Let's demystify Ritual Magic please?

[Harbinjer]

I was explaining Ritual Magic to a new player the other night and when I needed to look something up, realized I may have been doing it wrong this whole time.

The following is how I now understand it. Please correct me if I'm wrong:

The character learns a VH skill as [core skill]. They immediately know all colleges at default [core skill]-6 AND all spells in all colleges at [college] - P (where P = Prereq count).
After putting points into [college], they know that [college] at [core skill]+X (where X is the added skill level for points spent). i.e., one character point in [college] for [core skill]-3
Now, depending on the [college] they can immediately cast one or more spells that have no prerequisites at a default of [college]+magery.

They also immediately have the ability to cast other spells with prerequisites at a default [college]-P+magery.

Meanwhile, values must follow these rules:
[spell skill] <= [college] <= [core skill]

So far so good (I hope). Here's my Questions:

1) The Thaumatology book gives the example of Purify Air (no Prerequisite thus default Air College -0), Create Air (Prereq: Purify Air, thus default Air College -1), and Shape Air (Prereq: Create Air thus default Air College -2).

Because it has no prerequites, Purify Air cannot be improved, because even 1 point would put it at Air College +1. It's always going to be the same as the college, and can't be increased beyond that, correct?

2) If I spend a point to get Create Air up to Air College -0... Since I now "know" that spell, does it matter for the Prereq Count for Shape Air (or anything else)?

And just because the book doesn't say, but I always assumed:
3) Does the casting of a spell this way require a successful skill roll for the core skill?

[Refplace]

1) Correct, you cant improve above the default. Though a GM may allow Technique Mastery which I might include as a style perk.

2)I dont see how it makes a difference per RAW. I could see removing it as a prereq penalty as a feature though.
I probably would even like it as it incentives spending points on more than just the Core and College skills.

3) I would say no. Not only does it not say you need to we have seen from systems extrapolated from it Path/Book and RPM for example that they dont require two rolls.

[William]

1.) That's correct.

2.) The prereq count for other spells doesn't change. Prereq count is just a proxy for how hard the spell is.

3.) No. You just roll the effective spell skill.

[Harbinjer]

Thank you all!

[Gnomasz]

Originally Posted by Harbinjer

The character learns a VH skill as [core skill]. They immediately know all colleges at default [core skill]-6 AND all spells in all colleges at [college] - P (where P = Prereq count).
After putting points into [college], they know that [college] at [core skill]+X (where X is the added skill level for points spent). i.e., one character point in [college] for [core skill]-3

That's a "no". College skill is based on IQ, just like any other skill, and not on the core skill. At high skill levels Improving Skills from Default (p. B173) kicks in, but that would mean that 4 points in a College makes it [Core Skill]-5.

Re: Purify Air: GM could consider allowing a Technique Mastery perk for the basic spells.

[Sorenant]

Originally Posted by Gnomasz

That's a "no". College skill is based on IQ, just like any other skill, and not on the core skill. At high skill levels Improving Skills from Default (p. B173) kicks in, but that would mean that 4 points in a College makes it [Core Skill]-5.

Re: Purify Air: GM could consider allowing a Technique Mastery perk for the basic spells.

RPM has the Ritual Mastery perk that grants +2 for a specific ritual/spell, I don't think it would be break anything if this perk was allowed for Ritual Magic.

[AlexanderHowl]

One of the advantages of ritual magic is that it can be quite efficient from a CP perspective. Let us say that you were an IQ 12 and Magery 2 mage who wanted Enchant-20 and Fireball-20, so you can easily make fireball wands that can function in low mana areas. In the case of the standard system, you need 12 CP for the prerequisites and 60 CP for Enchant-20 and Fireball-20, for 72 CP total. In the case of ritual magic, you need 32 CP for Ritual Magic-20, 24 CP for College of Fire-20, and 13 CP to buy off the penalties for the rituals, for 69 CP total. In addition, in the latter case, you have every other College at 14, Symbol Drawing at 16, and a reasonable default to the majority of the spells from College of Fire (as well as the basic spells for every other College).

[Harbinjer]

I made a Google sheet to do these calculations for me and wanted to share. Feel free to use or adapt for your own purposes. Click Me!

Make a copy for your own before you start! It should be fairly self-explanatory. Anything with a border requires user input:
Start with your Core Skill at the top (Base Attribute, Skill name, and Points). Fill in your IQ then choose some colleges to put points in. It will highlight red if you exceed your Core skill. Finally, enter some spells, indicating college, Prereq Count and points spent to have it calc a Skill Level (also highlights red if you exceed your college level).
There's some error checking, but I didn't test it so thoroughly that I'll call it foolproof. Feel free to report bugs, especially if the calculations are wrong!