A Simple Ritual Magic System for Savage Worlds by Evan Kreider (kreider204 in the PEG forums)

If the GM decides that it is appropriate to the setting, spells can be cast ritually via an appropriate Knowledge skill (e.g., Arcana, Occult, Demonology, Necromancy, etc.), regardless of whether the character has the relevant spell or even an Arcane Background. The spell effects may duplicate existing spells or new effects entirely, at the GM’s discretion. The spell in question must be appropriate to the relevant Knowledge skill (e.g., Knowledge (Necromancy) probably couldn’t be used to cast healing spells in most settings), and the character must have access to the appropriate ritual materials (a ritual text at bare minimum, and usually various material components such as candles, herbs, gems, etc.). The exact materials and any other requirements (e.g., somatic components such as gestures, dances, etc.) are left up to the discretion of the GM and should be appropriate to the type and power of the spell. The character must meet the usual rank requirements for the spell. Optionally, the GM may allow a character to cast spells above his rank with a penalty to the skill roll of -1 per higher rank. The casting time for the ritual spell is a number of minutes equal to the Power Point cost of the skill. If the spell effect is something not covered by an existing spell description, the GM should use his discretion to determine the casting time; if the effect is especially powerful, the casting time could potentially be hours or even days. If the character is Shaken, Wounded, or otherwise seriously distracted (GM’s discretion) during this casting time, he must make a Spirit roll in order to avoid having to start over. If some of the material components are used up in some way (e.g., the candles burn down) before the spell is completed, then the character cannot make another casting attempt until the materials are replaced. At the end of the casting time, the character makes the appropriate Knowledge skill roll and applies it to the spell just as though he had made the more usual arcane skill roll; however, there is no backlash or other negative result for rolling a 1, although the GM may still wish to interpret a critical failure (snake eyes) as an especially disastrous failure, appropriate to the spell in question (e.g., the summoned demon gets loose, the character teleports into a wall, etc.). If the

GM allows the option of casting spells above a character’s rank, then the GM may wish to treat a skill roll of 1 or less (taking in account any modifiers, and regardless of the Wild Die) the same as a critical failure, as just described. At the GM’s discretion, the effects of certain spells may be augmented with additional casting time, material components, cooperative Knowledge skill rolls from other characters, etc. (e.g., a Teleport spell might be augmented so as to allow the character to travel miles instead of yards). The availability of ritual magic is entirely up to the GM, taking into account the level of magic of the setting. In a very high magic setting, it might be appropriate to allow almost anything: characters could check out the relevant ritual texts from the local magic library, find cheap material components at the local magic shops, etc. However, if the GM wishes to limit the use of ritual magic, here is some advice. First, rituals should absolutely require the use of a text; these rituals are far too long, complex, and subtle to memorize. If the GM wishes to limit access to some spells, he can simply limit access to the relevant texts. For example, the owner of the text may only loan a text to the characters for a short time, and only after they complete some difficult favor in return. Second, rituals could be limited by making the material components very rare, expensive, or otherwise difficult to obtain. For example, a raise dead spell might require the use and destruction of a rare magical gem. Third, some rituals might require that they be performed in specific locations. For example, healing spells might need to be cast within a temple devoted to the religion of the casting character (and might also require a large donation to the temple … ); this would allow the party to cure injuries, diseases, insanity, etc., after a mission is over, but not during it. Fourth, some rituals might require that they be cast only at specific times – perhaps something as common as midnight, or rarer occasions such as blue moons – thus limiting how often they can be cast. Enjoy, and please – cast rituals responsibly. [And as always, thanks much to the folks over at the PEG forums for constructive criticism and suggestions.]