Using Ritual Magic

What is Scarterran Ritual Magic?

  The line between a hard magic system and a soft magic system in a fantasy world is somewhat blurred.   Scarterra mostly has a hard magic system on the whole with defined rules. Scarterran ritual magic leans towards a soft magic. The main point of ritual magic is to spur the story forward.   In the interest of governing the ungovernable the ungovernable, here are some rules guidelines for Scarterran ritual magic.  

Rules of Scarterran Ritual Magic

  Characters learn ritual magic with time and effort, but PCs and NPCs alike do not have to spend experience points or freebie points to learn ritual magic.   Characters do not have to be mages or theurgists to cast ritual magic. In theory, any Scarterran can cast ritual magic, but it is disproportionately mages and theurgists who learn ritual magic because they study magic for a living.   Ritual magic cannot be cast quickly and it often requires very specific setups in order to make it possible to even attempt it. Many rituals require specific rare tools or materials. Some rituals are location specific and some rituals are time specific.   There are two main ways the Game Master can put limits on ritual magic. First is to set a specific time. The ritual an hour, or three hours, a day or a week or some specific and clearly set period of time. The second is to make casting a ritual an extended roll and the ritual is completed when the ritual caster (or casters) accumulate a pool of X number of successes which means the ritual has a variable casting length.  

The Three Main Story Reasons to use Ritual Magic

 

The suspense of a ticking clock

  If the PCs (or an allied NPC) is enacting, you can make an exciting story encounter by having the player characters run interference the ritual caster either for a set period of time, or a variable period of time based on how well they do on their extended rolls. The ticking clock adds suspense and uncertainty to the characters defensive actions be they combat or subterfuge.   Any ritual can do in a pinch, but a ritual to open a planar gateway or summon an extraplanar ally is a good story for the PCs defending a ritual.   If a villain is enacting a ritual, the PCs have a finite amount of time to fight their way through the villain's minions and traps in order to stop whatever villainous thing the villain is doing.   Any ritual can do in a pinch, but a ritual sacrifice of a friend or ally of the PCs is a classic story that is especially fitting for villains who are skin changer witches.  

Research is an Adventure

  In this case, the story isn't in casting the ritual, the story is in learning the ritual. Maybe you have to hunt for ancient scrolls in a dungeon complex or comb the reaches of the Astral Plane for the knowledge. Or maybe the characters exactly where the ritual knowledge, but there is a librarian or gatekeeper that won't give it to them unless they complete a favor or quest.  

Shameless Plot Device

  If the Game Master needs something odd to happen in order to move the story along, but he doesn't want this to look like an unexplained plot hole or poorly written deus ex machina. If the Game Master needs something big to happen "just this once" you let the PCs or one of their enemies have access to a ritual that can push the plot forward.    

Examples of What Scarterran Ritual Magic can do

 

Talking to the Dead

  Talking to the dead isn't just for necromancers (though I suppose this technically a form of necromancy).   Ritual magic can summon the honored dead to speak to the living, with three caveats.   1) The Honored Dead does not have to show up. They can ignore the summons if they choose. Though most Honored Dead will respond to a summons if only at curiosity or politeness since it takes a lot of effort to do such a summoning and the afterlife is pretty boring.   2) Some Honored Dead are so far removed from the living or mostly forgotten to the living that they cannot be summoned.   3) The Nine (or more accurately their spirit lieutenants) can block these summoning efforts if they choose. They normally do this if a necromancer is waiting in the wings to ambush the Honored Dead. The Nine can also grease the skids and make summoning the Honored easier if they want the dead person to talk.   To summon one of the Honored Dead to the material plane, there are four things that make ritual summoning possible and the summoner usually needs at least two of them. The more things the summoner has, the better. The longer the person has been dead, the harder this ritual is to do.   -A treasured possession the deceased had while alive.   -A blood relative of the deceased person nearby   -a gravestone or cenotaph or family shrine directly tied to the deceased   -an auspicious date. Either the deceased persons birthday, death day, or a holiday dedicated to honoring the dead.   Normally this does not let the dead person physically interact with the living. They can't normally smite their enemies or kiss their loved ones, this ritual magic facilitates talking.  

Summoning Ghosts

  There are similar to rituals to summon the Honored Dead, but are more difficult to cast and less reliable. This doesn't teleport ghosts to the summoner, this is invitation. The ghost doesn't have to accept the invitation. In fact, if the ghost is bound by a fetter or bound by a necromantic the ghost can't accept the invitation.   This lets a ghost unerringly find the summoner, but it they still need to walk or float their way to the summoner which make take a very long time. The ritual might expire before the ghost makes it though the ghost can keep traveling to where the summoner used to be and hope they haven't moved.   Once reaching the summoner, the ghost in question can do whatever he or she could normally do to interact with the living.  

