# Mythic Earth Ritual Question



## Malacoda (Feb 7, 2007)

I am currently writing up a review of EoM:ME for RPG.net, and I have a question I was hoping to get clarified by Ryan before I finalize the review.

Who are rituals for? Who is the target user for these mechanics and how are they expected to be used? Are they more for non-spellcasters and situations requiring skills that the group does not have?

The book says "Ritual spells are difficult to cast, but can be very powerful if the caster is willing to take the risk." The thing is, mathematically speaking, ritual magic seems like it would rarely be successful for spells that are considerably above what the caster can otherwise cast, if he has the skills.

For example, a 5th level Smart Hero spellcaster can get a Knowledge (arcane lore) of +20 with the right mix of profession, feats and talents (and might be able squeeze out a little more if he wanted to concentrate on rituals). The best he can have in a magic skill is level + 3, or +8 total. Thus his ritual skill is 12 points higher than his magic skill. But, becuase the DC for rituals is 10 points higher, that works out to a +2 advantage. Plus, in order to succeed, he must make ten successful rolls without failing consecutively.

It seems that in order for rituals to be worthwhile to anyone but non-spellcasters, base chance for success on a roll needs to be better than 50%; at 50%, the chances of succeeding on 10 rolls without consecutive failures is not good. For the above spellcaster, without assistance or other factors, his 50% chance falls on level 10 spells. So, to have a decent chance of success he would have to go lower, perhaps as low as 7. If he used normal spellcasting, he can cast a level 7 spell in two rounds with a 80% chance of success.

Maybe I have Mage: The Ascension on the brain, where rituals are used to cast larger or more potent effects, like wards, that are impractical to cast as a quick spell. The quote from the book, above, seems to support this line of thought, but the mechanics do not.

I am looking for clarification so I don't "ding" ME for something I may have wrong; I could be reading something improperly or have somehow missed some critical bit of info, or not understand the intent.


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## RangerWickett (Feb 7, 2007)

Rituals are primarily intended to let non-casters use magic, or to provide access to a spell the group doesn't have. I didn't consider the math properly when I wrote the system, though, so it should probably be without failing 3 times in a row instead of 2. It is one of the weakest parts of the system, I think.


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## Malacoda (Feb 7, 2007)

RangerWickett said:
			
		

> Rituals are primarily intended to let non-casters use magic, or to provide access to a spell the group doesn't have. I didn't consider the math properly when I wrote the system, though, so it should probably be without failing 3 times in a row instead of 2. It is one of the weakest parts of the system, I think.




Thanks for the reply. I will mention this in the review.

Also, I read on some other forum, somewhere, that there is a revision of EoM:ME in the works. It was not here, and I do not recall where. Is this true?


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## RangerWickett (Feb 7, 2007)

It's something I'm playtesting in my home game now, but I don't have enough time to spend on it because of WotBS. Maybe during the summer, when I'm letting other authors do most of the writing, I can get back to it.


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## Malacoda (Feb 8, 2007)

RangerWickett said:
			
		

> It's something I'm playtesting in my home game now, but I don't have enough time to spend on it because of WotBS. Maybe during the summer, when I'm letting other authors do most of the writing, I can get back to it.




I don't know what you will think of the review, or the criticisms I offer up, but perhaps it can be of some insight. I like the system, and would like to see it improve.

Also, I am going to create some "cheat sheets" for the magic skills, where I take the various skills, as well as the general info, and make individual pages for players, so if I run a game using ME I can give them the cheat sheets they need. If you like the look of them, is this something you would be interested in? I have no place to host them myself, but I'd think the ME-using world would find them handy.


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## RangerWickett (Feb 8, 2007)

Yeah, if you can post them here, we'll definitely take a look.


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## Malacoda (Feb 10, 2007)

RangerWickett said:
			
		

> Yeah, if you can post them here, we'll definitely take a look.




I tried to post a page as a sample, but it was too big. The EN World limit is about 90k to little for the PDF.  I have 7 out of 10 skills done, and I am going to do one for dispelling and one for basic spellcasting rules. They are turning out pretty good so far.


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## RangerWickett (Feb 10, 2007)

Just post it as a .doc file. We can gussy it up if we decide to host it.


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## Malacoda (Feb 10, 2007)

RangerWickett said:
			
		

> Just post it as a .doc file. We can gussy it up if we decide to host it.




It is not a .doc file, though. I do all my stuff in Adobe InDesign CS2. It is pre-gussied.


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## Malacoda (Feb 12, 2007)

Malacoda said:
			
		

> It is not a .doc file, though. I do all my stuff in Adobe InDesign CS2. It is pre-gussied.




If you would like to see the sample of what I have so far, Ryan, send me an email at:

ialdabaoth <AT> cableone <DOT> net


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## Malacoda (Feb 15, 2007)

Malacoda said:
			
		

> If you would like to see the sample of what I have so far, Ryan, send me an email at...




Not interested?


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## RangerWickett (Feb 15, 2007)

Interested, but with spotty internet connection.  I didn't see your last post.


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## Malacoda (Feb 15, 2007)

RangerWickett said:
			
		

> Interested, but with spotty internet connection.  I didn't see your last post.





I sent a sample off to you. I mention it here in case it gets tossed in your junk mail fodler (it happened to the email you sent me).


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