The Ritualist-- A tier 3 crafter/spellbook user?... maybe. (3.5, PEACH)

[Grod_The_Giant]

The Ritualist
Hit Die: d4.
Class Skills: A Ritualist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Speak Language (Int), Spellcraft (Int), and Use Magical Device (Cha)
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Ritual Level	Stored Ritual Level	Mystic Reserve	Bonus Feats
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Rituals, Mystic Reserve, Bonus Feats, Lore	1	—	1	2
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Mystic Focus	1	—	1	3
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Knowledge Focus	2	—	2	3
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Versatile Craftsman	2	—	3	4
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Imbued Item	3	1	3	4
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Knowledge Focus	3	1	4	5
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Improved Mystic Focus	4	2	5	5
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Transfer Essence	4	2	6	6
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Knowledge Focus	5	3	6	6
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Rapid Ritual	5	3	7	7
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Sage	6	4	8	7
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Improved Mystic Focus, Knowledge Focus	6	4	9	8
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Master Craftsman	7	5	9	8
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Transfer Charges	7	5	10	9
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Knowledge Focus	"8"	6	11	9
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Signature Rituals	"8"	6	12	10
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Improved Mystic Focus	"9"	7	12	10
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Knowledge Focus	"9"	7	13	11
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Improved Transfer Essence	"10"	"8"	14	11
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Instant Ritual	"10"	"8"	15	12

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Ritualists are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and quarterstaff, but not with any type of armor or shield.

Rituals: Ritualists are the most versatile spellcasters of all, but at a price— they cannot cast their spells normally. Instead, they must convert them into rituals.

Rituals are drawn from the Sorcerer/Wizard list. A Ritualist may cast a ritual with a spell level equal to one-half his class level, as shown on the table above. Spells above seventh level may not be made into rituals— they are too complicated, and require too much power. However, a Ritualist may cast lower-level spells with metamagic applied to increase the effective spell level to eight level or above.

A ritual is essentially identical to the spell it is adapted from, but casting a ritual takes ten minutes per spell level (minimum 1 minute for 0-level spells), and its duration is increased by half. If the spell’s casting time is normally more than one full round, add that time to the total casting time of the ritual. Material components and focuses must be provided normally, and the Ritualist must be able to supply verbal and somatic components if the original spell required them. At the conclusion of the ritual, the spell is cast normally. A Ritualst may apply any metamagic feat he knows to the spell being emulated, taking the increased time to cast a spell of the adjusted level. A Ritualist may cast any ritual he knows without preparing it ahead of time, provided he has access to his spellbook. To cast a ritual, a Ritualist must have an Intelligence score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a ritual is 10 + the spell level + Intelligence modifier. Abilities which increase a caster's save DC, such as the Spell Focus feat, also apply to rituals-- both when cast directly, and when stored in a Mystic Focus (see below)

A Ritualist begins his career with (Intelligence Modifier) rituals in his spellbook. Each time he levels up, he may add two new rituals of any level he can cast to his spellbook for free. Further rituals must be added to his spellbook in the same manner as a wizard adding spells to his spellbook. A Ritualist may use a wizard's spellbook, and vice versa, with a -5 penalty on the associated Spellcraft checks.

This ability qualifies the Ritualist as an arcane spellcaster with a caster level equal to his Ritualist level. Prestige classes that advance arcane spellcasting advance the highest level ritual you have access to. You may use rituals in place of their equivalent spells to qualify for feats, classes, and so on which require specific spells, or a caster capable of casting a specific level of spell.

Mystic Reserve (Su): A Ritualist's specialty is his rituals, but he is not entirely devoid of power. He may learn and power Reserve Feats (Complete Mage) as though he had a spell of the appropriate type available with a spell level shown on the table above. Thus, a fifth level Ritualist could use the Storm Bolt feat to fire a line of electricity dealing 3d6 electricity damage. Any feat, class, item, or similar effect which increases a Ritualist's arcane caster level also increases his Mystic Reserve as though he were a higher-level character.

As a special case, from 1st to 3rd level, a Ritualist counts as having a second-level spell available for the purpose of qualifying for Reserve Feats and activating them, although not for determining damage, duration, or other qualities dependent on the highest-level spell available. Thus, a first-level Ritualist could take the Fiery Burst feat, but would only deal 1d6 damage.

Bonus Feats: A Ritualist learns two bonus metamagic, item crafting, or reserve feats at first level. At second level, and every subsequent even-numbered level, he learns an additional metamagic, item crafting, or reserve feat.

