Ritual Magic
From Into the Wilds Wiki
This is a breakdown of the mechanisms, power and requirements a ritualist utilises to harness Arcane or Divine energy from the land.
- Ritual Magic Skill
- A ritualist must have the Ritual Magic skill in order to perform a ritual. A ritual is a bit like a performance; the head ritualist leads the performance and additional participants, especially those with the Ritual Magic skill, attribute to the success of a ritual. For every rank in Ritual Magic participants have you may include a White Bead into the Bead Bag, as explained below.
- Bead Bag
- We expect ritualists to have a Bead Bag which should look suitably in character and will contain 10 Red, 10 Black and 10 White Beads. These beads will represent the challenge and outcome of a ritual, all of which are explained below.
- Lesser Ritual
- Lesser Rituals are predefined rituals, where the ritualist will have had chance to study the Components and procedures. They are widely performed throughout the land and, as a result, the mechanisms behind the power are better understood.
- Greater Ritual
- Greater Rituals are performed to achieve a costly or important outcome. The ritualist must use their knowledge of Arcane and Divine power to formulate a ritual that may achieve their goal.
- Ritual / Outcomes
- A number of factors and mechanism, described in the table below, influence the success or failure of a ritual. Once completed, a ritualist may not even know whether they’ve achieved their goal or caused unpredicted side effects. The volatility of ritual magic is represented through the Bead Bag. A selection of coloured beads will be placed into the bag to represent the difficulty, power and unpredictability of the ritual – after the ritual has been performed a single bead will be chosen from the bag at random to represent the outcome.
- White Bead:
- The ritual was a success. The results are as expected or positive as the referee rules.
- Black Bead:
- The ritual was a failure. Nothing happens. You may retry the ritual if you wish.
- Red Bead:
- The ritual was a catastrophic failure. Something bad will happen as a result of the ritual.
- Ritual Mechanisms
- Ritualist are acting as a vessel to draw divine or arcane energy from the land and gods. Here is a rough outline to give ritualists an idea of the factors they should consider when performing a ritual.
| Rituals | ||
|---|---|---|
| Beads | Lesser Ritual | Greater Ritual |
| Difficulty (Black Beads) | How skilled a ritualist should be to perform the ritual and how complex the desired result is. | |
| Participants (white Beads) | The head ritualist and least one additional participant. | The head ritualist and as many participants as possible, the more with the Ritual Magic skill the better. |
| Length (White or Black Beads) | Roughly 10 minutes of dedicated role play. | The ritual should be at least 10 minutes long but drawing power for extended lengths of time will increase the danger to all involved. |
| Components (White Beads) | The Components are listed in the ritual teachings. | The ritualists should consider what they’re asking for and what a suitable sacrifice should be. |
| Location (White or Black Beads) | Enclosed areas are the most effective, small circles and, most importantly, quiet surroundings. | A shrine, Ley Nexus or area of great power would be required for a Greater Ritual. |
| Potential Results (Red Beads) | Smaller rituals produce smaller results, such as temporary enchantments, increase or recharge of power and purification or curses. | The scope of larger rituals is limitless, but the power, skill and Components required are scaled to the desired outcome. |
| Danger (Red Beads) | Channeling power is always dangerous. | |
- How it works out of character
- At the next convenient point, after you’ve completed a ritual you should take your Bead Bag to a referee and they will ensure the correct beads are put in the bag. Once the correct ratio of beads have been put into the bag, the referee selects one at random to determine the outcome of the ritual. They’re not required to show you the results at that time.
- Learning lesser rituals
- Listed here is a basic set of Lesser Rituals available to all ritualists; if your character is interested in researching the possibilities of channeling Arcane or Divine energy to achieve something not listed, then there are two options. Instructions and information towards certain rituals can be found in game play from characters and resources. Alternatively, you could talk to a ref about researching the mechanisms behind certain ritual concepts between events. Note, your character may discover that their desires are more ambitious than the parameters of a Lesser Ritual and bordering on Greater Ritual status.
| Learning lesser rituals | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Difficulty | Danger | Components |
| Cure Disease | X = (Rank of Disease) | 2 | A flesh vessel, living or dead, to transfer the Disease over too. |
| Consecrate Ground | 1 | 6 | A divine symbol |
| Enchant / Bless Object (One Year) | 5 | 1 | 10 Gold, Object. |
| Destroy Object | 5 | 3 | Object. |
| Locate Target | 5 | 2 | Something connected to the target. |
| Replenish Mana | 4 | 5 | none |
| Remove Curse | X = (Rank of Curse) | 2 | A vessel to contain Curse if removed. |
| Ritual Heal | X = (Number of people) | 5 | none |
