[4e] Making Rituals Accessible

[kieza]

I've been DM'ing 4e since its release, and I have yet to see anyone use rituals except for a few uses of Enchant Magic Item or Linked Portal. What people usually say is that it costs too much or takes too long to use. So, here's an idea for how to make them more useful:

(1) Most rituals should be free to use. With the exception of stuff like Enchant Magic Item and extremely powerful rituals like Raise Dead, there really isn't any point to making rituals cost money. It just discourages ritual casters from actually using the ritual that lets them see in the dark, or creates a magical lift, or walls off a corridor. So, no component costs for most rituals.

(2) Most rituals should be quicker to use. Most of the combats I've run have been less than a minute (10 rounds) long. You could decrease the casting time on a ritual to 10 rounds or so without having the problem of casters using them in combat. The same exceptions as above (Enchant Magic Item, Raise Dead, maybe the Healing rituals) apply here as well.

Now, I'm going to be cautious with houseruling this stuff: I don't want to make rituals both fast and free right off the bat in case I've misjudged the balance effects. So, what I'm going to try in my next campaign is this: Rituals can be either fast or free. You can cast a ritual in the normal amount of time for free, or you can spend the normal component cost to create a scroll ahead of time, which you can use in 10 rounds. (This also has the benefit of making scrolls useful. I haven't seen any created or bought in any of my games, and I hope this changes that.)

Any thoughts? My campaign ought to be starting soon, I'll post any feedback I get.

[Townopolis]

This thread contains our last discussion of 4e rituals. It's worth a look, just don't post in it because that would be necromancy.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Time & Money are all that keep Rituals from being used to recreate the "Magic Solves Everything" paradigm of 3.5.

See this podcast for a fuller explanation.

If you want to increase Ritual use, I recommend the following:

Spoiler

Show

(1) Give each Ritual Caster class a 1/day free Ritual
This gives them a little extra utility, which is why many of the PHB 2 classes come with this feature. I initially went with Tenser's Floating Disc for Wizards, but there's probably a better choice.

(2) Make them quicker to learn
Make it take a single Extended Rest to copy & learn a Ritual instead of the RAW. This makes them easier to pick up while adventuring.

(3) Pick a couple of Rituals you'd like to see more of, and halve their cost
While not free, at least they're more likely to be used.

I wouldn't mess with the casting time at all; barring a few Rituals, the time is just long enough to make Rituals less useful than doing the thing manually. You should only use Rituals when magic is called for - not just when you're feeling lazy.

[Kurald Galain]

the time is just long enough to make Rituals less useful than doing the thing manually.

Well, that's the problem, isn't it? Since rituals are less useful than doing the thing manually, most players respond by, you know, doing the thing manually. Incidentally doing so also saves them money.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Well, that's the problem, isn't it? Since rituals are less useful than doing the thing manually, most players respond by, you know, doing the thing manually. Incidentally doing so also saves them money.

Which is how it should be!

If magic is always the better way of doing things, then why would anyone bother going the mundane route? Ideally you want magic to be a "sometimes" way of resolving problems - that means making it too costly to use most of the time, but perfectly acceptable to use in some situations. By and large, 4E Rituals accomplish this - but they often err on the side of "too costly."

This is particularly true when trying to use equal-level Rituals, but the problem largely goes away when using Rituals 2-3 levels below you. Casting Phantom Steed with the wealth of a LV 10 PC isn't a problem, but casting it as a LV 5(?) PC is. However, at low levels Rituals are just too darned expensive to ever be used - which is a flaw in the system. Giving people a "free" Ritual per day gets them in the habit of using it, while making them cheaper overall will increase their use.

Make them free and you find a world where everyone has Arcane Locks on their doors and Tenser's Floating Disks instead of carts.

[Kurald Galain]

If magic is always the better way of doing things, then why would anyone bother going the mundane route?

Conversely, is magic is never the better way...

The price isn't even relevant. As Saph pointed out, supposing you want to speak to a bunch of orcs at heroic tier, which is more likely: (a) finding an interpreter willing to accompany you, or (b) getting a +25 on your arcana check? Because the Comprehend Languages ritual requires a DC 35 check to actually speak or write the language (as opposed to passively understanding it).

Make them free and you find a world where everyone has Arcane Locks on their doors and Tenser's Floating Disks instead of carts.