Lore (Ex): Thanks to long hours of study, a Ritualist has a wide range of stray knowledge. This ability is identical to the Bard's Bardic Knowledge class feature, using the Ritualist's class level in place of the Bard level.

Mystic Focus: At 2nd level, a Ritualist creates a Mystic Focus, a sentient object that helps you in your studies and practices. Any object can by a Mystic Focus, although most Ritualists choose appropriately "magical" items such as rings, staffs, amulets, or wands. Doing so takes 24 hours and uses up magical materials that cost 100 gp. You may only have one Mystic Focus at a time-- if you make a second, the first becomes inert.

Your Mystic Focus has hardness as normal for an item of its type, with a bonus equal to your Intelligence modifier. It has a number of hit points equal to your own. If your Mystic Focus is destroyed, you must attempt a DC 15 Fortitude saving throw. Failure means you're stunned for one round and take 1d4 points of Wisdom damage. A destroyed Mystic Focus can be replaced the next day, in a process costing fifty gold per Ritualist level.

Your Mystic Focus is an intelligent item, with two mental abilities at 12 and one at 10, the ability to communicate empathically and see and hear out to a distance of 30 feet. In addition, it has one lesser power of your choice. Your item familiar has an ego score, but is always considered Helpful towards you. The caster level of any of its special abilities is equal to your Ritualist level, and the save DC against said abilities (if relevant) is 10+1/2 Ritualist level + the item's highest ability modifier.

As he advances in level, a Ritualist's Mystic Familiar continues to improve in power:

• At 7th level, he may increase one of his item's ability scores by two, and its range of sight and hearing increases to 120 feet. It gains the ability to speak, and a second lesser power.
• At 12th level, he may increase one of his item's ability scores by two, and it gains 60ft darkvision, the ability to communicate by telepathy, and one greater power.
• At 17th level, he may increase one of his item's ability scores by two, and it gains 60ft blindsense, and one greater power.

A Ritualist may enchant his Mystic Focus as a magic item, using normal item crafting rules. If he chooses to do so, he may treat the item's market price as if it were 10% lower when calculating gold and experience point costs. If he enchants his Focus as a limited use item, such as a wand or staff, it is not destroyed when the last charge is expended-- instead, it merely returns to its normal, unenchanted (but still intelligent) state.

Finally, if a Ritualist has his Mystic Focus available while using a Reserve feat that deals damage, he deals extra damage equal to his Intelligence modifier.

Knowledge Focus (Ex): At 3rd level, and every subsequent third level, a Ritualist gains a permanent +3 bonus to one Intelligence-based skill of his choice. These bonuses can be stacked, or they can be applied to different skills. This ability counts as having Skill Focus in the appropriate skill for the purposes of prerequisites.

Versatile Craftsman (Ex): Beginning at 4th level, a Ritualist may use any Craft skill in the place of any other, although he takes a -5 penalty when he does so. If the new skill is trained-only, he must still be trained in it to make checks.

Imbued Focus (Su): Beginning at 5th level, a Ritualist learns how to imbue his Mystic Focus with additional, temporary power. When casting a ritual, he has the option of channeling it into his Mystic Focus. He may "store" multiple rituals in this manner, as long as their total spell level is less than or equal to one-half his Ritualist level plus his Intelligence modifier. The maximum level of any individual ritual he can store is two lower than the highest level of ritual he can normally cast, as shown on the table above. As a full-round action which provokes an attack of opportunity, he may release a stored ritual as though he were casting the ritual as a normal spell. If the spell's casting time is normally greater than one full-round action, use that casting time instead. Spells cast in this fashion have a DC of 10 + 1/2 Ritualist Level + his Intelligence Modifier. Note that while the process is similar to conventional spellcasting, a Ritualist does not need to speak to release a spell in this fashion, nor does he need somatic components, so long as he has his Mystic Focus in his possession.

Releasing a stored ritual in this way leaves behind fragments of the power, allowing the Ritualist to replace expended rituals with fresh versions of the same ritual much faster than normal— when doing so, the ritual has a casting time of only one minute per spell level, rather than the usual ten minutes per spell level. For example, if a Ritualist had stored a fireball ritual in your Mystic Focus, and released it to barbeque some ogres, it would only take three minutes to replace it with another fireball. However, if he choose to fill the now-empty slots with a fly ritual, it would take thirty minutes.

