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View Full Version : [4e] Value of ritual compilations in treasure parcels



Urist Ironblood
2009-09-11, 10:24 AM
I have been considering giving out ritual books as loot for my PCs, and I'd like to start with a simple one containing all of the lvl1 and lvl2 rituals pertaining to traveling in the wild. I don't want it to be just a mundane list of spells, though -- I want it to be a Field Guide that happens to have "text box" digressions throughout with things like:


On the mountain road to Norwalt, where wolves are common, I met a shaman who could quench a campfire so it kept its warmth but could in no wise be observed. After much discussion I determined that his techniques could be replicated by a skilled traveler, so herein I include his incantations, trees which lend themselves best to the work, and a list of herbs which may be useful in preparing the firewood for this purpose.

The idea is that the players get the book, but don't learn all of its contents at once without applying considerable work to study it -- possibly something like a DC10 Nature or Arcana check to recognize that a block of text is referring to a ritual. Once they've read it cover to cover a few times and discovered all of the rituals inside, they can consult it as a reference book for a +2 (or at my discretion, an automatic success) on an applicable Nature check.

The value of the Ritual Book and the value of the spells and alchemical recipes therein is just about 900gp. None of the recipes or rituals exceeds 2nd level. With the additional value of the skill-check bonus, should I consider this a 2nd-level magic item, or a 5th-level magic item (value ~1,000gp), or are ritual books rare enough that its true value is much higher?

Have you done anything similar in your campaigns? Any advice for a fairly new DM?

Hal
2009-09-11, 10:30 AM
You could just make it equivalent treasure (that would be the easiest route), although if your players don't make much use of the rituals/ingredients, then it won't feel very helpful.

I would turn it into a sort of mini-game/skill challenge. The players spend a certain amount of time with the book when they have downtime. Successful skill checks (or however you'd like to test them) shows them something they can learn from it . . . a new ritual, alchemical recipe, etc. Perhaps it needs to be translated?

Kurald Galain
2009-09-11, 10:44 AM
The idea is that the players get the book, but don't learn all of its contents at once without applying considerable work to study it -- possibly something like a DC10 Nature or Arcana check to recognize that a block of text is referring to a ritual.
Is it your intent that every player character is allowed to roll for this? Because if so, you may want to up the DC a bit.


With the additional value of the skill-check bonus, should I consider this a 2nd-level magic item, or a 5th-level magic item (value ~1,000gp), or are ritual books rare enough that its true value is much higher?
2nd level, definitely, and possibly even 1st. An important difference between rituals and magic items is that using rituals costs money, and using rituals of your level or near your level costs significant amounts of money.

Urist Ironblood
2009-09-11, 12:44 PM
I would turn it into a sort of mini-game/skill challenge. The players spend a certain amount of time with the book when they have downtime. Successful skill checks (or however you'd like to test them) shows them something they can learn from it . . . a new ritual, alchemical recipe, etc.

My intent was that at each extended rest, whichever (single) PC was studying the book during that rest would get to make a Nature or Arcana check and have a chance to recognize that the text they're reading is actually a ritual/recipe. There are 11 significant chunks in the book, so I was going to have 5@DC15, 3@DC20, 2@DC25, and 1@DC30, and award them the highest one they managed to earn on their roll (or perhaps just the next one on the list, so that squeezing the last bit of knowledge out requires serious effort). A failure would earn them a +2 on Nature checks until the start of their next extended rest.

I'm likely to have two ritual casters in the group, so being able to award it to the group as treasure will solve the (n-1) problem for my group at second level -- both casters will have the chance to learn all of the rituals. The book is likely to reside in a library, so I'm thinking that placing it in a small trunk with little satchels of dried herbs (i.e. reagents sufficient for learning each of the rituals once) could offset the White Elephant aspect of the prize.

dragoonsgone
2009-09-11, 04:51 PM
Well after the first one, wouldn't they just take 10 to get as many as possible that way? Just plan on anyone with 10 in arcana or nature to get anything with DC 20 or less automatically.

Kurald Galain
2009-09-11, 07:17 PM
Well after the first one, wouldn't they just take 10 to get as many as possible that way?
I suppose. Also, they could team assist to get to the higher DCs (everyone who can make a DC 10 check adds +2 to the most skilled member's total).

(edit) oops, it's late.

Gralamin
2009-09-11, 07:19 PM
I suppose. Also, they could team assist to get to the higher DCs (everyone who can make a DC 10 check adds +2 to the most skilled member's total).

(edit) oops, it's late.

:smallsigh: Page 179 of the PHB Kurlad.

Edit: Apparently this changed while I was in the process of quoting it :smallredface:

Edge of Dreams
2009-09-11, 09:03 PM
Also remember that by default it takes 8 hours to master any new ritual you learn. It shouldn't ever take a check to *learn* a ritual of your level or below, but I can see why you'd want a check to *realize* that these are disguised rituals. I think once the players know that there's rituals in there, though, they're just going to want to learn all of them, and may get mad if they're high enough level to learn them but can't pass the arbitrary dc's.

dragoonsgone
2009-09-11, 10:55 PM
I suppose. Also, they could team assist to get to the higher DCs (everyone who can make a DC 10 check adds +2 to the most skilled member's total).

(edit) oops, it's late.

I just meant it as a warning to maybe increase DC a bit more, but your right that's up to an additional +8 or so. Easily anything 25 or below.