PCs are the heroes, and are special. Just because they can do something, doesn't mean that everyone can do that.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Conversely, is magic is never the better way...

The price isn't even relevant. As Saph pointed out, supposing you want to speak to a bunch of orcs at heroic tier, which is more likely: (a) finding an interpreter willing to accompany you, or (b) getting a +25 on your arcana check? Because the Comprehend Languages ritual requires a DC 35 check to actually speak or write the language (as opposed to passively understanding it).

Price is extremely relevant! Consider our "favorite" ritual Arcane Lock.

As is, it is Costly and Time-Consuming. If you need to lock a door in a hurry, it's faster to bar it with heavy furniture. If you need get a lock for a door, it's cheaper to buy a lock. If you have a little time (10 minutes) and want to lock a door that isn't yours (but still have access for your friends and allies) then Arcane Lock is a good choice.

If Free but Time-Consuming, you'll still probably use heavy furniture for quick locks, but why buy a DC 20 lock when any 3rd level Ritualist can make you a DC 22 (and then some) you don't even need to remember to lock? Sure it might take them a few tries, but it seems like a good way for a Ritualist to kill an afternoon.

If Costly but Quick, then only the rich will have Perfect Locks, but all their locks will be Perfect.

If Free and Quick, then why invent locks in the first place?

PCs are the heroes, and are special. Just because they can do something, doesn't mean that everyone can do that.

So, are you saying nobody else can use Rituals or that nobody else can use Rituals for free?

[Caphi]

So, are you saying nobody else can use Rituals or that nobody else can use Rituals for free?

I think he's saying D&D4 assumes the rules only describe things the PCs can do, and that the rest of the world has nothing to do with the PHB but is restricted or powered by the GM's whim.

[Oracle_Hunter]

I think he's saying D&D4 assumes the rules only describe things the PCs can do, and that the rest of the world has nothing to do with the PHB but is restricted or powered by the GM's whim.

I do not think that's the case for Rituals, since each Ritual has a "Market Price" which is explictly what it costs to purchase a casting of the Ritual on the open market.

[kieza]

Make them free and you find a world where everyone has Arcane Locks on their doors and Tenser's Floating Disks instead of carts.

PCs are the heroes, and are special. Just because they can do something, doesn't mean that everyone can do that.

Not everyone can use rituals, so you aren't going to have peasants casting Floating Disk every morning before work. And those who can cast have better things to do with their time than make a few cp by hiring out to peasants. They're going to be researching new rituals that they can sell for a few hundred gold to other casters (for example).

I'm less concerned with effects on the world than effects on balance. My world isn't one where everyone has the chance to learn magic: some kinds of magic take schooling that not everyone has the opportunity to get, some kinds take inborn talent. The number of people who can use magic is small as a portion of the whole populace, and the effects of making magic more accessible are small as a result.

Besides, the way I see it (which is based on how my group plays; YMMV), a group isn't going to spend 10 minutes or a pile of gold every time they need something done. As an example, if my group wanted to lock a door in a dungeon, they'd look for a key, or put a knife in the doorjamb, or pile stuff in front of it. They'll only use magic if they really need it to be solid, or they need it done fast, or they're going to be there for a while and they have time. Most of the players in any given group can't use rituals, so they think in terms of mundane solutions, and move on.

If Free but Time-Consuming, you'll still probably use heavy furniture for quick locks, but why buy a DC 20 lock when any 3rd level Ritualist can make you a DC 22 (and then some) you don't even need to remember to lock? Sure it might take them a few tries, but it seems like a good way for a Ritualist to kill an afternoon.

If you are a ritualist, sure. Most people aren't. That doesn't even take into account that no ritualist is going to sell services free: he has to spend time, and his time is valuable. You're still only going to get Arcane Locks on important doors. And if it's costly but quick, you're spending a few hundred gp (or so) to get your perfect lock. Not even a rich person will put an Arcane Lock on every door they own.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Besides, the way I see it (which is based on how my group plays; YMMV), a group isn't going to spend 10 minutes or a pile of gold every time they need something done. As an example, if my group wanted to lock a door in a dungeon, they'd look for a key, or put a knife in the doorjamb, or pile stuff in front of it. They'll only use magic if they really need it to be solid, or they need it done fast, or they're going to be there for a while and they have time. Most of the players in any given group can't use rituals, so they think in terms of mundane solutions, and move on.

