Ritual

Ritual is one of the oldest ways of working Aethyr. Since the Investigation Era, mortals have shaped it through rituals, symbols and incantations; Odamancy is the structured, ritualistic drawing of Aethyr from the Aethyrweave, and divine magic channels it through ceremony and prayer.

There are two kinds of ritual in play:

• Ritual spells. Spells with the ritual tag can be cast as rituals, taking 10 minutes longer and expending no spell slot. See Rituals and the Ritual Caster feature. These need no special handling.
• Great rituals. Workings too large for any one spell, performed by one or more casters over minutes or hours while the world tries to stop them. Run these as encounters with the rules below. Like any encounter, one the party completes earns Aethyr Points.

Great Rituals

A great ritual might ward a village for a season, consecrate a shrine, call a remembered soul to speak, bind a spirit, quiet a storm or seal a breach in the weave. The GM describes what it does and gives it three numbers:

• Level, from 1 to 9, like a spell’s: how much Aethyr it moves.
• Successes needed: the level plus 2.
• Step length: 1 minute for a small working, 10 minutes for most, 1 hour for the greatest. The ritual takes one step per check.

The ritual’s DC is 10 plus its level.

Performing It

One creature leads the ritual, and others can join it as participants. The leader must have a spellcasting feature or proficiency with Ritual Tools, and keeps concentration for the whole ritual as if on a spell.

Each step, the leader makes a ritual check against the DC: Intelligence (Arcana) for an arcane working, Wisdom (Religion) for a divine one or Wisdom (Nature) for a natural one. A leader proficient with Ritual Tools who uses a ritual kit can add their proficiency bonus to the check even without proficiency in the skill.

Participants can help in any way the fiction allows: chanting, holding the circle, feeding it Aethyr, guarding the leader. Each step, each participant can make one supporting check of their choice against the same DC; describe what they’re doing. Each success adds 1 to the ritual’s successes.

A participant can also expend a spell slot to feed the ritual: 1 success for a slot of 1st to 4th level, 2 for 5th level or higher.

Strain

Every failed check, and every time the leader’s concentration is broken, adds 1 strain to the ritual. When strain reaches 3, the ritual breaks: the working fails, and the Aethyr it had gathered breaks loose. The GM calls for a surge check with a Surge Charge equal to the ritual’s level, plus the dice for the weave and the extra die for a ritual circle.

The leader can end the ritual safely between steps, losing all progress.

Completing It

When the ritual has its successes, it takes effect at the end of the step. The GM decides how long it lasts and what can undo it.

Running a Great Ritual

A great ritual makes a good climax: the party holds a circle while cultists attack, or races to finish a seal before the rift widens. Run the rest of the scene in combat rounds or chase rounds and resolve a ritual step whenever enough time passes. Give the players reasons to split their efforts between feeding the ritual and protecting it.

Where the ritual is performed matters. At an Aethyr Node or in an Aethyrstorm the weave is rich, and the GM can give the ritual checks advantage, but its surge, if it breaks, will be larger.