A Ritualist is not the only one who can use an Imbued Item— anyone who makes a Use Magic Device check with a DC of 15 + Ritualist Level + Intelligence Modifier may release stored spells. Other Ritualists get a +5 bonus to this check. Anyone whom the Focus wishes to allow access to the power gains a bonus to their check equal to the Focus' Ego score. Similarly, if the Focus does not wish to have its power drawn upon, anyone trying to do so takes a penalty to their check equal to the Focus' Ego score. However, only the Ritualist can partially cast rituals as described above. Other characters, whether or not they are assisted by your Focus, completely expend stored spells, and not even the Ritualist can replace them quickly.

Transfer Essence (Su): At 8th level, a Ritualist gains the ability to salvage the experience points from a magic item and use those points to create another magic item. When crafting a magic item, a Ritualist may drain experience points which were used to craft a different magic item and apply them towards creating the first. Up to one-half the experience points originally used to craft the second item may be transferred in this manner. He must have the second item with him for the entire process, at the end of which the item is destroyed— any remaining experience points are simply lost.

Beginning at 19th level, you may drain all experience points used to craft the second item.

Rapid Ritual (Su): Beginning at 10th level, when casting a ritual-- including one to be stored in his Mystic Focus-- a Ritualist may spend 25 experience per spell level to do so more quickly— one minute per spell level for a completely new ritual, and one round per spell level to refill an expended ritual.

Sage:At 11th level, a Ritualst may use his Lore ability in place of any normal Knowledge check, albeit at a -5 penalty.

Master Craftsman (Ex): Beginning at 13th level, a Ritualist can make Craft checks as though he had rolled a natural 20. He may use this ability a number of times per week equal to his Intelligence modifier. In addition, he no longer takes a penalty when using his Versatile Craftsman ability.

Transfer Charges (Su): Beginning at 14th level, a Ritualist may transfer charges between from one wand or staff to another. Charges can even be transferred between wands and staffs, in which case one staff charge is equal to two wand charges. He may not fill an item beyond its original capacity (ie, 50 charges).

Signature Rituals: At 16th level, a Ritualist may select five rituals as his signature rituals. He may use his Rapid Ritual ability to cast signature rituals without paying an experience point cost.

Instant Ritual (Sp): At 20th level, a Ritualist's mastery of rituals is so great that he can do away with all props and diagrams, replacing them with nothing but willpower and his own life's energy. As a one round long action which provokes attacks of opportunity, he may spend cast a single ritual from his spellbook, regardless of whether or not it is stored in his Mystic Focus. He may use this ability a number of times per day equal to one-half his Intelligence modifier.

------
Ritualist Variant: The Archivist
Not all Ritualists seek out arcane lore. Some instead dedicate their lives to searching out forgotten gods and other lost divine lore. These souls are known as Archivists.
Changed: Archivists count as divine casters, not arcane, and draw their Rituals from the Cleric and Druid class lists, rather than the Sorcerer/Wizard. They cannot learn Domain spells unless they also appear on the main class lists. If a spell appears on both the Cleric and Druid lists, use whichever level is lower.

Ritualist Variant: The Scholar
Not all Ritualists are craftsmen. Some dedicate themselves wholly to the pursuit of knowledge.
Lose: Versatile Craftsman, Transfer Essence, Master Craftsman, Transfer Charges
Gain: Dark Knowledge (as the Archivist), with the following changes: Dark Knowledge may be used Level+Int Mod times/day as a standard action, and the bonus is as per the Knowledge Devotion feat.

[Eldest]

You might want to detail these mythical "stored rituals" somewhere.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Great minds think alike, apparently; I have a reserve-feats-plus-rituals wizard variant I've been working on as well. I no longer have to finish mine, because this one is excellent.

The only (relatively minor) issue I have with it on my initial read-through is that Rapid Craftsman is kind of useless. In one hour, you can do one day's worth of work...but in the same amount of time you can cast fabricate and Craft 100 cubic feet of material, with no daily limit that might let mundane crafting outpace that output. I'm not sure what to replace it with, but it definitely needs to be replaced.

You might want to detail these mythical "stored rituals" somewhere.

They're detailed under Imbued Item.

[Ziegander]

This is really, really cool.

My only concerns:

1) Imbued Item is vague on the matter of replacing "expended" rituals. To my understanding rituals are at-will correct? And as far as I can tell, there are no rules stating that you put X and Y spells into an item, so you seem to just have your maximum capacity and the ability to put whatever spells you want into the item, whenever you want to, up to the cap.

