Hot answers tagged rituals
12
This seems pretty simple to me. The mage is not an object, and thus would not gain the resist 20.
The clear intention of the Floating Shield is that anything you have stowed on the floating disk is going to be harder to explode.
Sure, your mage is probably going to argue that point, but you're the GM, and the intention of that item is pretty obviously not ...
11
There are two alternative interpretations to answering this question, both of which are very important.
First, and critically, players doing this are signalling that they don't want to stay dead. Turning around and saying "No!" means that you're negating a player wish. Certainly allow them to specify what level of body part is needed for resurrection. Toss ...
11
You can use this item as an optional
focus for the Tenser’s Floating Disk
ritual. When you do, a force bubble
over the disk prevents creatures other
than you from moving anything on the
disk without your express mental
permission, and objects gain resist 20
to all damage while on the disk.
While I see no reason that the ritual can't be ...
11
Here are some house rules I've used to great effect – based on the writings of many bloggers and forum posters.
Simplify casting times to Short rest and Extended Rest
If casting time is less than 1 hour, make it a short rest instead. If it's longer, make it a extended rest.
Severely cut the casting cost
Cut casting cost by at least 50%. Consider cutting ...
10
I see several alternatives here.
You allow the mage to ride the floating disc, granting the damage resistance that is given to objects. However, you make her dismount before casting any spells. They are blocked by the force bubble. The mount rules probably make this cost prohibitive as dismounting and mounting are both standards.
Same as above, you just ...
10
None. The fundamental assumptions behind D&D 4e are not about realism drawn from the game world; they've simplified the game by making the rules come first. So the answer is "none..." You know where the ground is, so it hovers above the ground, regardless of interesting physics tricks. You have to treat it like Magic: The Gathering or whatnot, ...
10
Sounds fine, go for it.
DMs get to make up special magic items and determine exactly how they work. That's how all the existing "standard" magic items started – a DM just said "this is what it is, and this is how it works."
There is no rule that says you can only invent magic items that use the rules players have to abide by. In fact, to make unique, ...
9
No. According to the PHB ("How to Read a Ritual", p. 300), the Key Skill entry is only to describe the role of skill checks in that ritual: whether they're necessary, whether you have a choice of skills, and what reagents you need are a function of the skill chosen.
Checking the compiled errata, there are no mentions of "key skill" anywhere, so this hasn't ...
9
Psionic Power also contains no rituals. The skill used for a ritual doesn't affect anything mechanically, so you can reflavor rituals as psionic without issue -- I do this for my psion. But yeah, it seems like a bit of a lack.
It's probably worth noting that rituals don't have an associated power source, just associated skills. WotC decided not to add a ...
9
This is purely, totally, entirely up to the GM.
I say that very emphatically because, as far as I know, there is no such thing as bodily dismemberment in the rules. So you, or your GM, will have to figure out if it is permanent or temporary, and act accordingly.
My best guess: being bodily dismembered is a permanent condition. As such, I'd think Raise Dead ...
8
Yes, that's correct. An article in Dragon #385, "Ritually Speaking: Item Focus Rituals," introduced the concept of item focus rituals. These allow specific magic items to serve as a focus for the ritual without the need for ritual components. It's a great way to encourage your players to use rituals and to make magic items seem more wondrous.
8
Wizards gain rituals more easily than any other class; they start with three rituals for free, and learn two more for free at 5th, 11th, 15th, 21st, and 25th level.
Bards only gain two rituals for free at first level, but they can cast one bardic ritual at no cost every day. At higher levels, they can cast two or three free bardic rituals per day. So they ...
8
In both cases it refers to the affected creature: a creature that matches the origin you choose (aberrant, elemental, fey, immortal, natural, shadow, or all) when performing the ritual.
An affected creature whose:
level is lower than your Arcana check result minus 10:
cannot pass through or affect the circle
level is equal or higher than your ...
7
The disc always floats 1 foot off the ground.
The rules say:
You create a slightly concave, circular plane of force that floats a foot off the ground and can carry what you lay upon it. The disk is 3 feet in diameter and 1 inch deep at its center. It remains stationary unless you move more than 5 squares away from it, in which case it moves with your ...
6
I don't believe there are any official guidelines.
First off, do a thorough scan of existing rituals and see if there isn't one already in existence in the published products that matches the intent of the ritual you mean to create - is this really a new spell or just a reskinned or slightly unusual case of another ritual's function?
