8.4 Spells and Rituals

Spells and rituals are common types of magical ✨ abilities with some special rules. Every spell and ritual belongs to a thematically related grouping called a mystic sphere. To learn a spell, you must have access to the mystic sphere that it belongs to. You can lead rituals from mystic spheres you do not have access to, but it is more difficult (see Ritual Requirements).

Magic Sources

There are four magic sources that characters can use to cast spells and perform rituals: arcane (cast by sorcerers and wizards), divine (cast by clerics and paladins), nature (cast by druids), and pact (cast by warlocks). Each magic source has a set of associated mystic spheres.

Characters with Multiple Magic Sources: Multiclass characters can have access to multiple magic sources. Their mystic spheres, spells, and rituals are tracked separately for each source of magic they have access to.

8.4.1 Casting Components

All rituals require both verbal components and somatic components. Unless otherwise noted, all spells require verbal components. In addition, spells from the arcane and pact mystic sources require somatic components. You cannot start casting a spell or performing a ritual without all required components. If you lose those components before the ability resolves, it fails with no effect.

To provide the verbal component for a spell or ritual, you must speak in a strong voice with a volume at least as loud as ordinary conversation. To provide the somatic component for a spell or ritual, you must make a precise series of movements with at least one free hand. These movements involve moving your arm in addition to your fingers, making them hard to conceal.

8.4.2 Rituals

Some characters have the ability to lead rituals. Individual rituals are not a part of a character’s intrinsic knowledge like most abilities are. To lead a ritual, you must have a ritual book describing how that ritual is performed, and you must be able to cast a spell of the ritual’s rank or higher. If at any time a ritual does not have a participating leader, it ends with no effect.

Ritual Participation

Each ritual requires an amount of time to perform. During that time, creatures can participate in the ritual. Participating in a ritual involves spending a standard action each round, which requires both verbal components and somatic components. Creatures must be able to speak at least one language to participate in a ritual.

Only the ritual leader needs to have a ritual book. Non-leading ritual participants must be given instructions by the leader on the steps they should perform during the ritual. Creatures can freely start or stop participating in rituals. The ritual can even change leaders, as long as it always has at least one ritual leader.

Ritual Requirements

Every ritual has two requirements: a minimum ritual time, and a minimum number of fatigue levels. Once per minute, the ritual leader can allocate one fatigue level to a creature who participated during that full minute. Non-leading ritual participants that are suffering a fatigue penalty cannot have any additional fatigue levels allocated to them from a ritual.

You can lead rituals from mystic spheres you do not have access to. However, this has several requirements and limitations:

• Your magic source must include the mystic sphere that the ritual belongs to.
• You treat the ritual as if it was one rank higher than its actual rank. This means you must have access to higher rank spells to lead it.
• The ritual requires double the normal fatigue level to perform.
• The ritual requires twice as long to perform.

Scribing Rituals

If you are able to lead rituals, you can scribe the steps to perform a ritual into a ritual book. This expends precious magical ink with a value equal to a permanent item of the ritual’s rank (see Table ??: ??). Typically, scribing a ritual requires access to another ritual book containing that ritual.