I would suggest wording it so that a Ritualist can replenish expended ritual levels stored in his Imbued Item at an increased speed, filling the item with whatever rituals he chooses to when doing so. I suggest this because it's not like specific spells are locked into the item, and neither does the item have ritual slots per day or something.

2) I would offer alternatives to the Familiar features. Not everyone will want one. Not everyone will want an Improved one, or two, or a superior one. Every time you have a Familiar feature on the table you should offer an alternative, that way players can get exactly as much familiar as they want (sometimes none, sometimes a little, sometimes two improved familiars).

[PairO'Dice Lost]

And as far as I can tell, there are no rules stating that you put X and Y spells into an item, so you seem to just have your maximum capacity and the ability to put whatever spells you want into the item, whenever you want to, up to the cap.
[...]
I suggest this because it's not like specific spells are locked into the item, and neither does the item have ritual slots per day or something.

Grod, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think how the following is supposed to work:

You may replace expended rituals with fresh versions much faster than normal— one minute per spell level, rather than ten minutes per spell level. If you wish to store a new ritual, you still must cast it fully.

...is that if you store a fireball in your item and cast it you can cast a fireball into it again at the faster speed, and keep doing this as long as you're re-casting fireballs into it. If you want to replace it with a lightning bolt you need to spend the full casting time, at which point you can re-cast lightning bolts into the item at the faster casting time until you want to change spells again. That way you can either stick with the same set of spells and use them more often or change up your spells and have more utility.

But in either case, you're right, it's kind of vague and should be reworded for clarity.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Great minds think alike, apparently; I have a reserve-feats-plus-rituals wizard variant I've been working on as well. I no longer have to finish mine, because this one is excellent.

The only (relatively minor) issue I have with it on my initial read-through is that Rapid Craftsman is kind of useless. In one hour, you can do one day's worth of work...but in the same amount of time you can cast fabricate and Craft 100 cubic feet of material, with no daily limit that might let mundane crafting outpace that output. I'm not sure what to replace it with, but it definitely needs to be replaced.

Yeeahh... I'll have to come up with something. Cost reduction is the kind of thing that helps break the artificer, so I don't think I want to go that route... anyone have suggestions?

1) Imbued Item is vague on the matter of replacing "expended" rituals. To my understanding rituals are at-will correct? And as far as I can tell, there are no rules stating that you put X and Y spells into an item, so you seem to just have your maximum capacity and the ability to put whatever spells you want into the item, whenever you want to, up to the cap.

PairO'Dice's interpretation is correct, but I'll work on the wording.

2) I would offer alternatives to the Familiar features. Not everyone will want one. Not everyone will want an Improved one, or two, or a superior one. Every time you have a Familiar feature on the table you should offer an alternative, that way players can get exactly as much familiar as they want (sometimes none, sometimes a little, sometimes two improved familiars).

Not a bad thought... any ideas for what to grant in return?

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Yeeahh... I'll have to come up with something. Cost reduction is the kind of thing that helps break the artificer, so I don't think I want to go that route...

Maybe the ability to add +5 to Craft checks [Wis mod] times per day, so you can either compensate for the Versatile Craftsman penalty for untrained Craft skills or do better with your primary Craft skills?

Not a bad thought... any suggestions?

Taking a page from PF, perhaps an ability to enhance your Imbued Item as a casting focus even when there are no rituals stored in it? For instance:

• Summon Familiar becomes Arcane Focus: Choose an item, which will later become your Imbued Item. Double its hit points and hardness and increase its break DC by +5. You may add it as an additional focus component for a ritual, and if you do so you don't need to have any inexpensive material or focus components the ritual may require, unless they are a target or integral part of the spell (such as a scrying mirror).
• Second Familiar becomes Improved Arcane Focus: While using your Arcane Focus as a focus component for a ritual, you can apply the effect of either the Silent Spell or the Still Spell feat (your choice) to the ritual for free by substituting some of its imbued power for the ritual's components. Whichever feat you choose, the effective level of the ritual is not increased and you do not need to possess the chosen feat. In addition, the number of spell levels you may store in your Arcane Focus at one time is increased by 2.
• Superior Familiar becomes Superior Arcane Focus: While using your Arcane Focus as a focus component for a ritual, the save DC increases by +2. In addition, the maximum level of ritual you can store in your Arcane Focus improves by 1, and the time necessary to cast a new stored ritual into your Arcane Focus decreases to 5 minutes per spell level.

