List of Rituals (that are not spells) mentioned in the books: Help welcome

[Unoriginal]

Hi folks!

The various books of 5e sometime mentions rituals, generally performed by NPCs, which have magical effects without being the spells you find in the PHB. I thought it could be interesting and useful to make a list of them. Potentially also including some info about them later on, like who perform it, how to learn it, the effects, etc.

If you guys want to tell me the ones you've noticed, it'd help me a lot.


List of Rituals:

Monster Manual

-Ritual to become a Lich

-Ritual that transform you into a Minotaur

Volo's Guide to Monsters

-Ritual to turn unborn orcs into Tanarruk

Tomb of Annihlation (spoiler warning):

-Rite of Stolen Life

-Dance of the Seven Winds

[nickl_2000]

I believe that the Players Handbook says that making holy water requires a ritual

[Falcon X]

I believe that the Players Handbook says that making holy water requires a ritual
I believe that is the Ceremony spell from Xanathars

[Mjolnirbear]

I believe that is the Ceremony spell from Xanathars

Nickl and Falcon are both right. It was a ritual first, as a downtime ability. Then Ceremony came out in UA and then Xanathar's. Now you can use the downtime ritual, or use Ceremony (possibly as a Ritual).

Edit: Also I believe Dracolich is distinct from a normal lich; also, Alhoon (lich mindflayers from Volo's) have their own ritual.

I believe mindflayer ceremorphosis is a ritual of some kind.

PHB:
Divine Intervention isn't a ritual, but it should be. :)
* Bonding a Weapon (Eldtritch Knight)
* Making a magic weapon into your Pact Weapon (Warlock)
* Recreating your Pact Tome (Warlock)

MM:
* Creating a crawling claw
* Creating a flameskull
* Creating a homunculous (now, also a spell)
Creating an intellect devourer
* Summoning a Spectator
* (speculation) Creating a golem (you need a Manual to create it, and to follow the instructions. You must also be a spellcaster. But it doesn't actually require that you cast spells.)
* (Speculation) Creating a Shield Guardian (I'm assuming it's basically a specific type of golem, but this isn't outlined)

Volo's
Bugbear heads on spikes
Hag Metaphmorphosis
(Speculation) Ulitharid turning into an elder brain
(Speculation) an Orc becoming an Eye of Gruumsh
Creation of a Bodak
Creation of a Chitine
Creation of a Darkling Elder
Creation of a Deep Scion
Creation of a Draegloth
Creation of a Gnoll Witherling
* Elevating the caste of a Grung
* Creating a Guard Drake
* Summoning a Shadow Mastiff
Creating a Slithering Tracker
Creation of a Spawn of Kyuss
* Creating a Wood Woad
* Yuanti evolution ritual


* means a ritual that can be performed by a PC (logically speaking, the Grung and Yuanti evolutions would be possible, but would a DM allow this at their table?)

[Mortis_Elrod]

I believe there is a ritual for making a Nightmare in the MM.

[the_brazenburn]

Is copying a spell into your spellbook a ritual?

If not, then it should be.

[Unoriginal]

Thanks everyone! I'll be checking what you've suggested and adding it to the list soon.


Is copying a spell into your spellbook a ritual?

If not, then it should be.

It's not, and it has no reason to be.

You're not performing a special magic ceremony, you're writing down something with a model.

[JackPhoenix]

Ignoring ritual casting not costing a slot, isn't any spell with casting time longer than 1 action also technically a ritual?

[Unoriginal]

Ignoring ritual casting not costing a slot, isn't any spell with casting time longer than 1 action also technically a ritual?

Depends what you call a "ritual". The game doesn't call those rituals, to my knowledge, and regardless of if it does or not this list is specifically about rituals that are not spells.

[Byke]

Tomb of Annihilation (spoiler warning):

-Rite of transforming into a Yuan-ti?

[Requilac]

In tomb of annihalation there was some insane gnome named Viplo in a snake themed (probably yuan-ti) temple that was doing some sort of ritual. My table never actually learned what the ritual did though, just that it was supposed to summon something Viplo called “the teacher”. IIRC correctly he was sacrificing a badly bleeding belly dancer, an emaciated clergymen and an unconscious halfling. I Do not know if they are of any relevance or not to the spell itself.

[Chaosmancer]

This is an icredibly useful list. I'll be making a copy of it.

