The background - three players in a new campaign all decide on rolling up three spellcasters working in the same tradition (renting the same apartment, sharing the same lodge, starting their own small group, etc. Like Jersey Shore, but with witches.)

I've seen Ritual Spellcasting slammed as one of the more useless sorcery skills, but if you've already got a group lined up for it, does it have its worthwhile uses? Needing LoS from at least one participating member or a bound spirit seems to put a damper on a whole lot (wards and barriers will keep spirits out of some choice places, no? And if one of them is going to show up somewhere just to stare at someone, there'd better be a good reason why the whole team won't be there too.) I'm sure there are fun situational uses for it though, no? Enough to take at least a few ranks each, maybe?

If you decide to take it, you can make it ridiculously powerful with a metamagic or two. The problem(s) with it are the fact it takes so much focus and so much time, however.

Things to look at: Great Ritual and Sympathetic Linking. Also, getting backround count for their lifestyle.

With material and symbolic links (metamagic required for the second), Ritual Magic can indeed be useful. The fact that it comes with counterspelling and Spellcasting in its skill group, both of which you'll be taking ANYWAY, means that it's a low-cost option build-wise.

Ask yourself these questions:
1) Do you wish to make a great deal of money relatively quickly?
2) Do you feel confident you can avoid prosecution or can cleanse your ritual area quickly?
3) Are you capable of doing so and then leaving, never to return to that area?
4) Are you looking to murder people in exchange for money?

If the answer is yes to all of these, then hell. Looks like it's magical nuke time, baby! If the answer is yes to only some of them, welll.... you can still engage in it, but it's not quite as lucrative. I believe you can ritually cast spells that aren't nukes, too. You can Alter Memories. Isn't that fun?

Ritual magic has one huge failing.

You could spend 12 minus magic hours performing one huge spell, that needs a target-spotter in place anyway.
Or you and your mage friends can send an astral gank squad of spirits along with that target spotter instead. Its just that much more effective.

That being said, like any tool, it CAN be good, but that doesn't mean other tools aren't better.

The Sympathetic Linking metamagic hands down makes it useful and worthwhile, but its a metamagic. There are other good options.


I'm sure i'm going to catch crap for linking something my Frank, but he actualy has some good points about ritual spellcasting, and its worth perusing.

If you WANT to use ritual magic in your game, and feel useful, I strongly suggest approaching your DM and asking for a few houserules, or pitching around a few ideas to make it more useful in general.
First, ask if you can use Ritual Spellcasting to Teamwork Test regular spellcasting. Its a small, simple change, but it actually makes ritual spellcasting damn useful.
Second, find Ancient History's Adv. Magic Sourcebook notes, and look over the stuff for ritual spellcasting. There's some good stuff for ritual casting in there - like Forcing - The rules aren't quite finished, really, but there are some fun things to think about.

Otherwise, its kinda crappy.

However, i laughed at one of the plothooks in WAR! The general who Just Won't Die. He's sent into impossible situations, just TRYING to get the man killed, and always comes back with one great victory, as a hero, etc. He just 'miraculously' lives through pretty much any combat situation.
The team is hired to kill or ruin him.
The gimmic is, he has a very powerful magician friend, who uses ritual magic to keep him alive when he gets deployed.