D&D Geekitude: Warlock Rituals

[kent_allard_jr]

I was shocked recently to learn that warlocks, unlike most spell-slinging classes, didn't get the Ritual Caster feat automatically. Most of my fellow 4E players believe the warlock's spells are underpowered, so this could hardly be a game-balance correction. Flavor-wise, too, it doesn't make sense. How does the warlock contact dark powers and make a pact with them in the first place? Probably with a ritual. Plus, when you think of a witch (warlock = male witch) you probably picture a old woman performing a sinister spell over a bubbling cauldron ... in other words, performing a ritual! In my opinion, warlocks should get Ritual Casting for free. Period.

Now I like the way 4E separated rituals from combat-ready spells. As I saw it, it was a direction 3.X D&D was already going, with epic spells and dark rituals (from the Book of Vile Darkness) being handled in a 4E-style fashion. Nevertheless, I've been unhappy with the system's flavor, in practice. When a non-divine caster, without the Heal skill, picked up Raise Dead and started using it without penalty, I felt something was wrong. When Players Handbook 2 introduced bardic rituals -- usable only by bards -- it annoyed me at first, but I gradually came around. Maybe other classes should have class-specific rituals as well?

This brings us back to the warlocks. One way to power-up warlocks would be give them ritual curses. These wouldn't be the prosaic "curses" they use in combat -- hard to distinguish from ranger quarries -- but the type of curses folks try to cast in the real world, with fetishes and voodoo dolls and sinister inscriptions on lead plates. (The last one, common in the ancient world, was used in the Rome TV series.) These are the type of curses you see in folklore -- one was critically important in The Saga of Grettir the Strong, for example -- and they'd add some real dramatic power to the game. It would also connect to the "extreme vengeance" issue I discussed earlier. These are the creepy rituals you use when someone has really fucked you over.

How would these ritual curses work? I haven't figured that out yet. Watch this space, I guess.

Comments

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

Shaman also do not get ritual caster; I had to burn a feat.

I would say handle it like Curses in 3E -- small but significant penalties (-1 when attacking gnomes; automatically fail passive perception to beat a stealth check of any female) or curses on certain actions (lose a healing surge when you use a given power; when you use second wind you are dazed until the end of your next turn).

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

Now I'm picturing a D&D version of Evan Dorkin's "Myron, the Living Voodoo Doll."