that requirement, I can "master a ritual" by spending time studying it (298). Rituals are each associated with a key skill (300) such as Heal, Nature, etc. All rituals have a minimum character level that is required to cast them, and some rituals require a skill check to determine how well they work. Others, such as Raise Dead amazingly, require no check.

So, to understand rituals at all, I need to be trained in Arcana or Relgion .. But, do I need to be trained in the key skill of the spell as well? Or is it really that every character is two feats away from being able to cast rituals -- including Raise Dead? That just doesn't seem right. That would also mean that if I am a cleric who gets Ritual Casting free and am going to have Religion as a trained skill, I could potentially cast any of the rituals, including the arcana based ones. But, I can't find something that says otherwise in the chapter on Rituals.

Anyone have any input on this one?

[agoraderek]

Others, such as Raise Dead amazingly, require no check.

i didnt notice, but do they still want to have to come back to be raised?

from what i can tell, pretty much anyone can do anything if they take the right feat/skill combinations.

[ronpyatt]

So, to understand rituals at all, I need to be trained in Arcana or Relgion .. But, do I need to be trained in the key skill of the spell as well? Or is it really that every character is two feats away from being able to cast rituals -- including Raise Dead? That just doesn't seem right. That would also mean that if I am a cleric who gets Ritual Casting free and am going to have Religion as a trained skill, I could potentially cast any of the rituals, including the arcana based ones. But, I can't find something that says otherwise in the chapter on Rituals.

Anyone have any input on this one?

You've got it right. Skill check, when required, can be untrained. However, the lower your skill level the less likely you are to succeed.
You're leaving out a few bits though.
You have have the ritual either in scroll or in book. In a scroll you don't even need Religion or Arcana and it takes half the time to perform.
You also have to have the money, time, and level to perform such rituals.
This is great, because it's just like in stories.

As a DM, if you don't really like to give the whole raise dead thing in the first place, then ban the ritual to some degree.

[Tamerath]

you know Farcaster...I'm confused on this as well. Good question...

[Valdar]

Researched this a little, and it looks like yes, you only need two feats to cast any ritual, by the book.

By a strict interpretation of the rules, anyone with Ritual Casting can learn to raise the dead, and the only reason it's identified as a "Heal" skill is because that tells you what components to buy.

I'm not sure I'd change this- it does make sense to have the Cleric be the one doing the raising, but if someone wanted to be backup raiser, I wouldn't want to punish them unduly by either requiring a roll they'd probably miss, or requiring another feat.

In the previews, it was mentioned that only characters with destinies can be raised, so if someone assassinates the king, Raise Dead won't be the routine solution- it's likely that his destiny was to die then, so no raising would be possible. I found it very odd that this requirement didn't make it into the final books...

[agoraderek]

In the previews, it was mentioned that only characters with destinies can be raised, so if someone assassinates the king, Raise Dead won't be the routine solution- it's likely that his destiny was to die then, so no raising would be possible. I found it very odd that this requirement didn't make it into the final books...

hehehe, now you have to check the star charts and consult an oracle to see if raise dead will work!

[ronpyatt]

Rituals are also long and can be interrupted easily. All in all, it's not really that easy to just raise the dead.

[tesral]

Rituals are also long and can be interrupted easily. All in all, it's not really that easy to just raise the dead.

Yes it is, my alarm clock does it every morning.

[boulet]

I knew it ! Tesral is a Lich !

[frank634]

Actually, the 4e Rituals are the best edition to the game.

You do have it right. In order to use rituals, you need to have the Ritual Casting Feat, which Clerics and Wizards automatically get at 1st level. (You don't need the ritual casting feat to use a ritual scroll)

A ritual must be mastered. Which means it must be learned. You can only learn a ritual that is equal to your level or lower. By studying the ritual for 8 streight hours, you master it.

Many rituals reqauire you to make a skill check of some sort. Usually they are based on Arcana, Heal, Religion, or Heal check. You can not take 10 on the check, but there is no restriction that you have to be trained in the skill

Also many rituals require a component and must be on hand to cast it. Also, some rituals require a focus.

As i mentioned earlier, you don't need the ritual casting feat to use a ritual scroll. However, you still need to have any components and focus on hand. The person casting the ritual makes the skill check.

Hope this helps.

[Maelstrom]

I knew it ! Tesral is a Lich !

Hah! That explains a lot