Or everyone who is anyone can use Rituals - see 3.5 and Casters

If you make Rituals free and quick, I can guarantee you that Skills will go out of style. Pick Lock as a Standard Action? Nah, I'll just Knock as a Standard Action - it's like Picking Locks, but I get a +5 to the check! Looking for secret doors? Nah, I'll just Detect Secret Doors - it's like making a Perception check, but I get a +5 bonus! If they remain quick & costly, then they may not see much more use (if your PCs are very money-sensitive) in which case you've changed nothing. If they are time-consuming & free then people willl use Rituals like Take 20 in 3.5; it slows down the game and turns challenges into auto-pass and auto-fail situations.

As for "not everyone is a PC" - true, but then it becomes very hard for PCs to learn Rituals. Either nobody can cast them (so who develops them) or they're very expensive for everyone else do to (which means retired adventurers make a killing) or your PCs are going to make more money as hired help (making Perfect Locks and so on) instead of looting hidden treasure troves. If you want self-consistency (or, heaven-forbid, verisimilitude) you're going to need to explain this particular loophole in the larger world.

It's one thing for the PCs to be bigger and tougher than most people but it's another thing for them to be better handymen than everyone else. In one case their talents lead them on exciting adventures; in the other it leads them onto lucrative careers as handymen.

[Evard]

I thought anyone could use them (depends on their money and their check) its that some classes get the ability to use them for free... Say a peasant wanted to use a ritual, they would go out and buy a "rituals for dummies" book then go out and buy the material cost and BLAMO there is your peasant casting Floating Disk or something... hmmm

[Oracle_Hunter]

I thought anyone could use them (depends on their money and their check) its that some classes get the ability to use them for free... Say a peasant wanted to use a ritual, they would go out and buy a "rituals for dummies" book then go out and buy the material cost and BLAMO there is your peasant casting Floating Disk or something... hmmm

No.

In standard D&D4, anyone can use Ritual Scrolls - but they're very expensive, one-use-only, and if you're not trained in a relevant skill many of the Rituals are either useless or dangerous. Being a Ritual Caster means that you can cast scrolls "at-will" (with a long casting time and costly components). Some classes (e.g. Invoker, Psion) get instead the ability to cast a particular Ritual 1/day for free. The Bard is exceptional in that he can both cast a Ritual 1/day for free and he can act as a regular Ritual Caster.

[valadil]

Or everyone who is anyone can use Rituals - see 3.5 and Casters

If you make Rituals free and quick, I can guarantee you that Skills will go out of style. Pick Lock as a Standard Action? Nah, I'll just Knock as a Standard Action - it's like Picking Locks, but I get a +5 to the check!

Eliminating casting time is clearly a bad thing. How would you feel if the casting time was quicker than it is now, but still too slow for combat? Reduce everything by a factor of 10 and knock ends up taking 1 minute. Perfectly reasonable out of combat, but not gonna happen when someone's cutting you.

[kieza]

If you make Rituals free and quick, I can guarantee you that Skills will go out of style. Pick Lock as a Standard Action? Nah, I'll just Knock as a Standard Action - it's like Picking Locks, but I get a +5 to the check! Looking for secret doors? Nah, I'll just Detect Secret Doors - it's like making a Perception check, but I get a +5 bonus! If they remain quick & costly, then they may not see much more use (if your PCs are very money-sensitive) in which case you've changed nothing. If they are time-consuming & free then people willl use Rituals like Take 20 in 3.5; it slows down the game and turns challenges into auto-pass and auto-fail situations.

I never said anything about Standard Actions. Given a choice between a standard action or 10 minutes with a +5 bonus, I think most players will take the standard action, at least at first. I'm not removing the cost of learning rituals, either, which makes it harder to have a ritual for everything. And of course, it still takes a feat (sometimes two) to learn to use Rituals. You won't see an entire group taking the feats to do that when they'd be just as good with one person doing so. Sure, in a world where players always have as much time as they want and they always think exactly the same way, you'll have people using rituals for everything. But in practice, where players know that the monsters might wander in while they're casting Knock, and where someone in the party is going to jump the gun and try the mundane solution first, rituals remain a useful tool that gets broken out when needed.

