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I'm a newbie D&D5e Wizard player and was intrigued by the Ritual tag and its major benefits for Wizards.

I'd like to ask if a Ritual Spell in my Spellbook can be cast multiple times a day, without the need for a rest, assuming I have plentiful components to cast said spell?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Are there any specific ritual spells that you are concerned about? \$\endgroup\$
    – Vigil
    Aug 5, 2020 at 23:01
  • \$\begingroup\$ No, not really, but could see this being "abused" with a crazy number of castings? \$\endgroup\$
    – Joe
    Aug 5, 2020 at 23:03
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    \$\begingroup\$ There are no healing ritual spells for a good reason. Also I think there are no buffing ritual spells although I'd have to check that. Most ritual spells don't give you any benefit from casting a lot, since it takes 10 min to cast. \$\endgroup\$
    – findusl
    Aug 5, 2020 at 23:08
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    \$\begingroup\$ The main balancing factor for rituals isn't concentration or components, but rather the fact that they don't produce a disproportionate benefit from being cast multiple times per day. Their long casting time also prevents them from being used in combat. \$\endgroup\$
    – Syric
    Aug 6, 2020 at 14:53
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    \$\begingroup\$ I used to abuse this a little as an abjuration wizard. Abjuration wizards get a protection ward that recharges every time they cast an abjuration spell, but I didn't want to waste spell slots just to charge up the ward. If I had more than ten minutes I would spam the Alarm ritual till my ward was recharged. \$\endgroup\$
    – Luke
    Aug 7, 2020 at 0:44

2 Answers 2

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The limit is 142 times

Each ritual adds 10 minutes and most spells take 6 seconds1, there are 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day so 144 lots of 10 minutes, lose just under 15 minutes for the normal casting time so 142 is the maximum. This is likely to be “as many times as the wizard wants” unless his wants are excessive.

Kidding aside; your understanding of what a ritual spell is is correct - a spell that can be cast unprepared from your spellbook as long as you have the time and components. You do have to concentrate for the full casting time (and the duration of the spell if it is a concentration spell) so your casting can be interrupted, however, you can just start over once the interruption has been dealt with.


1If you are using 1 minute spells then 130 is the maximum. For 1 hour spells then you are down to 20 but if you are losing 19 familiars in a day please be more careful with them - this is why we can’t have nice things!

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    \$\begingroup\$ You can make up 24 seconds with a time stop (56 as a Sorcerer with Extend Spell) - might there be other ways to gain back enough seconds to cast it one more time? Arguably, with some Sorcerer levels you could Quicken the spells so that you could remove one round from each spell (depends whether the last round counts as casting for the purpose of the other spell having to be a cantrip). \$\endgroup\$ Aug 8, 2020 at 2:54
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Yes, but there's usually not much benefit

Certain spells have a special tag: ritual. Such a spell can be cast following the normal rules for spellcasting, or the spell can be cast as a ritual. The ritual version of a spell takes 10 minutes longer to cast than normal. It also doesn't expend a spell slot, which means the ritual version of a spell can't be cast at a higher level. (Basic Rules)

Since ritual spells can be cast without using a spell slot, a wizard is limited in how many they can cast per day only by time (normal cast time + 10 minutes per cast) and any costly components used in the spell.

Since this way of casting bypasses a caster's normal limits (spell slots), most ritual spells are either not all that impactful (or at least not that impactful when cast multiple times), or use other methods of limiting their use.

Detect Magic, for instance, is a useful spell, but probably doesn't see a use more than once or twice a day.

Tenser's Floating Disk can create multiple carrying disks if repeatedly ritual cast, but each only lasts an hour, putting a limit of 6 simulaneous disks per ritual-casting wizard.

Find Familiar, which you mentioned, explicitly says in its text:

You can’t have more than one familiar at a time.

So to answer your question: the ritual casting feature does not limit how many rituals you can cast - but you will rarely find it useful to spam rituals.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Water breathing (24h duration on 10 creatures) is an interesting case: a couple 5th level wizards could keep a large crew of underwater construction workers going, or scuba tour groups. Or prep a decent-sized group of soldiers for a stealth amphibious assault from underwater. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 7, 2020 at 15:56
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    \$\begingroup\$ Re: Detect Magic: Note that the process of ritual casting requires your concentration, so you can't keep near-100% uptime on Detect Magic by starting to cast it again as soon as you finish. i.e. you can't overlap its 10min duration with the 10.1min ritual-cast time, because both those things are concentration. Just something I wondered the other day, not contradicting anything in your answer. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 7, 2020 at 15:58
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    \$\begingroup\$ But yes, TL:DR: spells with a ritual tag are balanced with that in mind. As pointed out in comments under the question, no healing or pre-combat buff spells. \$\endgroup\$ Aug 7, 2020 at 21:19

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