can i conduct rituals on my party members for free?

[newguydude1]

Ritual of Vitality is from savage species.
you learn a ritual every time you attain a new spell level. thats the only restriction. no caster level restriction. so i can learn (not perform) the ritual at 1st level.
a spellcaster cannot conduct a ritual on himself.
minimum cl of ritual is 7
minimum xp cost of ritual is 1000xp
ritual cost is 1000gp x caster level x starting ecl of goal creature.
nowhere in the entire ritual section of the book does it say you need ritual reagents, incenses, etc. like other rituals like the one that turns you into a necropolitan.

so if i want to perform Ritual of Vitality on a party member, i can just do it for free right? i dont need him to pay me a ton of gp right?

on that note, if i am 14th level and i create a simulacrum of myself, can i have the simulacrum perform the ritual on me for free?
something like human->warforged for 1000xp.

[Railak]

Technically yes, technically no.. the major rituals are things that the DM has to decide whether they are available or not.. and are usually only known by large and/or secretive groups. You would have to discuss with your DM about whether you could even take the ritual. If he does it technically works completely free of gold piece cost. Your DM might make you still spend some for materials even though it doesn't say any, depends on the DM.

[gogogome]

only known by large and/or secretive groups.

Incorrect. Every time you attain a new spell level you can learn any ritual you want. This rule is in Savage Species, and is repeated in any book that has rituals that can be cast by PCs.

[Railak]

MAJOR RITUALS
Some of these rituals are performed by members of cults devoted to particular monster types, such as dragon cults.Others are performed by arcane or divine orders. Arcane archers in your campaign might hold the knowledge of how to transform potential candidates into elves, or the clergy of Gruumsh might know how to transform worthy devotees into orcs.The three major rituals are the ritual of unlearning, the ritual of vitality, and casting wish.The DM decides which major rituals are available in the campaign.

Copied and pasted from the Savage Species book.
And as I said it's up to the DM, if he's cool with you taking any ritual it works just fine. Cause he could decide that NO major rituals exist within the game.