Ritual magic is a hybrid of the other forms of magic combining elements of spellcasting, enchanting, and alchemy into extended rituals that require preparation and can achieve extremely powerful effects.
Rituals require a source of magicka, which is used to pay the ritual’s cost, and require the character to prepare for a certain amount of time. The purpose of the ritual is to amplify the power of the source of magicka chosen. Because characters are harnessing so much energy, there is always a potential for danger if the character errs in the ritual.
Rituals require specific steps and have unique magical effects. They represent more obscure forms of magic, often known only to a few. Each one must be learned independently and has its own steps that must be taken, costs that must be paid, and penalties for failure.
Because rituals represent obscure, specialized forms of magic, the GM should not allow just any character to learn them. Learning a ritual costs 25 XP and the character must have some means of learning the ritual (such as a book or a teacher). Not every character should be allowed to learn every ritual (GM’s discretion). Below are a few of the many such rituals that exist. Players and GMs are encouraged to collaborate in order to create their own.
Ritual Spellcasting
Ritual spellcasting is a means of utilizing rituals to power a spell. A character can perform a ritual in order to utilize alternative magicka sources to power a particularly costly spell.
Magicka Source and Ritual Focus
The character must choose a source of magicka to fuel the spell. Characters may use their own magicka reserves, a unit of alchemical ingredients, a filled soul gem, or any combination of any number of the above. If multiple characters are cooperating to perform a ritual, they can combine their magicka pools for the purposes of paying the magicka cost of the spell.
Additionally, each ritual requires a ritual focus. This is an item, which can differ from ritual to ritual, that focuses and amplifies the magic forces involved in the ritual. The nature of this item is left to the GM (though they should feel free to pass this decision off to the player performing the ritual), but it should be in some way thematically related to the ritual being performed. This can be anything from a human heart to an ornate tattoo created on the body of the character performing the ritual. The only limit is the imagination of the GM and the players.
Resolve Ritual
The magicka cost must be paid from the chosen magicka source. If the character is using their own magicka reserves, simply deduct the cost as you would for a spell. If the character is using a soul gem, deduct the cost from its soul energy and destroy the gem. If the character is using alchemical ingredients, deduct the cost from the ingredient pool and destroy the ingredients.
If the cost would reduce the magicka in the magicka source to below zero, then the casting fails automatically. If the character passed their casting test, the spell is resolved as it normally would.
If the character failed their casting test, the spell is not cast and the ritual has backfired. Roll on the backfire table corresponding to the school of the spell and add one to the resulting roll for each degree of failure. Rules for backfires can be found in Magical Mishaps.