I very much like the DFA ritual magic approach. But I found it disconcerting that there was a potential for the character to assume conditions and costs without having
actually completed the ritual. That didn't feel, to me, like it was in keeping with how the books presented ritual magic.
So, I propose a couple of tweaks:
First, Separate the potential costs/complications into three categories:
| Pre-Requisites | | Activity Costs | | Outcomes |
components
assistance
special circumstances | | time
character Resources
special circumstances | | altered effects
drawbacks
attention |
The original step-by-step looked like this:
1) Name the ritual
2) Describe the effect
3) Roll for the spell
4) Pay the costs
This could potentially result in requiring a special component (ie symbolic link) or assistance from a higher power/faction after the ritual had been performed. That seems kind of weird to me.
I propose changing the step-by-step to look like this:
1) Name the ritual
2) Describe the effect
3) Assess the spell costs (roll and negotiate, as usual)
4) Pay the preparation costs (ie, find the symbolic link, petition the higher power, etc.)
5) Perform the ritual (narrative device to indicate that the character assumes the active & outcome costs)
This process would allow for a character to figure out what would be necessary to do a ritual, then balk at the cost and decide not to complete it.
Is this unbalancing? I don't
think so, but I'm told I get tunnel-vision sometimes.
Your thoughts?