Opening Faerie Gateways

  Farie Gateways are quite common in Scarterra, but they are usually closed. Some of them open at their own at certain times of day or certain times of the year, but most Fairie Gateways have rituals that can be used to open it.   There isn't a one-sized fits all ritual that can open any gateway, each gateway has it's own ritual. It could be a simple as reciting a specific poem at midnight or it could be a brutal as human sacrifice.   A lot of of it depends on the temperment and values of the Lord or Lady ruling that corresponding portion of the Fae Realm. The Fae Realm is locked in centuries of war, so land changes hand in the Fae Realm changes hand, so the new owners could create a new ritual to open a faerie gateway though it's easier to create a new ritual than it is to erase an old ritual so there might be more than one ritual able to open a Faerie Gateway.  

Complex Summoning

  Faerie Summoning and Spirit Summoning uses separate rituals, but the basic principles are the same. Rituals have to be personalized at least somewhat to the being summoned.   Much like with ghost summoning, this is an invitation, not a compulsion. The subject of the summoning spell doesn't have to show up if they don't want to. Most choose to answer these summoning. It takes a lot of effort to learn and conduct this sorts of rituals and most spirits and Fair Folk are at least curious if not grateful to see this type of effort. he spirit or Fair Folk also gets to sense in vague terms what the summoner wants and will not normally arrive to a summoner with hostile intent.   Fair Folk and spirits still have to travel to the summoner, but many of these types of creatures have the ability to expedite travel, so they sometimes arrive fairly quickly.   Once summoned, the summoner has no special control or influence over the spirit or Fair Folk in question. though more often than not they will somewhat positively disposed to the summoner.  

"Hey You!" Summoning Rituals

  Sometimes called generic summoning rituals. There are variants for ghosts, Fair Folk, or spirits.   Essentially the summoner is broadcasting "I want to talk to a ghost!" or "I want to talk to a Fae!" etc. The ritual broadcasts the summoning to any creature of that specific type that happens to be nearby.   A lot of ghosts, Fair Folk, and spirits distrust or dislike these sorts of summonings so they won't answer them, and if they do show up, they might show up with some hostility.   There are whispered rumors of secret rituals that can summon Void Demons, Elementals, Twisted Elemnetals, Dream Eaters, or other creatures normal Scarterrans don't normally want around.  

Summoning the Power of the Nine

  In theory, a simple prayer can do this, but a ritual to the Nine has more weight behind it.   Even if religious ritual magic has real and tangible effects, the effects are fairly slow and subtle making a real ritual difficult to distinguish from a placebo effect, but Scarterran theologian speculate that this is how the Nine like it. The rituals usually nudge natural processes to be faster or slower than usual but it doesn't radically change things.   If an area is devastated by a forest fire and someone performs a ritual to restore the forest in Korus' Name, the a ten year recovery might be shortened to three years, but the locals aren't likely to see a difference tomorrow.   Purification theurgy will make a barrel of water perfectly clean. A large ritual cast on a river or lake in Mera's name will make the body of water slightly cleaner.   A Scarterran doesn't have to be a priest or priestess of Mera in order to conduct a Mera ritual or a priest of Khemra to conduct a Khemra ritual etc. It just so happens that priests and priestesses have greater time and access to lore on rituals. The Cult of the Compact are the premiere experts on casting varied rituals, but ihardly uncommon to see priests and priestesses of the various Nonagon factions learning a handful of rituals in gods and goddesses that they don't worship primarily. It's not even required to be a member of the clergy, anyone with a high Theology score can perform these rituals.   This is a prime example of orthopraxy being more important than orthodoxy. As long the ritual is performed correctly, the effect will happen. Most rituals do things that the Nine support vigorously at least on an individual level. If someone is performing a water purification ritual in Mera's name, she is not going to withhold her power because the person conducting the ritual is not sufficiently filled with love for Mera. Mera wove her power into the fabric to create metaphysical laws that conducting certain rituals will have the desired effect.  

Crafting Rituals

  It is possible, albeit difficult to make a magical item without casting a spell. A person with four or five dots of Crafts can learn crafting based rituals. Crafters can make magical items if reagents are worked into the materials of a crafting at every level.   In order to create a new magic item, a crafter must be a mage or a theurgist but once a mage or theurgists nails down the crafting of a specific type of magical item perfectly, they can record the steps carefully to allow a non-caster to repeat their steps.   This is more common with dwarves but it is not exclusive to dwarves. Dwarves have an innate connection to stone and metal, so they can pick up these rituals faster than most non-dwarves, but dwarves also are very fond of traditions and legacy, so they put more social proof behind creating and preserving rituals like this.