[LibraryOgre]

One suggestion I saw given on RPG.net, in addition to reducing time, was to make non-expensive rituals cost a Healing Surge. It provides a concrete cost that people may or may not want to pay (and prevents a degree of cheese), but it allows rituals to be more a part of the game.

[Kurald Galain]

If you make Rituals free and quick, I can guarantee you that Skills will go out of style.

See, this strikes me as a false dilemma. It is easy to consider a middle ground between having rituals slow and expensive and pretty much always inferior to skills, and having rituals take one standard action for free and being pretty much always superior to skills.

The thievery skill has a dozen uses besides lockpicking, and the perception skill has many uses besides locating secret doors. Also, in most campaigns (i.e. every campaign I have ever heard of) neither locked nor secret doors are common or a big deal. So what if a prepared ritual caster can open doors with an arcana check? After all, an unprepared barbarian can likely open them with an athletics check, too. Neither ability is upstaging the rogue.

As for "not everyone is a PC" - true, but then it becomes very hard for PCs to learn Rituals

This strikes me as another false dilemma. If rituals are readily available, it still does not follow that every NPC can understand them, or even that every NPC is literate in the first place. Heck, in the real world, spare computer parts are readily available in any city; that doesn't mean that everyone and their grandma can build a functional computer from those.

PCs are supposed to have ready access to any number of magical items, and can rapidly increase in power by chasing some goblins around; that doesn't mean that joe farmer is going to level up regardless how many goblins he kills, or that he will find a Vorpal Hoe of Cornsbane +3 any time soon.

[Quellian-dyrae]

What if rather than using gold, you used healing surges? Specifically, I'm thinking have the cost in surges be rather high for powerful rituals (my 4e knowledge isn't great, but say something along the lines of like 2 surges per level of the ritual). Then let other people provide surges to help. Particularly powerful rituals may even cost extended rests (you take the rest performing the ritual, and don't gain any of the normal benefits of the rest).

This should make the rituals more immediately costly and impose a sharper limit on even the number of low-level rituals you can use in a day, without having to take a permanent hit to your character's resources just to, say, scry on the BBEG for a whopping thirty seconds. Since I seem to recall only PCs get high numbers of healing surges, this also means that for the rest of the world rituals are more elaborate affairs requiring lots of casters and such.

Obviously Enchant Magic Item and similar things would still cost gold, as might rituals that have more permanent impacts on the game (such as Raise Dead). The idea would need refinement, but it might work.

[Kurald Galain]

I never said anything about Standard Actions. Given a choice between a standard action or 10 minutes with a +5 bonus, I think most players will take the standard action,

Correct. For most skills, they can try again the next round, too. Rolling a skill check ten or twenty or 100 times is highly likely to give better results than rolling once with a +5 bonus.

If we must stick to Knock as an example, the ritual is perfectly reasonable if it requires one round and some gold, OR one round and a healing surge, OR ten rounds and no other cost; in none of these cases does it overshadow the Thievery skill. On the other hand, the ritual becomes pointless if it requires some gold AND a surge AND a hundred rounds.

Heck, making rituals usable in combat would add a perfectly valid plot device. Suppose that Linked Portal requires five standard actions to cast, then that gives the rest of the party the job of holding off the monsters while the wizard chants.

[kieza]

Heck, making rituals usable in combat would add a perfectly valid plot device. Suppose that Linked Portal requires five standard actions to cast, then that gives the rest of the party the job of holding off the monsters while the wizard chants.

As an aside, this is one of the things I hope will happen. I ran a fight a while back in which the party was ambushed while trying to escape through a Linked Portal. The wizard was a minute from being done, and the other four players had to defend him for ten rounds against a bunch of troops, a couple of Swordmage monsters, and a few heavy soldiers that dropped in from hippogryphs. It was epic (hence why I want to do something similar again), as the party was entirely out of healing surges, dailies, encounters, item uses, and in one case, weapons, by the end, and they retreated through the portal with half the party unconscious and half on fire.

I can see doing similar things with whatever the ritual is that makes a wall of force, or the one that makes a lift, or any of a number of rituals.

[LibraryOgre]

As an aside, this is one of the things I hope will happen. I ran a fight a while back in which the party was ambushed while trying to escape through a Linked Portal. The wizard was a minute from being done, and the other four players had to defend him for ten rounds against a bunch of troops, a couple of Swordmage monsters, and a few heavy soldiers that dropped in from hippogryphs. It was epic (hence why I want to do something similar again), as the party was entirely out of healing surges, dailies, encounters, item uses, and in one case, weapons, by the end, and they retreated through the portal with half the party unconscious and half on fire.