The ritual to make a nightmare involves the removal of the wings from a pegasus.

There is also a ritual to create Bone Nagas if memory serves me.

Nothing else is coming to mind off hand

[Unoriginal]

This is an icredibly useful list. I'll be making a copy of it.

The ritual to make a nightmare involves the removal of the wings from a pegasus.

There is also a ritual to create Bone Nagas if memory serves me.

Nothing else is coming to mind off hand

Thanks!

Sorry I haven't touched this since the other day, I had my mind on other issues.


In tomb of annihalation there was some insane gnome named Viplo in a snake themed (probably yuan-ti) temple that was doing some sort of ritual. My table never actually learned what the ritual did though, just that it was supposed to summon something Viplo called “the teacher”. IIRC correctly he was sacrificing a badly bleeding belly dancer, an emaciated clergymen and an unconscious halfling. I Do not know if they are of any relevance or not to the spell itself.


I'm fairly certain your DM created this part themselves. There is no mention of such characters in the book that I could find.

[Requilac]

I'm fairly certain your DM created this part themselves. There is no mention of such characters in the book that I could find.

I am quite sure you are mistaken.It was an AL game, the DMs cannot just insert their own adventures in. I even have a letter with the DDAL stamp in the left corner that details what Viplo was saying. Here is a link (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hwwJNRINwAmhWlfzDj_tbsaCeS5Yt_VD) to it, because for some reason I can’t insert it in as a picture.

One cannot exactly fake that kind of thing, to my knowledge at the very least. Are you sure there was no mention of such a ritual?

[Zene]

The Yawning Portal - Against the Giants has a ritual in it

Edit:
TYP p203, right side of the page. It’s a ritual to summon an elder elemental god, which has the power to grant its summoners the object they most wish for, or something that will enable them “to attain the end or state they most desire.”

[Unoriginal]

I am quite sure you are mistaken.It was an AL game, the DMs cannot just insert their own adventures in. I even have a letter with the DDAL stamp in the left corner that details what Viplo was saying. Here is a link (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hwwJNRINwAmhWlfzDj_tbsaCeS5Yt_VD) to it, because for some reason I can’t insert it in as a picture.

One cannot exactly fake that kind of thing, to my knowledge at the very least. Are you sure there was no mention of such a ritual?

Apparently he is a character in one of the modules, but not in ToA

[Requilac]

Apparently he is a character in one of the modules, but not in ToA

Well that is quite strange. I was entirely unaware that the ritual was part of a sepeate module. The DM never told us about that. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[Chugger]

There are several AL modules that have rituals.

Blanking on the name of one I did recently ... Fort something. Not Oubliette of Ft Iron.

[Requilac]

There are several AL modules that have rituals.

Blanking on the name of one I did recently ... Fort something. Not Oubliette of Ft Iron.

There is a module called the Oubliette of the Iron fort IIRC.

[Arenabait]

The entry for Half Dragons (MM) mentions a ritual bath in dragons blood to turn yourself into a Half Dragon

[Chaosmancer]

The entry for Half Dragons (MM) mentions a ritual bath in dragons blood to turn yourself into a Half Dragon

Oh right, and there is the ritual to create guard drakes from dragon scales and pound of flesh

[Balthasaurus]

In Rise of Tiamat, Severin and the Red Wizards attempt to perform a ritual to free Tiamat from the Nine Hells. The ritual takes 10 turns, requiring at least 5 wizards to use their action to focus the ritual. The Mask of the Dragon Queen, copious amounts of treasure, and a constant stream of sacrifices are also required.

The evil druids atop Yester Hill also preform a ritual to try and create a Tree Blight. This ritual requires at least one druid to chant for ten turns, and there must also be a Gulthias tree present, although the Gulthias tree is not necessarily turned into the tree blight.

Those two are ultra specific rituals, but I hope they help!

[JackPhoenix]

There's a ritual to free Kyuss from his (its?) prison in one of the AL modules (Window to the Past). Also, there's a lab with a device that was used with some rituals to turn people into sentient magic items.

[bc56]

Dead in Thay

Ritual to turn back to a living creature from a soul-bound undead
Ritual to give an ooze sentience
Ritual to summon aberrations from the Far Realm
The sahuagin perform a ritual which gives them the effects of Bless and Aid


Sunless Citadel

The description of area 12 suggests that there is a ritual which can turn a humanoid into a troll.