If you do decide ...
6
I don't agree with the interpretation that "part of the corpse" includes parts removed before the moment of death. To me, lopping off one's toe to save as "resurrection insurance" is just as much a cheat as cutting off your hair an putting it in a jar.
The hand-waving I would use to justify this restriction is that the spirit or soul of the creature is ...
6
Seems similar to the same discussion about the Bag of Holding.
The description for that item simply reads pounds of weight and does not specify objects.
I'd say you answered your own question, that objects implies non-living things. Otherwise it might have read anything.
6
'because of your light source' is the important bit - the light is not visible to anyone else, but if there is another ambient light source, you can be seen.
To simplify - the spell is a light source that is not bright and shiny. It does not make anything invisible, but it will not ruin any stealth attempts in darkened conditions. It will not alert others ...
5
Semantically speaking, the rule makes an assumption: There is one corpse ("the" corpse as opposed to a corpse). That implies that the entire sum of the physical construct of the creature, collectively, is "the corpse", and any portion of that physical construct, therefore, is a portion of the corpse. Therefore, having a portion of the body, whether ...
5
The hand can conceivable answer most any question that can be answered with a gesture and whose time-frame does not extend beyond the current hour.
"Should I purchase this item" is a little vague. "Direct me to the best weapon to use in my upcoming duel" would be better.
For your second question, perhaps something like
"What is the safest path to the ...
5
We've always interpreted this to mean that permanent conditions occurring before death remain, while those occurring after are reverted. Legs lost before death are still lost, while those lost to wolves afterwards, are regenerated.
So, as long as a sufficiently large, identifiable part of the creature is still around (even as much as a lock of hair), the ...
5
Typically uncommon items are only found, not created or purchased.
However, this does not preclude you (or whoever the DM is) from providing the player with the brew potion recipe with the recipe he would need to brew an uncommon potion (although the ingredients could potentially be harder to find, more expensive than the potion).
Much like many DMs allow ...
5
Here are the guidelines I used in my last game.
1) Give out rituals with loot. They're not worth selling, so the players end up keeping the ritual. Left to their own devices, the players would buy the half dozen rituals the internet has deemed worthwhile. This method gave them those circumstantial rituals that are useless once or twice in the game. The ...
5
Incantations
Unearthed Arcana has rules for Incantations, rituals similar to spells that can be performed by anyone. And, since Unearthed Arcana is one of the books released under the Open Game License, all of those rules can be found on the System Resource Document.
4
The "best" ritual caster class is one that satisfies the following parameters:
has the most rituals castable,
The attributes for the rituals should be high due to other play considerations
Is the most likely to succeed in ritual casting
Can cast the most rituals for free
There are 314 Ritual-like practices, martial practices, or alchemical recipies:
No ...
4
I ruled this as a literal interpretation, part of the corpse is 'Part Of The Corpse' Not 'part of the thing that is now a corpse, but wasn't when they took the part'. The Magic works on the fact that the part is from a dead thing and there is a 'deadness' nature that is part of that. Kind of similar to a vampire becoming a vampire only by dying first. it ...
4
A body part removed before death is certainly not part of a corpse. If you extrapolate from that, ruling that a body part to be used for a Raise must be acquired after the being expires, i.e. literally "a part of the corpse", that obviates all the above nonsense and self-mutilation so contrary to the spirit of the game.
Some methods of termination leave no ...
4
Here's a few that i found in the Wizard's compendium (lvl 1-8 rituals)
Prevent others from scrying
Silence?
Travel quickly
Easy Passage
Long-Distance Runner
Clear the Path
Find the Path
Ghost Walk
Put up defenses around an area
Undead Ward
Warded Campsite
Magic Circle
Learn obscure information
Speak With Dead
Other
Wizard's Escape is good for ...
4
Yes, having the bodies eaten by wolves, or other predators, is fair game. The spell doesn't protect them or make them significantly less likely to be eaten. At best, it will be a series of predators/scavengers which each take a few pieces, only to not like the taste, combined with bacteria, worms and other critters.
So, it's legal, or, at worst, easily ...
4
You are mistaken about the exact mechanics. The Vinculum rises as you said, but it only lowers when you get a "1" in the dice.
The Vinculum stays the same for the vampires that do not participate in the Vaulderie.
It does not fade with the time:
Unlike normal blood bonds, Vinculi do not fade over time — a Vinculum left after a Vaulderie with a vampire ...
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