Pleasepleaseplease PM me that story. That just sounds epic.

[TheEmerged]

What I've ended up doing in my campaign, in my campaign world, with my players. Your Mileage May Vary(tm) and all relevant disclaimers.

I'm running an RPG, not an accounting simulation. It is understood that rituals aren't "free" but since players aren't keeping running gold totals (and I'm not rewarding gold from encounters) the effect might as well be. If I think a door needs a DC 30 Arcana check, I don't even bother to look at the Arcane Lock rules. This is consistent with my rules for experience ("There are no experience points. The party goes up in level when I decide it's time to go up in level.") and equipment ("After first level, don't worry too much about equipment/rations/etc. If it starts to matter, I'll let you know.")

Also, I'm very funny about allowing magic to bypass something the characters should be able to do without it. So I'm not allowing any rituals that invalidates a skill check. You need a ritual to breathe underwater? Fine. You want a ritual to disarm non-magical traps? Ain't happening. Similarly, I'm not allowing rituals that bypass anything that could become a plot point; since a famine/crop blight figures into the plot's immedate future, there's a ritual that could bypass this I've made a no-no (can't remember the name right now).

Of course, that's not going to work for everyone's situation. My players are a little more self-motivated than normal, I think.

[jiriku]

Pleasepleaseplease PM me that story. That just sounds epic.

Forget PM, start a thread and share! That does sound epic.

[Oracle_Hunter]

Responses

Spoiler

Show

I'm not going to get into "false dilemma" discussion because it's a distraction. Please read my posts again, wherein I break down the simply-stated "dilemma" into its constitutent parts. Nor am I going to repeat my breakdown of "the donkey problem" as the aforelinked podcast describes it - the podcast does a much better job at describing it than I can, and if you still don't think it's a problem, I can't convince you.

That said, I'm fine with reducing the times but unless you reduce to down to the order of rounds (as you suggest) it's not going to matter. If a PC can spare 5 minutes, they probably can spare 10. After all, 50 rounds is already an eternity in "combat time;" what difference does a second eternity matter?

Reducing it to a matter of rounds replaces one of the major "costs" of using a Ritual - skills generally only take a single round to operate. Considering the advantages of using magic over mundane (better checks, additional perks) removing this important cost can be a large step towards the replacement of skills; if a PC can wait 1 round for a chance to succeed, he'll probably be willing to wait 5 for guaranteed success.

I support replacing GP costs with Surge costs as a general proposition - though that means that Barbarians & Wardens with Ritual Casting are going to make a killing

One last thing to note - when it matters, PCs are going to try whatever gives them the best shot at succeeding. If failing a check (or a Skill Challenge) imposes a big cost, the PCs will use Magic if it gives a better chance of success and has a trivial cost. This is what happened in 3.5 - whenever something important was going on, everyone pulled out Magic if they could. This trivializes mundane skills since, when it really matters, nobody is willing to rely on them. Consider this when fiddling with Rituals.

[Kurald Galain]

Considering the advantages of using magic over mundane (better checks, additional perks)

As pointed out above, it's skills that have additional perks over rituals, not the other way around. For instance, Perception can do any number of things that Detect Secret Doors cannot.

As also pointed out above, rolling five times almost always gives better results than rolling once with a +5 bonus, even aside from the fact that the latter takes 100 rounds and the former takes five.

[kieza]

Rituals are all well and good when they apply, but they have very narrow uses. Knock is great for opening a door if you have a lot of time, but not if you need to get through the door before the dragon catches up with you. It also won't help if you need to disarm a trap: I don't know of a ritual that would, and even if there were one, it would take several rounds while standing (presumably) in the trap's line of fire. Knock won't help you pickpocket someone or palm a coin, either.

Detect Secret Doors will help...Detect Secret Doors. It won't help spot an orc in the brush (and no ritual would, really, if you don't know it's there), it won't help find the papers stashed in the wardrobe, and it won't help identify the riders you spot in the distance at sunset.

