Optional Rule: Rituals

To begin a ritual, one shugenja must be designated to lead. This is the only shugenja that must have a copy of the scroll (or have the spell memorized). As this shugenja is leading the ritual, all of the other shugenja involved are following his lead. A ritual may only have as many shugenja participating as the Ring + Insight Rank of the leader. This number includes the leader.

The lead shugenja will roll a number of dice equal to his appropriate Ring. Each shugena participating rolls a number of dice equal to half of their appropriate Ring, round down. From all of the dice rolled, a number are kept equal to the Insight Rank of the leader. This can mean that more than ten dice are rolled for the ritual, but since no one character is rolling more than ten dice, it is allowed and there are no additional kept dice. Each participating shugenja will use a spell slot of the appropriate Ring.

Casting time for rituals is generally greatly increased. These are not spells designed to be executed in a matter of seconds; they are intensive, complicated petitions to very powerful kami. For rituals from the first edition books, casting time should be at least 1 action x Mastery Level. For rituals where this would increase the casting time of the spell, the duration should be increased proportionately. For example, the first edition Courage of the Seven Thunders is a ritual with a casting time of 2 actions and a duration of 10 actions. The casting time should be increased to 7 actions, and the duration to 35 actions (or, for simplicity's sake, add one more action and call it 3 minutes). Other spells, such as Immortal Steel, already have a casting time much greater than this and require no change.

Occasionally, shugenja will want to share their power when casting a spell that is not designed as a ritual. This is possible, but much less effective. In these cases, only a number of shugenja up to the leader's Ring may participate, and each shugenja (other than the leader) rolls a number of dice equal to one-third of their appropriate Ring, round down. This also is a much more complicated way of casting these spells, so the casting time is doubled.

Also, rituals can be dangerous because of the amount of power that is being shared between the shugenja. If, while casting a ritual, the attention of any of the participants is broken, the forces being gathered may backlash on the shugenja involved. The shugenja whose attention was broken must make a Willpower roll vs. a TN equal to the number of participants x 5 or suffer a number of Wounds equal to the number of participants. Whether he succeeds or fails, his spell slot is spent and he is no longer participating in the ritual.

The leader of the ritual must also make a Willpower roll against the same TN, but he instead makes a Combined Effort check with the remaining participants helping (roll Willpower + number of participants, 10 max., keep Willpower). If the leader fails, then every participating shugenja suffers a number of wounds equal to the number of participating shugenja and all effort spent on the ritual is lost. If the leader succeeds, the ritual continues without the aid of the distracted shugenja.

If the leader is the distracted shugenja, each shugenja participating in the ritual must make their own Willpower roll against the same TN or suffer the wounds. Regardless of who succeeds and who fails, all the shugenja's spell slots are spent and the ritual is ended.

To determine the leader of a ritual merely from observing it requires a Spellcraft check at TN 20.