Advanced d20 Magic » Ritual, dynamic spellcasting
Sometimes it pays to take the time to do something right; spellcasting is one of those times. Using a Ritual form involves taking additional time to prepare the spell and more carefully direct the magical energy involved. Rituals involve complex gestures and spoken phrases, but these are personal to the spellcaster and do not serve to identify the spell being cast. The more time the spellcaster takes, the greater the bonus to his or her Fortitude Save and Control check.
Using Ritual in conjunction with Incantation requires a constant incantation during the Ritual. This is usually only practical for short Rituals of a few rounds or minutes. For Rituals longer than an hour, it may not even be possible. A day-long Ritual requires 24 hours of activity. Longer Rituals clearly exceed the amount of time most casters can go without sleep. These long-term Rituals do not require constant activity ? or even consciousness ? on the part of the caster. Rituals of one week or longer may be interrupted for the necessities of life without spoiling their effect. The spellcaster must spend at least 12 hours each day working on the Ritual. He or she cannot, however, perform any other magical activities (including casting other spells) without spoiling the Ritual spell being cast.

[top]Long Term Rituals

It seems unlikely any player character spellcaster will be interested in performing a month-long Ritual to cast a single difficult spell during an adventure. However, there is a good reason that realm spells take a month to cast. Such a ritual is required to cast them, and to bring their Casting DC within reason.
There is another reason for such long term rituals. On some occasions, long-term rituals can serve the needs of the story.
For example, a cabal of dark priests might work for a century, co-operatively casting a powerful spell to restore their
dark lord. Those who began the spell are unlikely to survive to its completion 100 years later, but their followers carry on
the great work. As long as at least one member of the cabal continues the Ritual, the casting is maintained. Of course, at
the end of the century, the remaining cabalists involved in the casting suffer the Drain for their efforts....
Similarly, an immortal dragon lying in its hidden lair might think little of taking 1000 years to complete a potent spell.
Long-term Ritual spells can provide the characters with a deadline to intervene. This plot device has been seen in
countless stories; it was included here so it can appear in roleplaying stories as well.

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