Ritual casting feat for 3.5

[Aquillion]

One of the things that 4.0 got right, I think, was making Ritual Casting something available for anyone with a feat. So... why not try and add that to 3.5? It isn't even that difficult, even.

So...

Ritual Casting [General]
Prerequisite
Int 13 or Wis 13 or Cha 13

Benefit
You have learned a method of utilizing spell-completion or spell-trigger items (such as wands and scrolls) by carefully, laboriously following them as a ritual formula. This process takes extended time, but can be done without a chance of failure.

To use an item with this feat, you must devote ten uninterrupted minutes to performing the necessary ritual; during this time, you can take no other actions. If you are interrupted or choose to stop, the spell is not cast and the item/charge you are using is not consumed. The spell you are casting may be no higher than your ECL / 2, rounded up. On the final round of the ritual, you may use the item in question, exactly as if you were a caster who satisfied all the necessary prerequisites to use it without a chance of failure.

The ability granted by this feat may not be used to satisfy any prerequisites.

Fighters may select this feat as one of their bonus feats.


...so, is it underpowered? You're still using up a scroll and can't do it in combat, after all. Admittedly, this sort of stomps on UMD's out-of-combat functionality, but ten minutes is still a rather major limitation, especially if you're spending a feat on this. The basic idea is that you can get access to some essential spells without having a caster on your party... it's unlikely that anyone would take this feat if they have someone around who can cast the necessary spells for free.

Making it a fighter bonus feat might seem a little odd, but I figure it's the sort of thing lone fighters would often pick up to complement their abilities in combat.

Should the time taken to perform the ritual be longer? Possibly dependent on the level of the spell?

[Lappy9000]

Making it a fighter bonus feat might seem a little odd, but I figure it's the sort of thing lone fighters would often pick up to complement their abilities in combat.
I can see the logic behind giving this to fighters, but I still don't think they should get it as a feet, since Fighter Bonus feats are basically class features for fighters and reserved for their many martial tactics.

Overall, it's a good idea, but I really have no way of telling if this is balanced at all or not.

[Draz74]

Yeah, underpowered. I mean, I can't think of a character who'd take it. I'm not sure how to fix that, though. Without a whole separate Rituals system in 3.5, and with feats mattering a lot more than in 4e, being able to perform rituals just isn't that great of an ability.

Except in a setting with lots of scrolls, but no casters, of course. (And UMD nerfed.) Then, this would be a great feat to let the party have access to some magic. Which I think was the point of a Ritual Caster feat anyway.

I agree it shouldn't be a Fighter bonus feat. I also wonder if it should have 1 or 2 ranks of UMD as a prerequisite, just for flavor.

[Aquillion]

Hmm. All right, here's an alternate idea I had... slightly closer to rituals in 4.0

Ritual Casting [General]
Prerequisite
Int 13 or Wis 13 or Cha 13

Benefit
You have learned a method of spellcasting that substitutes valuable components and lengthy rituals for innate talent or more extensive training.

By performing a 10-minute ritual and sacrificing gold or small items with a value equal to 12.5 gp × the level of the spell × the caster level you wish to use, you can cast any spell that you have access in scroll form or in a spellbook. You must provide any additional costly/rare material components or XP costs necessary for the spell to function.

You cannot use a caster level higher than your ECL for this feat, and cannot cast a spell unless you pay for and emulate a caster level high enough to cast it normally. If you use an actual scroll for the access required for this feat, the scroll is not activated and is not automatically consumed, unless you choose to use it as the necessary sacrifice.

You may decipher (although, aside from what is listed above, not automatically use) scrolls and spellbooks as if you had the benefit of Read Magic at all times. In addition, Spellcraft is always considered a class skill for you.



...this is slightly more versatile. It encourages players to essentially collect scrolls and bind them together in a fake 'spellbook' used for rituals. The bit about read magic is necessary for the first part to really be useful when you don't have any other casters around. Granting Spellcraft as a class skill is mostly for flavor, a side-benefit on account of it still not being that powerful a feat; perhaps Knowledge: Arcana or Religion could be offered as options instead.