...or something like that. Basically, have it grant you a bunch of passive bonuses to spellcasting to make up for the loss of active abilities and extra actions from having a familiar or two.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Maybe the ability to add +5 to Craft checks [Wis mod] times per day, so you can either compensate for the Versatile Craftsman penalty for untrained Craft skills or do better with your primary Craft skills?

At 13th level? Way too small.

As for the familiar alternative... what about a gradually upgrading intelligent item?

• At 2nd level, it 12/12/10 ability scores, empathy, one lesser power, and 30 ft vision and hearing
• At 7th level, its gets +2 to an ability, speech, a second lesser power, and 120 ft vision and hearing
• At 11th level, it gets another +2 to an ability, a third lesser power, and 60ft darkvision
• At 14th level, it gets a third ability bonus, telepathy, a greater power, 120ft darkvision and 60ft blindsense

Or something like that.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

At 13th level? Way too small.

This is true, but trying to do something level-appropriate means improving on the +20 or +30 you can get with 2nd or 3rd level spells, which is ridiculous. Maybe the ability to roll automatic 20s on Craft checks X times per day would be better?

As for the familiar alternative... what about a gradually upgrading intelligent item?

• At 2nd level, it 12/12/10 ability scores, empathy, one lesser power, and 30 ft vision and hearing
• At 7th level, its gets +2 to an ability, speech, a second lesser power, and 120 ft vision and hearing
• At 11th level, it gets another +2 to an ability, a third lesser power, and 60ft darkvision
• At 14th level, it gets a third ability bonus, telepathy, a greater power, 120ft darkvision and 60ft blindsense

Or something like that.

Looks good to me.

[Grod_The_Giant]

This is true, but trying to do something level-appropriate means improving on the +20 or +30 you can get with 2nd or 3rd level spells, which is ridiculous. Maybe the ability to roll automatic 20s on Craft checks X times per day would be better?

Looks good to me.

Done and done.

[Eldest]

Hm. Until third level, there is no way to get a reserve feat legally with just the class. Fourth level if you don't have the character feats to spend. Am I reading that wrong? (All reserve feats require at least a 2nd level spell), or domain access (and then a 3rd level spell for those).

[Grod_The_Giant]

Hm. Until third level, there is no way to get a reserve feat legally with just the class. Fourth level if you don't have the character feats to spend. Am I reading that wrong? (All reserve feats require at least a 2nd level spell), or domain access (and then a 3rd level spell for those).

Whoops. I will fix.

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Mystic Focus, Imbued Focus, and Instant Ritual all use wisdom rather than intelligence. Is this intentional?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Mystic Focus, Imbued Focus, and Instant Ritual all use wisdom rather than intelligence. Is this intentional?

Yes-- he's supposed to be a bit MAD.

[jiriku]

I believe you intended that the intelligent focus can communicate empathically, rather than emphatically.

[Veklim]

I believe you intended that the intelligent focus can communicate empathically, rather than emphatically.

Maybe it's just highly insistent...Hehehe!

This actually looks pretty much exactly what your title states, which I think is great. Has this had any playtesting for reference yet..? It makes for a great class in any campaign which runs downtime in days and weeks, since with a little prep and a couple of rituals allows for tremendous crafting possibilities without ever really becoming overpowered or even unreasonable. Liking the intelligent item 'familiar' btw, very versatile and personal all at once.

Question though, why are you using spell level rather than half ritualist level for the ritual save DCs...? Not a problem per say, simply a nitpick but...

The reserve feat angle is well met also, and the fact that you get as many bonus feats as a fighter actually offers the chance for a ritualist to focus or broaden their approach as they see fit. I'm pretty sure I'd allow this in any of my games, but certain restrictions might be made in certain settings.

One thing to note though, is the slightly alarming lack of AC which could scupper you. Middle of the night, you awake in camp to the cries of your comrades, you're under attack! You hastily do a ritual(?!) to get mage armour up.....basically you're having issues at level 1, and once you can put something in your focus item, the first choice needs to be mage armour, right?

EDIT-----
Also, you don't list item creation feats in the bonus feats section after level 1, meaning both your 1st level bonus feats can be item creation but none of the subsequent ones can. Is this intentional or oversight?

[Grod_The_Giant]

I believe you intended that the intelligent focus can communicate empathically, rather than emphatically.