Using a ritual to replace a skill requires several things:
1) Know the ritual
2) Know that you'll need the ritual ahead of time (a ritual that gives +5 to Perception won't help against an ambush that you can't plan for)
3) Have the time to use the ritual (again, no help against an ambush, or to boost Diplomacy in the middle of a conversation)

And a ritual only has a point if
4) The chance of being successful with the ritual is greater than the chance of being successful while trying the best mundane alternative for the casting time of the ritual. In the case of Knock, you're more likely to succeed by using Thievery 10 times than casting Knock once. It's only a better option if you would never succeed without it, or you would succeed on a 16+ without it (and in that case, the difference is about .0001%, since you're almost guaranteed to succeed otherwise).

To continue with the example of Knock, it's a great ritual if you need to open a lock on the first try (if it's trapped, for instance), if you want to dispel Arcane Lock, if you're a wizard without training in Thievery or a rogue to help you, or if you don't have the tools handy. For the vast majority of situations, Thievery is better.

[Leolo]

The Problem with rituals is not that they are not powerful, cheap or fast enough. Because they can be it without any rule change. There have been lists of useful rituals in all this discussions - but it does not matter.

The problem is that in many campaigns they are not assumed as neccessary. A simple example is traveling. Rituals can let you travel multiple as fast. If you need to travel fast from one point to another rituals that provide this are as useful as they should be. And they are not expensive if you consider that you could reach the city before the orc army has invaded it instead after this event. The problem is that in most campaigns it is irrelevant if you are tomorrow where the next monster group wait or in 5 days.

Same example, other ritual(s): Rituals can let you find persons or things faster and with less ressources than with mundane searching. You can find a person anywhere arround in miles within 10 minutes - and nothing mundane can provide you this out of simple luck or DMs railroading.

The problem is: You are part of an adventuring group. You will find the villians regardless what you do, because it is part of the game. Maybe some NPC are dead because it took you longer than neccessary. Maybe you had to fight more than neccessary. But you will be where you have to be in the most cases.

And this is the only way to make rituals more used. You will have to find ways to create campaigns where it is not irrelevant how long it takes to find the villian or the NPC that has been taken ransom. Rituals could be fast as lightning and cast without ressources spend (in fact sometimes they are). No one would use them. As long as they do not make any difference in your game.

It is like saying area effects are irrelevant because there are no fights with multiple foes in your campaign world, or saying flying mounts are irrelevant because no one has the ability to fly. It is true in this context. But it is not true because area effects can not harm someone in general or because flying is a weak ability. It simple depends on your campaign. As easy it is to bring in encounters with minions or flying critters it is easy to make campaigns where time does matter. Or where it matters if you are able to find something without searching every room in the dungeon.

[Kurald Galain]

The Problem with rituals is not that they are not powerful, cheap or fast enough. Because they can be it without any rule change. There have been lists of useful rituals in all this discussions

[ citation needed ]

Asserting that earlier discussions have proven you right is not a very useful statement without a link.

[Tiki Snakes]

I personally favour making rituals free but leaving the time entirely unchanged. This removes the mental block on using them at all but doesn't actually affect whether they can be used to solve any particular situation (If the ritual could screw things up it then it already could in any individual case, it would just cost money in addition).

Even with having done this, it's basically only one pc at my table who uses them, but it she gets a kick out of things like having the you don't get dirty, no not even then ritual up religiously at all times, and so on. The various tensers rituals came in handy once or twice, too, but nothing terrible.

[Saph]

I personally favour making rituals free but leaving the time entirely unchanged. This removes the mental block on using them at all but doesn't actually affect whether they can be used to solve any particular situation (If the ritual could screw things up it then it already could in any individual case, it would just cost money in addition).

I think this is the best solution. Most rituals except for the half-dozen "plot rituals" (Linked Portal, Raise Dead, etc) already have so many limitations on them that they're usually not worth the effort even without the gold cost. Putting a price on them as well is a killer, because gold equals magical items and magical items equal power. This means that spending money on one-off effects makes your character weaker, so unsurprisingly players avoid it unless the effects are really really good.

Making rituals free makes them a lot more attractive. The problem with rituals as is is that you have to do the out-of-game work to learn what the ritual does, then the in-game work to scribe the thing, then wait for the right situation to come up, then after all that you're still usually better off not using the damn thing anyway. If you didn't have to spend money you'd see a lot more people thinking up ways to use them.