No, of course not. That would be ridiculous.

This actually looks pretty much exactly what your title states, which I think is great. Has this had any playtesting for reference yet..? It makes for a great class in any campaign which runs downtime in days and weeks, since with a little prep and a couple of rituals allows for tremendous crafting possibilities without ever really becoming overpowered or even unreasonable. Liking the intelligent item 'familiar' btw, very versatile and personal all at once.

Thanks! A friend played on in a level 6 one-shot that, unfortunately, was not at all suited to the classes' strengths. (He also had creepy necromancy spells in his Imbued Focus, which weren't particularly applicable against the ghouls and golem we fought). I edited out some of the MAD and added bonus damage to Reserve feats afterwards.

Question though, why are you using spell level rather than half ritualist level for the ritual save DCs...? Not a problem per say, simply a nitpick but...

Umm... hmm. I think it was a typo, but it's actually an interesting idea, now that I think about it...

The reserve feat angle is well met also, and the fact that you get as many bonus feats as a fighter actually offers the chance for a ritualist to focus or broaden their approach as they see fit. I'm pretty sure I'd allow this in any of my games, but certain restrictions might be made in certain settings.

What sort of restrictions are you thinking of?

One thing to note though, is the slightly alarming lack of AC which could scupper you. Middle of the night, you awake in camp to the cries of your comrades, you're under attack! You hastily do a ritual(?!) to get mage armour up.....basically you're having issues at level 1, and once you can put something in your focus item, the first choice needs to be mage armour, right?

Because you're not "casting" until you get your Imbued Item, you can actually wear armor at low levels-- eating the nonproficiancy penalty isn't a big deal if you pick your Reserve feats right. Or you can cast mage armor as a ritual-- it lasts long enough to make that a practical option. Afterwards, you can throw mage armor in before bed for late-night emergencies, I guess. On the other hand, it's not like the fighter slept in his armor, either...

Also, you don't list item creation feats in the bonus feats section after level 1, meaning both your 1st level bonus feats can be item creation but none of the subsequent ones can. Is this intentional or oversight?

Whoops.

[Realms of Chaos]

Great minds think alike, apparently; I have a reserve-feats-plus-rituals wizard variant I've been working on as well. I no longer have to finish mine, because this one is excellent. .

Did someone say "reserve-feats-plus-rituals wizard variant"?

[TheTeaMustFlow]

Because you're not "casting" until you get your Imbued Item, you can actually wear armor at low levels-- eating the nonproficiancy penalty isn't a big deal if you pick your Reserve feats right. Or you can cast mage armor as a ritual-- it lasts long enough to make that a practical option. Afterwards, you can throw mage armor in before bed for late-night emergencies, I guess. On the other hand, it's not like the fighter slept in his armor, either.

Yeah, I'm thinking Dwarven Ritualist is a good combo - armour and weapon proficiencies, constitution bonus, and craft as a favoured skill . Plus, you can take Runesmith, and it probably wouldn't be hard to swing that letting you cast imbued spells without somatic comps past a DM.

[Southern Cross]

Here is the Ritualist class table, revised to look more like the previous tables.

Level	BAB	Fort	Ref	Will	Special	Ritual Level	Stored Ritual Level	Mystic Reserve	Bonus Feats
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Rituals, Mystic Reserve, Bonus Feats, Lore	1	-	1	2
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	Mystic Focus I	1	—	1	3
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Knowledge Focus	2	—	2	3
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Versatile Craftsman	2	—	3	4
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Imbued Item	3	1	3	4
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Knowledge Focus	3	1	4	5
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	Improved Mystic Focus	4	2	5	5
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	Transfer Essence	4	2	6	6
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	Knowledge Focus	5	3	6	6
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Rapid Imbuing	5	3	7	7
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Sage	6	4	8	7
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Improved Mystic Focus, Knowledge Focus	6	4	9	8
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	Master Craftsman	7	5	9	8
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	Transfer Charges	7	5	10	9
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Knowledge Focus	"8"	6	11	9
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Signature Rituals	"8"	6	12	10
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	Improved Mystic Focus	"9"	7	12	10
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Knowledge Focus	"9"	7	13	11
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	Improved Transfer Essence	"10"	"8"	14	11
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Instant Ritual	"10"	"8"	15	12

[Grod_The_Giant]

Thanks. When the forums updated, I had to fix a whole lot of posts in a hurry, before I could figure out the new table codes fully.